Carbs and saturated fat don’t cause heart disease in women, finds Australian study

Everything you thought you knew about carbs and ‘bad fats’ has been turned on its head by the findings of a new Australian study.

It’s the news every woman wants to hear – eating carbs and saturated fat can help you avoid heart disease and diabetes.

A new Australian study has turned years of dietary advice on its head and says women who get between 41-44 per cent of their energy from carbs have a lower risk of high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes and obesity.

They were less likely to get these illnesses than women who consume less than 37 per cent of their energy from carbs.

And, even better, increasing saturated fat intake was not associated with heart disease risk or death in women, the study funded by the Heart Foundation found.

The observational study by researchers at Monash University tracked 9899 women aged over 52 for 15 years in the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health.

“There was no significant association between carbohydrate intake and mortality or between saturated fat intake and cardiovascular disease or mortality,” the study found.

“Both increasing saturated fat and carbohydrate intake were significantly inversely associated with hypertension, diabetes mellitus and obesity

It could be because the fibre in good quality wholegrain carbs stops the fat accumulating in your arteries, the authors hypothesise.

Women can eat carbs without fear of getting heart disease, according to a new study.

They also note that a lot of previous heart research has focused of males and it is possible women’s bodies may work differently.

“A low-fat diet has historically been the mainstay of primary prevention guidelines, but the major issue within our dietary guidelines is that many dietary trials have predominantly involved male participants or lacked sex-specific analyses,” said Sarah Zaman, a former Monash University professor who is now an associate professor at the University of Sydney.

Study author Dr Sarah Gribbin said “as an observational study, our findings only show association and not causation.”

“Our research is purely hypothesis-generating. We are hoping that our findings will spark future research into sex-specific dietary research,” she said.

Heart Foundation Manager, Food and Nutrition, Eithne Cahill, cautioned that “not all carbohydrates are created equal.”

“We know that quality carbohydrate foods such as vegetables and whole grains – including whole grain bread, cereals, and pasta – are beneficial for heart health, whereas poor quality carbohydrates such as white bread, biscuits, cakes, and pastries can increase risk,” she said.

“Similarly, different fats have different effects on heart health. That is why the Heart Foundation focuses on healthy eating patterns – that is, a combination of foods, chosen regularly over time – rather than a single nutrient or food. Include plenty of vegetables, fruit, and whole grains, and heart-healthy fat choices such as nuts, seeds, avocados, olives and their oils for cooking and a variety of healthy proteins especially seafood, beans and lentils, eggs and dairy.”

Originally published as Carbs and saturated fat don’t cause heart disease in women, finds Australian study