Heart and Cancer Risk Not Reduced by Lowfat Diet in Older Women

I've been preaching the health benefits of fat for years, and now it seems the science is starting to catch up with what many of us have known for years. It's not the amount of fat that one consumes in the diet--it's the quality.

Ross Prentice and colleagues at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, Washington, tracked 50,000 post-menopausal women over eight years. Half the women ate low-fat diets high in fruits, vegetables and grains. The other half ate their usual diets. The researchers found no significant difference in disease risk. "Our study," Prentice says, "even though it has yet to yield the dramatic results that some might have hoped for, does include some trends toward positive health benefits."

The study finds that some women who ate high fat diets before the study - but switched to low fat during the study - showed a reduction in risk of breast cancer. Prentice says with heart disease, the type of fat consumed made a difference. "Among the women who make larger reductions in saturated and trans-fat, we saw trends toward reduction in heart disease," he notes.

Emphasis added. The study will be published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Here is an article with some information on healthy fats. In the coming weeks, I will post a three-part article with everything you need to know about fat.