Macro partitioning
Restricting saturated fat intake does not consistently reduce cardiovascular disease risk and may be associated with lower mortality when replaced by carbohydrates, challenging blanket low-fat dietary guidelines.
Stop fearing saturated fat in whole foods like meat, dairy, and nuts. Current evidence suggests that restricting these foods does not lower heart disease risk and may be worse if you replace them with high-carbohydrate foods. Focus on eating whole, unprocessed foods rather than isolating fat content.
Prospective cohort studies which include data from 18 countries on five continents found that higher carbohydrate intake was associated with an increased risk of total mortality, whereas total fat and individual types of fat were related to lower total mortality... Neither total fat nor types of fat were associated with cardiovascular disease, myocardial infarction, or cardiovascular disease mortality, while saturated fat had an inverse association with stroke.
Why this rating
The paper cites large prospective cohorts (PURE study) but acknowledges the evidence is observational and subject to confounding, noting 'low to very low certainty evidence' in some GRADE assessments.
Source
Bringing some balance to fat bashing
Joanne Slavin et al. · Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems · 2025
DOI 10.3389/fsufs.2025.1606617
More from this paper
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Related findings · Macro partitioning
- Total daily protein intake of 1.6 g/kg/day is sufficient for maximizing resistance training-induced muscle gains, with an upper confidence interval of 2.2 g/kg/day.Strong
- Resistance exercise training combined with sufficient dietary protein intake acts synergistically to maximize skeletal muscle hypertrophy, with protein intake saturating around 1.6 g/kg/day for general populations and potentially requiring 2.0-2.2 g/kg/day for resistance-trained individuals.Strong
- Trans fats should be completely eliminated from the diet, as they increase LDL cholesterol, decrease HDL cholesterol, and are directly associated with increased coronary risk.Strong
This is one finding among thousands. Every one is graded and traced to its source, so you can see what the evidence actually supports. Browse the research →