7 diet studies reveal not all fats created equal
A low-fat diet is supposed to keep us healthy. Or is it?
Here are some of the main studies that started the high-fat hypothesis and then called it into question.
A subscription is required to access the research in some cases.
Ancel Keys launched his landmark Seven Countries Study in 1958. It showed correlations between dietary fat and heart disease.
Large, cohort studies at Harvard in women in 1997 and men in 1996 looked at diets and suggested total fat was not associated with heart disease — but all fats were not created equal. It was suggested that saturated fat was probably harmful and polyunsaturated fat from vegetable oil or fish oil were likely protective.
- In 1997, the DASH trial of a higher carbohydrate, low-saturated fat dietary pattern suggested benefits on blood pressure.
- The OMNI Heart trial published in 2005 showed that a low carb, higher monounsaturated fat version of the DASH diet from eating olive oil and nuts for example might be even better.
- The 2013 PREDIMED study in Spain showed that a Mediterranean diet rich in monounsaturated fat reduced cardiovascular disease risk by 30 per cent after about five years of followup compared with a control diet that advised reduced dietary fat.
- Jakobsen's cohort study on replacing saturated fat with "high" glycemic index carbohydrates raised the risk of heart disease by 33 per cent.