Role of Dietary Fat in Human Nutrition

Abstract

The high frequency of coronary heart disease among American men, especially in middle age, is not found among many other populations, notably among Japanese in Japan and Bantu in South Africa. Experimental, theoretical, and epidemiologic evidence implicates the diet, and especially the fats in the diet, in these differences. The search for other factors so far has been unsuccessful. It seems probable that the more common fats of the American diet, when eaten in large amounts as is often the case in the U. S., may contribute to the production of relative hypercholesterolemia and so to athero-genesis. Further, there is suggestive evidence that fatty meals may induce hypercoagulability of the blood and inhibition of fibrinolysis. While dietary fat cannot be the sole responsible agent, the weight of accumulating evidence is such that the most extensive research on the question of the role of dietary fat in atherogenesis and thrombogenesis is warranted.