Talk:Saturated fat

NPOV dispute - Research showing no link between saturated fat and CV risk is missing from this article

This paper was published September, 2022. It unfortunately does not fit popular opinion despite utilizing scientific rigor. I assume that's the reason for its exclusion. https://academic.oup.com/eurjpc/article-abstract/29/18/2312/6691821

It came to the same conclusion this meta-analysis did in 2014: https://www.acpjournals.org/doi/10.7326/M13-1788?articleid=1846638

Which came to the same conclusion this meta-analysis did in 2010: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2824152/

(The point is to illustrate that this has been an ongoing debate for at least 12 years.)

Apparently the science is not so clear cut on the relationship between saturated fat and CV risk, but that's not the impression someone reading this article would get. Are we going to present all the scientific data, or are we taking sides? Agenda or no? 2600:4040:5012:7500:3000:9EF2:F8B5:125A (talk) 13:29, 26 March 2023 (UTC)

2014 is old, but the more recent paper might be worth mentioning. Or is it just an outlier? We cite WHO stuff which is more recent. Bon courage (talk) 13:56, 26 March 2023 (UTC)

The best sources on this are the World Health Organization (2023) [1], American Heart Association [2] (2017), UK Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (2019), [3] and Cochrane review (2020) [4]. In total they have looked at hundreds of studies. The scientific consensus is clear on this, high saturated fat intake does increase CVD risk. Psychologist Guy (talk) 16:15, 26 March 2023 (UTC)

We have about 60 years research on this, it has been known for a long time since the research of D. Mark Hegsted and colleagues that palmitic acid increases LDL-c and total cholesterol. The debate has continued in recent years about specific saturated fatty acids on CVD risk. Long-chain saturated fatty acids increase CVD risk (palmitic and myristic acid for example) but stearic acid a medium-chain saturated fatty acid is neutral or may lower LDL. It's probably worth mentioning this on the article at some point. The World Health Organization have discussed it. Psychologist Guy (talk) 16:38, 26 March 2023 (UTC)

Yeah, Cochrane is a always a great source. Let’s see what it actually said:

“ We found little or no effect of reducing saturated fat on all‐cause mortality (RR 0.96; 95% CI 0.90 to 1.03; 11 trials, 55,858 participants) or cardiovascular mortality (RR 0.95; 95% CI 0.80 to 1.12, 10 trials, 53,421 participants), both with GRADE moderate‐quality evidence.

There was little or no effect of reducing saturated fats on non‐fatal myocardial infarction (RR 0.97, 95% CI 0.87 to 1.07) or CHD mortality (RR 0.97, 95% CI 0.82 to 1.16, both low‐quality evidence), but effects on total (fatal or non‐fatal) myocardial infarction, stroke and CHD events (fatal or non‐fatal) were all unclear as the evidence was of very low quality. There was little or no effect on cancer mortality, cancer diagnoses, diabetes diagnosis, HDL cholesterol, serum triglycerides or blood pressure, and small reductions in weight, serum total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol and BMI. There was no evidence of harmful effects of reducing saturated fat intakes.” Antisoapbox (talk) 21:41, 9 June 2023 (UTC)

Hopefully you have read that review, rather than just the abstract. Firstly, the trials in most cases were only two years long and they were on "participants at varying levels of risk of cardiovascular disease, men and women, with mean ages from 46 to 66 years". But you deliberately left out "There is a large body of evidence assessing effects of reducing saturated fat for at least two years. These studies provide moderate‐quality evidence that reducing saturated fat reduces our risk of cardiovascular disease" and "In this review, saturated fat reduction had little or no effect on all‐cause or cardiovascular mortality but did appear to reduce the risk of cardiovascular events by 17%". The conclusion is that reduction of saturated fat reduced risk of cardiovascular events in the participants that had or were at risk of cardiovascular disease by 17%. If you have any Cochrane reviews telling us the opposite that increased saturated fat consumption reduces cardiovascular events, let us know but no such finding has ever been published because saturated fat clearly increases CVD risk and yes it takes decades, not two years but those trials have shown us reducing CVD for around two years can reduce CVD events. Psychologist Guy (talk) 23:48, 9 June 2023 (UTC)

Here is a major study: [5]. The conclusion is: "In this cohort, substituting omega 6 linoleic acid for saturated fat did not provide the intended benefits, but increased all cause morality, cardiovascular death, and death from coronary heart disease." A recent meta-analysis -- included in the provided link -- addresses more recently raised concerns, and reaffirms the original result. Therefore exclusion of this result is an NPOV issue.

With every food investigated in nutrition there will always be an outlier study. There is no point in cherry picking 1 study or meta-analysis when every other meta-analysis and review says the opposite as you are ignoring consensus. The study you are quoting is from 2013. We since have many recent reviews published between 2014 and 2023 which conclude linoleic acid consumption lowers risk of CVD and mortality [6], [7], [8], [9]. Psychologist Guy (talk) 21:40, 6 June 2023 (UTC)

<quote>It is undeniable that the wikipedia article on saturated fat violates NPOV. "Available evidence from adequately controlled randomised controlled trials suggest replacing SFA with mostly n-6 PUFA is unlikely to reduce CHD events, CHD mortality or total mortality. The suggestion of benefits reported in earlier meta-analyses is due to the inclusion of inadequately controlled trials. These findings have implications for current dietary recommendations."</quote> Source: doi.org/10.1186/s12937-017-0254-5

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