Is Diet Advice Full Of Big Fat Lies?

Americans were told for decades that if they just cut back on eggs, butter and red meat, they would lower their cholesterol and reduce their risk of heart disease. The French, on the other hand, continued to eat croissants, brie and chocolate mousse without a second thought.
Despite our national obsession with fighting fat, we weigh far more than the French and our incidence of heart disease is higher. What went wrong?
For one thing, the belief that eating eggs or cheeseburgers would raise cholesterol was built on assumptions rather than facts. Eating foods full of cholesterol, even eggs, does not necessarily increase blood cholesterol.
Even more heretical, recent studies published in journals such as the American Journal of Medicine and the New England Journal of Medicine show that when people follow a low-carbohydrate Atkins-type diet, total cholesterol does not rise.
A number of risk factors improve on such a diet. Triglycerides actually drop, while good HDL cholesterol goes up. The newest report was presented to the American Heart Association meetings last month. A head-to-head comparison of popular diets showed that when people stick to a diet, whether it is the Atkins diet, Dr. Dean Ornish’s very low-fat diet, or the more moderate Zone or Weight Watchers plans, they lose weight and improve measures of heart health.
Many cardiologists were shocked to learn that those following a high-protein low-carbohydrate regime ended up with a better score on heart risk factors than those following an Ornish-type low-fat high-carbohydrate diet.
These results are surprising because the dogma that dietary cholesterol and saturated fat will clog arteries has been so strong. It is hard for physicians or patients to believe data that demonstrates eating red meat does not make cholesterol climb.
A study published recently in the Mayo Clinic Proceedings (Nov. 2003) demonstrated that a no-starch diet high in saturated fat helped people lose weight without negative effects on blood lipids.
Dogma dies hard, however. When certain foods are considered good while others are labeled bad, people may think of dietary choices in moral terms. Butter is bad but broccoli is virtuous. Chocolate is sinful and brown rice is righteous.
Such beliefs have become so ingrained in society that challenges seem nearly unthinkable. Dr. Robert Atkins was perceived as a heretic by the nutrition establishment, which is still having trouble accepting the new data.
If you would like to hear for yourself what researchers who ran studies on Atkins-style diets have to say, you may wish to listen to a one-hour interview we conducted with these experts. To order this CD, please send a check for $15 to Graedons’ People’s Pharmacy (#452); PO Box 52027; Durham, NC 27717-2027.
It may be more important to stick to a diet and lose weight than to worry about the moral implications of the food you eat. Perhaps we should all take a tip from the French. They get more exercise by walking and climbing stairs. They eat well, but not nearly as much as Americans. And they make meals a social occasion to be savored with a glass of wine. Following their example of moderation might do us all some good.