Women increase death risk eating saturated fat

WOMEN only need to eat an extra 100 grams of saturated fat a week to increase their chances of dying from heart disease by nearly 40%, a new study showed yesterday.

The research was based on 2,700 British men and women between the ages of 40 and 75 who were taking part in the 1984 Health and Lifestyle Survey. David Boniface, head of statistics at the University of Hertfordshire, looked at them over a 16-year period and found there was a direct link between the amount of saturated fat a woman ate and coronary heart disease.

People’s diet was assessed by asking them about how often they ate items from 30 different food groups and the amounts of bread, butter, margarine, milk, coffee, tea and sugar they consumed. Mr Boniface excluded people with a specific illness or condition which influenced their diet, or which carried an increased risk of heart disease.

The research found for men there was no relationship between dietary fats and coronary heart disease.

But it did find a “substantial and statistically significant relationship” between the two in women.

The study states that: “Analysis separately for age groups 40-59 and 60-75 showed that the relationship appeared to be stronger for the older women.”

It found women aged around 55 years who ate an extra 100 grams of saturated fat each week had a 38% increased risk over the next 16 years of dying from heart disease.

Mr Boniface said: “Looking at the information after 16 years, the link between eating saturated fat and the likelihood of dying from coronary heart disease is clear cut for women.”

He suggested several possible reasons to explain the difference between males and females in his study.

It could be because 29% of women surveyed did not go out to work, so bought and prepared the food they ate.

This could lead to women reporting their diets more accurately than men who were often eating out at work.

Another factor could be that behaviour such as smoking and alcohol might relate to dietary fat and heart disease in different ways in men and women.

Social class could also play a role in the differences because of issues such as access to health-related resources, he added.