The Evidence for Low-Fat Diets Isn't Really There

Last week I talked to you about dietary cholesterol, and how the existing randomized controlled trials warned us that they wouldn't work. Now, it appears those guidelines might be changed, decades later. Cholesterol isn't the only recommendation that is controversial. So are the ones on fat. Prepare to get annoyed.
For those of you who want to read more, go here: theincidentaleconomist.com/wor...
John Green -- Executive Producer
Stan Muller -- Director, Producer
Aaron Carroll -- Writer
Mark Olsen -- Graphics
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[@subscriptions510]

30% fat is not low enough. Still quite high actually. This whole study is flawed because their so-called low fat study is in fact not low fat.

[@smingjr]

Cosmic Light low fat makes you fatter it dosent matre ehow much fat you remove. Keto is the way to go

[@matthewkaras7722]

@@smingjr what do you tell all the people who lose weight on a whole foods plant based diet?

[@smingjr]

@@matthewkaras7722 you may lose it at first but there have been multiple instances where people gain weight. For example my grandmother who is vegan gained weight from izzie drinks because too much sugar. The problem is that carbs and sugars will harm you over time

[@garyboileau6942]

A 30% fat diet is not low fat. Eating prcessed carbs is not the same diet as eating whole plant foods. You can show benefit for most any recomendation if you use the right control group.

[@LukeOberrieder1]

^

[@zed1671]

I think the moral of the story is to eat whole food. Good complex carbohydrates are not bad, and good polyunsaturated fats are not bad. Our body needs both for its fundamental structure and function. It's when you get into the realm of diets with unnatural high levels of sugar which spike your blood instantly, and Trans fats and things, where health issues become very apparent. Hell, even the simple sugars in fruit seems to be regulated to be used up slowly due to other compounds in the fruit and the fibre interacting with its metabolism. Basically, do the obvious thing. Eat whole foods that our body was evolved to eat. Not artificial produce.

[@someguy2135]

Right! A whole food plant based diet is the healthiest option. The healthiest fats are also from whole foods, like avocados, nuts, and seeds.

[@TreacleMary]

"Prepare to get annoyed: this is Healthcare Triage" PLEASE make this your new tagline in the opening brief!

[@Huntershemlock]

In Japan they eat low fat diets, and yet quite a lot of carbs (all of that white rice!). Yet they have better health outcomes than we do. I wonder if it has more to do with eating reasonable portion sizes, eating fish, or something else.

[@dengueberries]

Caloric restriction is the only thing that has been found to be closely linked with longevity, at least. Better portion sizes is very likely a thing. The fat they _do_ eat is to use a poor phrase "better/good" fats, such as those from fish.

[@RainaRamsay]

The resignation in Aaron's voice when he says, "And it appears they were ignored." is right on the cusp between hilarious and heartbreaking.

[@YuzuDrink]

Oh, man... Not having a scientifically recommended diet is terrifying... :(

[@RainaRamsay]

Even worse? _Thinking_ you have a scientifically recommended diet, when you actually don't.

[@Chrisallengallery]

Could you please do a video on how many fruits and veg we REALLY should be eating daily. I find it hard sometimes to get my 5 a day. Some countries recommend 9 a day. What do we need ?

[@amandadube156]

Good idea!

[@zedek_]

You're probably better off eating them at a high ratio, especially in the case of vegetables. Nutrient dense, low calorie foods seem like a great choice in general. Still, if this video shows anything, it's that this stuff can be quite tricky, so I would definitely love for him to make one on this.

[@amandadube156]

If you eat too much fiber, your lower intestine may not be too pleased! :-/

[@zedek_]

Amanda Lee Dube It would wrong to assume that all vegetables have a lot of fiber. In fact, there are many that are recommended for people post-surgery. Low fiber vegetables include: asperagus with the base chopped off, skinned zucchini and cucumber, carrots especially when steamed, mushroom (they are vegetables when speaking in culinary terms, but not in botanical terms), Lettuce, and finally, the proud tomato. All that aside, the average person not only _mostly likely_ needs to be eating more vegetables, they _also_ probably need more fiber than they're getting. At least the average American does, in any case.

[@bakslashr]

Along with everything else, how many and how often do you think your ancestors ate fruit and vegetables while the species was evolving? You are likely adapted to eating within that range until an extraordinary amount of evidence shows otherwise.

