My quick summary of this paper:
Researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health and The Oakland Institute looked at the evidence from 21 studies to see whether there was an association between saturated fat consumption, heart attacks and strokes.
The data pooled from these trials included 347,747 people who were followed up for between 5 and 23 years, and roughly one-third of them developed either a heart attack or a stroke.
There was no significant evidence to show that dietary saturated fat was associated with an increased risk of heart attack or stroke.
Quotes from the actual paper:
The objective of this meta-analysis:
To summarize the evidence related to the association of dietary saturated fat with risk of coronary heart disease (CHD), stroke, and cardiovascular disease (CVD; CHD inclusive of stroke) in prospective epidemiologic studies.
Design of the meta-analysis:
Twenty-one studies identified by searching MEDLINE and EMBASE databases and secondary referencing qualified for inclusion in this study.
Results:
During 5–23 years of follow-up of 347,747 subjects, 11,006 developed CHD or stroke. Intake of saturated fat was not associated with an increased risk of CHD, stroke, or CVD.
Conclusions:
A meta-analysis of prospective epidemiologic studies showed that there is no significant evidence for concluding that dietary saturated fat is associated with an increased risk of CHD or CVD.
Patty W Siri-Tarino, Qi Sun, Frank B Hu, and Ronald M Krauss
First published January 13, 2010, doi: 10.3945/ajcn.2009.27725
Am J Clin Nutr January 2010 ajcn.27725