Advice on low-fat diets is wrong, report claims

Official advice on healthy eating and a eating a low-fat diet to lose weight are wrong, according to a report from the National Obesity Forum and the Public Health Collaboration.

Both organisations have teamed up to call for a ‘major overhaul’ of the current guidelines, which they believe are failing to tackle Britain’s obesity problem.

Instead of the current advice to reduce fats and monitor calorie intake, the National Obesity Forum and the Public Health Collaboration believe eating higher fat diets and cutting out refined carbohydrates is an ‘effective and safe approach for preventing weight gain and aiding weight loss’.

The report suggests that full fat dairy produce such as cheese and yoghurt can actually lower the chance of obesity and that the science of food has been ‘corrupted by commercial influences’.

Prof David Haslam, chairman of the National Obesity Forum, said: “As a clinician, treating patients all day every day, I quickly realised that guidelines from on high, suggesting high-carbohydrate, low-fat diets were the universal panacea, were deeply flawed.

“Current efforts have failed – the proof being that obesity levels are higher than they have ever been, and show no chance of reducing despite the best efforts of government and scientists.”

However, the claims have been refuted by Public Health England (PHE), which has branded the report as ‘irresponsible’.

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 full-scale consultations and go to great lengths to ensure no bias.”