[@MaoRuiqi]

Well, when you nail a subject, with passion, you certainly nail it but good. Well done!

[@jimbo1969]

Hey I heard you on NPR on Sound Medicine (WFIU Bloomington, Indiana) on my way to work. I'm an Emergency Department Charge Nurse on night shift. Love this program and the ones from NPR. I wish WISU NPR would carry Sound Medicine, but l can pick up the one from Bloomington usually, so it works out. Great information and your guys show is awesome. If you ever want some insights from EMS/Fire/Police/Emergency Departments I'm sure our area would be glad to help. Your vaccinations show and your cold remedy show was awesome too! Thanks! Jim

[@ieuanhunt552]

No!? Cutting out a very important part of your diet is a really stupid idea, what a surprise.

[@FeeblePenguin]

[@ieuanhunt552]

FeeblePenguin DFTBA

[@biranfalk-dotan2448]

Really cool video. You hinted at the idea of a balance between carbohydrate, protein, and fat intake. What is that balance and how does it depend on lifestyle?

[@tpespos]

It would be nice if the past videos you mention would be linked in the description ( I say nice because I can just search for it myself)

[@Gruncival]

What are you saying, that you haven't been watching literally every video as it comes out since the day the channel was started? Preposterous.

[@InorganicVegan]

Gruncival I have. :D

[@liketheduck]

Can you please always link to all videos you mention during the video in the video description?

[@nathanhallisey441]

I am loving this channel. Sending wishes from Australia.

[@awdanowski]

Would you do a video about the Feb 11 2005 study on the MIND diet and Alzheimer's from Chicago Rush Hospital? I'm guessing that this is an example of correlation versus causation.

[@bartkl]

It's painful to see you not mention the difference between wholefood and processed carbs. That's as much a problem as people thinking all fats are the same.

[@jessemitchem3880]

Amazingly intelligent discussion. Thank you. Your videos save lives.

[@firstclass2k]

can you talk about niacin and whether it helps reduce heart problems.

[@cwspartan]

I'm confused as to the conclusion of this video. Whats the deal with saturated fat?

[@paige.campbell]

The link is broken

[@extremegenes6761]

Love the videos! Is there a way for me to get a hold of these papers? I like reading! :D

[@KemaTheAtheist]

Usually links to his blog are found in the description and from there you can find the citations.

[@liketheduck]

I love the freaking channel. It's like a constant dose of the reality of the red pill, but about health.

[@jaakizamazin]

People lose weight because of caloric restriction and increased physical activity regardless if you prefer low carbohydrate or low fat. The recommendations still apply and haven't changed: Lean protein sources like beans and fish, low fat dairy, nuts and seeds and other monos and poly fats in place of sat. fat, whole grains, fruits, and vegetables. People who lose weight and keep it off long term also regularly weigh themselves, keep a food /calorie journal, and are active most days of the week.(5-6 days/wk, or about 200minutes/wk.) This obsession with focusing just on one macro nutrient as the culprit is unhealthy and hinders public understanding. Focus on the big ideas above, namely eating within your needs and moving more!

[@smingjr]

jaakizamazin calories don't matter. Remember that callorie counts vary by person and calorie counts can be off by 20 percent on any food. Search It up.

[@smingjr]

jaakizamazin LOW FAT CAUSES WEIGHT GAIN. NO BEANS HIGH DAT DAIRY HIGH FAT MEAT AND LOTS OF GREEN VEGGIES NOT FRUIT AND NUTS IS HOW YOU LOOSE WEIGHT

[@someguy2135]

@@smingjr In the USA, the only dietary group with a healthy BMI is the vegan one.

[@andrewhealey3755]

Do melatonin pills for sleep actually work or is it just a placebo

[@ofMindandHeart]

I'd like to know this too

[@ImKittyCow]

If you use it to change your sleep schedule, like in a jet lag situation, then it has some effect. If youre using it nightly at the same time as a sleep assistant, its completely a placebo.

