Ace 8095 said:
''Saturated fatty acids Saturated fat, derived chiefly from animal products, raises the total serum cholesterol. There is a continuous, graded relationship between the total serum cholesterol concentration and coronary heart disease events and mortality (show figure 2) [40,41]. Two large cohort studies also found a small positive association between the intake of saturated fat and the incidence of coronary heart disease; for each 5 percent increment of energy, there was a multivariate relative risk of 1.17 among women (95 percent confidence interval 0.97 to 1.41) and 1.12 among men (95 percent confidence interval 0.97 to 1.28) [5,42].
Saturated fatty acids with carbon chain lengths of 14 (myristic) and 16 (palmitic), chiefly found in dairy products and red meats, appear most potent in increasing the serum cholesterol. Stearic acid (18 carbons), another component of beef and the chief fatty acid of cocoa butter, is relatively less cholesterolemic.
A reduction in dietary saturated fat can reduce the total and LDL-cholesterol concentration and perhaps prevent coronary heart disease [6] and cancers of the prostate and colon [43]. However, both HDL- and LDL-cholesterol may be reduced if saturated fats are replaced by carbohydrates [26]. Less reduction in HDL-cholesterol is apparent if saturated fats are replaced by unsaturated fats [44].''
While its true that there hasnt been a "scientific experiement" the problem is they can't ethically do one as you aren't allowed to controls a persons diet in order to possibly cause harm. While they can use correlational studies but those don't prove causation.
so while its true the lay media cries that saturated fats (and fats in general) are the devil and there affect is overblown its pretty misleading to say there are no studies showing a connection between saturated fat consumption and cardiovascular disease. last semester I had to read two articles on how its not the amount of fat but the type that causes most of the humans problems one from the lancet and one from the NEJM (pretty reputable i would say)
and about the second aprt of your statement
''Food choices in individuals following a low-fat diet The message to reduce fat in the United States has been translated by food manufacturers and consumers into a potentially harmful set of food choices. Instead of replacing high-fat foods with naturally low-fat foods with other benefits, such as fruits, vegetables, legumes, and whole grain foods, consumers have often increased their consumption of low-fat or "fat-free" varieties of naturally high-fat foods, such as fat-free snack foods [25]. The result is an increase in refined carbohydrates, lower HDL-cholesterol concentrations [26], a possible increase in the incidence of type 2 diabetes [27,28] and obesity [29], and failure to gain the benefits of more healthful alternatives.''
PS: the source i used is UpToDate which is a resource for medical professionals that combines all the current information on a subject using peer reviewed articles across many journals. It's available through my school so sorry i couldnt send you the articles directly but they do exist.
