On the fat track
JAY WORTMAN
Department of Health Care and Epidemiology, Faculty of Medicine,
University of British Columbia
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20060209.LETTERS09-14/TPStory/Comment
Vancouver -- Re Ignore The Latest Study, Stay On Low-Fat Track (Feb 8):
The huge Women's Health Initiative study was designed to determine
whether reducing dietary fat would lead to less heart disease and
breast and colorectal cancer, and to weight loss. This study involved
thousands of women, ran for eight years and cost more than
$400-million. It was a randomized prospective intervention trial, the
gold standard in terms of quality research. This was the best effort in
terms of proving once and for all the benefits of a low-fat diet.
And, for each of the diseases studied, there was no benefit for the
women who reduced fat compared with those who ate what they pleased.
Now that these results are published, people who support the dogma of a
low-fat diet are insisting that these results should be ignored. All
kinds of contorted arguments are being put forward to try to extract
some shred of credibility for what is now a debunked theory. Meantime,
the accumulating scientific evidence that it is the carbohydrate
component of diet that needs to be examined as a major disease promoter
is ignored. Isn't that a little bit like having your cake and eating
it, too?
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TC