BACKGROUND: Metabolic studies suggest that saturated fatty acids differ in their effects on blood lipids. OBJECTIVE: The objective was to examine the associations between intakes of individual saturated fatty acids and their food sources in relation to the risk of coronary heart disease (CHD). DESIGN: This was a prospective cohort study of 80082 women in the Nurses' Health Study aged 34-59 y. Subjects had no known cardiovascular disease, cancer, hypercholesterolemia, or diabetes, and completed validated food-frequency questionnaires in 1980. RESULTS: During 14 y of follow-up, we documented 939 incident cases of major CHD events. In multivariate analyses in which age, smoking, and other covariates were controlled for, intakes of short- to medium-chain saturated fatty acids (4:0-10:0) were not significantly associated with the risk of CHD. In contrast, intakes of longer-chain saturated fatty acids (12:0-18:0) were each separately associated with a small increase in risk. The multivariate RR for a 1% energy increase from stearic acid was 1.19 (95% CI: 1.02, 1.37). The ratio of polyunsaturated to saturated fat was strongly and inversely associated with CHD risk (multivariate RR for a comparison of the highest with the lowest deciles: 0.58; 95% CI: 0.41, 0.83; P for trend < 0.0001). Conversely, higher ratios of red meat to poultry and fish consumption and of high-fat to low-fat dairy consumption were associated with significantly greater risk. CONCLUSION: A distinction between stearic acid and other saturated fats does not appear to be important in dietary advice to reduce CHD risk, in part because of the high correlation between stearic acid and other saturated fatty acids in typical diets.
BACKGROUND: Metabolic studies suggest that saturated fatty acids differ in their effects on blood lipids. OBJECTIVE: The objective was to examine the associations between intakes of individual saturated fatty acids and their food sources in relation to the risk of coronary heart disease (CHD). DESIGN: This was a prospective cohort study of 80082 women in the Nurses' Health Study aged 34-59 y. Subjects had no known cardiovascular disease, cancer, hypercholesterolemia, or diabetes, and completed validated food-frequency questionnaires in 1980. RESULTS: During 14 y of follow-up, we documented 939 incident cases of major CHD events. In multivariate analyses in which age, smoking, and other covariates were controlled for, intakes of short- to medium-chain saturated fatty acids (4:0-10:0) were not significantly associated with the risk of CHD. In contrast, intakes of longer-chain saturated fatty acids (12:0-18:0) were each separately associated with a small increase in risk. The multivariate RR for a 1% energy increase from stearic acid was 1.19 (95% CI: 1.02, 1.37). The ratio of polyunsaturated to saturated fat was strongly and inversely associated with CHD risk (multivariate RR for a comparison of the highest with the lowest deciles: 0.58; 95% CI: 0.41, 0.83; P for trend < 0.0001). Conversely, higher ratios of red meat to poultry and fish consumption and of high-fat to low-fat dairy consumption were associated with significantly greater risk. CONCLUSION: A distinction between stearic acid and other saturated fats does not appear to be important in dietary advice to reduce CHD risk, in part because of the high correlation between stearic acid and other saturated fatty acids in typical diets.
Authors: Arne Astrup; Jørn Dyerberg; Peter Elwood; Kjeld Hermansen; Frank B Hu; Marianne Uhre Jakobsen; Frans J Kok; Ronald M Krauss; Jean Michel Lecerf; Philippe LeGrand; Paul Nestel; Ulf Risérus; Tom Sanders; Andrew Sinclair; Steen Stender; Tine Tholstrup; Walter C Willett Journal: Am J Clin Nutr Date: 2011-01-26 Impact factor: 7.045
Authors: Lynn Rosenberg; Yvonne P Robles; Shanshan Li; Edward A Ruiz-Narvaez; Julie R Palmer Journal: Am J Clin Nutr Date: 2020-09-01 Impact factor: 7.045
Authors: Sylvia H Ley; Qi Sun; Walter C Willett; A Heather Eliassen; Kana Wu; An Pan; Fran Grodstein; Frank B Hu Journal: Am J Clin Nutr Date: 2013-11-27 Impact factor: 7.045
Authors: Jaike Praagman; Linda E T Vissers; Angela A Mulligan; Anne Sofie Dam Laursen; Joline W J Beulens; Yvonne T van der Schouw; Nicholas J Wareham; Camilla Plambeck Hansen; Kay-Tee Khaw; Marianne Uhre Jakobsen; Ivonne Sluijs Journal: Int J Cardiol Date: 2018-10-22 Impact factor: 4.164