I’m rushing out this morning so I don’t have time to share a lot of thoughts on this, but on first glance it seems like quite an inconvenient truth to the old guard: “missing” data from the Sydney Heart Study (1966-1973) has been found, and when analyzed, shows that current American Heart Association guidance on linoleic acid intake may be wrong.
If you don’t remember, the Sydney Heart Study is an intervention study in which the one group of men (30-59years) were asked to reduce animal fats to 10% of energy intake and to increase linoleic acid (“healthy” safflower oil, sunflower oil margarines). The control group
[…]that the omega-6 linoleic acid group had a higher risk of death from all causes, as well as from cardiovascular disease and coronary heart disease, compared with the control group.
Unfortunately, I only had time to look at to the MedicalXpress writeup now, but I’m interested to learn more about the missing data, how it went missing, how it was found, and dig in to the details of the new research.
Resources
- Study raises questions about dietary fats and heart disease guidance, MedicalXpress, Feb 5, 2013.
- Old study sheds new light on the fatty acids and cardiovascular health debate (editorial), Philip Calder, British Medical Journal, 2013;346:f493.
- Use of dietary linoleic acid for secondary prevention of coronary heart disease and death: evaluation of recovered data from the Sydney Diet Heart Study and updated meta-analysis, Ramsen, Zamora, et al. British Medical Journal 2013;346:e8707.
