Low Fat Lies
So, low fat foods.
They are much better for you right?
WRONG!
An organisation called the Sugar Research Foundation SRF was set up by the US sugar industry at the end of WW II. Apparently it was dedicated to the “scientific study of sugars role in food.” It grew after the war gaining international members and became the unified voice of the sugar industry. It then split off its research arm to give it more credibility as a stand-alone, but totally funded by its parent Company. It morphed again into the International Sugar Research Foundation and then became the world sugar research organisation. It says that it produces science-based communications and claims:
“The reputation of sugar has never been stronger within the scientific community”
I guess we need to remember that this message is aimed at the same people who voted for Donald Trump so they probably believe it.
The Journal of the American Medical Association, a high quality and well-respected journal published research that examined the research of the SRF they concluded that.
1. The research was flawed and skewed.
2. The funding of the research was not disclosed.
3. The research programme successfully and erroneously cast doubt about the hazards of sucrose
4. That the study erroneously promoted fat as the dietary culprit for Coronary Heart Disease.
They recommended that government policy making committees should consider giving less weight to food industry funded studies.
This is pretty strong language for an academic paper.
What does it tell us though? Well, fat has been given a bad reputation. Fat is required by our bodies for lots of functions not least helping the absorption of nutrients and the production of vital hormones. I’m going to cover fat in detail in another blog but what else do the findings tell us?
That the USA policy making committees, for whatever reason, are biased towards sugar.
Even now the latest USA Dietary Guidelines stipulate that Americans should “limit their intake of sugar to 50g per day. Wow! Have a look at the picture that is 50g, sorry I didn’t have any white sugar in the house lol.
There is about 4g of sugar in a teaspoon, so according to the US Government you should limit your allowance to 12.5 teaspoons a day. What they don't make clear is that this is added sugar not just spoonfuls in your coffee or tea. The World Health Organisation recommends 5 teaspoons a day of added sugar in our diet which is all sugar.
What does that all mean?
Well, there are about 10 teaspoons of sugar in a can of Coke so one can of coke = your daily allowance.
But here we go, sugar foods you probably thought were reasonably healthy.
LOW FAT YOGHURT…
ONE SERVING OF LOW FAT YOGHURT CAN CONTAIN 30g OF SUGAR
SAINSBURY’S SWEET AND SOUR CHICKEN WITH RICE 50.7g
TESCO CHICKEN PAD THAI WITH RICE NOODLES 38g
I need not go on I'm sure you get the picture to enjoy a healthy diet and get good nutrition, you need to be careful what you eat.
All is not as it seems!