The relationship is not as black and white as we thought, says Dr Rajiv Chowdhury, a cardiovascular epidemiologist and a Gates Scholar at Cambridge University.
He led a major review of 72 studies that suggested saturated fat doesn’t cause heart disease.
‘While earlier studies showed saturated fat does raise bad cholesterol, the bigger picture shows it also increases potentially good cholesterol, which reduces bad fats in blood,’ he says. The findings were controversial, but Dr Chowdhury is one of an increasing number of scientists who believe current heart health advice is misguided, if not harmful.