Red meat increases early mortality risk. At least if you live in the USA. Part 1

Background: This week, the news showed us that red meat consumption decreases lifespan (1, 2). But was this effect caused by the red meat, or because meat eaters had a generally unhealthy lifestyle? The news reports based their conclusion on results from the "Health Professionals Follow up Study" and the "Nurses' Health Study" (3) by Pan et al. 37,698 men and 83,644 women participated in the research. At baseline, participants were asked to complete a food frequency questionnaire. And they were asked to do this again every 4 years. Until now, 8,926 men and 15,000 women died during follow-up (22 years for men and 28 years for women). Men in the highest quintile of red meat consumption had a 37% increased risk of dying within the...

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Do trends in fat intake correlate to changes in heart disease?

Background: This is based on an article published in The British Journal of Nutrion by 13 scientists (Pedersen et al.) and 3 published letters to the editor in response to the article. More detailed background information can be found in an article I described earlier (1). This part describes the evidence for a link between trends in saturated fat consumption and their correlation to changes in CVD. Pedersen et al (2) state that: There have been substantial reductions in mortality from CVD (cardiovascular diseases) in North America, Western Europe and Australasia over the last 30 years that reflect successful national public health policies to reduce the intake of SFA (saturated fatty acids), in addition to promoting smoking...

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Natural fats do not negatively influence cholesterol

Background: In October 2011, the British Journal of Nutrition published a guest editorial by 13 scientists (Pedersen et al). In this article, they explain the importance of reducing saturated fat intake to limit heart disease risk (1). Because I found that the base of their information was scientifically incorrect, I decided to write a so-called "letter to the editor", which was also published (2). This was followed by a response by Pedersen et al (3) and again, by a response from me (4). All responses got published in the British Journal of Nutrition. The articles contain a lot of information, so I decided to go for a stepwise analysis of the contents. Pedersen et al are concerned that saturated fatty acids (SFA) may no longer...

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Heart disease and stroke mortality are highest in countries with low saturated fat consumption

Background: In 1993, Artaud-Wild et al published an article linking per capita intakes of saturated fat to mortality rates from coronary heart disease (CHD) (1). A global analysis was done including data from 40 countries. Figure 1 shows that a strong positive correlation (R = 0.78) was found between a "cholesterol-saturated fat index" and CHD mortality among men. This correlation was similar for the % of energy from saturated fat intake (R = 0.77). Figure 1: Is more recent data available? No articles about this correlation were published since. But in 2008, the British Heart Foundation published the European Cardiovascular Disease Statistics (2). The report included European mortality rates from both CHD and stroke for 1972...

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