Fat. That one word is the boon of millions of people throughout the world. To make things more precise, according to the New England Journal of Medicine, two billion people on this planet are either overweight or obese. Around one in every ten people are medically obese. Of course, the issue of fat-shaming is another factor that one has to deal with along with any and all health issues that might be due to the condition. So a person suffering from obesity has to not only deal with diabetes, heart conditions, and other issues but they also are subject to mental health problems like body dysmorphia and lead to problems like purging and anorexia.
However, this article is not about the scourge of obesity and all the social, economic and health issues it causes throughout the globe. At least not directly. So let’s tackle this issue by looking at the global (and the desi) zeitgeists. If you are an individual who is dealing with weight issues. Or even are just a little bit chubby, you will relate to the scenario about to be presented-
“Don’t drink that milk, it is not low fat”.
“Hey that dish might be a bit oily, why not try a salad instead?”
“Maybe you should cut down on the Makhan, don’t you want to get married one day?”
If the good scientists working with the New England Journal of Medicine are correct, about a third of you can relate to what is being said there.
But what is fat and why is it so hated? If you go to the local grocery store you’ll see a majority of the consumables to bear assurances that the product is indeed “low fat”. Why is this so?
In this article there will be an attempt to explain the vilification of fat and why that might be a bad idea.
What is Fat?
Fat or lipids are an important part of the normal diet and are necessary for the human body to function correctly. Apart from the obvious functions of keeping the body warm in low-temperature environments and functioning as a store of energy for use in dire times, there is a multitude of reasons that make fat an important part of a healthy person’s diet.
Human beings have been consuming animal fat in the form of meat and milk products in the form of churned butter and yogurt for millennia. Your body requires fat in order to make hormones and dissolve nutrients like vitamins that you can not live without. Large amounts of unsaturated fats in the form of vegetable oils have replaced animal fat in the diets of most cultures. Desi culture specifically has replaced animal fat extracts like desi ghee and Makhan in our diets.
Our bodies are not used to consuming vegetable oils and are more suited to using animal fats. This is mainly because vegetable oils were not available for consumption in the natural environment. Recent scientific evidence actually supports this: a recent study published in Harvard Health Publishing, it was found that the worst type of fat for health was trans fat, the kind found in vegetable shortening and margarine. Both of these long thought to be better and healthier than butter and animal fat products. Both of these were introduced as a replacement for animal fat products in the first place.
Why is Fat so Hated?
Around the 1970s, the world was moving towards healthy diets that reduced processed sugars and flour products. The Atkins diet consisting of a high protein intake was more reminiscent of our natural diet for millennia. This was exactly what is now considered to be a healthier alternative to many diets that became famous after the ‘70s. But what happened in the middle? There was a spark in hatred for fat that resonates to this day.
There was a research review that pointed the fingers at fat being the main reason for heart disease. This was published by three scientists at Harvard. One of whom, Mark Hegsted, later became the head of Nutrition at the State Department of Agriculture. According to The Newyork Times, the decades-old research review was actually conducted on the behest of The Sugar Research organization. The three were paid by the trade group to publish studies that they had picked out. Needless to say, the very basis of the entire vilification of animal fats was based on a lie.
This led to the global craze of removing only fat from people’s diets and continuing with consuming large amounts of unhealthy fats. The impact on the health of consumption of sugary sodas and sweets was and is immense. It is estimated that fizzy drinks alone kill about 190,000 people per year through cancer, diabetes, and heart disease. The sidelining of research that showed sugar to be a large factor in health issues at that point had far-flung repercussions.
Mark Hegsted was able to incorporate his findings into government dietary recommendations as well, encouraging people to get off natural fat (which they needed to stay healthy) and ignore the ill-effects of consuming carbohydrates instead.
In Conclusion
This one instance of a social externality has changed the way we eat and view our diets. The greed of three individuals prevented millions from getting dietary advice that could have saved their lives. Unfortunately, the scientists are dead and thus have escaped any reproach. Millions of dollars are made from selling “low fat” food that is extremely high in sugar and carbohydrates.
Thankfully, the world is reverting to the consumption of fats and proteins and removing processed carbohydrates from their diets. We are transitioning from low-fat diets to keto diets and from bread to natural fruit and vegetables- like we have been doing for millennia (and like what our bodies are evolutionarily meant to do).
However, it is the duty of government regulators, doctors, nutritionists, and the general public to be on the lookout for the source their information stems from. It is up to you and me to be aware and verify the sources of the next articles we read on a new, almost magical diet.
