Diabetes Health in The News: AHA Continues to Suggest Replacing Fat with Unsaturated Vegetable Oil

The American Heart Association has once again stressed that replacing saturated fats with either mono- or poly-unsaturated vegetable oil can greatly reduce the chance of heart disease. The article, published in Circulation, states that despite the disagreement on the subject, scientific research does support replacing saturated fats. The study does also remind patients that limiting their saturated fats alone is not enough to live a healthy lifestyle. It must be done as part of a healthy diet and exercise program.

The article pointed to four different trials as sources. These studies looked at the diets of their participants for over two years. The overall findings showed that those who ate a high amount of saturated fats had a coronary heart disease risk of 0.71. The authors also pointed out that sugars and carbohydrates are not a beneficial replacement for saturated fats. Even some saturated fats such as coconut oil that have been seen as healthy in the past are truly not as beneficial as many believe.

These findings were published in Circulation on June 15, 2017.