What has caused the rise in obesity?

This post features an article revealing the data for carbohydrate consumption and obesity rates and a recipe for braised meatballs.

Books:

In the 1970's the "low-fat/high carbohydrate is good" dogma was implemented to "help combat" obesity and heart disease. Dietary fat (especially saturated fat) was vilified as the enemy and the advice was to curtail its intake.

This advice (which is constantly repeated year after year for the past 40 to 50 years) has certainly been heeded as the figures below show. Carbohydrate consumption has risen sharply whilst fat consumption in the diet has declined.

Figure 1 shows the rise in carbohydrate consumption and the fall in fat consumption from 1971-2000 in the United States.

Figure 2 shows the rise in carbohydrate consumption (dots) and the prevalence of obesity (vertical bars).

FIGURE 2

So after 4 or 5 decades of the eat less fat, eat more carbs message what is the result? Childhood obesity has more than tripled since 1976 and adult obesity rates have doubled.

What is the latest advice? Cut back even further on fats (especially saturated fat) - which of course means an even bigger proportion of your food will then be in the form of carbohydrates.

Why are we been told to cut back on saturated fats? People automatically think saturated fat is connected to heart disease. However is this really the case? Figure 3 shows the relationship between saturated fat consumption and heart disease.

FIGURE 3

Can anyone spot any correlation between saturated fat consumption and heart disease?


If there is any trend, the data may show that saturated fat actually offers protection from heart disease. France and Switzerland have the highest consumption of saturated fat, yet are among the lowest in terms of heart disease rates. Azerbaijan and Georgia are amongst the lowest in consuming saturated fat, yet are at the top of the countries suffering from high rates of heart disease.

Since the evidence has shown that saturated fat has nothing to do with heart disease and more dietary carbohydrates lead to higher obesity rates - why is the latest dietary advice from the United States government encouraging us to cut back even further on saturated fat and eat even more carbohydrates?

More information on this subject: Books : Scientific Studies : Other Websites : Videos : Food Mall 

Recipe of the day

Braised Meatballs

Ingredients:

 
For the meatballs:
500g ground beef
2 tsp tomato puree
½ tsp wholegrain mustard
1 egg
2 tsp lard, chopped into small pieces
2 tsp dried oregano
1 medium onion, finely chopped

For the sauce:
1 onion, roughly chopped
1 pepper, roughly chopped
1 courgette, roughly sliced
2 garlic cloves, crushed
400g tin chopped tomatoes
2 tsp dried oregano

Directions:
1.Heat a little oil in a pan and soften the finely chopped onions for the meatballs over a low heat for 5 minutes.

2.Place the onions in a bowl will all the other meatball ingredients and mix together thoroughly with your hands. I love the sensation of squishing all the ingredients between my fingers…

3.Divide the mix into dessertspoon size lumps, rolling them into balls in your hands to create balls that are about an inch across. The mix should make about 14 meatballs.

4.If you have a casserole dish that can go on the hob, heat a liberal helping of oil in the pot. If you don’t have a suitable casserole dish you’ll have to use a frying pan and then transfer to the casserole dish. Fry the meatballs in batches, turning until they are browned all over, and remove from the dish once done.

5.Preheat the oven to 190C.

6.Place the onion, garlic, pepper and courgettes for the sauce into the (now empty) casserole dish and fry over a medium heat for a few minutes until starting to soften.

7.Add the tomatoes, herbs and a tinful of water to the softened vegetables. Mix together and bring to the simmer.

8.Place the browned meatballs into the simmering tomato sauce and stir in before putting a lid onto the casserole dish and placing in the oven.

9.Bake in the oven for 45 minutes and then remove the lid and continue to bake for a further 15-20 minutes until the sauce has reduced.

Braised Meatballs