Vital Information
By Dr. Beth Gruber, CarbSmart Contributor
Posted 12/21/2001
The "Official Opinion"
Previously in these discussions, we saw how a government committee, supported by the media and some public groups, pushed the low fat idea into becoming The Official Opinion that low fat equals good health. Despite opinions to the contrary, the major health agencies began advising everyone to restrict fat intake. The president of the American Heart Association went so far as to announce to Time magazine in the mid-1980s that if everyone went along with the plan, "We will have atherosclerosis [hardening of the arteries] conquered by the year 2000." And, it was all said to be based on sound science - which it was not.
Then in 1988, the U.S. Surgeon General's Office decided to issue a comprehensive report on the dangers of dietary fat. It seemed like a simple-enough task: collecting all the information then available, having it reviewed by a new committee of experts, and presenting it in one volume under the auspices of the Surgeon General's Office. But it turned out not to be so easy.
The Report That Never Was Never Completed
Project managers and members of the Report committee came and went over the next ten years. There were drafts and more drafts of the document. Finally, in June 1999, some eleven years after the project began, the Surgeon General's Office quietly killed the Report project with no public announcement and with no press releases. The only explanation given was that the project administrators had "not fully anticipated the amount of additional external expertise and staff resources that would be needed." In other words, the subject was too complicated because, despite the preconceived opinions as to what the conclusions would be, the science behind those opinions didn't hold up.
There had been decades of research, but they found it was still debatable as to whether the consumption of fats would increase the likelihood of death from heart and blood vessel disease. And the issue is still being debated today.
Low Fat Eating Has Not Lowered Heart Disease!
Despite a 6% or more drop in average fat intake over the past 30 years, there is no real evidence that health has improved. The incidence of heart disease has not declined, and any decrease in deaths from heart disease has been attributed to more successful drug treatment and to additional intervention treatment such as arterial by-pass surgeries and procedures like balloon inflation of the cardiac arteries.
Consider this: the American Heart Association has reported that in the seventeen years between 1979 and 1996, the number of surgical procedures for heart disease increased from 1.2 million to 5.4 million per year!
Many Legitimate Studies Are Ignored
In more recent years, there have been newer clinical studies that indicate that fat is not the devil it has been made out to be, but the studies are routinely ignored.
There have been several so-called Harvard Nurses' Studies, involving the diets and health of some 300,000 people. Those results suggest that total dietary fat has no relation to heart disease risk, and that monounsaturated fats (like olive oil) actually lower the risk. The studies also indicated that trans-fatty acids, the type of fats in margarine, are unhealthful. This is the same margarine that was recommended to us by the folks who were telling us not to eat butter, lest we drop over dead!
Yet the governmental agencies continue to support the low fat regime. Why, you ask? This will floor you! The agencies say, "You really need a high level of proof to change the recommendations." But, the agencies set the recommendations in the first place, without even low levels of proof!
Meanwhile, as we were being encouraged to eat less fat for all those years, we were, at the same time, being encouraged to shift to high-carbohydrate foods instead. This change is increasingly seen as a serious health problem.
Low Fat Diets May Have Contributed To The Rise In Obesity
Obesity remained fairly constant during the years 1960 through 1980, but since then it has surged from 14% of the population to close to 25%. That the increase in obesity occurred along with the low fat message suggests the possibility that low fat diets might have the unintended consequence of weight gain.
The suggestion that low fat diets are required to achieve weight loss has also been taken as gospel. Those recommending the low fat regime reported (correctly) that fat has nine calories per gram compared to four calories for carbohydrates and protein. This said, they then went on to say that cutting fat from the diet would surely cut pounds. However, there is much data to suggest otherwise. The results of well-controlled testing have shown that people on low fat diets initially lose weight, but then the weight tends to return, so that after a few years, little has been achieved.
A low fat diet is, almost by definition, a high carbohydrate diet. After all, you must eat something! Numerous studies now suggest that high carbohydrate diets can raise triglyceride levels, create changes in the kinds of cholesterol circulating in the blood, and produce the condition known as insulin resistance, or Syndrome X.
Low Fat Diets May Have Contributed To The Rise In Heart Disease
The Syndrome X profile is associated with increased heart disease risk, bringing us to the likely suggestion that it is high carbohydrate diets that have accounted for the increased heart disease over the past 50 to 75 years, not high fat diets. Perhaps fats are not totally evil, after all.
In an earlier article in this series on fats, I pointed out that the increase in heart disease came right along with the increased use of sugar and other high carbohydrate foods. Recall that early in the 20th century, heart disease was a relatively rare condition, and consequently there weren't even any of the doctors that we now call 'heart specialists'.
Although some people did die of heart attacks, it was not common. But following 1945 it was clear that there were more cases of coronary heart disease. As the rise in the consumption of sugar and refined carbohydrates continued, so did the increased incidence of heart disease.
Looking Ahead To The New Year
In my next article, we'll look at cholesterol and what part it played, and continues to play, in the "Fats are Evil" controversy.
I wish you all the happiest and healthiest of holiday seasons, and I hope you'll be here with me next time, so we can start out the New Year together.
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