Does eating butter and meat clog your arteries?
Intake of food rich in saturated fat in relation to subclinical atherosclerosis and potential modulating effects from single genetic variants
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Scientists looked at older adults who ate lots of fatty foods like meat and cheese and checked their artery thickness over 2.5 years. They found that eating more saturated fat didn’t make their arteries thicker once they accounted for how much they exercised, smoked, or how educated they were.
No biological mechanisms were identified in this study. This may be an epidemiological, observational, or survey-based study that reports associations rather than proposing causal biological pathways.
Systematic Reviews & Meta-Analyses
Max 100Randomized Controlled Trials
Max 90Cohort Studies
Max 72Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional Studies
Max 44Case Reports & Case Series
Max 30Expert Opinion & Narrative Reviews
Max 566 / 72
Evidence Score
Groups of people are followed over time to see who develops an outcome. Strong for identifying risk factors and associations, but cannot prove causation as firmly as RCTs.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Scientists looked at older adults who ate lots of fatty foods like meat and cheese and checked their artery thickness over 2.5 years. They found that eating more saturated fat didn’t make their arteries thicker once they accounted for how much they exercised, smoked, or how educated they were.
No biological mechanisms were identified in this study. This may be an epidemiological, observational, or survey-based study that reports associations rather than proposing causal biological pathways.
Systematic Reviews & Meta-Analyses
Max 100Randomized Controlled Trials
Max 90Cohort Studies
Max 72Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional Studies
Max 44Case Reports & Case Series
Max 30Expert Opinion & Narrative Reviews
Max 566 / 72
Evidence Score
Groups of people are followed over time to see who develops an outcome. Strong for identifying risk factors and associations, but cannot prove causation as firmly as RCTs.
Publication
Authors
Laguzzi F, Maitusong B, Strawbridge RJ, Baldassarre D, Veglia F, Humphries SE, Rauramaa R, Kurl S, Smit AJ, Giral P, Silveira A, Tremoli E, Hamsten A, de Faire U, Gigante B, Leander K, IMPROVE Study group
Related Content
Claims (4)
Eating a lot of fatty foods like butter and red meat doesn't seem to make the arteries thicken more in older adults at risk for heart disease, once you account for how much they exercise, smoke, or their education level.
No common gene differences found in this group of older adults make them more or less sensitive to the effects of eating saturated fat on their artery thickness.
In older adults with heart disease risk factors, how much they exercise, smoke, or their education level matters more for artery health than how much saturated fat they eat.
People who eat more saturated fat in this group had higher inflammation and weight, but surprisingly lower bad cholesterol — which might explain why their arteries didn’t get thicker.