Macro partitioning
In healthy adults, higher dietary saturated fat intake is independently associated with higher LDL-C, but this relationship is not dose-dependent across typical intake ranges and is largely explained by abdominal visceral adipose tissue (VAT) mass rather than the fat itself.
If you are healthy and have a normal BMI, simply reducing saturated fat might not significantly lower your LDL-C if you have high visceral fat. Focus on overall body composition and visceral fat reduction, as these factors appear to drive LDL-C levels more strongly than SFA intake alone in this population.
Although dietary SFA was found to explain 9% of the variability in LDL-C, stratification of data according to quartiles of SFA intake did not reveal a dose-dependent relationship with LDL-C concentration. Furthermore, this association appeared to be independent of abdominal obesity in this cohort.
Why this rating
Cross-sectional observational study with a large sample size (n=409) and rigorous body composition measurement (DXA), but cannot establish causality.
Source
Association between dietary saturated fat with cardiovascular disease risk markers and body composition in healthy adults: findings from the cross-sectional BODYCON study
E. Ozen et al. · Nutrition & Metabolism · 2022
DOI 10.1186/s12986-022-00650-y
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