Saturated fats, primarily from meat and dairy products, have gotten a bad reputation. But the newest analysis of published studies purports to find no clear link between people’s intake of saturated fat and their risk of developing heart disease.
Study fails to link saturated fat, heart disease (Reuters)
This comes on the tail of a report out of New Zealand that says just about the same thing.
Dietary Fat and Coronary Heart Disease: Summary of Evidence from Prospective Cohort and Randomised Controlled Trials (Annals of Nutrition and Metabolism) pdf
I believe that most of the misunderstanding about saturated fat consumption and poor health stems from confusion over the difference between correlation and causality. The easiest way to explain this is by looking at the relationship between ice cream consumption and murder rates. When ice cream consumption is highest, so are murder rates. This is not to say that ice cream causes people to kill each other. During the summer months, when people like to eat ice cream, more folks are also out of doors, and in contact with each other. Contact leads to conflict, which can lead to murder. Correlation does not prove causation.
My theory is that folks who eat a lot of meat and dairy tend to be more well-off. The diseases usually attributed to a diet high in saturated fats are likely caused by other factors common to the western lifestyle.
What if It’s All Been a Big Fat Lie? (New York Times Magazine)
Diet and Fat: A Severe Case of Mistaken Consensus (NY Times)
