round half of all cardiovascular disease deaths are accounted for by sudden cardiac death, which can be thought of as the traditional and stereotypical heart attack. Saturated fat has received a lot of attention with regard cardiovascular disease because proponents of the cholesterol theory of cardiovascular disease claim that saturated fat is a cause of atherosclerosis (‘clogged arteries’). However, evidence suggests that saturated fat is not a cause of atherosclerosis, contradicting many of the earlier studies which have since been discredited for methodological problems. More worryingly for proponents of the cholesterol theory of cardiovascular disease, saturated fat is not implicated in sudden cardiac death exonerating its involvement in half of all cardiac deaths. In fact, of the dietary fatty acids, only the essential fatty acids appear to influence sudden cardiac death, possibly because of their anti-arrhythmic effect.
For example, research published in the American Journal of Clinical nutrition in 20121 investigated the effects of fatty acids of sudden cardiac death. The prospective study involved over 90,000 women between the ages of 34 and 59 and included 385 cases of sudden cardiac death. Those consuming the highest intakes of saturated fat had no significant difference in the risk of sudden cardiac death following adjustment for known confounding variables. However, as has been reported previously, those with the highest omega 3 and omega 6 polyunsaturated fatty acid intakes had a significant reduction in the risk of sudden cardiac death. From these results it can be seen that saturated fat intakes cannot account for at least 50 % of all cardiovascular deaths in middle aged women, adding support for the contention that saturated fat is not the cause of cardiovascular disease.
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