That's what TIME magazine is telling us in an article entitled: "Eat Butter. Scientists labeled fat the enemy. Why they were wrong."
Highlights of the article:
+ Due to constant press and media commentary, America consumers got the idea that fat (and especially saturated fats) were the cause of many health issues, and they cut back dramatically in the consumption of certain natural foods,
+ This left them hungry, so they replaced the fat with calories from otehr sources, and wound up consuming more calories from less healthy processed foods, loaded with corn syrup, etc.
+ It turns out that the Fat was not so unhealthy, and the replacements were worse
Cutbacks (since 1970)
+ Whole Milk : - 78%
+ Refined white sugar : - 35%
+ Beef : - 29%
+ Eggs : - 21%
+ Butter : - 8%
Increases
+ High-fructose corn syrup : +8,853%
+ Corn products : +198%
+ Skim milk : +129%
+ Chicken : +112%
+ Turkey : +102%
+ Added fats, oils : +67%
A /
The myopic focus on fat has warped the American diet and contributed to the biggest health crisis. It's time to end the war (on fat in foods.)
B /
Dr Walter Willett (Harvard) in the 1990's was sitting on contrary evidence that no journals would publish: Willett found that if his subjects replaced foods high in saturated fats with carbohydrates, they experienced no reduction in heart disease
C /
Faced with a Fatwa on fat, food manufacturers lines shelves with low fat cokkies, crackers, and cakes. The think was simple (and wrong): Fat is dangerous, and this product has no fat; therefore it must be healthy... "We just cut fat and added a whole lot of low-fat junk food.... It was a diet of unintended consequences."
D /
A low-fat, high carb diet doesn't work. Our cells become more resistant to insulin, which causes us to gain weight.