The diet-heart hypothesis, i.e. dietary cholesterol and
saturated fats raise the serum cholesterol which in turn is a
risk factor for coronary artery disease is prevalent since the
1950s. Over the years it had a major influence on the
perspectives of nutritionists, medical researchers and the lay
public. However, of late, the evidence base supporting the dietheart hypothesis is being increasingly questioned. Besides
retrieval and re-analysis of archival data from incomplete
studies, study of internal documents of industry reveal that
vested interests may have played a role in maintaining the dietheart hypothesis. This brief review gives an overview of the
evidence and conflicting views most of which fell by the
wayside in the heady days of the diet-heart hypothesis. It puts
forth the question whether there is a paradigm shift in the
diet-heart hypothesis. Using the key-words "diet-heart
hypothesis" an online literature search was made using
PubMed, Scopus and Google Scholar. Standard texts on
nutritional epidemiology and other writings on the subject
were reviewed
