February 16, 2010

Yet Another Nutritional Update

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Apparently scientists are changing their minds yet again. Here’s the latest on saturated fat:

For the current study, researchers led by Dr. Ronald M. Krauss, of the Children’s Hospital Oakland Research Center in California, pooled data from 21 studies that included a total of nearly 348,000 adults.

Participants, who were generally healthy to start, were surveyed about their diet habits and then followed for anywhere from five to 23 years. Over that time, 11,000 developed heart disease or suffered a stroke. Overall, Krauss and his colleagues found, there was no difference in the risks of heart disease and stroke between people with the lowest and highest intakes of saturated fat.

The article quotes Dr. Robert Eckel, a professor of medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine in Denver, cautioning against “over interpreting” the results. So don’t go mainlining sticks of lard just yet. But apparently all that animal fat isn’t quite the heart attack on a plate we’ve been led to believe.

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