Doubts about the validity of dietary recommendations discouraging the intake of saturated fats
Keywords:
saturated fat, dietary recommendations, evolutionAbstract
Introduction: Ever since they first appeared, food guides have recommended that saturated fat intake should not exceed 10%, with the purpose of reducing the occurrence of cardiovascular disease. At that time the evidence upon which the recommendation was based was overestimated. Even today such reduction continues to be recommended despite the large number of studies advising reconsideration of that limit.
Objective: Demonstrate that saturated fat consumption does not affect human health and dietary recommendations about its limitation should be reconsidered.
Methods: A search was conducted for papers about the topic published in the databases PubMed and Google Scholar. The search words used were saturated fats, dietary recommendations, cardiovascular diseases, cholesterol and human evolution.
Conclusions: The meta-analyses and systematic reviews presented in the paper make evident that saturated fat intake bears no relationship to cardiovascular disease. Its reduction or replacement with omega-6 polyunsaturated fats does not prevent the risk of developing cardiovascular disease.
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