[@DestroyingArchangel]

Andrew Healey they work ish kinda a over time thing

[@NoxMarcus]

Why are sugars and starches always bundled together as 'carbohydrates'? Doesn't this assume that for instance eating 1 kg (2.2 lb) of potatoes would have comparable, or at least correlative, health outcomes as drinking 1.6 l (58 oz) of soft drink? (same amount of carbohydrates)

[@smingjr]

FeedbackJack it's almost the same as they raise your blood sugar and insulin to higher levels than say fat like oil

[@ClimbaRock5]

I've been doing low carb for about 2 months and seeing good results, but I have been eating a lot of highly processed meat to feel satiated. So far this is short term so I am not too worried, but eating a lot of processed meat is not something I want to sustain. Anyone have recommendations for meals low in carbs that use unsaturated fats, or, at the least, unprocessed saturated fats?

[@moestietabarnak]

pork chop ?

[@joe4324]

Exactly how much fat % was in the 'low fat study?'

[@andyosully]

SunRa 0:50

[@somecuriosities]

In light of the information in this video (and also the one on cholesterol, diets etc) a video giving some guidance on what we maybe SHOULD eat instead might be helpful?

[@somecuriosities]

***** Sound advice.

[@itisdevonly]

*happy dance* I'm so proud of you! You're not one of those who blindly follow the dogma, but you actually look at the research and realize that this low-fat crap is bullshit and not supported by the research! Ever since reading Good Calories, Bad Calories by Gary Taubes, I've been interested in the subject of diet health and have looked into the research pretty in depth. (Not that I agree with Taubes on everything 100%, btw.) But it's certainly important to realize the actual quality (or lack thereof) of the dietary research and how the guidelines don't even base the recommendations on the little reliable science we even have. I still have a bone to pick, though, about your argument that saturated fat is the culprit. Yes, type of fat matters, but it's omega-6 PUFAs we need to be wary of (and it's the positive benefits of omega-3 PUFAs that are responsible for the benefits seen by replacing saturated fats with PUFAs). Also, it's unwise to lump trans-fats with saturated fats, because they aren't the same, and they don't have the same effects. Yes, saturated fats do raise cholesterol, but they aren't associated with an increased risk of mortality or other adverse outcomes. Saturated fats are largely benign. Some studies even show them to have positive effects. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2824152/ www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21118617?dopt=Abstract www.bmj.com/content/346/bmj.e8707 ajcn.nutrition.org/content/80/5/1175.long There was another really good one that I meant to link to, but I cannot find it for the life of me and it's really bugging me. :-( It was a quality meta-analysis that actually evaulated SFA separately from TFA and made distinctions between omega-6 PUFA substitution and omega-3 PUFA substitution and showed that the beneficial effects were actually due to the omega-3 PUFAs. Sadly, I don't know the title or authors or where to find it. Blarg. I could have sworn I had it bookmarked...

[@theSHOK5555]

Could you please make a video on what to eat/drink after a workout to maximize the benefits of said workout? I realize the Internet wants you to drink chocolate milk, and I tried to do research on this but I haven't been able to find any evidence either medical or scientific to backup this claim. Thank you!

[@Magnulus76]

It depends on what you mean by "Workout". If it's cardio, you don't really need anything in particular. Even most weight training doesn't necessarily need anything added, as most people aren't exercising enough for it to matter.

[@JohnMichael-ir6in]

Can you please do a deeper dive into Saturated/unsaturated/monounsaturated/trans-fat/omega3? Im curious to learn more. Especially the men vs women part! Thanks!

[@healthcaretriage]

I will add this to the list! We do have a couple videos that address some of these things (e.g. trans fats: kzbin.info/www/bejne/iZrRe5Ked52HZ80), and chapter 1 of Aaron's latest book (The Bad Food Bible) also offers a little insight! -Tiffany

[@asuka_the_void_witch]

Why would you replace fats with carbs?

[@dbe471]

I remember in 87 or 88 the surgeon general came on national TV and told people to eat less fat. The result was an explosion of "low fat" foods. Check any picture of a grocery store aisle in 1985, the only thing advertised as low fat was dairy. Ground beef listed the fat content but it wasn't a large print selling point on the label. Fast forward to 1995 and low fat was on everything, even ridiculous things like fruit juice. Consumption of pure sugar exploded as well, people not only got the calories they needed, they got WAY MORE because they believed they were eating healthy, even if it was cupcakes and pretzels. Again, it wasn't specifically the carbs, it was the belief that carbs were "free" in a sense, and over-consumption of food in general. The keto craze was a response to THAT and the reason it was so successful is because people were getting so many calories from carbs, even cutting them down a little was cutting into their total daily calories. I do feel like regular non-sick people should stick to the basics which have not changed. Eat a variety of foods, mostly plants. It only needs to be more complicated if you have allergies, diabetes, or one of the more rare eating disorders.

