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The linked article is actually quite reasonable, assessing various trials on their merits. (Many of them are so muddled as to not be testing one claim--see Lyon.)

Of them one old trial is of particular interest:

ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/01…
They kept total fat nearly constant while reduced cholesterol and increased linoleic acid in their experimental diet.

Moderate n (422-424). Adherence of about 50% fwiw.
And here's the kicker, a harbinger of all our composite/secondary endpoints in current papers:

"The difference in the primary end point of the study-sudden death or myocardial infarction -was not statistically significant.
"However, when these data were pooled with those for cerebral infarction and other secondary end points, the totals were 96 in the control group and 66 in the experimental group; P=0.01."
There is a trend: if we sum "definite silent MI", "definite overt MI", and "sudden death due to CHD" we get 71/422 in the control group, 54/424 in the experimental...

... but then again up in their methods they note that the groups "differed slightly in patterns of ... smoking".
But that's it. Which group was higher? How much? Such were the details published in papers in Circulation in 1969, apparently... and then this, writing off the non-CVD deaths since they already had their conclusions in mind:
Their note of depressed arachidonic acid in a few locations in the experimental (again high LA) group is quite interesting, though. Due to high alpha-tocopherol intake, they posit...
It turns out later that alpha-tocopherol (Vit E) has an effect size on the same order as the trend that was seen in the non-significant results from this old study.

ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/CI…

So was this a trial of LA versus sat fat? Or Vit E supplementation with diet changes?
So how about another one from their core studies, the British Medical Research Council one? They were underpowered for one. They also had their intervention as soybean oil, half of which was drank with fruit juice!

(This actually likely aided them, as heating veg oils ==> bad.)
More basically this is also a secondary prevention study. Maybe if you have had an MI, have the bad factors already having acted in concert to provoke that, you should reduce your saturated fat intake (and take a statin and a PCSK9 inhibitor while you're at it).
The Finnish study is more interesting. 12 years of followup. Two hospitals in a crossover design, 6 years on each diet (so enough time to normalize fatty acid composition throughout the body). All-cause mortality as a key endpoint.

sciencedirect.com/science/articl…
Here's the headline result:

Age-adjusted death rates normalized for person-years (i.e. time in the mental hospital) were lower in the soybean oil group than saturated fat group... for men.

Women died a tiny bit more with soybean oil, go figure.
So @kevinnbass , based upon the quality of these data as the core trials underpinning that review that you posted, are you still confident that:

a) they were truly testing what they thought? (see Vit E tangent above)
b) their effects are plausible (Finnish women/men, AA levels?)
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