State of Health Podcast #7 - PUFA vs SFA: Minnesota Coronary Experiment, 2016 Meta-Analysis (Part 2)
Watch the episode on YouTube at @ https://youtu.be/XD2GsZN5URw
On this episode of the podcast we are going to learn about an infamous experiment from the late 60s early 70s called the Minnesota Coronary Experiment. This was an intervention diet trial where the investigators studied nursing home and mental hospital patients by altering their diets to reduce saturated fat consumption but increase consumption of corn oil rich in omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids. This study is infamous because it was an extremely large and well controlled study designed to provide indisputable evidence to support the diet-heart hypothesis. However, when the results of the trial went against the expectations of the investigators, the data was set aside and never fully published till 2016, almost 40 years later.
Read the whole article for yourself:
https://www.bmj.com/content/353/bmj.i1246
Here is my review of the 2016 analysis of the Minnesota Coronary Experiment data in British Medical Journal. In summary, the data clearly indicates that changing one’s diet by replacing saturated fats with seed oils rich in omega 6 PUFAs does reduce blood cholesterol levels but does not reduce the risk of death from coronary heart disease or all cause mortality. The evidence shows a clear association between lowering blood cholesterol levels and increasing risk of death from all causes, specifically in experiment participants who were enrolled in the study the longest (1 to 4 years). This association was more strongly correlated in the subpopulation of participants who were over the age of 65. The authors speculate that one possible explanation for the lack of benefit from PUFAs is their increased susceptibility to get oxidized. Therefore, the net effect of increased PUFA consumption produces unfavourable results because of the wide range of biochemical consequences oxidization presents. Ultimately, the Minnesota Coronary Experiment is the largest study of its kind with rigorous controls and included patient populations such as women and people over the age of 65 not usually seen in similar trials. I think it’s the best evidence we have available to judge the validity of the diet-heart hypothesis and in my opinion the results of the trial clearly go against the model. I don’t think there is a benefit to high omega-6 PUFA consumption especially if we consider that historically humans have only consumed about 2-3% of total calories from PUFAs. If any of what I’m saying does not make sense and you need clarification, please leave a comment or send me a message at
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Time codes
0:00 - Intro
1:04 - Brief summary of 2016 BMJ publication
3:25 - Start of podcast
4:22 - Brief summary of previous 2 episodes about similar topics
9:08 - Minnesota Coronary Experiment intro
10:41 - Washington Post article about MCE
16:46 - What is the diet-heart hypothesis?
18:51 - Another instance of unpublished data
19:40 - MCE details and recovered files
22:03 - MCE Methods
27:57 - MCE Results
39:42 - MCE Discussion
42:37 - MCE Strengths and Limitations
47:13 - My summary and conclusion
48:26 - Outro
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Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/state-of-health/donations
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