The more we spend time researching what’s good and what’s not-so-good to eat the more we’re shocked that so many of the ideas that were drilled into us seem to be 100% wrong.
And not only are they wrong, it almost seems there was very little data to back up the claims in the first place.
If we even mention that “fat might actually be good” to friends and family we get the strangest looks, but check out this article from The Verge, Low Fat Diet Advice Was Based on Undercooked Science:
An international team of health scientists has completed a systematic study of the evidence available back in the 1970s and ’80s and concluded that a relationship of causation between fat consumption and coronary heart disease was never established. The researchers found just six studies that fit the criteria to be considered proper randomized controlled trials, all limited to male subjects and most addressing the proportion of fat in the diet only indirectly.
“Government dietary fat recommendations were untested in any trial prior to being introduced,” writes Zoe Harcombe of the University of the West of Scotland, lead author of the study. Despite this, “to date, no analysis of the evidence base for these recommendations has been undertaken,” which is what prompted Harcombe and her team to conduct their investigation.
From among the data on various diet types that was available, there were no differences in the number of deaths from all causes, and no statistically significant changes in death from cardiovascular disease. Eating less fat was not shown to improve a person’s heart health, even where changes in diet led to a reduction in blood cholesterol levels. “It seems incomprehensible that dietary advice was introduced for 220 million Americans and 56 million UK citizens, given the contrary results from a small number of unhealthy men,” comments Harcombe.
Beliefs are so difficult to change.
If you bring up the idea that fat may “be good for you” you’ll be asked for studies that show that this is true.
We now have the reverse approach…
Show us the studies that prove fat was bad in the first place!
