Is There a Link Between Saturated Fat and Heart Disease? - Essay Sample

Introduction

Even after decades of extensive research, controversy rages on and there seems to be no common ground among scientists regarding the link between saturated fat and heart diseases. For many years, doctors and the public have held the view that consumption of foods saturated with fat predisposes consumers to the risk of cardiovascular heart disease. However, some recent studies have challenged this long-standing proscription, calling for its immediate end because it lacks scientific basis. Other scholars argue that evidence on the link between saturated fat-laden products and cardiovascular disease is overwhelming. This paper argues that there is a valid link between saturated fat and heart-related diseases.

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Although many previous studies had suggested that there is no valid link between consumption of saturated fat and heart diseases, no other scientific proposition has ever caused a stir in consumer science scholarship like a recent editorial published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine that delinked heart disease from consumption of saturated fats. Authored by Aseem Malhotra, Rita Redberg, and Pascal Meier, the publication exhorts the scientific community and the public to urgently make a paradigm shift in their attitudes towards the consumption of saturated fat-laden products. In their systemic review and meta-analysis of observational studies, Malhotra, Redberg, and Meier find no association of coronary heart disease and uptake of saturated fat-laden products. They argue that low-density lipoprotein cholesterol does not clog the arteries as previously thought. Coronary heart disease, they aver, needs to be considered as a pimple and not a clog; it is a chronic inflammatory condition. They conclude the cardiovascular diseases can be effectively reduced by adopting a proper overall diet and healthy lifestyle (Malhotra, Redberg, & Meier, 2016). However, this claim cannot be relied upon at this stage because decades of sound science has proved that fat-saturated products can raise the level of the 'bad' cholesterol to a level where it poses a risk of heart diseases (American Heart Association, 2017).

Extensive research elsewhere has shown that long-term in intake of saturated fats increases the risk of cardiovascular disease among professionals. In two prospective longitudinal cohort studies, Zong et al. (2016) find that saturate fat-laden food reduces the risk of suffering from coronary heart disease. The study's strength lies in researchers' reliance on both reported data of the participants and the food regimen that was given to the participants while in hospital settings over the period of study. This means that the type of saturated fat food against which consumption was measured does not suffer bias often evidenced in reported data. Given the study design, the findings offer a convincing explanation that saturated fat predisposes people to cardiovascular disease.

To better determine the association between coronary heart disease and saturated fat, it is critical the focus shifts away from saturated fat-laden foods as the singular food predictor of the development of heart-related disease. In their presidential advisory opinion on behalf of the American Heart Association, Sacks et al.(2018) argue that lowering the intake of saturated fat and replacing it with polyunsaturated fats will reduce the risk of developing cardiovascular disease. This conclusion, they argue, has been reached after considering scientific evidence in totality. Similarly, Walton(2017) and Svendsen, Arnesen, and Retterstol (2017) report that, although the association of fat intake and cardiovascular disease remains unclear, overwhelming scientific evidence shows that reducing intake of saturated fat lowers the risk of cardiovascular disease with Svendsen, Arnesen, and Retterstol reporting a 19 percent risk reduction. More importantly, Walton (2017) indicates that it is difficult to isolate the effects of saturated fat because saturated fat is a diverse category of nutrients with varying effects hence establishing the effect of one dietary factor is challenging. These conclusions show that the results exonerating saturated fat from cardiovascular disease cannot be conclusively established.

Research methods used to conclude that saturated fat has no link with cardiovascular have some weaknesses, making the new findings unreliable. According to De Souza and Anand (2016), studies that suggest an advisory shift regarding the consumption of saturated fat foods have limitations of error measurement in the assessment of diet; over-adjust for risk changes in risk factors; and inconsistency in adjusting for other dietary and lifestyle variables. De Souza and Anand argue that avoidance of the enlisted errors will modify the relations between saturated fats and cardiovascular disease outcomes. In the same breadth, Svendsen et al. argue that the problem with the results is that nutritional science is neither placebo-controlled nor double-blind. In other words, no placebo food can be taken for as many years as the study takes place to obtain data. The presence of weaknesses in these findings implies that the status quo obtains hence saturated fats have relations with cardiovascular disease.

Conclusion

In conclusion, strong scientific evidence links saturated fat with cardiovascular disease. Extensive studies have shown that decreasing consumption of saturated fat-laden foods leads to a reduction in the risk of developing cardiovascular disease. Despite the robust nature of the new evidence disputing this position, it cannot be conclusively established that a link does not exist between cardiovascular disease and saturated fat foods consumption. It is apparent that, for any researcher to understand the relationship between saturated fats and heart disease, it is critical that studies focus on the whole dietary factors rather isolating one type of nutrient. However, more research is needed to be carried out to clarify the controversy and clear this issue once and for all.

References

American Heart Association. (2017, March 24). Saturated fat. Retrieved from https://healthyforgood.heart.org/eat-smart/articles/saturated-fats

De Souza, R. J., & Anand, S. S. (2016). Saturated fat and heart disease. BMJ, 355(6257). doi:10.1136/bmj.i6257

Malhotra, A., Redberg, R. F., & Meier, P. (2017). Saturated fat does not clog the arteries: coronary heart disease is a chronic inflammatory condition, the risk of which can be effectively reduced from healthy lifestyle interventions. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 51(15), 1111-1112. doi:10.1136/bjsports-2016-097285

Sacks, F. M., Lichtenstein, A. H., Wu, J. H., Appel, L. J., Creager, M. A., Kris-Etherton, P. M., ... Van Horn, L. V. (2018). Dietary fats and cardiovascular disease: A presidential advisory from the American Heart Association. Circulation, 137(12), e1-e23. doi:10.1161/cir.0000000000000510

Svendsen, K., Arnesen, E., & Retterstol, K. (2017). Saturated fat -a never ending story? Food & Nutrition Research, 61(1), 1-4. doi:10.1080/16546628.2017.1377572

Walton, A. G. (2017, April 26). The saturated fat-heart disease debate is still unsettled. Forbes.

Zong, G., Li, Y., Wanders, A. J., Alssema, M., Zock, P. L., Willett, W. C., ... Sun, Q. (2016). Intake of individual saturated fatty acids and risk of coronary heart disease in US men and women: Two prospective longitudinal cohort studies. BMJ, i5796. doi:10.1136/bmj.i5796