What fats should you eat to keep your heart healthy?
Major types of dietary fat and risk of coronary heart disease: a pooled analysis of 11 cohort studies.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Surprising Findings
Replacing saturated fat with carbohydrates increased heart event risk by 7%, even though heart death risk didn’t change.
Most people assume reducing fat and eating more carbs is healthier—this shows it might actually increase non-fatal heart problems.
Practical Takeaways
Swap one serving of butter, cheese, or fatty meat per day with a handful of nuts, seeds, or fatty fish like salmon.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Surprising Findings
Replacing saturated fat with carbohydrates increased heart event risk by 7%, even though heart death risk didn’t change.
Most people assume reducing fat and eating more carbs is healthier—this shows it might actually increase non-fatal heart problems.
Practical Takeaways
Swap one serving of butter, cheese, or fatty meat per day with a handful of nuts, seeds, or fatty fish like salmon.
Publication
Journal
The American journal of clinical nutrition
Year
2009
Authors
M. U. Jakobsen, Éilis J. O’Reilly, B. Heitmann, Mark A Pereira, Katarina Bälter, G. Fraser, U. Goldbourt, G. Hallmans, P. Knekt, Simin Liu, P. Pietinen, D. Spiegelman, J. Stevens, J. Virtamo, W. Willett, A. Ascherio
Related Content
Claims (6)
Multiple large-scale meta-analyses of prospective cohort studies demonstrate no statistically significant association between dietary saturated fat intake and incidence of coronary heart disease or cardiovascular disease.
Eating foods rich in monounsaturated fats, like olive oil or avocados, doesn't seem to make heart disease risk higher or lower based on this analysis.
If you swap out a little bit of butter or fatty meat for foods like nuts or vegetable oils, you're less likely to have a heart attack or die from heart disease.
Swapping out some fatty foods for bread, pasta, or sugar might slightly increase your chance of having a heart problem, but doesn't seem to change your risk of dying from heart disease.
Eating less saturated fat, like from butter and red meat, tends to go along with lower levels of 'bad' cholesterol in the blood.