New Harvard research says butter apparently isn’t better

Scientists have discovered that those who replaced saturated fats with whole grains or unsaturated fats found in vegetable oils and nuts, had a lowered risk of heart disease. While research last year seemed to exonerate butter as being a health food, recent research out of Harvard has suggested otherwise.

The findings contradict a controversial paper published in 2014 that said there was little evidence that reducing saturated fat lead to lessened risk for heart disease. But researchers said that the reason for those findings was because those people were replacing saturated fats, often found in dairy foods and meats, with refined carbohydrates such as white bread.

“Our research does not exonerate saturated fat,” said senior author Frank Hu, a professor of nutrition and epidemiology at Harvard, in a release. “In terms of heart disease risk, saturated fat and refined carbohydrates appear to be similarly unhealthful.”

To undertake the research, Hu and colleagues analyzed data from two long-running trials the Nurses’ Health Study, which included 84,628 women, and the Health Professionals Follow-up Study, which included 42,908 men. All subjects in the study were free of diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancer when they entered the study.

Both surveys analyzed diet by a food frequency questionnaire every four-years. Follow-up reports showed 7,667 cases of coronary heart disease.

After controlling for risk factors such as age, body mass index, smoking and physical activity, analysis discovered that those who had replaced five percent of their calorie intake from saturated fats to polyunsaturated fats, monounsaturated fats, or whole grain carbohydrates had a 9 to 25 percent lowered risk of coronary heart disease.

But those who swapped saturated fats for the same amount of refined carbohydrates and sugars did not see a similar drop in risk.

People who replace saturated fat (mainly found in meats and dairy foods) in their diets with refined carbohydrates do not lower their risk of heart disease, according to a new study led by researchers at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

On the other hand, those who replace saturated fats with unsaturated fats (found in vegetable oils and nuts) or whole grains lower their heart disease risk.

This is the first prospective analysis to directly compare saturated fat with other types of fats and different types of carbohydrates in relation to heart disease risk.

They estimated that replacing 5 percent of energy intake from saturated fats with equivalent energy intake from either polyunsaturated fats, monounsaturated fats, or carbohydrates from whole grains was associated with 25 percent, 15 percent, and 9 percent lower risk of CHD, respectively.

On the other hand, swapping 5 percent of saturated fat calories for the same amount of refined carbohydrates and sugars was not associated with CHD risk. These analyses took into account cardiovascular risk factors such as age, body mass index, smoking, and physical activity.

Individuals should not replace saturated fat with refined carbs or vice versa. Dietary recommendations to reduce saturated fats should specify their replacement with unsaturated fats or with healthy carbohydrates, such as whole grains.

 

For more information please visit: www.harvard.edu

 

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