The big fat lie – what you get when the food industry advises on diet

A timely report from Public Health Collaboration on healthy eating caused quite a stir among those responsible for the recently revamped official Eatwell Guide and Public Health England. The report accused major public health bodies of colluding with the food industry and called for a major overhaul of current dietary guidelines. The focus on a low-fat diet fails to address Britain’s obesity crisis.

One positive outcome is that the government is reviewing its guidelines on the consumption of saturated fats after the claims that fatty foods have been wrongly demonised.

Elsewhere, progress in bringing about a more enlightened approach has been made. The latest dietary advice from Brazil’s Ministry of Health, for example, is to give preference to natural or minimally processed foods and avoid ultra-processed foods – or put more simply: Eat real food! Meanwhile Canadian doctors specializing in women’s health advise eating real unprocessed food.

While the signs of a change in outlook in official UK guidance on healthy eating show promise it will take time to bring about a change of heart by Public Health England. Let’s see what the Standing Advisory Committee on Nutrition, the body charged with undertaking the review, comes up with in the autumn.