February 8, 2006 -- Study Finds Little Effect of Low-Fat Diet on Heart Attacks, Cancer

A major eight-year study in which women either ate a low-fat diet or ate whatever they pleased reported today that the low-fat diet did not seem to protect the postmenopausal women from breast or colorectal cancer, cardiovascular disease, coronary heart disease, or stroke. The study did not question, however, that there may be other health benefits from a reduction in dietary fats, particularly the saturated fats found in many meats and the trans-fats that are common in processed foods. Considered a gold standard among clinical trials, the long-running Women's Health Initiative Dietary Modification Trial advised women in the low-fat group to reduce total fat intake to 20 percent of energy and to consume at least 5 servings of fruits and vegetables and 6 serving of grains daily. Results of the study were published in today's issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.