A low fat diet is not good for you. Mortality is higher among people who consume the least.
Those who want to improve their diet often have the same reflex: reduce fat. Remove butter, crisps, cold cuts or cream cakes. But this reflex would not necessarily be wise, according to the results of a study by McMaster University (Canada), published in the prestigious scientific journal The Lancet.
By analyzing the eating habits of people around the world, Canadian researchers have made an interesting discovery. Fat in food is not necessarily bad for your health.
On the contrary: those who consume the least have a higher mortality rate! And that, whatever the fats considered: saturated, unsaturated, polyunsaturated.
A global study
These results may seem surprising, but are taken from solid data. The researchers relied on a cohort of more than 135,000 people from 18 high, middle and low-income countries. On average, these people were followed for more than 7 years, and their eating habits were recorded through questionnaires.
To assess the impact of diet on health, the study focused on mortality, on major cardiovascular incidents (heart attack, stroke, heart failure), and on its links with the consumption of essential nutrients: carbohydrates. , lipids, proteins.
Risk increased by 23%
And the results on lipids are clear: the 20% of people who consume the most in their diet have a reduced risk of premature mortality – and not increased as popular belief might suggest – by almost a quarter (23 %), compared to the 20% who consume the least.
The consumption of lipids, whether they are saturated or not, does not seem to be linked to any particular risk of heart attack or cardiovascular mortality. High intakes of saturated fat are even associated with a reduced risk of stroke!
Sugars replace fat
Some must already be taking out the crisps and rillettes. But not so fast! Canadian researchers put forward a hypothesis to explain these results. And, unfortunately, she does not actively advocate for a open bar fat.
If the decrease in lipid intake increases mortality, it is above all because it encourages an increase in carbohydrate intake. “This would explain for example why certain populations of South Asia, which consume little lipids but a lot of carbohydrates, have mortality rates higher than the average”, specifies the Dr Mashid Dehghan, epidemiologist and lead author of the study.
Down with sugars
She adds that the nutritional recommendations, which propose a fat intake corresponding to about 30% of the calorie intake, were issued some forty years ago for Western societies, where the diet contained on average more than 40% fat, and over 20% saturated fat.
According to the researchers, the right balance is around 35%. “Releasing the pressure on lipids, even saturated fat, and putting limits on carbohydrates when consumed in large quantities” would be a much better strategy for health, explains Dr. Andrew Mente, one of the authors. of the study.
Because it seems that they are the real culprits, well hidden behind the manipulations of the sugar lobby. For example, he biased studies on cholesterol in the 1960s and 1970s in order to accuse fat of being responsible for the increase in cardiovascular incidents. The Camembert which tells the Roquefort that it stinks, in short.
The study published in the Lancet confirms the dangerousness of diets too rich in sugars. The mortality of those who consume the most is 28% higher, compared to those who consume the least.
Vegetables, and moderation
A second study in the Lancet, based on the same cohort, looked at the impact of the intake of fruits, vegetables and legumes. “Our study has shown that the minimal risk of premature death is observed in people who consume between three and four servings, or about 375 to 500 grams per day, with a limited gain beyond that”, explains Victoria Miller, doctoral student at McMaster University, and lead author of this second publication.
“Moderation in most aspects of the diet is preferable to very high or very low intakes of certain nutrients,” summarizes Salim Yusuf, who heads the cohort used for the study.
To balance Western diets, it would therefore be necessary to drastically reduce sugar intake, without worrying too much about fats (without overdoing it either), and by increasing the consumption of fruits and vegetables, preferably raw, and especially legumes, little present in our food.
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