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.
Surprising Findings
High saturated fat intake correlated with lower LDL and total cholesterol.
This directly contradicts decades of nutritional dogma that saturated fat raises 'bad' cholesterol. The study shows the opposite in this population.
Practical Takeaways
Focus on quitting smoking, moving more, and managing stress—these matter more than cutting butter.
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.
Surprising Findings
High saturated fat intake correlated with lower LDL and total cholesterol.
This directly contradicts decades of nutritional dogma that saturated fat raises 'bad' cholesterol. The study shows the opposite in this population.
Practical Takeaways
Focus on quitting smoking, moving more, and managing stress—these matter more than cutting butter.
Publication
Journal
Scientific Reports
Year
2021
Authors
F. Laguzzi, Buamina Maitusong, R. Strawbridge, D. Baldassarre, F. Veglia, S. Humphries, R. Rauramaa, S. Kurl, A. Smit, P. Giral, A. Silveira, E. Tremoli, A. Hamsten, U. de Faire, B. Gigante, K. Leander, C. R. L. M. B. A. D. C. D. N. A. P. J. J. K. K. E. I. Sirtori Calabresi Amato Frigerio Ravani Sansaro Te, C. Sirtori, L. Calabresi, M. Amato, B. Frigerio, A. Ravani, D. Sansaro, C. Tedesco, D. Coggi, N. Capra, A. Bonomi, P. Eriksson, J. Cooper, J. Acharya, K. Savonen, K. Huttunen, E. Rauramaa, I. Penttilã, J. Törrönen, A. V. van Gessel, A. V. van Roon, A. Nicolai, D. J. Mulder, A. Kontush, A. Carrié, A. Gallo, J. Karppi, T. Nurmi, K. Nyyssönen, T. Tuomainen, J. Tuomainen, J. Kauhanen, B. Sennblad, M. Pirro, G. Vaudo, D. Siepi, G. Lupattelli, M. Mannarino, V. Bianconi
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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.