The NY Times coverage of the report from the Woman's Health Initiative in today's JAMA [link to free article] on the lack of effects of a 'low fat' diet (be sure to check the actual total fat intake for the intervention group) on heart disease or colo-rectal and breast cancers are certainly going to set back efforts to achieve any dents in the (soon to be called) 'so-called obesity epidemic' [Low-Fat Diet Does Not Cut Health Risks, Study Finds]. Look for the people who draw the conclusion (again) that if low fat diets aren't important for better health, maybe low fat people aren't either.
"These studies are revolutionary," said Dr. Jules Hirsch, physician in chief emeritus at Rockefeller University in New York City, who has spent a lifetime studying the effects of diets on weight and health. "They should put a stop to this era of thinking that we have all the information we need to change the whole national diet and make everybody healthy." [Note: That's 3rd graph, 1st quote for Gina Kolata, one of the top health beat reporters - an ominous indicator for the media analysts.]
The results, the study investigators agreed, do not justify recommending low-fat diets to the public to reduce their heart disease and cancer risk. Given the lack of benefit found in the study, many medical researchers said that the best dietary advice, for now, was to follow federal guidelines for healthy eating, with less saturated and trans fats, more grains, and more fruits and vegetables.
While there a any of a number of comments, critiques and conclusions that can be drawn from this work, I'll not take up the space here and reserve them for those who are interested and want to comment or email me. A final comment on all this might be - though it does duck the 'issue du jour:'
"We are not going to reverse any of the chronic diseases in this country by changing the composition of the diet," Dr. Howard said. "People are always thinking it's what they ate. They are not looking at how much they ate or that they smoke or that they are sedentary."
Unfortunately, the administrators and investigators of this study move on to the next research grant. The rest of public health gets clean up duty.
Technorati Tags: Low Fat Diet, Obesity, Public Health, Women's Health Initiative
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