Does eating less fat keep your heart healthy?
Dietary fat, coronary heart disease, and cancer: a historical review.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Surprising Findings
Dietary fat showed no significant association with breast cancer or coronary heart disease in the WHI, despite decades of public health messaging blaming fat for these diseases.
For over 50 years, low-fat diets were promoted as the primary way to prevent heart disease and cancer—this study directly undermines that foundational belief.
Practical Takeaways
Don’t obsess over cutting all fat—focus instead on eating whole foods, minimizing processed carbs, and choosing healthy fats like nuts, olive oil, and fish.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Surprising Findings
Dietary fat showed no significant association with breast cancer or coronary heart disease in the WHI, despite decades of public health messaging blaming fat for these diseases.
For over 50 years, low-fat diets were promoted as the primary way to prevent heart disease and cancer—this study directly undermines that foundational belief.
Practical Takeaways
Don’t obsess over cutting all fat—focus instead on eating whole foods, minimizing processed carbs, and choosing healthy fats like nuts, olive oil, and fish.
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Related Content
Claims (8)
Cutting down on all fats in your diet—no matter what kind of carbs you eat—won’t make you any less likely to get heart disease over eight years.
Cutting down on all fats in your diet—no matter if they’re healthy or unhealthy—won’t make a noticeable difference in whether adults get heart disease over eight years.
Some studies have found that eating more fat might be linked to colorectal cancer, but others didn’t find any connection—and one big study of women found no link at all.
A big study on women’s health found that eating more or less fat didn’t seem to change their risk of getting heart disease or breast cancer, and other similar studies saw the same thing.
The big studies that tried to get people to eat less fat used groups of people who don’t represent the general public and cost too much to roll out to everyone—so they’re not realistic for everyday health programs.