Vegetable Fat Does Not Promise Healthy Heart, Says Study

A lot has been said about swapping animal fat with vegetable oil in human heart for the sake of your heart. However, a study published recently challenges the very foundation of dietary advice.

A trial conducted on 10,000 patients showed promising results in lowering blood cholesterol as they switched from saturated to unsaturated Omega-6 fats. However, these figures did not reduce deaths caused due to heart disease.

In fact, according to the research published by medical journal BMJ, severely reduced cholesterol "had a higher rather than a lower risk of death."

For over five decades, fat from animal has been condemned by dieticians for increasing cholesterol in the body that is linked to heart disease.

The first proven hypothesis that suggested that American Heart Association recommends use of vegetable oils instead of saturated fats was back in 1961. However, this is now being challenged by several researches. Even WHO insists that saturated fat intake should not be more than 10% of total energy intake. Over the years, full fat milk was replaced by plant based oils to make up for dietary requirements. But now researchers are starting to question the "fat is bad" theory.

The study was led by Christopher Ramsden, National Institute of Health, reexamined the random controlled trial conducted 45-years ago that included 9,423 residents of mental hospitals and Minnesota nursing homes. Part of Minnesota group was administered corn oil switched from saturated fat, while the others were on a high animal fat diet.

"As expected, the diet enriched with linoleic acid (a fatty acid found in plant oils) lowered cholesterol levels," said a statement by The BMJ.

But "this did not translate to improved survival. In fact, participants who had greater reduction in blood cholesterol had higher, rather than lower, risk of death."

"More research and longer studies are needed to assesses whether or not eating less saturated fat can reduce your risk of cardiovascular death," said Jeremy Pearson of the British Heart Foundation.