(A review of: How the Ideology of Low Fat Conquered America by Ann F. La Berge)

Recently I discovered a great article by the medical historian Ann F. La Berge summing up the development of the low fat ideology throughout the 20th Century and although the dispute is still ongoing I like to share some of the main ideas and arguments of this article as I believe it will help to understand why the judgement whether a low fat diet can help your health and lead to weight loss is still very difficult and may depend on the individual.

Her article looks at the historically predisposed assumption that the low fat diet could not just help with chronic heart disease but also with weight loss and potentially prevent cancer in the general public. She describes how the first low fat diet suggestions were only supportive for heart disease and even here the suggestions by former scientist were pretty careful. Yet over time this diet suggestion became somewhat of a good tone in scientific circles. This process resulted in an ideology supported by doctors, health care professional, the American federal government, the food industry and most importantly the popular media.

Although the scientific evidence back then and even today was not conclusive this theory was supported in large circles until it became more and more obvious that decades of low fat diet advices were paralleled by increasing obesity rates in the USA.

Interestingly La Berge also points out how the popular media kept their universal advice of a low fat diet although genetics slowly indicated how huge differences in human body systems can be. Indicating also that for some people nutrients may have different effects than for others and that the unique metabolic network of one individual may take longer for a specific nutrient to be processed ten for another. One of the main arguments for the missing effects of the low fat diets on the population was that alongside reduced fat intakes, carbohydrate intakes and in particular non-complex carbohydrate intakes did increase. So many scientists argued that after all it is the too high calorie intake which creates overweight.

However since the Atkins diet (low in carbohydrates, high in fat and protein) became a movement a serious debate shattered the low fat diet ideology. It appeared that many people lost large amounts of weight with a diet high in fat and protein and low in carbohydrates. The French paradox (the traditional French diet is high in fats and the incidence of heart disease was low compared to the USA) supported the Atkins diet even further. Nevertheless even Atkins supports realized the original approach was to invasive with high pressures on some organs such as the kidneys, so today the Atkins supporters usually follow a rather moderate high fat, high protein regimen which includes most importantly complex carbohydrates.

Ann La Berge concludes although many Americans still aim to follow the low fat ideology, research approaches have moved on by now and suggest the more moderate Mediterranean diet which includes a larger amount of unsaturated fats and complex carbohydrates. However even the Mediterranean has been challenged by observations such as those of the Inuit diets and their health, it appears it will take many more years until nutrition advice will be able to recognize the multitude of factors influencing heart disease and obesity. Most researches do acknowledge today at least individual differences in metabolism which may require much more personalized approaches for diet suggestions.

ANN F. LA BERGE (2008) How the Ideology of Low Fat Conquered America, JOURNAL OF THE HISTORY OF MEDICINE AND ALLIED SCIENCES, 63 (2), 139-177

Andrea Zick Nutritionist London

Esteem Fitness Personal training London and the South East