How healthy eating advice may have contributed to the obesity epidemic

摘要

Has our obsession with low-fat diets and increased consumption of carbohydrates led to the levels of obesity we see in Britain today? Should we swap chocolate eggs for hen's eggs this Easter? What should you eat for a healthy diet? The phrase "you are what you eat" is generally taken to mean that good health is derived from eating good food. Although fairly obvious, what we should eat to be in a state of good health is much more difficult to determine. Dietary regimens from around the world vary considerably and range from the traditional Inuit diet, which is high in protein and fat, to the Kativan diet, which is largely based on carbohydrates. Despite this variation, diseases that are common in the west, such as type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease and obesity, are rare in populations eating traditional diets. Could changing our diet reverse the prevalence of these conditions and is there anything that we should eat, or avoid eating, for optimal health?