When you have something as life threatening and expensive as today’s obesity epidemic, it's hard to point the finger at one single factor and say, “that’s what caused it”.  But however you look at it, the low-fat obsession of the late 20th century, played a huge part in today’s crisis. Let me explain.

After World War ll, heart disease rates had begun to rise rapidly. In the 1970’s a committee in America, led by Senator George McGovern, issued a report advising Westeners to lower their risk of heart disease by eating less fat.

This recommendation was based on evidence that linked diet to heart disease. Unfortunately, the report wrongly singled out saturated fat in our diet as the factor responsible for all our problems. This was the beginning of the low-fat movement.

And of the obesity epidemic.

At the same time as all of this was happening, we started eating more of everything. This too is no coincidence and here’s why.

Once dietary fat was labelled as the chief culprit in heart disease (a huge case of mistaken identity in my opinion) food manufacturers sprang into action. The race was on to produce low-fat and no-fat foods, and to eliminate the saturated fat out of everything.

This led to the production of “food-like” substances, which bore little or no resemblance to whole food as we previously knew it. Manufacturers realized by taking the fat out of food, they would need to replace it with something or else it wouldn’t taste very good. Welcome the invention of high-fructose corn syrup and hydrogenated oils (to replace saturated fat) and the perfect dietary storm.

Since high-fructose corn syrup was now available so readily and cheapily, adding sweetness was an easy thing to do, in fact, high-fructose corn syrup started showing up in hundreds if not thousands of food products.

At the same time as all of this was happening, Westeners started eating more of everything. This too is no coincidence and here’s why.

If I give you a box of Silverspoon sugar and tell you to eat till your heart’s content, you won’t consume very much. Same thing with butter. But if I put them together, something magical happens. Combine sugar and fat and every one of your evolutionary buttons are pushed. Manufacturers know this. Cravings get activated, brain chemistry starts firing, you can literally eat these foods till you bust.

And we did.

The whole low-fat movement coincided with a huge increase in food processing and those who process and manufacture food products for a living have one goal- getting people to eat more of their products. That’s easy to do—just engineer combinations of sugar and a little fat, which worked really well with the whole “low-fat” philosophy.

As long as it didn’t have too much fat, you could eat it, right?

Meanwhile, fat- the one macronutrient that keeps you full and satisfied- was lacking from most of what we were eating. Sugar, the one element that keeps cravings going was plentiful. Portion sizes in general took a shot of steroids, as the whole country entered the SuperSizing decade.

Low fat has a lot to answer for. It may not be the only reason we’re experiencing one of the worst health epidemics in modern times, but it really is one of the biggest.

References

  • “Why Low Fat Caused Obesity” By Dr. Jonny Bowden
  • “The Great Cholesterol Lie” By Dr. Jonny Bowden
  • “The Drug Free Way to Lower Blood Pressure” By Charles Poliquin
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