The Big Fat Surprise - a must read

[modesty007]

You might have heard about this book, if not take look at the review from Dr Michael Eades http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/...tionblog+(The+Blog+of+Michael+R.+Eades,+M.D.)
Why read it - Investigative journalist Nina Teicholz reveals the unthinkable: that everything we thought we knew about dietary fats is wrong. She documents how the past sixty years of low-fat nutrition advice has amounted to a vast uncontrolled experiment on the entire population, with disastrous consequences for our health.

 

[Gudrun]

You might have heard about this book, if not take look at the review from Dr Michael Eades http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/low-carb-diets/big-fat-surprise/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed: drmikenutritionblog (The Blog of Michael R. Eades, M.D.)
Why read it - Investigative journalist Nina Teicholz reveals the unthinkable: that everything we thought we knew about dietary fats is wrong. She documents how the past sixty years of low-fat nutrition advice has amounted to a vast uncontrolled experiment on the entire population, with disastrous consequences for our health.

Just read the review. Have you ordered the book? Would like to hear your thoughts on it once you've read it. There seem to be a lot of reported studies and statistics involved, but it is very easy to pick and choose which of these support your claim. How balanced is the book?

 

[Brunneria]

Thank you. I have pre-ordered it on Kindle.
Will find it very interesting.

 

[modesty007]

Yes I've read it and it's well written and explains the statics and study results in a balanced way, not that this happen when the some of the data been presented at the time. The book expose diet-heart theory for what it is a theory that never when scientifically proven. I've seen of the data discussed before and she explains the weakness with epidemiological studies and why some studies been presented in certain ways and other silenced. If you have a hypothesis is must be tested not with confirmation bias, which very much happens in nutritional "science". She was curious to find out the truth behind the low-fat dogma and also the science and historical claims behind the Mediterranean diet.

 

[Lamont D]

When growing up where I did, very poor and a limited diet, most of the cooking was done in lard, beef dripping or margarine. Most fry ups or left overs were cooked in a frying pan. You never heard of health problems as we do now, except for malnutrition type diseases.
It wasn't until I was an adult and processed and fast food were becoming the norm. Cooked in the new 'healthier' vegetable oils, I noticed even in my waistline and other people including relatives that everybody was getting bigger. Everybody bought into this new 'healthy' cooking!
I never dreamed that if this report is true, then governments and the food industry have destroyed a few generations of healthy living including me!

 

[Gudrun]

Yes I've read it and it's well written and explains the statics and study results in a balanced way, not that this happen when the some of the data been presented at the time. The book expose diet-heart theory for what it is a theory that never when scientifically proven. I've seen of the data discussed before and she explains the weakness with epidemiological studies and why some studies been presented in certain ways and other silenced. If you have a hypothesis is must be tested not with confirmation bias, which very much happens in nutritional "science". She was curious to find out the truth behind the low-fat dogma and also the science and historical claims behind the Mediterranean diet.

Thanks, Modesty. I will buy the book. I have a science background and know how easy it is to pull the wool over people's eyes with bias reporting. I like well rounded arguments; by all means in favour of one approach, but achieved with an objective analysis of all available data (not a pick and choose approach).

 

[Indy51]

Another book that also discusses the history/politics of this is Denise Minger's "Death by Food Pyramid". Dr Eades also gave the book a good review. Ancel Keys (and his gigantic ego) has a lot to answer for.

http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/low-carb-library/death-food-pyramid/

 

[Gudrun]

Good review. I think I have to look at my diet again, although apart from liver, don't really fancy offal.

 

[Indy51]

There's a Ted talk by this author Nina Teicholz on the subject of fat on Youtube:

 

[Indy51]

Another interview with Nina Teicholz and Sam Feltham:

 

[Gudrun]

Another interview with Nina Teicholz and Sam Feltham:

Thanks, Indy. Nina Teicholz comes across very well, but I wish they had chosen a different interviewer than Sam Feltham.

 

[Brunneria]

@Gudrun
Yes. He is very irritating, isn't he?
Nina Teicholz is a relief to watch in comparison.
I recommend that people listen to the interview, rather than watching it, since the hand waving just makes me want to amputate him at the shoulders.

@Indy51
Thanks - good info. Looking forward to the book, and I have sent a hardback copy to my father, for Father's Day (sight unseen), since my mother is constantly giving him grief about his butter consumption.