Saturday, October 26, 2013

The Era Of The Lowfat Diet Is Coming To A Close

This very important article announcing the end of the low-fat era just appeared in the Daily Mail newspaper. Here are some choice quotes from the article:

"It is time to bust the myth of the role of saturated fat in heart disease and wind back the harms of dietary advice that has contributed to obesity." — Dr. Aseem Malhotra, interventional cardiology specialist registrar at Croydon University Hospital, London

"Focusing on an elevated blood cholesterol concentration as the exclusive cause of coronary heart disease is unquestionably the worst medical error of our time." — Timothy Noakes, Professor of Exercise and Sports Science, University of Cape Town, South Africa

"After reviewing all the scientific evidence I draw just one conclusion - Never prescribe a statin drug for a loved one." — also Timothy Noakes

"Food should confer wellness, not illness. And real food does just that, including saturated fat." — Professor Robert Lustig, Paediatric Endocrinologist, University of San Francisco

I have nothing to add.

(Except, perhaps, that 40 years from now, people will be shaking their heads sadly when they learn about low-fat diets, amazed at the primitivity of the late 20th and early 21st century—the same way we shake our heads sadly when we hear about doctors appearing in cigarette advertisements 50 years ago, or doctors giving mercury to their patients as "medicine" 150 years ago…)

7 comments:

Kelly the Kitchen Kop said...

Sharing this in my post tomorrow, thanks Alex!

Kel

NDE said...

Then again, for all we know in another decade or two we may find out that trans fats are even healthier after all! At any given time we can only go by the scientific evidence to date...

Alex Lewin said...

Thanks Kelly! :-)

Alex Lewin said...

NDE,

Of course anything's possible.

But I think it's instructive to look at how different food types entered our diets.

Hydrogenated oils were originally intended for use as candles; it was only when the market for candles got weak that someone decided to market them as food. And it was many decades later that it occurred to someone to investigate potential health effects:

http://www.westonaprice.org/modern-foods/rise-and-fall-of-crisco

Animal fats, on the other hand, have been in our diets since before we were humans. Certainly in biblical times, (animal) fat was recognized as a good thing:

http://www.biblegateway.com/keyword/?version=NIV&search=fat&searchtype=all&wholewordsonly=yes&language1=en&spanbegin=1&spanend=73

I disagree somewhat with your statement that at any given time we can only go by the scientific evidence to date. I think we also have common sense and intuition to work with. While they are not conclusive, they can, under the right circumstances, be instructive. And since intuition is what determines the next round of scientific research to be undertaken, some fraction of it is probably right!

Here are some "unscientific" claims I'll make. I didn't originate any of these...I don't think they've been "proven"--but let's check back in 10 or 20 years and see where we're at.

- High blood cholesterol is generally not unhealthy. Cholesterol-lowering drugs do more harm than good. They are a victory of marketing over substance, just like Crisco.

- Many GMOs were disastrous, and will be banned.

- Veganism turns out to be unhealthy and unsustainable.

- Massive use of soy in the food supply was a really bad idea.

- Fluoridated drinking water was a really bad idea.

- Wheat is more problematic for more people than we ever suspected.

- Plastics in the food supply had a severe impact on reproductive health and cancer rates.

- Antidepressants, anti-ADHD drugs, and female hormones in the water supply cause widespread emotional imbalances.

- Feeding antibiotics to livestock was a really bad idea.

All of these seem more plausible to me than the last several USDA food pyramids!

Obat kanker payudara said...

Very ncie post and i like this information thank's for your share

the Wonderer said...

Alex, I agree with your "unscientific" claims 100%.

Alex Lewin said...

Thanks Obat and Wonderer!