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About This Episode:

In 1959 a landmark clinical trial, often referred to as the LA Veterans Study, began with the aim to investigate the effects of replacing dietary saturated fats with polyunsaturated fats, on the progression of atherosclerosis and cardiovascular outcomes.

This was an eight-year clinical trial in 846 domiciled male veterans in the US. The diets between the control and experimental groups differed by saturated fat and polyunsaturated fat (particularly linoleic acid) content, but were similar in calories and total dietary fat.

The findings of the study suggested that replacing saturated fat with polyunsaturated fat was beneficial for reducing heart disease risk. However, the study also reported an unexpected increase in non-cardiac mortality in the intervention group, which raised concerns.

In this episode, we discuss why the LA Veterans Study was such a seminal trial and what we can learn from it.