Background/aims: The importance of reducing saturated fatty acid intake to prevent cardiovascular disease and recommended intakes for omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) are controversial. Therefore, experts debated these topics at the biennial meeting of the International Society for the Study of Fatty Acids and Lipids (ISSFAL), in May 2010.
Methods: Debate transcripts, debaters' and discussants' reviews and literature citations were the basis of this report.
Results: Participants agreed that saturates per se are not 'bad', but that dietary recommendations should emphasize the substitution of unsaturates for part of the saturates. Evidence supporting omega-6 PUFA intakes of 5 to 10% is mixed; some interpret the overall data from diverse studies as consistent with a reduction in the risk of cardiovascular mortality and events. Others assert that randomized controlled trial data suggest that higher intakes of omega-6 PUFAs are not associated with lower risk of heart disease, or may even increase it.
Conclusions: All agreed that a 5-year randomized controlled trial comparing the effects of historically low (2%) with currently high (7.5%) linoleic acid intakes on cardiac endpoints would address the knowledge gap about the effects of different omega-6 PUFA intakes on the risk of heart disease.
Copyright © 2011 S. Karger AG, Basel.