Eliminating saturated
fats can improve the health of the heart, but what you replace them with
makes all the difference, says a study. Replacing saturated fats with
unsaturated fats and high-quality carbohydrates has the most impact on
reducing the risk of heart disease, according to the study.
When saturated fats were replaced with
highly processed foods, there was no benefit, the study found. "We found
that when study participants consumed less saturated fats, they were
replacing them with low-quality carbohydrates such as refined grains
that are not beneficial to preventing heart disease," said study author
professor Frank B Hu from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
"Our findings suggest that when patients
are making lifestyle changes to their diets, cardiologists should
encourage the consumption of unsaturated fats like vegetable oils, nuts,
and seeds, as well as healthy carbohydrates such as whole grains," Hu
said. For this study, researchers followed 84,628 women and 42,908 men
who were free of diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancer and
documented 7,667 incidents of coronary heart disease..
Researchers noted that participants
generally replaced calories from saturated fatty acids with calories
from low-quality carbohydrates -- such as white bread or potatoes --
rather than calories from unsaturated fats found in vegetable oils, nuts
and seeds or high-quality carbohydrates like those in whole grains.
Replacing 5 per cent of energy intake
from saturated fats with an equivalent intake from either
polyunsaturated fats, monounsaturated fats, or carbohydrates from whole
grains was associated with 25 per cent, 15 per cent, and 9 per cent
lower risk of coronary heart disease, respectively.
However, replacing 5 per cent of energy
intake from saturated fats with carbohydrates from refined starches or
sugars was not associated with either increased or decreased risk of
coronary heart disease.
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