Good News, Everybody.Fat Guidelines 'Shouldn't Have Been Introduced'
Advice warning people to avoid eating fatty foods like butter and cheese "lacked any solid trial evidence to back it".
Dietary advice warning people to avoid eating fatty foods such as butter and cheese "should not have been introduced," according to new research.
The guidelines, which have been followed for the past 30 years, warned that fat consumption should be strictly limited to reduce the risk of heart disease and death.
But experts say this was not backed up by scientific evidence and the advice should never have been released.
It recommended reducing overall dietary fat consumption to 30% of total energy intake and saturated fat to 10%.
The guidelines, which were introduced in the UK in 1983 and in the US in 1977, "lacked any solid trial evidence to back it," researchers say.
Experts said that the advice characterised saturated fat as the "main dietary villain".
As a result, public health teams have not paid enough attention to other risks, such as carbohydrates, which are believed to be fuelling the current obesity crisis.
The comments are contained in a research paper which reviewed the data available at the time the guidelines were issued.
The paper, which appears in the online journal Open Heart, states: "It seems incomprehensible that dietary advice was introduced for 220 million Americans and 56 million UK citizens, given the contrary results from a small number of unhealthy men.
"The results of the present meta-analysis support the hypothesis that the available (randomised controlled trials) did not support the introduction of dietary fat recommendations in order to reduce (coronary heart disease) risk or related mortality."
Read more:
http://news.sky.com/story/1424508/fat-guidelines-shouldnt-have-been-introduced
