Saturated Fat and Heart Disease

1/ There is no reduction of CHD with low fat diets it's a myth. The problem is that this myth was endorsed all over the planet because "american researchers had proved it"...
2/ When LF diets are not compensated by an increase in CH, LF diet is a low caloric diet and consequently it does produce a reduction in CHD because weight does not increase nor waist and insulin too.
3/ When LF diet is compensated by a high refined CH diet it is worse because this diet produce by transformation in the liver small dense LDL particles which are more atherogenic than large buoyant ones.
4/ Statins do have pleiotropic effects. They lower LDL cholesterol which means that statins reduce the number of LDL particles which are circulating in the blood. If these particles are atherogenic (small dense LDL and VLDL) statins will reduce LDL accumulation in plaques and consequently the rate of coronary or cerebral ischemic events. But statins are also anti-inflammatory drugs which means that statins reduce humoral and cellular response to oxidized lipids in the plaque. This could reduce the rate of plaque rupture and ischemic events.
So the main goal of a preventative program about cardiovascular diseases is to stop smoking. Then increase physical activity on a daily basis id est stop sitting and then decrease the amount of calorie especially CH, especially refined CH and suppress or slash added sugars. 
It is not a new fancy program it is the state of the art of human nutrition. But it is very difficult to move on agencies, governments physicians and people...

http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702303678404579533760760481486#lf_comment=167049202