Too Much Vegetable Oil Increases The Risk Of Heart Disease, Study Reveals

Researchers discovered a link between a vegetable oil and heart disease. Having large amounts of intake of vegetable oil could have a greater risk of heart disease, according to their study, which was published in the BMJ on April 12.

Time reports that the study was led by Christopher Ramsden, a medical investigator at the National Institutes of Health and other scholars. They examined the data from the Minnesota Coronary Experiment that was operated from 1968 to 1973. They found out that the study wasn't published, which was the opposite idea that substituting animal fats for vegetable fats did not protect the heart.

The study involved 2,300 women and men. They were allocated to a diet with vegetable oils or have a control diet with butter and animal fats. The outcome showed that those who ate vegetable oil particularly the corn oil had lower their cholesterol for almost 14 percent unlike those who did not. On the other hand, after a year or more, they did not perceive any less rate of heart disease or dying from heart conditions.

According to researchers, there were 22 percent risks of death for every 30mg/dL drop in cholesterol. This means that people who ate animal fats may live longer than those who consumed the vegetable oils.

Meanwhile, Dr. Lennert Veerman, a public health researcher at the University of Queensland in Australia and wrote an editorial about the study said that the findings of the study on linoleic acid and saturated fat may not diverge much on their results on vascular health, according to Reuters. She said that there is a need for more research on what fats are the best to use.

She further said that people should concentrate on recommendations such as avoiding trans fats, sodium, and added sugar and eat fruits, vegetables, lean meat, sea foods, whole grains, soy products, seeds, eggs, legumes and nuts. For vegetable oil she said, "It may or may not be better for blood vessels compared to saturated fat, but there is no evidence that does harm and there is no need to stop using it."