Saturated Fat Intake and Cardiovascular Disease
Summary
"Saturated Fat Intake and Cardiovascular Disease: A New Perspective," taught by Rosa Tsucala, a 2nd-year Medicine student with a BSc in Biomedical Science, challenges long-held beliefs about diet and heart disease. Instead of accepting the dietary guidelines' stance on limiting saturated fat intake to prevent cardiovascular diseases, Tsucala cites recent studies that show no link between the consumption of saturated fats and cardiovascular events or mortality. The teaching session addresses the history and limitations of current advice and highlights the nutrient content of saturated fats and other food groups often neglected due to their fat content. The goal is to prompt healthcare professionals to reconsider current dietary guidelines in light of emerging evidence. This session could radically change the way practitioners advise their patients about diet and health.
Learning objectives
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By the end of the session, M.D. students will be able to define and describe the characteristics and sources of saturated fats, and understand the historical and current context regarding their consumption and health implications.
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Participants will understand the key limitations of the Seven Countries Study and its impact in shaping the diet-heart hypothesis, including how this has influenced health guidelines for the consumption of saturated fats.
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Participants will look at the most recent studies and evidence regarding the intake of saturated fats and its association or non-association with cardiovascular diseases, all-cause mortality, and other health outcomes.
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Participants will analyze the significance of considering individual food groups in the context of nutrient distribution when evaluating health outcomes related to heart diseases and saturated fat intake.
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By the end of the session, participants will be able to criticize outdated dietary guidelines and understand the importance of upgrading these guidelines in light of emerging research.
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Saturated Fat Intake and Cardiovascular Disease: Rosa Tsucala A New Perspective Bsc Biomedical Science nd 2 Y ear Medicine 5. Diet-Heart Hypothesis vs 1. Abstract The concept of limiting saturated fat Recent Evidence (SF): since the 1950s. Evidence from recent studies: SF Systematic review intake shows no association with published at the BMJ : mortality or cardiovascular events. “Saturated fats are not Ab Dietary guidelines by the American associated with all-cause Heart Association persist in their mortality, CVD, CHD, Ab recommendation. ischemic stroke, or type 2 Aim: Provide an overview of the diabetes” (de Souza et al., Fig 1 “Summary most adjusted relative risks for saturated fat intake and all cause diabetes. All effect estimates are from random effects analyses. P value is for Z test of current evidence and urge policy- 2015) (See Fig 1) no overall association between exposure and outcome; Phet is for test of no differences in association measure among studies; I2 is proportion of total variation in study makers to update guidelines. Review at the Journal of estimates from heterogeneity rather than sampling error” (de Souza et al., 2015) The American College of Cardiology: Cohort studies where saturated fat intake was replaced with 2. What are carbohydrate consumption: no decreased CHD risk (Astrup et al., 2020) Saturated Fats? Saturated fats: composed of mainly 7. Conclusion saturated fatty acids (SFA’s) Solid at room temperature Diet-Heart hypothesis from 1950s: SFA’s include only single carbon- influenced today’s guidelines Recent studies: No evidence that carbon bonds, in contrast to unsaturated saturated fats = health risk (eicholz, 2022) Mostly found in red meat, dairy, chocolate, and other foods. SFA’s = health benefits ( eg. stroke protection) Alternative dietary recommendations: intake of processed foods that increase 3. Historical Context the risk of mortality Late 1950s: Dr Ancel Keys proposed the diet-heart hypothesis. Foods with saturated fats: essential nutrients for the normal functioning of Seven Countries Study: observed consumption of saturated fats in the human body Dietary guidelines must be updated different countries & incidence of CHD. according to emerging evidence The first to propose that a diet high in saturated fat is associated with coronary heart disease (CHD). 6. Considering Food Groups in Context of 4. Seven Countries Nutrient Distribution Study Limitations Dairy and red meat: avoided due to high Scientists have questioned its validity saturated fat. However: rich in nutrients due to limitations: Nutrients within red meat are Population-based studies: less bioavailable: can thus be utilised for accurate in establishing cause and metabolic functions. Plant- based effect, don’t capture individual-level sources: less bioavailable habits, often affected by bias. Alternative recommendation for Selection of countries was non- replacing SFAs is carbohydrate Fig 2 randomized: could have hand- consumption. picked them Refined carbohydrate lacks nutrients Methods of dietary habit evaluation & associated with increased risk of References Astrup, A., Magkos, F., Bier, D.M., Brenna, J.T., de Oliveira Otto, M.C., Hill, J.O., King, J.C., are thought to be non-standardized: metabolic syndrome (See Fig 2) Health: A Reassessment and Proposal for Food-based Recommendations: JACC State-of -the-s and included Crete during Lent (no (Steffen et al., 2003, Liu et al., 2021) doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jacc.2020.05.077.Cardiology, [online] 76(7). Budylowski, P., Schünemann, H., Beyene, J. and Anand, S.S. (2015). Intake of saturated and consumption of animal products) The Prospective Urban Rural diabetes: systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies. BMJ, [online] 351(1),pe 2 Dehghan, M., Mente, A., Zhang, X., Swaminathan, S., Li, W., Mohan, V., Iqbal, R., Kumar, R., Epidemiology (PURE) study (Dehghan et Lear, S., Lopez-Jaramillo, P., Liu, X., Gupta, R. and Mohammadifard, N. (2017). Associations of al., 2017): five continents (PURE): a prospective cohort study. The Lancet, [online] 390(10107),es from “The diet-heart hypothesis has Liu, S., Willett, W.C., Stampfer, M.J., Hu, F.B., Franz, M., Sampson, L., Hennekens, C.H. and Dietary intake of 135 335 individuals risk of coronary heart disease in US women. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, and been repeatedly shown to be Recorded total mortality and Liu, Y.-S., Wu, Q.-J., Lv, J.-L., Jiang, Y.-T., Sun, H., Xia, Y., Chang, Q. and Zhao, Y.-H. (2021). wrong, yet it persists. It’s time to Reviews and Meta-Analyses of 281 Observational Studies. Frontiers in Nutrition, 8. cardiovascular events upon follow up Qin, P., Huang, C., Jiang, B., Wang, X., Yang, Y., Ma, J., Chen, S., Hu, D. and Bo, Y. (2023). abandon outdated dietary Higher carbohydrate: associated with cardiovascular and cancer mortality: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Clinicaluse, Steffen, L.M., Jacobs, D.R., Stevens, J., Shahar, E., Carithers, T. and Folsom, A.R. (2003). guidelines. ” increased mortality risk. Associations of whole-grain, refined-grain, and fruit and vegetable consumption with risks of Higher consumption of saturated fat: Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) Study. The American Journal of Clinical Teicholz, N. (2022). A short history of saturated fat: the making and unmaking of a scientific Dr. Aseem Malhotra, Cardiologist associated with a lower risk of stroke doi:https://doi.org/10.1097/med.0000000000000791.etes & Obesity, 30(1), pp.65–71. Globalrheumpanlar.org. [online] doi:https://doi.org/10.46856/grp.26.e069.).