[@StormblastDB]

Too bad people don't realize that low-fat(30% of calories) isn't the same as low-fat(10% of calories). Read the studies published by Dean Ornish, Nathan Pritikin, Neal Barnard, Caldwell Esselstyn, John Mcdougall, Colin Campbell and all the other plant based researchers. Pretty much all of them using a truly low fat diet where as what most people think of as a low fat diet really isn't.

[@darastrixmaekrix]

You mentioned heavy use of carbohydrates may be responsible for the rise in diabetes and obesity. Are there any RCTs showing the rise in carbohydrate consumption is causing the rise in diabetes, or is it just a correlation?

[@bakslashr]

How do you randomize someones diet so they don't know they are getting high carbohydrates or low carbohydrates 24/7? They used to conduct some experiments like that in prisons or in mental hospitals, however, they had issues of their own with population turnover leading data that wasn't reliable along with moral issues.

[@velikiradojica]

Isn't that how you get type two diabetes? Your cells stop reacting to insulin if you consume too much sugar.

[@DomSchu]

velikiradojica no, type 2 diabetes is caused from being overweight and having too much fat in the blood to absorb sugar correctly. The high blood sugar is a symptom, not the cause. Overeating sugar, oils, and refined calories can cause weight gain and result in diabetes though. www.diabetes.org/diabetes-basics/myths/

[@velikiradojica]

DomSchu The link you provided says that being overweight doesn't cause diabetes. edit: spelling mistake

[@pinkdoobie]

DomSchu Type 2 diabetes can also be genetic. There appears to be a link between gestational diabetes and type 2 diabetes as well.

[@ClassicJukeboxBand]

Well, you learned a lesson. Millions of doctors can be wrong, and millions of doctors were wrong.

[@PuppetsByPalmieri]

When you say carbohydrates I assume you mean things like bread and pasta? Hard to see how fruits and vegetables would have any negative effect.

[@someguy2135]

What type of carbohydrates did they switch to? Carbs from whole foods, like fruit, are beneficial. Processed carbs (like added sugar) are detrimental!

[@KwynM]

FINALLY thanks for covering this.

[@ErickOberholtzer]

Are there any studies that checked how changing the overall number of calories people ate affected them?

[@joehill1231]

Yes it's actually the first law of thermodynamics.

[@ErickOberholtzer]

Joe Hill I meant health wise lol

[@joehill1231]

Yeah it makes you less fat and therefore healthy. It's like 9th grade chemistry.

[@LadyTL]

Joe Hill Sure as long as you ignore the 2nd law of thermodynamics.

[@joehill1231]

LOL fatlogic 2 strong

[@s2ac]

do a video on the ketogenic diet

[@saiphatak96]

Would you guys please do a video about Paleo diets.

[@Lisa-ny5ke]

it’s not good. no need for a video now

[@fisheatsyourhead]

Are there any things that you should avoid more than people normally do (excluding things like alcohol or cigarettes)?

[@LawffleCopter]

Milk. He has an entire video on it called The Milk Industrial Complex.

[@nolanthiessen1073]

LawffleCopter He never said to avoid it, though. His video was against the notion that milk *needs* to be consumed in order to get certain nutrients.

[@InorganicVegan]

Soy milk is better than cow milk anyway.

[@Gruncival]

LawffleCopter That wasn't exactly it. He said to treat milk the same way people treat soda. His hate isn't towards milk, but towards the advertisement of milk as "healthy" past a child-rearing stage.

[@A_A828]

Diana Peña Not really, soy is full of phytoestrogens.

[@cutabove9046]

There is one serious flaw in your video. Almost no one changed their diet to low fat, let alone the millions as you claim. The American fast food diet is 42% fat and continues to be 42% fat. What they did is add more sugar to what amounted to an already high fat diet.

