Research
Macro partitioning
Replacing saturated fatty acids with unsaturated fatty acids (specifically cis-PUFAs or cis-MUFAs) significantly decreases total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol levels.
To lower LDL cholesterol, replace saturated fats with unsaturated fats. Substituting just 1% of your daily energy from saturated fat with polyunsaturated fat (like oils from nuts/seeds/fish) can lower LDL by ~2 mg/dl.
StrongSupportsVERY_HIGH confidence
Replacing 1 E% from SFAs with an equivalent amount of cis–PUFAs significantly decreased TC by 0.064 mmol/l (2.47 mg/dl) and LDL-C by 0.055 mmol/l (2.12 mg/dl)... Replacement with cis-MUFA yielded slightly lower reductions
Why this rating
Based on a WHO systematic review and regression analysis of 84 studies with randomized parallel or crossover design.
Source
Saturated fat in an evolutionary context
Eirik Garnås · Lipids in Health and Disease · 2025
DOI 10.1186/s12944-024-02399-0
narrative_reviewCited 8×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
More from this paper
- High intake of saturated fatty acids (SFA) from modern domesticated animal products and dairy increases LDL cholesterol and cardiovascular disease risk compared to ancestral diets rich in unsaturated fatty acids.Good
- High intake of saturated fatty acids from modern diets is linked to endotoxemia and inflammation, whereas unsaturated fatty acids do not produce this response.Good
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