Why Low-Fat Foods Must Now Be Avoided

Health experts have for long recommended 'low-fat' diets to counter the obesity epidemic. Some have now done a U-turn, telling us to eat more fat. Why?

For over half a century, obesity and heart disease rates have been increasing. During that time people moved away from eating natural saturated fats to eating artificial unsaturated fats, all because of recommendations made by health experts.

Now the experts admit that back then they were ignorant of the different kinds of dietary fats. Some fats are beneficial while others are detrimental to health. Until now experts have said that unsaturated fats should be consumed in preference to saturated fats.

"Eat margarine instead of butter" they said, and "cook with vegetable oils instead of lard". Unfortunately, those recommendations did not prevent obesity and heart disease rate growing.

Once the public accepts the guidance of health experts, it becomes almost impossible to say that the experts were actually wrong.

However, a report published by the British National Obesity Forum and Public Health Collaboration on Obesity entitled 'Eat Fat, Cut The Carbs and Avoid Snacking To Reverse Obesity and Type 2 Diabetes' is different.

Based on results of 43 studies, experts now say that the policy of encouraging low-fat diets has been bad for public health.

They now want a radical change in official dietary guidelines because low-fat diets are based on flawed science that has resulted in carbohydrate overconsumption.

The report states that good fats do not make people fat. Rather,

it is snacking between meals that increases weight gain. The low-fat, low-cholesterol messages have had serious health consequences, with obesity rates now at their highest ever, with no sign of declining.

Here is a summary of the report's findings:

• You don't get fat by eating healthy fats
• High-fat, low 'net' carbohydrate diets are better than low-fat, high net carbohydrate diets for weight loss
• Stop counting calories. Nutrients are crucial for health, which is harmed when you don't eat properly. Calories have differing metabolic effects, depending on their source
• Increasing exercise does not prevent obesity. Obesity is a metabolic dysfunction leading to abnormal energy divisions
• Saturated fats such as natural fats from grass-fed cows do not cause heart disease

Ancel Keys' original proposal in 1953 linking saturated fat to heart disease has suppressed the truth for too long. The replacement of saturated fats with vegetable oils has actually increased mortality, not reduced it.

Although vegetable oils have been shown to lower total cholesterol levels by a sixth over a 12 month period, they have never been shown to improve health and longevity. In fact, lowered cholesterol levels have been shown to increase mortality.

The latest recommendations are to avoid foods labeled 'low-fat' or 'low-cholesterol'.

No evidence exists proving that avoiding saturated fats or cholesterol in the diet reduces the chances of dying from heart disease.

The report blames the enormous food industry for influencing public health bodies to issue misleading dietary guidelines.

All for commercial gain...