No need to go overboard for heart health, study suggests, just switch fats

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To reduce the risk of heart disease, cut back on the saturated fats, right? Sounds good. Makes sense. But apparently we never had much evidence that it works -- much less evidence-backed guidance on what to eat instead.

Until now, say Harvard University researchers. Their review of related data offers some reassurance to the butter- and bacon-deprived who are trying so hard to be healthier -- but without living a life devoid of richness.

In a new study published Monday in PLoS Medicine, the team concludes that yes, cutting back on saturated fats does appear to pay off. But more to the point, they say, replacing them with polyunsaturated fats (as opposed to reducing fat consumption overall) works just fine, thank you. In fact, among people who replaced saturated fats with polyunsaturated fats, the rate of heart attacks and other coronary events fell by 19%, compared with those who just hung in there.

Here’s the full study. (Brace yourself for lots of MUFA, PUFA and SFA references.)

And here’s a primer on fats from the American Heart Assn., plus an explainer from MedlinePlus.

If that’s too much to take in all at once, the American Heart Assn. offers more readable takeouts on saturated fats, (the aforementioned SFAs), polyunsaturated fats (the aforementioned PUFAs, found in vegetable oils, walnuts and the like) and, even better, how to transform your diet if it’s still heavy on fatty burgers and the like.

MUFAs, by the way, are a reference to monounsaturated fats -- olive oil being a prime example. (Here’s similar information on that type of fat.) When it comes to coronary heart disease, data on replacing saturated fats with monunsaturated fats are mixed, the researchers say. They confine themselves to the saturated and polyunsaturated switch.

This is especially relevant, they say, because some nutrition experts have recently suggested that we limit our consumption of polyunsaturated fats as well. Let’s not be hasty, the researchers conclude.

-- Tami Dennis