What are your thoughts on selenium deficiency being a factor regarding heart / cholesterol health?
Also, I’ve seen that saturated fat may not be directly linked to an increased risk of heart disease anymore and some studies even indicate a potential protective effect? Supposedly the key factor is what saturated fats are being replaced with?
Did the Framingham Heart Study show in the 1980s that high levels of HDL is associated with lower risk of heart disease?
I agree with a few lines from these abstracts (emphasis added):
“The role of Se in cardiovascular health is generally agreed upon to be essential yet not much has been defined in terms of specific functions.”
“Selenium has modestly beneficial effects on blood lipid levels in a population with relatively low selenium status.”
Overall there isn’t much that can be confidently concluded here, however I think it is safe to say that to whatever extent selenium plays a role in “common” cardiovascular disease in the developed world, it is likely a very minor player compared with other, stronger risk factors such as blood pressure, insulin resistance, blood lipids, and smoking.
To your latter questions regarding saturated fat, I’d recommend starting with our very detailed, heavily referenced article here: