Re: Health benefits of saturated fats

On Sat, 18 Apr 2009 09:06:34 -0700, Michelle C <bookbug_35@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

GysdeJongh wrote:
"Susan" <susan@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:74m90tF145j0lU4@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Hi Susan,
just saw this one, read it twice and the comments by Katan...too
complicated... just gives me a headache :

http://www.medpagetoday.com/PrimaryCare/DietNutrition/13783?utm_source=mSpoke&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=DailyHeadlines&utm_content=GroupB&userid=147139&impressionId=1239935915126


Hi Gys,

Thank you for this URL. It was disturbing to see the suggestion that
replacing saturated fats with monounsaturated fats actually raised
coronary events. To put it mildly that was contrary to my
expectations. Then we read that in the US and Scandinavia the usual
source of monounsaturated fats is from dairy, meat, and partially
hydrogenated oils. WOW. Partially hydrogenated fats in the US are as
most every one here knows a good source of trans fats. If they had
said replacing saturated fats with trans fats is bad we would all have
understood without giving it a second thought. The researchers were
concerned about confounding and looked at other lifestyle factors eg
smoking. I'd have thought they would have done that BEFORE suggesting
a connection between CHD and monounsaturated fats.

One thing I was pleased to see was they didn't use a surrogate end
point like cholesterol levels for assessing CHD risk. They used actual
events and deaths. This is important because in some instances
replacing saturated fats with polyunsaturated fats led to lower LDL
but unfortunately slightly higher death rates thanks to the
inflammatory effects of omega-6. As I understand it, replacing butter
with margarine made from canola leads to about a fifty percent
reduction in coronary events. The thing about canola is it contains a
higher percentage of omega-3 polyunsaturated fats than many other seed
oils eg sunflower seed oil.

What is interesting is the substitution of saturated fats by
carbohydrate led to increased coronary events though not deaths.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

In these studies, during four to 10 years of follow-up, replacing 5%
of daily calories from saturated fats with carbohydrates actually
increased risk of coronary events by 7% (95% confidence interval 1% to
14%). It had no effect on risk of coronary death (hazard ratio 0.96,
95% CI 0.82 to 1.13).

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

This will be music to the advocates of saturated fats of course.
It is important to acknowledge this. They are saying saturated fats
are safer than carbohydrate. What they also say is polyunsaturated
fats are safer than saturated fats BUT they make no distinction
between omega-6 and omega-3. This implies they didn't consider the
distinction important or they lacked the tools to differentiate.
Hardly good enough I'd have thought given what is known from various
studies.

It should also be good news to all those who have advocated
restricting carbohydrate intake for T2 diabetics even though we don't
know if the results can be applied to T2 diabetics.

Thanks Gys,

One of the most important things to be gained from this meta study is
just what researchers mean when they say "unequivocal". You or I
might think they mean proved beyond reasonable doubt. However it is
obvious the researchers had intelligent concerns about confounding
through smoking etc.

Best wishes,
--
Quentin Grady ^ ^ /
New Zealand, >#,#< [
/ \ /\
"... and the blind dog was leading."

http://homepages.paradise.net.nz/quentin
.

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