All this obesity advice is a recipe for confusion. Just eat smaller portions | Archie Bland

All this obesity advice is a recipe for confusion. Just eat smaller portions | Archie Bland


A new report says eating low-fat foods is unhealthy, contradicting long-standing diet information. While experts argue, we need a more simple message

If you’re not confused, you’ve not been paying attention.

The National Obesity Forum (NOF), one authoritative-sounding body, has issued a report which argues that telling people to eat low-fat foods to combat obesity is a mistake which has had “disastrous health consequences”. Public Health England, another authoritative-sounding body, has responded furiously, calling the report “a risk to the nation’s health”, “irresponsible”, and potentially deadly. During a tense discussion on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme this morning, the NOF’s Dr Aseem Malhotra alleged that the government’s obesity adviser, Prof Susan Jebb, had previously done work funded by Coca-Cola; separately, Prof Simon Capewell of the Faculty of Public Health, another authoritative-sounding body, warned that it was not clear who funded the NOF report.

Whatever the precise constituents of our diet, one fact is indisputable: we are eating a lot more food than we used to.  Guardian

Continue reading...