REDUCE ALL FATS OR JUST SATURATED?

Report #7290

Are you more likely to suffer a heart attack if you eat too much fat or you eat saturated and partially-hydrogenated fats? The most recent research shows that eating too much of any fat can cause heart attacks.

Danish researchers show that a single high-fat meal markedly increase the blood's ability to clot and cause a heart attack. It doesn't make any difference whether the fat is saturated, polyunsaturated, monounsaturated to partially hydrogenated (1). A report from The United States Nurse's Health Study shows that the types of fats most likely to cause a heart attack are saturated fats in meat, chicken, dairy products, coconut oils and eggs and partially hydrogenated fats that are found in stick margarines and many prepared bakery products such as cookies and crackers (2). The Nurse's study also shows that replacing saturated and partially hydrogenated fats with polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats found in most vegetables reduces a person's chances of suffering a heart attack, but the authors do not recommend that you add extra olive and corn oils to your meals because extra fat of any source contributes extra calories and increases blood clotting factors that cause heart attacks. Instead of their oils, you eat olives and corn with lots of fruits, vegetables, whole grains and beans.

By Gabe Mirkin, M.D., for CBS Radio News