[@Floccini]

We seem to want diet to be important to health and it is if you are not getting enough vitamins, essential amino acids and minerals but all people in developed countries get that, but other than that it does not seem to make much difference in health. So eat with joy an thankfulness.

[@skye6234]

Have you seen Fat-Head, which is essentially a documentary rebuttal to Supersize Me, as well as a critique of the current nutritional guidelines? I'd love for your expert, medical take on it. It had some very controversial medical/scientific opinions that seem to be well reflected in the studies you've been mentioning over the last couple weeks. If you haven't its certainly an interesting documentary to try, and if you have, I'd gladly listen to your personal informed take on it. Thanks.

[@JohnDotBomb]

Prepare to get annoyed, this is Healthcare Triage comments.

[@roseeposey3072]

Whoa. Mind BLOWN

[@Magnulus76]

Eat a whole food, mostly plant based diet, relatively high in protein and low in fat, and you'll lose weight. But there's no diet out there that'll let you eat 2,000-3,00 calories and lose weight.

[@chillsahoy2640]

It's inconvenient when you just want to know the "true, best recommendation" but the way science works is, we study something, we analyze the results and come up with a conclusion. At some point in the future, there are new studies and more information that may result in a change in the conclusion/recommendation. It's unfortunate because people will get annoyed and say that science can't make up its mind, but in a way this ability to change according to new results is precisely what helps us understand things better than if we stuck with an old study and the conclusions drawn from it even if newer and better studies showed a different outcome.

[@Chrisallengallery]

Everyone should fast once in a while. Eat in moderation and if you should cut down on anything it should be refined sugar.

[@tpespos]

Everyone is a strong word

[@Chrisallengallery]

tpespos -Everyone- Relatively healthy people... Your right. Not for everyone.

[@Anthraxicus]

tpespos Would you prefer the word "Someone?"

[@Eris-_]

Everyone who wants to slow their metabolism down, you mean.

[@RyanMcLeanau]

You are so freaking awesome!

[@gfifer1]

For the study that replaced high fat intake with high carbohydrate intake, I'd be curious to know whether they controlled for different kinds of carbohydrates. There are simple carbohydrates (like table sugar and fructose) and complex carbs (like starch and glycogen), each effect the body differently. Simple carbs tend to cause blood sugar levels to spike and insulin levels to jump along with it. While complex carbs need to be broken down before entering the blood stream and tend to raise blood sugar gradually, which is much easier on the body.

[@TurboDally]

Aren't vegetarians and vegans the ones most likely to consume more carbohydrates than anyone else? How is it that they are the slimmest vs meat eaters? Maybe it's the type of carbohydrate that's more important?

[@smingjr]

TurboDally nope the vegans my be slim but the second they eat any fat or cholesterol (which their body needs to make hormones) they will hurt because they are insulin resistance is so high

[@smingjr]

pandaproducts I've never heard anything more stupid. Have you heard if sugar? It causes insulin resistance and makes it so you can't lose weight along with carbs. Dont try to lie

[@smingjr]

pandaproducts not I've this article says glucose not fat www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/diabetes/overview/what-is-diabetes/prediabetes-insulin-resistance

[@14720509]

I have mostly concentrated on lessening saturated and trans fat and Ive lost about 15 pounds. I eat more fruit, lean meats, low carb and whole grains. I had to do a lifestyle change because of my gallbladder.

[@SWatchik]

Everything in moderation

[@Doping1234]

mercury too?

[@MADGennaro]

Doping1234 No, never moderate your Freddie intake!

[@LawffleCopter]

Ah yeah I binge Freddy Wong all the time!

[@fakjbf3129]

Doping1234 Yes. Small amounts of mercury are not harmful, and you probably ingest some all the time. You are also exposed to small amounts of radiation all the time, in moderation it's completely harmless. Pretty much everything on Earth can be consumed in moderation because the very definition of moderation is that it's at an amount that isn't harmful. Obviously things like mercury will have a much lower threshold than something like butter, but it's still there and you can stay below it.

[@Doping1234]

Fakjbf Ionizing radiation does not have a threshold limit, the more you get the higher your chances of developing cancer are (even if it's small under normal circumstances). So don't eat your plutonium supplements just because you don't live near to a uranium mine.

