Prevailing dietary recommendations, such as the 2015 USDA Dietary Guidelines for Americans, emphasize the importance of dietary fat quality on long-term health. Specifically, fats from plant sources is encouraged while the intake of animal fats, and particularly those from red and processed meat and butter, is discouraged. Although intervention studies largely support benefits of monounsaturated fat intake, observational studies have reported inconsistent findings. Unlike PUFAs that are mostly plant origins, almost half of dietary MUFAs come from animal foods, especially red meats. In this regard, it has been speculated that MUFAs from animal (MUFA-As) and plant sources(MUFA-Ps) may have divergent effects on long-term health. 

Recently, in a study published in Circulation Research, researchers from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, together with Prof. ZONG Geng from Shanghai Institute of Nutrition and Health (SINH) of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), found MUFAs from plant sources are associated with lower risk of premature death, whereas MUFAs from animal sources show the opposite. 

This research followed 63,412 women from the Nurses’ Health Study (NHS) and 29,966 men from the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study (HPFS) from 1990 to 2012. MUFA-Ps and MUFA-As were calculated based on data collected through validated food frequency questionnaires administered every 4-years and updated food composition databases. During 1,896,864 person-years of follow-up, 20,672 deaths occurred. 

Researchers found that total MUFAs and MUFA-Ps were inversely associated with total mortality after adjusting for potential confounders, whereas MUFA-As were associated with higher mortality. 

Additionally, significantly lower total mortality risk was observed when saturated fatty acids (SFAs), refined carbohydrates, or trans fats were replaced by MUFA-Ps rather than MUFA-As. 

Overall, this study support current dietary recommendations to replace animal fats with unsaturated plant oils for the prevention of chronic diseases and premature deaths, making it reasonable to lead a healthy dietary style. 

This research entitled "Associations of Monounsaturated Fatty Acids from Plant and Animal Sources with Total and Cause-Specific Mortality in Two US Prospective Cohort Studies" was published online on Jan. 28^th, 2019. 

The pooled substitution analyses for total, cardiovascular disease(CVD) and non-CVD and non-cancer deaths.
(Image by Prof. Zong's Group) 

Media Contact: 
WANG Jin (Ms.) 
Shanghai Institute of Nutrition and Health,
Chinese Academy of Sciences 
Email: sibssc@sibs.ac.cn