Abstract
Do saturated fatty acids (SFAs) do harm? Many people think that ingestion of SFAs increases blood cholesterol levels according to Keys' equation, which in turn induces coronary heart disease (CHD). However, at least, a significant relationship between blood cholesterol (or LDL-cholesterol) levels and CHD incidence/mortality in Japanese women has rarely been published. If familial hypercholesterolemia is excluded, there would be no significant results even in Japanese men, either. In case that all-cause mortality is considered, the meaning of cholesterol is the other way around. In our meta-analysis with five reports, mostly dealing with follow-up studies for 5 years, mortality in men decreased as their total blood cholesterol levels increased; in women, high blood cholesterol levels were not a risk factor of all-cause mortality at all. Now we have to reconsider the sequence of SFAs, high blood cholesterol levels and CHD.
