Skip to main content
ARS Home » Northeast Area » Boston, Massachusetts » Jean Mayer Human Nutrition Research Center On Aging » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #393080

Research Project: Personalized Nutrition and Healthy Aging

Location: Jean Mayer Human Nutrition Research Center On Aging

Title: Dietary saturated fats and health: Are the U.S. guidelines evidence-based?

Author
item ASTRUP, ARNE - Novo Nordisk, Inc
item TEICHOLZ, NINA - The Nutrition Coalition
item MAGKOS, FAIDON - University Of Copenhagen
item BIER, DENNIS - Children'S Nutrition Research Center (CNRC)
item BRENNA, J. THOMAS - University Of Texas At Austin
item KING, JANET - University Of California Berkeley
item MENTE, ANDREW - Hamilton Health Sciences
item ORDOVAS, JOSE - Jean Mayer Human Nutrition Research Center On Aging At Tufts University
item VOLEK, JEFF - The Ohio State University
item YUSSUF, SALIM - Hamilton Health Sciences
item KRAUSS, RONALD - University Of California San Francisco (UCSF)

Submitted to: Nutrients
Publication Type: Review Article
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/16/2021
Publication Date: 9/22/2021
Citation: Astrup, A., Teicholz, N., Magkos, F., Bier, D., Brenna, J., King, J.C., Mente, A., Ordovas, J.M., Volek, J.S., Yussuf, S., Krauss, R.M. 2021. Dietary saturated fats and health: Are the U.S. guidelines evidence-based? Nutrients. 13(10):3305. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu13103305.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/nu13103305

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: The last decade has seen nearly 20 papers reviewing the totality of the data on saturated fats and cardiovascular outcomes, which, altogether, have demonstrated a lack of rigorous evidence to support continued recommendations either to limit the consumption of saturated fatty acids or to replace them with polyunsaturated fatty acids. These papers were unfortunately not considered by the process leading to the most recent U.S. Dietary Guidelines for Americans, the country's national nutrition policy, which recently reconfirmed its recommendation to limit saturated fats to 10% or less of total energy intake, based on insufficient and inconsistent evidence. Continuation of a cap on saturated fat intake also fails to consider the important effects of the food matrix and the overall dietary pattern in which saturated fatty acids are consumed.