Guidelines on fat consumption that we have been following for over thirty years are wrong, a new study finds.
‘A moment on the lips…a lifetime on the hips’ is a mantra we’ve all heard, or repeated into ourselves, especially when deciding how best to sate our appetites. Well, good news for those of us who like to pig-out every so often, as now it seems that maybe that fry-up, or those pancakes, aren’t as bad as we once believed.
Doctors and scientists have debunked guidelines from the seventies and eighties in a report published this week. According to the report in Open Heart, we may be able to consume more fatty foods than the guidelines set out by government currently suggest.
In 1977, and with the intention of reducing coronary heart disease (CHD) among the population, the USA introduced new dietary guidelines, while the UK followed suit six years later. The guidelines suggest that fat consumption ought to be only 30% of our total daily energy intake, with saturated fats at 10%. The report by Open Heart concluded that these guidelines were not based upon any evidence and ‘untested in any trial prior to [guidelines] being introduced’.
Open Heart found, in their own study of nearly 2500 males, that although cholesterol was reduced when they introduced dietary intervention to some of the group, there was no link between CHD and diet. Thus, they believe, discredits the guidelines and suggests they should be reviewed.
The study was carried out by scientists from the University of the West of Scotland and by Saint Luke’s Mid America Heart Institute, Kansas City. As expected, it has already drawn wide criticism from dieticians and doctors alike, as irresponsible in the face of an obesity epidemic.
Their aim however, was to draw attention to the fact that current guidelines require updating, and that fatty foods are not the ‘main dietary villain.’ Current guidelines potentially ignore the significant risks posed by other foods, such as carbohydrates, as these may be just as much of a contributory factor in illnesses related to diet.