Fats, Role in Cardiovascular Disease

Cardiovascular diseases, especially coronary heart disease (CHD), have been a central public health problem in the West since the end of World War II in 1945. In the late 1940s, animal fats were suggested as a risk factor for CHD and validated in numerous research projects in the following decades. After years of research and often fierce political discussions, nutritional recommendations setting target values for fats were established in many Western countries in the 1980s. In recent years, the obesity epidemic has reopened the discussion on nutritional fats and shifted it toward the relative importance of fats and carbohydrates in chronic disease, with implications for the understanding of CHD. This entry describes how the knowledge concerning the role of dietary fats in cardiovascular problems and ...