| It all started with eggs. | | | | |
| | | | With advances in the analysis of blood it is |
| We weren't supposed to eat them as they | | | | no longer necessary to wait until someone |
| contain cholesterol, the stuff that leads to | | | | keels over before the effects of their diet |
| furring of the arteries and heart problems. | | | | can be assessed, and it's here that another |
| Then that piece of advice suddenly | | | | myth, the one that says cholesterol is bad |
| disappeared when research suggested that | | | | for you, bites the dust. It now emerges that |
| eating foods high in cholesterol doesn't lead | | | | there are two types. High density |
| to an increase in that substance in the | | | | lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol helps prevent |
| bloodstream. Instead the blame was laid at | | | | the build up of deposits on artery walls |
| the door of saturated (ie animal) fat. Not | | | | whilst low density lipoprotein (LDL) has the |
| that there were any clinical trials to prove | | | | opposite effect. The proportion of HDL to |
| this. The theory was formulated because of | | | | LDL cholesterol is as significant as the |
| epidemiological evidence, the study of | | | | overall level in the bloodstream. Has anyone |
| nations, usually non-western, where the | | | | apologised for the previous duff information |
| incidences of heart disease and bowel cancer | | | | that was imparted? Like hell. |
| are lower. | | | | |
| | | | There's a quietly emerging school of thought |
| The food industry embraced the idea warmly, | | | | that takes dietary theory away from the idea |
| and produced a vast range of foods which were | | | | that protein, fat and carbohydrate should be |
| claimed to be low in fat (note how the | | | | consumed in specified percentages. Instead |
| 'saturated' bit got lost.) Eat a diet low in | | | | we should be eating foodstuffs that have been |
| fat and you'll be healthy and slim we were | | | | around as long as humans have. Staples |
| told. | | | | should be meat, fish, fruit, vegetables, nuts |
| | | | and pulses, food that the body is designed to |
| Then a funny thing happened. Lots of people | | | | process. There is logic to this theory, but |
| started to get fat. They continue to do so, | | | | still the establishment continues to pump out |
| with childhood obesity being a particular | | | | the guff that a low fat diet is desirable |
| problem. | | | | when evidence doesn,t back this up. |
| | | | |
| Meanwhile, on the Atkins diet, a regime high | | | | To summarise, the misinformation that's been |
| in fat and protein but low in carbohydrate, | | | | bandied about for the last thirty years: |
| success was had by some in losing weight. It | | | | |
| should have been obvious that this was going | | | | Eggs are bad for you - no they're not. |
| to happen, because the nutritionists said it | | | | |
| wouldn't do. Not that Atkins is necessarily | | | | Cholesterol is bad for you - not necessarily. |
| the answer. The side effects, such as bad | | | | |
| breath, constipation and feeling lousy, are | | | | Fat is bad for you - wrong again. |
| well documented, but its record in shedding | | | | |
| the pounds punches holes in the theory that a | | | | Here's a better piece of advice: |
| diet low in fat, moderate in protein and | | | | Nutritionists are bad for you. |
| stuffed with carbs is the way to go. | | | | |