Cochrane corner: what are the effects of reducing saturated fat intake on cardiovascular disease and mortality?

摘要

What should we be telling our patients about saturated fat and cardiovascular risk? There have been highly publicised systematic reviews of observational data suggesting no relationship between saturated fat and all-cause mortality or coronary heart disease (CHD). This is sensational, but is it correct? Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) are better than observational studies at clarifying effectiveness of interventions, and large numbers of people have been involved in randomised trials of saturated fat reduction over periods of at least 24 months. What do trials tell us about the effects of saturated fat reduction on health? And if we cut down on saturated fat, does it matter what we eat in its place? To find out, we carried out a Cochrane systematic review of RCTs.