Hewlings Susan
Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Central Michigan University, Mount Pleasant, MI 48859, USA.
GRAS Associates/Nutrasource, Guelph, ON N1G 0B, Canada.
J Cardiovasc Dev Dis. 2020 Dec 17;7(4):59. doi: 10.3390/jcdd7040059.
The diet heart hypothesis has driven nutrition recommendations and policy for decades. Recent studies have questioned the hypothesis and sparked great controversy over the assumed connection between saturated fat intake and heart disease. Recent evidence suggests that dietary patterns should be the focus of dietary recommendations, not any one food or nutrient. Furthermore, to classify foods as simply saturated fat, polyunsaturated or monounsaturated fats is to ignore the many other potential nutrients and health benefits. Coconut is classified as a saturated fat and therefore listed as a food to limit to reduce heart disease risk. However, different saturated fats, medium-chain or long-chain, act differently metabolically and thus have different health effects. The medium-chain fatty acids predominate in coconut are absorbed differently and have been associated with several health benefits, including improvements in cognitive function and a more favorable lipid profile compared to longer chain fatty acids. Coconuts provide a healthful source of saturated fats and should not be considered the same as foods with longer chain saturated fats. Future recommendations should take this research into consideration. It is the purpose of this review to discuss the research regarding the connection between saturated fat intake, specifically coconut consumption, and health, while focusing on dietary patterns and lifestyle behaviors.
几十年来，饮食与心脏健康假说一直主导着营养建议和政策。最近的研究对该假说提出了质疑，并引发了关于饱和脂肪摄入与心脏病之间假定联系的巨大争议。最近的证据表明，饮食模式应成为饮食建议的重点，而非任何单一食物或营养素。此外，将食物简单地归类为饱和脂肪、多不饱和脂肪或单不饱和脂肪，会忽略许多其他潜在营养素和健康益处。椰子被归类为饱和脂肪，因此被列为应限制食用以降低心脏病风险的食物。然而，不同的饱和脂肪，即中链或长链饱和脂肪，在新陈代谢中的作用不同，因此对健康有不同影响。椰子中占主导的中链脂肪酸吸收方式不同，并且与多种健康益处相关，包括认知功能改善以及与长链脂肪酸相比更有利的血脂谱。椰子提供了一种健康的饱和脂肪来源，不应被视为与含长链饱和脂肪的食物相同。未来的建议应考虑到这项研究。本综述的目的是讨论关于饱和脂肪摄入，特别是椰子消费与健康之间联系的研究，同时关注饮食模式和生活方式行为。
