Replacing saturated fats with polyunsaturated fats has been shown to provide the greatest protective effect against non-fatal heart attacks among dietary interventions evaluated in various clinical trials, according to experts at the University of Toronto, McMaster University and Texas A&M University. This conclusion follows a systematic review published in the Annals of Internal Medicine that examined the association between saturated fat reduction and cardiovascular health in people at different levels of cardiometabolic risk, with a particular focus on people with high risk factors.
According to the Annals of Internal Medicine, the review focused on 17 randomized trials involving 66,337 participants, all with at least two years of follow-up. The aim was to compare the effects of reducing saturated fat or replacing it with other nutrients, particularly polyunsaturated fats (PUFA), on all-cause mortality and cardiovascular events, key public and clinical health indicators, as reported by the research team cited by Annals of Internal Medicine.
The media explained that within the cohort studied, participants at high cardiovascular risk achieved significant benefits by reducing their saturated fat intake. In this group, the results suggested a decrease in deaths from all causes, as well as a possible decrease in cardiovascular deaths, nonfatal myocardial infarctions and strokes. The targeted replacement of saturated fats with PUFAs is particularly relevant for reducing the absolute risk of non-fatal heart attacks, as specialists from the universities mentioned above made clear.
According to the Annals of Internal Medicine, the effect of reducing saturated fat was less relevant in people with low or moderate cardiovascular risk. In these cases, both reducing and replacing saturated fats with other macronutrients showed little or no benefit after five years of follow-up.
The publication detailed that reducing saturated fat consumption was consistently associated with lower total cholesterol and lower lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) levels in the sample studied. The decline in these biomarkers was seen as a consistent trend across studies, although the impact on mortality and cardiovascular events varied depending on participants’ risk.
According to researchers cited by Annals of Internal Medicine, in people considered high-risk, there is evidence that changes in the quality of dietary fats may represent a relevant tool in preventing major cardiac events and reducing all-cause mortality. The analysis suggests that simply eliminating saturated fat is not as effective as actively replacing it with polyunsaturated fats, which are components of various vegetable oils and fish.
In the studies analyzed, the scientists found that the higher the risk of the participants, the more pronounced the benefits of changing their diet. In contrast, changing saturated fat consumption among individuals at low cardiovascular risk did not produce clinically significant results in reducing cardiac events or mortality over the time horizon studied.
The study, coordinated by experts from the University of Toronto, McMaster University and Texas A&M University and reviewed by Annals of Internal Medicine, highlighted the importance of personalized nutritional strategies for cardiovascular prevention and emphasized assessing individual risk when establishing dietary guidelines that focus on reducing saturated fats and replacing them with polyunsaturated fats.
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