Research
Macro partitioning
Replacing saturated fats with monounsaturated or polyunsaturated fats reduces LDL cholesterol without lowering HDL, thereby reducing coronary heart disease risk, whereas replacing saturated fats with carbohydrates may lower HDL and reduce the predicted benefit.
To improve your heart health, focus on swapping saturated fats (like butter and fatty meats) for unsaturated fats (like olive oil, nuts, and fish). Avoid simply replacing fat with refined carbohydrates, as this can lower your good cholesterol (HDL) and reduce the heart benefits.
GoodQualifiesHIGH confidence
Substitution of monounsaturated or polyunsaturated fat for saturated fat reduces LDL levels without appreciably lowering HDL levels... Substitution of carbohydrate for saturated fat in the diet... tends to reduce the serum level of HDL as well as total and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol.
Why this rating
Based on multiple metabolic studies and prospective data, though the paper notes direct intervention trials on fat modification have yielded inconsistent results.
Source
Diet and Health: What Should We Eat?
Walter C. Willett · Science · 1994
narrative_reviewCited 1,012×
Read the paper 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 →