Despite the demonization of dietary fat by mainstream nutritional science, "50 years and hundreds of millions of dollars of research have failed to prove that eating a low-fat diet will help you live longer!" [Science Magazine, April 2001]
Following is a review of just a few surprising revelations in the authoritative 13 page Science Magazine exposé!
• 1984. The National Institutes of Health advises every American old enough to walk to restrict fat intake. The president of the American Heart Association tells Time Magazine that if everyone went along, "we will have (atherosclerosis) conquered" by the year 2000.
The Surgeon General’s office publishes a landmark "Report on Nutrition and Health," targeting fat as the single most unwholesome component of the American diet.
• 1988. Presuming the government edicts were based on a firm scientific foundation, the Surgeon General's office appoints a project director to simply gather the research together, write a definitive report on the dangers of dietary fat in one volume, which would then be reviewed by an already assembled committee of experts and then published.
• 1999. Eleven years after the Dietary Fat project began, with the report still unpublished, the Surgeon General's office killed the "fat danger" project! According to Bill Harlan, a member of the report's oversight committee, and associate director of the Office of Disease Prevention at the National Institutes of Health, "the report was initiated with a preconceived opinion of the conclusions," but the science behind those opinions did not hold up! The long sort scientific platform in support of low fat diets failed to materialize!
• For example, for 50 years it has been thought that fat, specifically the hard saturated fat found in meat and dairy products elevates blood cholesterol levels which in turn raises the likelihood of clogged arteries (atherosclerosis), coronary artery disease, heart attack and untimely death. "But after hundred of millions of dollars in research trials over the past twenty years, no study has generated compelling evidence that healthy Americans can benefit from or extend their lives with a low fat diet!" In fact, according to Science Magazine, the admonishments to reduce total fat intake have encouraged a shift to high-carbohydrate diets, which may be worse than high fat diets.
• It has been held as almost a religious truth that low fat diets are the requisite route to weight loss. Considerable data suggests otherwise. Despite the long term reduction in fat intake, U.S. obesity levels have surged from 14% of the population in the early 60's to an estimated 30% + of the population in the 1990's. The results of well-controlled clinical trials are consistent: People on low fat diets initially lose a couple of kilograms, as they would on any diet, and then the weight tends to return. After 1 or 2 years little has been achieved. For example, the 25,000 women enrolled in the ongoing $100 million Women's Health Initiative (WHI) study were counseled to consume only 20% of their calories from fat. After nearly 3 years on the "near draconian" regime, say WHI sources, the women had lost on average, a kilogram (2.2 lbs.) each.
• Current diabetes rates are at near epidemic proportions. Since obesity increases the risk for diabetes and heart disease, the low fat revolution has largely failed to bring about decreased rates of heart disease and may be responsible for the tragic surge in diabetes.
• It’s clear that the obesity epidemic occurred just as the government began bombarding Americans with the low-fat message, which suggests that low-fat diets have the unintended consequences of weight gain! "Most of us would have predicted that if we can get the population to change its fat intake, with its dense calories, we would see a reduction in weight," admits NIH official Bill Harlan. "Instead, we see the exact opposite."
Source: Taubes, Gary, Science Magazine, April 2001
