A row erupted today over claims that saturated fats may not be as bad for the heart as has been claimed.
The journal Open Heart published an analysis suggesting that studies of the issue in the past have been flawed.
National dietary advice in the USA and the UK in the early 1980s said saturated fats should be limited to no more than 10% of energy intake.
Total fat consumption should be limited to 30% of energy intake, it said.
Researchers from the University of the West of Scotland, Hamilton, and St Luke’s Heart Institute, Kansas, said they found just six trials lying behind the guidelines. These had studied fat in the diet, cholesterol levels and heart disease.
The analysis of these trials shows no direct link between saturated fat and death rates – but they did show reductions in cholesterol from cutting down fat, the researchers say.
The trials involved just 2,467 men.
They write: “It seems incomprehensible that dietary advice was introduced for 220 million Americans and 56 million UK citizens, given the contrary results from a small number of unhealthy men."
Writing in the journal cardiologist Dr Rahul Bahl, from Reading, UK, warns: “There is certainly a strong argument that an overreliance in public health on saturated fat as the main dietary villain for cardiovascular disease has distracted from the risks posed by other nutrients, such as carbohydrates.
“Yet replacing one caricature with another does not feel like a solution."
And Victoria Taylor, senior dietitian at the British Heart Foundation, said there was still a consensus of evidence about the issue.
She said: “We continue to recommend switching saturated fat for unsaturated fat.
"This is consistent with a Mediterranean style diet, which is associated with a lower rate of coronary heart disease, and research that has demonstrated a link between increased consumption of saturated fat and raised cholesterol levels."
She added: “Coronary heart disease is a multifactorial condition and no single food or nutrient is solely responsible for addressing our risk through diet. As well as the fats we eat we also need to pay attention to our diet as a whole and the balance of foods within it.”
Evidence from randomised controlled trials did not support the introduction of dietary fat guidelines in 1977 and 1983: a systematic review and meta-analysis Open Heart 10 February 2015; doi 10.1136/openhrt-2014-000196 [abstract]
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