Official advice on low-fat diet and cholesterol is wrong – says new UK report.
A Report by the National Obesity Forum (NOF) and the Public Health Collaboration made headlines yesterday morning as a result of their findings that “eating fat does not make you fat”. The report, which is based on the most up to date scientific and clinical evidence, highlights the errors of the official health advice people have been following for the past fifty years, and shows that urging people to adopt low-fat diets can have “disastrous health consequences”.
It argues that the science behind the low-fat diet is flawed, and has resulted in the increase in sugar and carbohydrate consumption, becoming the chief driving force behind the obesity and type 2 diabetes epidemics. The conspicuous rise in these diseases immediately after the introduction of the dietary guidelines suggests that they are the root cause of the problem.
Prof Noakes comments that “the document represents the tipping point. It finally presents in one compact document the reasons why our dietary advice since 1977 has been a disaster – how it has led to the global epidemic of diabetes and obesity in the 4 decades since”.
The report recommends “a complete overhaul of dietary advice and public health messaging” in order to undo the errors of the past fifty years. For individuals, it outlines ten points which, if followed, will lead to effective and important health changes.
The complete ten points are:
- Eating fat does not make you fat.
- Saturated fat does not cause heart disease. Full-fat dairy is likely protective.
- Processed foods labelled “low fat”, “lite”, “low cholesterol” or “proven to lower cholesterol” should be avoided.
- Limit starchy and refined carbohydrates to prevent and reverse type 2 diabetes.
- Optimum sugar consumption for health is ZERO.
- Industrial vegetable oils should be avoided.
- Stop counting calories (calorie focused thinking has damaged public health).
- You cannot outrun a bad diet.
- Snacking will make you fat.
- Evidence-based nutrition should be incorporated into education curricula for all healthcare professionals.
Prof Noakes responded that the above ten points agree with what was proposed in the Real Meal Revolution book, being that the optimal diet for individuals is to “eat real foods; avoid processed foods; no sugar; limit carbohydrates and don’t fear fat, even saturated fat. And don’t ignore exercise. But you cannot outrun a bad diet”.
Jayne Bullen, Manager of The Noakes Foundation, views the report as an important milestone in the Foundation’s quest to get people eating better “as The Noakes Foundation, our absolute goal is that the world will start eating better in order to live healthier lives. This is specifically rooted in dialogue and research around chronic diseases; obesity and diabetes in particular. We are celebrating that the world is finally waking up to a movement that ignited South Africa through the revolution of people taking their lives and health back! Now for the next thirty countries”.
This report takes The Noakes Foundation one step closer to achieving our goal of educating people around the world about the dangers of sugar and carbohydrate consumption, and creates awareness about the need for self-education and empowerment when it comes to nutrition.
Link to the report: Eat Fat, Cut The Carbs and Avoid Snacking To Reverse Obesity and Type 2 Diabetes – National Obesity Forum & Public Health Collaboration