[@friedmansfresh]

Is it possible the guidelines just didn't set fat low enough? When Dr. Esselstyn put patients on an extremely low fat, no animal protein, no oil diet he claims to have seen improvement in circulation to the heart and lower death rates compared to similar populations (people with serious cardiovascular disease)

[@Nutmegp]

His studies were very flawed, he was just exploiting the vegan fad for money. I would provide sources but I am on my phone

[@friedmansfresh]

Nutmeg Pluto if you have time and interest you should send me some links. Fully aware that almost all of his evidence is anecdotal or small scale, my husband and I have been following his diet for several months and have lowerered cholesterol, our weight, eliminated chest pains, and weird nighttime vomiting. But, I like to know when I'm following my gut as opposed to science

[@KsChina]

Chaviva Friedman If NP sends you sources, please share. My wife and I went on the Ornish Diet in social support of my father. I was really impressed with his results. We were on a very strict end of the Spectrum for about 2 years. We were already vegetarian and fairly clean eaters but it was a far more radical shift for Dad. His results were really over and above what I would have hoped for.

[@abletactics1913]

@@Nutmegp 4. years. later

[@Nutmegp]

@@abletactics1913 yikes, my bad

[@gussy1z]

That burger background is making me hungry..

[@HalTheAl]

I've seen quite a few people advocating fasting. Would love a video on the evidence of that. Just do a whole playlist of fad diets :P

[@BUJU2007]

It depends on the fasting protocol. I really don't think 24 hour fasts are necessary. I fast from 8pm to about 12am the next day. I go for a walk in the morning and eat two large meals every day. I'm losing weight and can't remember the last time I was actually hungry or felt food cravings.

[@zukodude487987]

I am dissappointed in the studies. As far as i can tell they did not account for which type of carbs. If you change from low carb to high carb and all you eat is white bread, cookies, cereals and candy then yes you wont feel much better. Now if you pick fruits, berries and starches as yiur carb sources then suddenly everything changes. Only eat processed carbs in moderation. As for saturated fats you can only find in butter, meats (even lean), cheese, milk, eggs, coconut oil and cocoa butter. So get rid of those.

[@zukodude487987]

***** Meat, eggs and dairy are not good sources of fats since they are mostly saturated and trans fats. Both raise LDL cholesterol levels which increase heart disease risk. There is clear evidence that saturated fats DO have a significant effect CVD.

[@zukodude487987]

***** No it hasn't been debunked. I have seen some attempts to refute the effects of saturated fat, but they all have been falsified.

[@sion8]

Do another country's health system! Brazil's or any from emerging economies.

[@seekittycat]

This is crazy to me yet good news at the same time. I remember growing up my mom maintains the mindset that "fat is bad". When she started learning to cook most food is steamed or boiled in water only. Every bit of fat is trimmed off pieces of meat before it gets on the table (and she makes us spit out any fat left over). She's a bit better now (mainly because my dad refuse to eat at home in complaint). But still in her mind if we eat fat then the body will create fat. I'm not really sure how to explain to her how this isn't the case.

[@moestietabarnak]

tell her that eating fat train your body to BURN fat ...so it become easier for the body to switch to body fat anytime it need energy (not saying you never burn fat, just that the body can switch right away instead of waiting for insulin to go down (from highly processed carbs) you still burn fat but it's harder with high insulin level) That's how I feel it, instead of craving 2-3 after a high-carb meal, I just go on without thinking about food...

[@ltericdavis2237]

So I don't have to worry about that side of fries anymore.

[@frollard]

Factoid unless that side is super-size...then its a meal by itself, not a 'side' :)It's carbs and fat..which are useful for your body if you are actually going to burn those calories off.

[@prterrell]

Except fries (as much as I love them) are pretty much empty calories. That doesn't mean never eat them, but eat them only rarely, as a treat. At the very least, one small serving a week. You can improve their nutritional content by only eating hand-cut fries that still have the skin on them and even more so-by switching to hand-cut skin-on sweet potato fries.

[@ltericdavis2237]

prterrell What do you mean by "empty calories?"

[@prterrell]

Factoid The same thing that anyone who uses this extremely common term means by it. Google is your friend.

[@mastersimonsays]

YES you do. It has a shit ton of carbs. And NOT the good kind either (simple carbs), which causes a rush of glucose into your blood, which in the long run, could lead to diabetes, and damage your arteries, leading to heart disease. To make matters worse, restaurants add sugar into fries.

