Association between fatty acids and coronary heart disease: A scoping review

INTRODUCTION: High intakes of total fat are long known as a risk factor for coronary heart disease (CHD), but the association between fatty acids and CHD remains unclear. This scoping review aims to collate and analyze the association between types of fatty acid and risk of CHD.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: This review uses the methodological framework of Arksey and O'Malley. A total of 19 studies were selected from 9456 studies screened from the electronic databases.

RESULTS: Majority of the studies reported no association between saturated fat (SFA) and monounsaturated fat (MUFA) with CHD. Meanwhile, seven out of 12 studies reported inverse association between polyunsaturated fat (PUFA) and risk of CHD whilst 67% of the studies found that trans-fat intake was positively associated with CHD risk.

CONCLUSIONS: This review finds that all the types of dietary fat have different effects on the risk of CHD. Nevertheless, intakes of healthy fat such as MUFA and PUFA in controlled amounts are expected to reduce CHD risk. In addition, the divergence of findings found between studies might be due to the methodological inconsistencies. More robust research is needed to determine the actual dietary determinants of CHD as it will provide important information for future development of dietary intervention.