While this is not ‘big news’ for those of us following a low carbohydrate diet, or for the many researchers whose studies have been ignored or hidden (both in the past and currently), it is nevertheless ‘big news’ for those in mainstream nutrition, including your doctor.
This news has been all over Instagram, Twitter and the like, but for clarity here is the news via Nina Teicholz’s Nutrition Coalition June 23, 2020 newsletter:
Major New Paper on Saturated Fats
A group of leading nutrition scientists, including a former member of the 2015 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee (DGAC) and the Chair of the 2005 DGAC, were among the prominent authors of a “State-of-the-Art Review” in the prestigious Journal of the American College of Cardiology (JACC): “Saturated Fats and Health: A Reassessment and Proposal for Food-based Recommendations.” This review found that government limits on saturated fats are not justified by the science.
Advice to limit saturated fats has been a basic pillar of the Dietary Guidelines for 40 years. Yet this advice has never had any substantial scientific backing, according to a large and fast-growing body of scientific literature, which now includes the JACC paper.
The JACC abstract reads:
“The recommendation to limit dietary saturated fatty acid (SFA) intake has persisted despite mounting evidence to the contrary. Most recent meta-analyses of randomized trials and observational studies found no beneficial effects of reducing SFA intake on cardiovascular disease (CVD) and total mortality, and instead found protective effects against stroke. Although SFAs increase low-density lipoprotein (LDL)-cholesterol, in most individuals, this is not due to increasing levels of small, dense LDL particles, but rather larger LDL which are much less strongly related to CVD risk. It is also apparent that the health effects of foods cannot be predicted by their content in any nutrient group, without considering the overall macronutrient distribution. Whole-fat dairy, unprocessed meat, eggs and dark chocolate are SFA-rich foods with a complex matrix that are not associated with increased risk of CVD. The totality of available evidence does not support further limiting the intake of such foods.
The paper also notes, “These historical facts demonstrate that saturated fats were an abundant, key part of the ancient human diet.”