Framingham began before Ancel Keys's ideas were favoured. For 50 years Framingham has been the main workhorse to prove that the recommended diet was heart healthy.
Here are few important results.
1960: Cigarette smoking found to increase the risk of heart disease.
1970: High Blood Pressure increases the risk of strokes and cardiovascular disease.
1976: High HDL-Cholesterol is protective of both the heart and the brain.
1988: Higher HDL-Cholesterol reduces the risk of death.
1996: High Blood Pressure increases the rate of cardiovascular disease.
1997: People who ate more saturated fats have fewer strokes. (Really surprising.)
1998: There is no relationship between dietary saturated fat and heart disease.
2002: The lifetime risk of developing high blood pressure is 9:10.
2005: The lifetime risk of being obese exceeds 70%.
2007: Social networks and social connections influence obesity rates.
2009: High leptin levels may protect against Alzheimer's disease.
2010: Abdominal fat is associated with smaller, older brains in middle-aged adults.
The Framingham Heart Study - Many Successes
Much of the science we have has roots in Framingham research.
100's of trials keep on producing “black swans” unexpected results, that raise questions about the theory, but lead to even more research.
The continued failure of the Framingham Heart Study to prove the Diet – Cholesterol – Heart Hypothesis was embarrassing.
Over 40 years black swan after black swan appeared.
The Women's Health Initiative, was a major study, intended to resolve once and for all many of the questions the Framingham Heart Study had been raising. (Why were they getting so many black swan results.)
They did get a strong result. But not the result anyone expected.
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