For over 30 years, dietary fat has been seen as a major cause of heart attacks, strokes and cancer. This has been a health catastrophe. Ancel Keys’s ‘Seven Countries’ study, first published in 1970, brought about the widespread idea that we should all eat a low-fat, high-carb diet for optimal health. Had Keys used the entire data set covering 20 countries, his landmark paper would never have been published. The data did not support the hypothesis.
UCL’s Professor John Yudkin valiantly argued against this demonisation of fat based on bad science, citing his own experiments and data that showed excess consumption of refined carbohydrates to be the true culprit; he regrettably lost the ideological battle. Later, the late Dr. Robert Atkins was vilified as a pariah when he too questioned the anti-fat dogma.
Keys’s conclusions led directly to the eventual adoption of the high-carb, low-fat diet endorsed by the American Heart Association and other institutions.
Comments
Join the debate for just $5 for 3 months
Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for $5.
UNLOCK ACCESS Just $5 for 3 monthsAlready a subscriber? Log in