Low fat diets could increase heart disease risk!

There is strong evidence that replacing fat with carbohydrates could be harmful to health, according to nutrition experts at the American Dietetic Association (ADA) conference in Boston last week.

During a symposium at the ADA’s Food and Nutrition Conference and Expo called “The Great Fat Debate:  Is There Validity In the Age-Old Dietary Guidance?” four leading experts presented evidence suggesting that low fat diets may be less healthy than those containing a higher amount of fat. In particular, all four agreed that replacing saturated fat with carbohydrates – as is currently recommended in the proposed 2010 Dietary Guidelines - is likely to raise the risk of cardiovascular disease.

Dr, Walter Willett, Chairman of the Harvard School of Public Health’s nutrition department, said: 

“If anything, the literature shows a slight advantage of the high fat diet,” he said. “The focus on fat in dietary guidelines has been a massive distraction…We should remove total fat from nutrition facts panels on the back of packs.”

He added that the official Dietary Guidelines that direct people to eat fat sparingly and to load up on non-fat products and starch was a great boon to the Big Food Industries:  “The food industry quickly realized sugar was cheaper than fat and laughed all the way to the bank.”


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