Dairy and Other Animal Fat Increases Risk for Heart Disease

Replacing animal fats with plant-based foods decreases your risk for heart disease, according to a study published online in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Researchers followed 222,234 participants from the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study and the Nurses’ Health Study I and II and monitored dietary fat intake and cardiovascular disease incidence rates. The results showed that replacing 5 percent of dairy fat with an equal amount of vegetable and polyunsaturated fats decreased heart disease risk by 10 percent and 24 percent, respectively. Researchers also observed a 28, 34, and 16 percent lowered risk for cardiovascular disease, coronary heart disease, and stroke, respectively, when participants replaced dairy fat with whole grains.