For your convenience, here’s a list of peer reviewed studies and journal articles, challenging current dietary advice, since March 2013.

The papers are listed in reverse chronological order and I’ll try to keep this updated. Please post a comment with those I’ve missed and I’ll update.

September 2018. Gershuni V.M. Saturated Fat: Part of a Healthy Diet. Current Nutrition Reports. 2018.

September 11th 2018. Mente et al. “Association of dairy intake with cardiovascular disease and mortality in 21 countries from five continents (PURE): a prospective cohort study.” The Lancet. 2018.

August 14th 2018: Harcombe Z. US dietary guidelines: is saturated fat a nutrient of concern? Br. J. Sports Med. 2018.

March 26th 2018: Grasgruber P et al. “Global Correlates of Cardiovascular Risk: A Comparison of 158 Countries.” Nutrients. 2018.

August 29th 2017: Dehghan et al. “Associations of fats and carbohydrate intake with cardiovascular disease and mortality in 18 countries from five continents (PURE): a prospective cohort study.” The Lancet. 2017.

August 24th 2017: Kelly et al. “Whole grain cereals for cardiovascular disease.” Cochrane Review. 2017.

May 19th 2017: Hamley, Steven. “The effect of replacing saturated fat with mostly n-6 polyunsaturated fat on coronary heart disease: a meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials.” Nutrition Journal. 2017.

April 25th 2017: Malhotra, Redberg & Meier. “Saturated fat does not clog the arteries: coronary heart disease is a chronic inflammatory condition, the risk of which can be effectively reduced from healthy lifestyle interventions.” Br. J. Sports Med. 2017.

January 1st 2017: Noakes & Windt. “Evidence that supports the prescription of low-carbohydrate high-fat diets: a narrative review.” Br. J. Sports Med. 2017.

October 18th 2016: Harcombe Z. “Dietary fat guidelines have no evidence base: where next for public health nutritional advice?” Br. J. Sports Med. 2016.

October 3rd 2016: Harcombe et al. “Evidence from prospective cohort studies does not support current dietary fat guidelines: a systematic review and meta-analysis.” Br. J. Sports Med. 2016.

September 27th 2016: Pavel Grasgruber et al. “Food consumption and the actual statistics of cardiovascular diseases: An epidemiological comparison of 42 European countries.” Food & Nutrition Research. 2016.

August 19th 2016: Unwin, Haslam & Livesey. “It is the glycaemic response to, not the carbohydrate content of food that matters in diabetes and obesity: The glycaemic index revisited.” Journal of Insulin Resistance. 2016.

August 8th 2016: Harcombe et al. “Evidence from randomised controlled trials does not support current dietary fat guidelines: a systematic review and meta-analysis.” BMJ Open Heart. 2015.



June 29th 2016: Harcombe et al: “Evidence from prospective cohort studies did not support the introduction of dietary fat guidelines in 1977 and 1983: a systematic review.” Br. J. Sports Med. 2016.

June 13th 2016: Harcombe Z. “Designed by the food industry for wealth, not health: the ‘Eatwell Guide’.” Br. J. Sports Med. 2016.

March/April 2016: DiNicolantonio JJ, Harcombe Z, O’Keefe JH. “Problems with the 2015 Dietary Guidelines for Americans: An Alternative.” Mo. Med. 2016.

January 20th 2016: Jaike Praagman et al “The association between dietary saturated fatty acids and ischemic heart disease depends on the type and source of fatty acid in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition–Netherlands cohort.” AJCN. 2016.

October 20th 2015: Jonathan Sackner-Bernstein, David Kanter & Sanjay Kaul. “Dietary Intervention for Overweight and Obese Adults: Comparison of Low-Carbohydrate and Low-Fat Diets. A Meta-Analysis.” PLoS One 2015.

September 23rd 2015: Nina Teicholz. “The scientific report guiding the US dietary guidelines: is it scientific?” The BMJ. 2015

September 2015: Credit Suisse Research Institute. “Fat: The new health paradigm“. (Not peer reviewed).

August 26th 2015: Malhotra et al. “It is time to stop counting calories, and time instead to promote dietary changes that substantially and rapidly reduce cardiovascular morbidity and mortality.” BMJ Open Heart. 2015.

August 12th 2015: de Souza, R. J., et al. “Intake of saturated and trans unsaturated fatty acids and risk of all cause mortality, cardiovascular disease, and type 2 diabetes: systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies.” BMJ. 2015.

July 15th 2015: Tanja K Thorning et al. “Diets with high-fat cheese, high-fat meat, or carbohydrate on cardiovascular risk markers in overweight postmenopausal women: a randomized crossover trial.” AJCN. 2015.

June 9th 2015: Edward Archer, Gregory Pavela, Carl J. Lavie. “The Inadmissibility of What We Eat in America and NHANES Dietary Data in Nutrition and Obesity Research and the Scientific Formulation of National Dietary Guidelines.” Mayo Clinic Proceedings. 2015. Video interview here.

May 7th 2015: Malhotra, Noakes & Phinney. “It is time to bust the myth of physical inactivity: you cannot outrun a bad diet.” British Journal of Sports Medicine. 2015.

