The roles of animal fat and sweeteners (mono and disaccharides) in acute myocardial infarction and other ischemic heart disease are examined through multicountry statistical associations between the dietary components and the heart disease mortality rates for 1986 for males and females aged 35-74 in 33 countries. For both acute myocardial infarction and other ischemic heart disease, it is found that dietary animal fat is the primary dietary macronutrient risk factor for mortality among males, with some contribution from sweeteners, while sweeteners are found to be the primary dietary macronutrient risk factor for females. Similar results are found for time-variations of coronary heart disease in Spain, 1965-1990. The likely mechanism linking sweeteners to heart disease is that it raises serum triglycerides and, hence, very low density lipoprotein levels. Similar results were reported in the 1960s, but only for males. While these results appear to be robust, others may want to reexamine these findings through other approaches.

http://orthomolecular.org/library/jom/1998/articles/1998-v13n02-p095.shtml