Milkfat, cardiovascular disease, and cancer: research findings in 1997/1998
1999
Gurr, M.I.
Publications on the effects of dietary fats, with emphasis on milkfat, cardiovascular disease and cancer have been reviewed for the period from mid-1997 to mid-1998. Regarding cardiovascular disease, a major meta-analysis of publications on the effects of dietary fats on blood cholesterol and lipoproteins found only minor effects in people living under normal domestic conditions, as distinct from strictly controlled dietary experiments under laboratory conditions. Many studies that have concluded that reduction of milkfat intake would reduce cardiovascular disease risk have been poorly designed and conducted and the results are invalid. This has been a major theme for these annual reports to IDF. A debate on the merits of a low-fat, high carbohydrate diet revealed strong differences of opinion between acknowledged experts which have not, however, advanced understanding significantly. Two important reports on diet and cancer have revealed that there is little evidence for a major involvement of dietary fat in most forms of cancer. Even for those cancers for which some evidence for increased risk from high fat intakes was demonstrated, the evidence was inconsistent and weak. Neither report was able to implicate milkfat as a consistently significant contributor. The evidence for an anticancer role for conjugated linoleic acid, an important constituent of milkfat, has been strengthened. Anticancer roles for other milkfat constituents have also been reviewed and this promises to be an exciting new research area that will benefit the industry.
Show more [+] Less [-]AGROVOC Keywords
Bibliographic information
This bibliographic record has been provided by University of Liège