From Elizabeth: A new meta-analysis.
Generally I hate meta-analyses. It's usually very difficult to go through all of the references that a group has assembled to support their hypothesis (usually that saturated fat is bad). Even harder to find out what studies they have excluded. I tend to re-title them as "A meta-analysis of all statin/PUFA/low fat studies supportive of the lipid hypothesis shows marked support for the lipid hypothesis". At least someone has done the footwork for the opposing view of saturated fats this time.
It reminds me of this commentary, unfortunately associated with Nestle (the food giant), which sets out the basic concept (six years ago) that there is no evidence of harm from saturated fat and that efforts to reduce it throughout the food chain might be mistaken. Very mistaken.
Krauss has been more and more open as a supporter of saturated fat after his very cautious and mixed beginnings. This sort of publication is useful when confronted with the garbage from the Food Standards Agency condemning saturated fat. Cordain might be going the same route.
There is a general feeling in THINCS and the Nutrition and Metabolism Society that 2010 could be a good year for saturophiles and the rest of mankind too of course, should they care to listen.
Peter
Saturophiles unite!
ReplyDeleteWow. I'm blown away. A respected lipid researcher finally published a meta-analysis of the prospective studies. Krauss is on a roll! Thanks for posting Peter. I'm going to put a post up about it on my blog as well.
ReplyDeleteTime for a our new investment strategy to become main stream: fermented/sour cream, ghee, butter, and coconut oil are of high value. Dump the vegetable oils.
ReplyDeleteLot's of hand wringing in the conclusion inside the article.
ReplyDelete"Our results suggested publication bias, such that studies with significant associations tended to be received more favorably for publication. If unpublished studies with null associations were included in the current analysis, the pooled RR estimate for CVD could be even closer to null."
I'm curious to know what reference [46] is. Same authors as the meta-analysis.
Siri-Tarino P, Sun Q, Hu F, RM. K. Saturated fat and cardiovascular disease. Am J Clin Nutr (in press).
I like footnote 4: "Supported by the National Dairy Council..."
ReplyDelete"Dump the vegetable oils."
ReplyDeleteYeah... into a vat with lye and methanol, where it can actually do humanity some good as biodiesel.
You'll still have those folks who say regardless of what this study shows it doesn't mean we should encourage people to eat high sat fat. They're still scared of it in terms of weight gain.
ReplyDeleteIts very exciting though hoping for good things from this study.
Sue and all, I think things are really going to happen. Unilever are on the attack, this suggest they are really worried. They got stung nicely in Sweden. Their idiot cardiac surgeon suggesting butter should be banned in the UK (I emailed him Krauss' meta analysis, don't hold you breath!) doesn't help their cause. This is really dredging the barrel. No one does this unless they are worried. Yee hah.
ReplyDeletePeter
WE know that controlling insulin and cortisol will help your glucose profile and help you reduce weight or keep it off. It has been a problem to understand why inflammatory markers are so high in some people with great cholesterol and that may be that they did not eat enough fat. Many are very staunch low fat consumers - that is the right thing to do right!?
ReplyDeleteHurrah for Krauss et al.
And Frank Hu too! I hope they keep up the good work.
A comment I read else where claimed that all cause mortality was higher in people eating sat fat (even if heart disease isn't). Does anyone here have any comments on this?
ReplyDeleteThanks, Beth
Hi Beth,
ReplyDeleteI'd need more info than that but it has been well known since the time of Keys and Yudkin that saturated fat and sugar consumption go up in parallel. Would you blame the saturated fat or the sucrose? I know where I'd bet....
Peter
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteWell, is good to hear some positive feedbacks on saturated fats as all these while the focus has been on saturated fats and association with increased risk of CVD. With this published meta-analysis by renowned researchers, we can said that not all saturated fats is the said culprit for CVD risk. Is it good to let people aware that not all saturated fats are bad and consumption of too much PUFA oil is not a good thing after all.
ReplyDelete