Now experts say we should eat more fat to combat obesity

CUTTING back on butter, cream, cheese and other fatty foods is fuelling the obesity epidemic with disastrous consequences for health, experts have warned.

In a damning report the National Obesity Forum and the Public Health Collaboration said most of what we are told about healthy eating is wrong.

Calling for ‘ major overhaul’ of dietary guidelines, the researchers claim that far from demonising fat, we should be eating more of it. And they have accused major public health bodies of colluding with the food industry.

The report also describes sunflower oil as ‘barely a food’, states people should stop counting calories, and warns that exercising will not help with weight loss.

The controversial claims have been criticised by other experts, who accused the report’s authors of cherry picking evidence to suit their arguments.

The row comes as Britain fights an obesity crisis. The UK is the second fattest country in Europe and obesity costs the economy up to £16billion a year.

There are soaring rates of type 2 diabetes fuelled by obesity, and the condition uses up a tenth of the NHS’s budget.

The new report’s authors say the epidemic’s roots lie in the modern obsession with low-fat diets.

They cite studies which show a higher- fat, lower- carb diet are superior. The report states: ‘Eating a diet rich in full-fat dairy, such as cheese, milk and yoghurt, can actually lower the chance of obesity.

‘The most natural and nutritious foods available – meat, fish, eggs, dairy products, nuts, seeds, olives, avocados – all contain saturated fat. The continued demonisation of omnipresent natural fat drives people away from highly nourishing, wholesome and health

‘Stop counting calories’

promoting foods.’ The authors of the report also argue that the science of food has been ‘corrupted by commercial influences’.

Examples include the recent Eatwell Guide from Public Health England, which uses a graphic of a plate to advise people on their daily intake of fat, carbohydrates and other food groups. Representatives from the food and drink industry made up almost half of those who devised the graphic.

Less contentious advice in the report includes avoiding snacking and ditching sugar.

Co-author of the report, Aseem Malhotra, is an advisor to the National Obesity Forum and a founding member of the Public Health Collaboration – a charity made-up of dieticians, scientists and doctors.

He described dietary guidelines promoting low-fat foods ‘as perhaps the biggest mistake in modern medical history resulting in devastating consequences for public health’. The consultant cardiologist added: ‘Sadly this unhelpful advice continues to be perpetuated. The current Eatwell guide from Public Health England is in my view more like a metabolic timebomb than a dietary pattern conducive for good health.

‘We must urgently change the message to the public to reverse obesity and type 2 diabetes.

‘Eat fat to get slim, don’t fear fat, fat is your friend. It’s now truly time to bring back the fat.’

But Professor Tom Sanders, of King’s College London, said: ‘The claim that eating fat does not make you fat is absurd and plain wrong. If you eat a lot of fat, you will get fat.’ Dr Mike Knapton, associate medical director at the British Heart Foundation, said the report was ‘full of ideas and opinion’ but lacked the rigour needed for it to be taken seriously. This country’s obesity epidemic is not caused by poor dietary guidelines, it is that we are not meeting them.’

Dr Alison Tedstone, chief nutritionist at PHE, said: ‘In the face of all the evidence, calling for people to eat more fat, cut out carbs and ignore calories is irresponsible.

‘Unlike this opinion piece, our independent experts review all the available evidence – often thousands of scientific papers – run fullscale consultations and go to great lengths to ensure no bias.’