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According to the Centers for Disease Control, heart disease is still the leading cause of death among adults in the United States, accounting for almost 600,000 deaths a year. And according to the American Heart Association, heart disease causes 1.2 million heart attacks a year, with more than 7 million Americans suffering a heart attack in their lifetime. While some risk factors are beyond our control — family history, age, gender, and race — there are other risk factors that are a direct result of our lifestyle — smoking, diet, lack of exercise, stress, and so on.

Fatty Foods and Heart Disease

One of the most controversial of these risk factors is the effect of diet, especially the role of saturated fat, long demonized as an artery-clogging fat. A new study, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine in March 2014, calls this link between saturated fat and heart disease into question, citing insufficient evidence that eating saturated fat causes heart attacks.

What may be compelling about this study is that it’s a meta-analysis — a study of a large number of studies (almost 80 of them — 27 of which included the most rigorous kind of scientific study, the randomized controlled trial), involving more than 600,000 people.

Interestingly, the research also failed to find a connection between eating higher amounts of unsaturated fats and lower risk of heart disease. Yet a 2010 Harvard School of Public Health study, also a meta-analysis, concluded that replacing saturated fats with polyunsaturated fats (rather than with carbohydrates) reduced the risk of heart disease by almost 19 percent.

No wonder we are left scratching our heads once again.

Saturated Fat and Cholesterol

Does this latest study mean that all earlier research was simply wrong? That research was predicated on the notion that saturated fat increased low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, which clogged the arteries, thus increasing the risk of heart attacks. But scientists now say it’s not quite that simple: saturated fat does increase levels of LDL cholesterol but it’s the size and density of LDL particles that affects risk factor — the smallest and densest being more dangerous. These smaller particles are caused by excess carbohydrates and not by eesxcess saturated fat. The larger, less dense particles, caused by eating saturated fat, are now thought to be benign.

Scientists also believe it’s important to look at the ratio of LDL to HDL (high-density, or “good”) cholesterol. Saturated fat intake can also raise this level of good cholesterol and decrease harmful fatty deposits called triglycerides. Low-fat diet advocates have argued that increased HDL cholesterol is produced as a protection mechanism to clear out the bad cholesterol and that it’s no surprise that HDL levels increase alongside LDL levels.

Is Saturated Fat Good for Us?

So if saturated fat isn’t necessarily bad for you, is it good for you? It might be a leap to say yes, but in terms of heart health, it seems to be neutral. For now, though, the American Heart Association is sticking with its guidelines to restrict saturated fat intake to 5 percent of calories. Some scientists urge caution in jumping to the conclusion that it’s OK to feast on more steak, butter, bacon, and other fatty foods. After all, some fatty foods are associated with diseases other than heart-related illnesses: red meat is strongly associated with certain cancers, for instance, though saturated fat content is not thought to be the cause.

More research needs to be done on the different fatty acids that come under the umbrellas of saturated fats and unsaturated fats. For example, is the saturated fat found in dairy products healthier than that found in meat products? Are plant-based saturated fats such as coconut oil or palm oil healthier than those derived from animal products?

At the same time, we should perhaps worry less about the minutiae of macronutrients and ensure we eat as balanced a diet as possible, one that’s rich in fresh, unprocessed foods. Understandably, the fat-free/low-fat diet craze, which led to a switch to a carbohydrate-rich diet, did nothing to improve the health of the West; quite the reverse, in fact.

Is There Any Point to Eating Low Fat?

So what does this mean for a site about low fat cooking? Not much, surprisingly. Eating low fat is a reasonable choice. It can be an effective way to manage your weight, so long as you don’t simply replace fat with carbs, and sometimes there are medical reasons to eat low fat that have little to do with heart disease: fatty liver disease and gallbladder disease, for example. There is no one-size-fits-all approach to eating. If eating low fat helps you achieve your personal health goals, then carry on along that path.

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