Have We Become the Guinea Pigs of a Low-fat Diet?

 
Melanie Owen
Fitness Consultant
Personal Trainer
 

Without a doubt, the level of obesity in the United States is climbing and at its record high. The Center for Disease Control has reported that as of last year, the number of people who are considered obese1 has jumped to 25.6%, up from 24% in 2005. This means that for every 100 adult Americans, 25 are considered obese.

 

The low-fat diet was introduced in the late 1970’s. The percentage of obese population between the ages 20 and 74 years old during this period was close to 15%. The total percentage of overweight and obese population, during the same period, for the same age group was less than 50%. Thirty years later, the total percentage of overweight and obese population was close to 70%, in spite of a strong and unabashed government recommendations to reduce the amount of dietary fat intake, alongside an aggressive marketing effort by food manufacturers promoting low-fat foods.. What could have gone wrong with the American diet that has caused obesity near an epidemic level?

 

As the condition of obesity increases, medical and health experts have begun to quietly question the validity and efficacy of the “low-fat” dietary guidelines. Dr. Paul Marantz of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, contended that ‘the message delivered by these dietary guidelines might actually have had a negative impact on health, including our current obesity epidemic.’ 2 Dr. Marantz and others, put forth a question in the March 2008 issue of the American Journal of Preventative Medicine, published by Elsevier, ‘Is it possible that the government direction of dietary guidelines has somehow caused these unintended consequences, or is it just a coincidence?’

 

To get a better understanding of how a low-fat diet may have negatively affected the health condition of our nation, it is important to look at how the human body works. Our human body is equipped with a control mechanism that determines our appetite and satiety conditions. This control center is located in the central part of our brain called the hypothalamus. This tug-of-war between appetite and satiety happens through the hormones that communicate with the brain. Click here for more.

 

 
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