Curiosity wrote:
And for all they demonised it, saturated fat is still bad for you. Sadly.
Sure - in excess. It's better for you than what they replaced it with though, the 'healthy' polyunsaturated fat products. And, of course, more sugar.
markg wrote:
There's a story there and a case to answer but the notion that wonky health advice issued at the behest of the food industry is chiefly responsible, nah. I think they basically nailed it in the opening five minutes, food got cheaper and as a species we are no good at resisting temptation.
I think it's a multi-part thing. I think the dietary advice we've been given over the last 30 years is, essentially, wrong. I think the massively powerful agricultural lobby in the US has been exceedingly effective at suppressing efforts to make changes to that - see the recent example of them stepping on the World Health Organisation to prevent them from issuing anti-sugar guidance, and the fact that there is a terrifying paucity of research out there into the actual biological impact of diet, and I think we're also rubbish at eating what we should, and not what we shouldn't.
The food manufacturers are also exceptionally good at marketing to us. The second episode of that series was fascinating. The fact that British manufacturers effectively invented snacking between meals. The tagline of the Milky Way "The snack you can eat without spoiling your appetite" takes on a frightening significance when you consider that the sugar/leptin action effectively means that the snacks you're eating between meals do the
opposite of spoiling your appetite - they actively suppress your "I'm full" response.
Eat less, exercise more will always be the route to health for most people. The actual structure of the modern western diet though, is pretty much entirely based on that government issued advice in the early 70s - which is provably based on self-interest, not science.
I'm not considering it some sort of shadowy conspiracy, I'm considering it a painful oversight with dangerously far-reaching consequences, that we're just starting to see the impact of.