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Science 30 March 2001:
Vol. 291. no. 5513, pp. 2536 - 2545
DOI: 10.1126/science.291.5513.2536
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News Focus

NUTRITION:
The Soft Science of Dietary Fat

Gary Taubes

Mainstream nutritional science has demonized dietary fat, yet 50 years and hundreds of millions of dollars of research have failed to prove that eating a low-fat diet will help you live longer. Indeed, the history of the national conviction that dietary fat is deadly, and its evolution from hypothesis to dogma, is one in which politicians, bureaucrats, the media, and the public have played as large a role as the scientists and the science. It's a story of what can happen when the demands of public health policy--and the demands of the public for simple advice--run up against the confusing ambiguity of real science.

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THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
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J. R. Hebert, T. G. Hurley, K. E. Peterson, K. Resnicow, F. E. Thompson, A. L. Yaroch, M. Ehlers, D. Midthune, G. C. Williams, G. W. Greene, et al. (2008)
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The Real Contribution of Added Sugars and Fats to Obesity.
A. Drewnowski (2007)
Epidemiol. Rev.
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Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptors and Liver X Receptors in Atherosclerosis and Immunity.
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J. Nutr. 136, 690-694
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Diet-heart hypothesis: will diversity bring reconciliation?.
J. M Ordovas (2005)
Am. J. Clinical Nutrition 82, 919-920
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Zinc Deficiency Increases Plasma Lipids and Atherosclerotic Markers in LDL-Receptor-Deficient Mice.
G. Reiterer, R. MacDonald, J. D. Browning, J. Morrow, S. V. Matveev, A. Daugherty, E. Smart, M. Toborek, and B. Hennig (2005)
J. Nutr. 135, 2114-2118
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Thematic review series: The Pathogenesis of Atherosclerosis. An interpretive history of the cholesterol controversy: part II: the early evidence linking hypercholesterolemia to coronary disease in humans.
D. Steinberg (2005)
J. Lipid Res. 46, 179-190
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Dietary fats, carbohydrate, and progression of coronary atherosclerosis in postmenopausal women.
D. Mozaffarian, E. B Rimm, and D. M Herrington (2004)
Am. J. Clinical Nutrition 80, 1175-1184
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Low-carbohydrate-high-protein diets: Is there a place for them in clinical cardiology?.
C. T. Kappagoda, D. A. Hyson, and E. A. Amsterdam (2004)
J. Am. Coll. Cardiol. 43, 725-730
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The diet-heart hypothesis: a critique.
S. L. Weinberg (2004)
J. Am. Coll. Cardiol. 43, 731-733
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Model of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis.
C. S Lieber, M. A Leo, K. M Mak, Y. Xu, Q. Cao, C. Ren, A. Ponomarenko, and L. M DeCarli (2004)
Am. J. Clinical Nutrition 79, 502-509
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Long-latency deficiency disease: insights from calcium and vitamin D.
R. P Heaney (2003)
Am. J. Clinical Nutrition 78, 912-919
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Cellular Cholesterol Depletion Triggers Shedding of the Human Interleukin-6 Receptor by ADAM10 and ADAM17 (TACE).
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J. Biol. Chem. 278, 38829-38839
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The Fish Story: A Diet-Heart Hypothesis With Clinical Implications: n-3 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids, Myocardial Vulnerability, and Sudden Death.
D. S. Siscovick, R. N. Lemaitre, and D. Mozaffarian (2003)
Circulation 107, 2632-2634
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Heterocyclic Amines, Meat Intake, and Association with Colon Cancer in a Population-based Study.
L. M. Butler, R. Sinha, R. C. Millikan, C. F. Martin, B. Newman, M. D. Gammon, A. S. Ammerman, and R. S. Sandler (2003)
Am. J. Epidemiol. 157, 434-445
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A Ketogenic Diet Favorably Affects Serum Biomarkers for Cardiovascular Disease in Normal-Weight Men.
M. J. Sharman, W. J. Kraemer, D. M. Love, N. G. Avery, A. L. Gomez, T. P. Scheett, and J. S. Volek (2002)
J. Nutr. 132, 1879-1885
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2001 W.O. Atwater Memorial Lecture and the 2001 ASNS President's Lecture: Human Nutrient Requirements: The Challenge of the Post-Genome Era.
V. R. Young (2002)
J. Nutr. 132, 621-629
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Relation between mothers' child-feeding practices and children's adiposity.
D. Spruijt-Metz, C. H Lindquist, L. L Birch, J. O Fisher, and M. I Goran (2002)
Am. J. Clinical Nutrition 75, 581-586
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Dietary Fat and the Development of Type 2 Diabetes.
J. A. Marshall and D. H. Bessesen (2002)
Diabetes Care 25, 620-622
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Carbohydrate: Friend or Foe? Summary of Research Needs.
B. O. Schneeman (2001)
J. Nutr. 131, 2764S-2765
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A Tribute To Pete Ahrens.
J. Hirsch (2001)
J. Lipid Res. 42, 891-893
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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)