February 9th 2015: Harcombe et al. “Evidence from randomised controlled trials did not support the introduction of dietary fat guidelines in 1977 and 1983: a systematic review and meta-analysis.” BMJ Open Heart. 2015.

February 1st 2015: Nathalie Genevieve Puaschitz et al. “Dietary Intake of Saturated Fat Is Not Associated with Risk of Coronary Events or Mortality in Patients with Established Coronary Artery Disease.” The Journal of Nutrition. (Many thanks to Ted Hutchinson for this one).

January 26th 2015: Zoë Harcombe. What caused the obesity epidemic? Trends in Urology & Men’s Health. (2015).

November 24th 2014: Sean C Lucan and James J DiNicolantonio: “How calorie-focused thinking about obesity and related diseases may mislead and harm public health. An alternative.” Public Health Nutrition. 2014.

November 21st 2014: Brittanie M. Volk, Laura J. Kunces, Daniel J. Freidenreich, et al. “Effects of Step-Wise Increases in Dietary Carbohydrate on Circulating Saturated Fatty Acids and Palmitoleic Acid in Adults with Metabolic Syndrome”. PLoS One 2014.

November 17th 2014: Malhotra A, Maruthappu M, Stephenson T. “Healthy eating: an NHS priority A sure way to improve health outcomes for NHS staff and the public.” Postgrad Med J 2014.

October 19th 2014: Jennifer Elliott. “Flaws, Fallacies and Facts: Reviewing the Early History of the Lipid and Diet/Heart Hypotheses“. Food and Nutrition Sciences 2014; PP. 1886-1903.

October 8th 2014: Lamarche, B., and Couture, P. “It is time to revisit current dietary recommendations for saturated fat.” Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism. pp.1-3. 2014 (Many thanks to Gaby in comments for this one).

September 2014: Bazzano LA, Hu T, Reynolds K, et al. “Effects of Low-Carbohydrate and Low-Fat Diets A Randomized Trial”. Ann Intern Med 2014; 161(5): 309-18.2

August 2014: Harcombe Z, Baker J. “Plant Sterols lower cholesterol, but increase risk for Coronary Heart Disease.” Online J Biol Sci 2014; 14(3): 167-9.

July 2014: Schwab et al. “Effect of the amount and type of dietary fat on cardiometabolic risk factors and risk of developing type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and cancer: a systematic review.” Food and Nutrition Research; 2014.

June 2014: Feinman RD, Pogozelski WK, Astrup A, et al. “Dietary Carbohydrate restriction as the first approach in diabetes management. Critical review and evidence base.” Nutrition (Burbank, Los Angeles County, Calif) 2014.

April 2014: Schwingshackl L, Hoffmann G. “Dietary fatty acids in the secondary prevention of coronary heart disease: a systematic review, meta-analysis and meta-regression“. BMJ Open 2014; 4(4).

April 2014: Hansen A. “Swedish health advisory body says too much carbohydrate, not fat, leads to obesity“. BMJ 2013; 347.

March 2014: Chowdhury R, Warnakula S, Kunutsor S, et al. “Association of Dietary, Circulating, and Supplement Fatty Acids With Coronary Risk: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis“. Ann Intern Med 2014; 160(6): 398-406.

March 2014: Georgina E. Crichton and Ala’a Alkerwi. “Whole-fat dairy food intake is inversely associated with obesity prevalence: findings from the Observation of Cardiovascular Risk Factors in Luxembourg study.” Nutrition Research. (Many thanks to Evonne in comments for this one).

February 2014: Ravnskov U, DiNicolantonio JJ, Harcombe Z, Kummerow FA, Okuyama H, Worm N. “The Questionable Benefits of Exchanging Saturated Fat With Polyunsaturated Fat.” Mayo Clinic proceedings Mayo Clinic 2014. (Viewable here thanks to Dr Michael Eades)

January 2014: DiNicolantonio JJ. “The cardiometabolic consequences of replacing saturated fats with carbohydrates or Ω-6 polyunsaturated fats: Do the dietary guidelines have it wrong?” Open Heart 2014; 1(1).

December 2013: Schwingshackl L, Hoffmann G. “Comparison of effects of long-term low-fat vs high-fat diets on blood lipid levels in overweight or obese patients: a systematic review and meta-analysis”. Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics 2013; 113(12): 1640-61.

October 2013: Malhotra A. “Saturated fat is not the major issue”. BMJ 2013; 347.

May 2013: Malhotra A. “The dietary advice on added sugar needs emergency surgery“. BMJ 2013; 346.

May 2013: Glen D.Lawrence: “Dietary Fats and Health: Dietary Recommendations in the Context of Scientific Evidence.” Advances in Nutrition. 2013.

March 2013: Z. Harcombe, J. Baker, B. Davies. “Food for Thought: Have We Been Giving the Wrong Dietary Advice?” Food and Nutrition Sciences 2013; 4(3): 240-4. (This is the second most popular paper for the journal Food & Nutrition Sciences, confirming the interest in progressive, rather than conventional, thinking.)

And, of course, none of these should have been necessary as Uffe Ravnskov ended the debate in May 2010 in this book – viewable here.