Kevin Klatt, PhD, RD

The American Heart Association (AHA) released it's Presidential Advisory on Dietary Fats and Cardiovascular Disease this week and the responses have been all over the place (see medscape ,  science-based medicine , HNR , Gary Taubes , Cardiobrief ). Here's my summary/take: There's nothing terribly new about this advisory; it's relatively the same line of thinking/evidence that the AHA has used to support it's recommendations in the past, so regular followers of the field will not read this report and be too shocked. The most novel aspect of it is an updated meta-analysis of 4 diet-heart trials which the AHA generated. The new meta analysis comes about because there have been multiple meta-analyses which have attempted to address this issue over the past several years, and they don't all align nicely - see here , here , here . Why? Because the study inclusion criterion that are used are often not the same. Shorter term trials have consistently shown that satu...

Ugh, saturated fats. Talk about one of the most polarizing nutrients in the field of nutrition sciences. Observational data questions their link to CVD (1). Original meta-analyses of RCT data that substituted PUFAs for SFA didn't adequately isolate their effects, were accused of biased inclusion and further analyses that have corrected for biases saw beneficial effects disappear and some cause for concern, regarding n-6's (2, 3,4 ) - this has been critiqued as well here  and here . SFAs are just a scientific PITA. I don't personally fear consuming them - I prioritize some over others, sticking to plant varieties mostly. I personally take the perspective that if you're focusing a lot of your diet around plants, which are cardio-protective for a number of reasons (5,6), you're doing yourself some good. One topic of scientific discussion that's come up lately, and the reason for a lack of a link between saturated fat and CVD, is the way that LDL particle subcla...

Every alternative health practitioner is pushing for the absolution of saturated fat nowadays. "The science doesn't support saturated fat as being the causative agent of Cardiovascular disease." Even the Wall Street Journal had an article on it today - see here . The article is full of bias, and written by a woman who has a new book that is supported by the idea that saturated fat is null. Even worse, it starts to demonize carbohydrates - as if beans and sugar are the same. Are we really trying to move from one reductionist viewpoint to another? I'm in full agreement that there isn't evidence to scientifically claim Saturated Fat causes heart disease. But the way that this issue is being presented is far from scientific, and often concludes things that are not valid. A few points to consider: 1. The Science of Fatty Acids - we' re seeing interesting paradigm shifts in the field, as we move beyond just "high LDL, high risk". This was the origi...

That title is half a fiber joke and half pointing to the need for a Nutrition Fact Check website (similar to the politics version ). Fiber also happens to be a great way to slow down digestion, to reduce the surge of blood sugar following a higher carbohydrate meal and maintain satiety for longer (1). I see/hear a lot of things about Glycemic Index and many of them are not factual, misguided or simply untrue. The most common myth I've heard lately is that all whole grains have the same Glycemic Index value as processed grains (it varies a lot, some do , some don't - see below). Besides the fact that one should be using the Glycemic Load and ditching the Glycemic Index, it's hard to substantiate those rumors - I don't like to call out web sites, simply type into google "whole wheat same GI as white wheat" if you want to see the numerous websites passing around this myth. If you would like a reliable source regarding general Glycemic Indices, try this Ha...

Fatty Acids Cheat-Sheet : Saturated : Long Chain   Palmitic - primary saturated fatty acid in most diets - high in beef or pork fat but low in vegetable oils - increases LDL and HDL, little effect on the ratio of Total Cholesterol to HDL Stearic - primarily found in beef or pork fat and in small amounts in vegetable oils - does not increase LDL - believed to be rapidly converted to a monounsaturated fatty acid after absorption  Medium Chain (don't require carnitine to cross mitochondrial membrane - more likely to be used as an energy substrate than for storage) Lauric - greatly increases total cholesterol, moreso increasing HDL than LDL Myristic - increases serum total cholesterol, both LDL/HDL - not a large % of fatty acid intake - doesn't effect TC:HDL much Short Chain butyric, propanoic acid - not generally found in the human diet, except from fermentation of fibers in the gut  - potential preventative role in colon cancer Monounsaturated : contains 1 ci...