FOR a long time, fat has been considered a bad component in the human diet because it is believed to be the biggest contributor of metabolic disease. But today, according to Institute of Clinical Research founder and French cardiothoracic surgeon Dr Guy-André Pelouze, this belief definitely holds no truth.
Early studies, such as the ones by United States researcher Dr Ancel Keys in the 1950s, had promoted the concept of “fat is bad”, causing people to go all out in reducing its intake and, in the process, destroying a good dietary practice that humans had been adhering to naturally for generations.
And since fat enhances the flavour of food, fat-free or low-fat products have less appeal unless another alternative, particularly sugar, is added to them.
“With close to no fat in our food, we have to find a solution — something to replace it in order to make food products palatable. If that solution is affordable, then the food industry will thrive,” says Dr Pelouze.
Dr Robert H. Lustig, a professor of clinical paediatrics and the director of Weight Assessment for Teens and Child Health Programme at University of California San Francisco, concurs with his view.
According to Dr Lustig: “Sugar is cheap. Sugar tastes good. Sugar sells. So, food companies will have little incentive to change.”
Therein lies the problem.
Dr Pelouze says besides being the easiest to procure and cheapest solution to make food delicious, sugar also generates “strong positive reward” in the brain, thus causing consumers to crave for more sweet food.
Dr Pelouze says people need to understand the impact of food consumption on their health because their eating behaviour can play a significant role in preventing obesity and metabolic disease.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), diabetes and obesity are preventable epidemics.
The number of diabetic patients had risen from 108 million in 1980 to 422 million in 2014.
The global prevalence of diabetes among adults over 18 years old had risen from 4.7 per cent in 1980, to 8.5 per cent in 2014, and it had been increasing rapidly in middle- and low-income countries.
The disease is a major cause of heart attack, stroke, blindness, kidney failure and lower limb amputation. One death in every six seconds can be attributed to Type 2 diabetes and worldwide, approximately one in 10 adults is afflicted.
A significant fraction of the world population has some degree of insulin resistance and, in the United States, the figure is approximately 40 per cent.
WHO projects that diabetes will become the seventh leading cause of death in 2030.
In regard to obesity, WHO found that the condition has more than doubled worldwide since 1980. In 2014, 600 million adults aged 18 and above were obese and, in 2013, 42 million children below age 5 were overweight or had become obese.
So, what then, is the major contributor to the morbid figures above?
According to WHO, the fundamental cause of obesity is the increased intake of energy-dense food that are high in fat, and an inactive lifestyle due to the sedentary nature of work, changing modes of transport and increasing urbanisation.
Dr Pelouze says WHO’s answer to what causes the obesity is part of the reason why we inefficiently try to deal with it. It is clear that the energy imbalance between calories consumed and expended is to blame.
However, to Dr Pelouze, the calorie concept is most likely wrong and cannot explain obesity alone as demonstrated by Dr Lustig’s studies.
The perception towards fat intake needs to be reassessed.
“Evidence clearly shows energy-dense foods that are high in fat are not solely responsible for the obesity epidemic, contrary to what WHO states. Eating fat alone cannot explain obesity.”
When individuals realise that they have grown fat, they will look at dieting solutions and end up consuming more low-fat food.
“This adds to the problem of providing fewer fats and more sugar to the body. All the sugar consumed stresses the pancreas which, in turn, has an effect in building insulin resistance.”
Dr Pelouze says it is erroneous to assume that consuming too much fat is unhealthy.
However, to this day, as surprising as it may seem, sugar is still not a definite target in the fight against diabetes.
He said the notion that fat is unhealthy has also affected the palm oil market, which has suffered from a smear campaign over the last few years.
“In actuality, palm oil is a healthy source of lipids and vitamins, and it is also trans-fat free. Palm oil has a balanced composition that makes it one of the healthier options available.”
In food consumption, fat, in general, and palm oil, in particular, are not and never the unhealthy culprits that we made them out to be.
Dr Pelouze says in France, and generally Europe, the consumption of palm oil is not a cause for concern.
“We do not consume too much of it and studies published in the last 10 years show precisely that we shouldn’t worry about palm oil as it can be part of a balanced diet.”
On the contrary, although sugar is naturally present as fructose in fruits and carbohydrates in bread and rice, the extra amount added to just about every other food product has no particular benefit.
“When it is being overly-consumed, it is now doing us more harm than good. It promotes obesity and is responsible for diabetes — two epidemics explained as among the leading causes of mortality.
“Added sugars need to be cut down to reduce the amount that you are eating. However, they are often hidden in food products and since they have so many different names, they are difficult to identify.
“Low-fat products, in particular, are riddled with hidden sugars.”
Dr Pelouze says we must move away from the low-fat dogma and governments, as well as regulators, should support that shift.
“We should be looking to restore the natural dietary practices that we once had, where fat is considered healthy and sugar is not so frequently found in food. Those in charge of publishing dietary guidelines should recognise the scientific evidence supporting the consumption of fat over sugar, and take immediate action.
“A fat like palm oil is good and healthy. Its balanced composition of saturated and unsaturated fats makes it ideal for cooking.”
Furthermore, it is very difficult to over-eat fatty food.
“They are very satiating. And eating fat in a low-carbohydrate diet makes it easier for the body to access that fat for energy.”
The diet that consumers choose to eat should be guided by the best-available science.
“Moving away from added sugars and other carbohydrates while adding more natural fats, like palm oil, will rapidly improve your health. It is time for regulators to recognise and endorse that fact.”