[@willgrana8495]

I can just imagine this guy moving his chair over 3 feet back and forth after every clip

[@justrusty]

Research shows that if the cholesterol level where statins are prescribed is set at 260, pharmaceutical profits suffer horribly. Clearly, the proper response is to lower the threshold to 200.

[@Thelius42]

It's actually really simple. As Michael Palin put it "Eat food, not too much, mostly plants."

[@ZPSBestProfileName]

It's 2015. People should know this already...

[@cassieoz1702]

It's worth noting the dietary guidelines say they're aimed at 'healthy Americans', so, are they applicable to the 80-85% of people with some degree of metabolic syndrome??

[@gabrielleb74]

Topic suggestion: Iodine

[@keata1315]

My mom's mom was in her 90s and healthy for her age. But her doctor told her to go on a low fat diet. She died the next year, just wasted away. I'm never gonna do low fat diets.

[@thotpolice3897]

You do realize at 90 you can start to die at any point right?

[@HendrikSchmidt1]

I have a few question. You're always talking about correlation and causations. Firstly, aren't causations correlations too? (Just to clear it up for me.) And then secondly, aren't you using the word causation wrong to (strictly speaking)? Let's say we *would* make a hypothetical randomized control trial (which can prove causation). One group smokes, the other doesn't. Now, the participants of the first group are twice as likely to develop lung cancer after 10 years (or something along those lines). But not everybody gets it. Wouldn't that still be a correlation and not a causation, as in smoking doesn't cause cancer, it just makes it more likely?

[@technophobian2962]

I know it's been 6 years, but correlation means that a certain thing happening tends to coincide with another thing happening. Causation means that a certain thing happening is directly linked and can be proven to be linked to another thing happening even if you eliminate every other factor. For example, there is high correlation between people eating ice cream outdoors and getting sunburn. Using this you could say that eating ice cream outside is what causes sunburn. Of course we know that sun exposure is actually what causes sunburn. For your example, if you actually took a group of people and randomly assigned them to either a smoking group or a non-smoking group (which sounds pretty unethical to me), then it would likely be a causal relationship if the smokers had increased rates of cancer. Since you're assigning them to a group at random, their lifestyle factors prior to the trial wouldn't change the results.

[@willhelmberkly3025]

Ferment your grains, Eat your veggies, and consume animal protein from pastured animals.

[@prterrell]

And, yet, those of us training to work in the healthcare field are still being taught the old low-fat, higher carb guidelines!

[@ajblue6833]

Some people in my family are on what I consider to be a radical diet. They cut out almost all carbs and strive for under 30 grams a day. Their diet is mainly meat, cheese, and some green vegetables (usually broccoli or spinach). Their diet book claims that protein and fat fill you up and energize you, while carbs make you fat. Can you shed some scientific light on this claim? I'm highly skeptical about it and hope the myth gets busted. I hope they aren't hurting themselves.

[@InorganicVegan]

Wow. Excessive calories make you fat, not any one macronutrient. Saying that carbs make you fat is like saying that protein makes you fat. Both are fattening if excessively consumed. Also, a diet that is mainly meat and cheese is an ecological nightmare. Livestock is already the top source of deforestation and releases more greenhouse gases than all transport combined...

[@ajblue6833]

Diana Peña I agree. I get a lot of hell from my family for doing meatless mondays or eating fruit, which they claim makes you fat because it has carbs. I've seen negative changes in my family members on this diet. They've lost weight, but on their "cheat" days they go carb crazy and I think it may be because they are starving themselves of carbs. They have a hard time staying on this diet and end up gaining lots of weight back. Ken Romanek I've tried having my family members talk to a doctor, but they are a bit older and tend to not trust doctors. I'll definitely ask them to look up the effects a meat and cheese diet has on the kidneys though.

[@ajblue6833]

***** when I say my family members don't trust doctors, I mean they don't believe asthma or skin cancer are real. Not that they are slightly skeptical. Also, I'm not so much worried about the protein intake as I am the low amount of carbs when every cell in the body runs on glucose. I'd really like a healthcare triage video to help unjumble all the information out there about how much/little carbs are recommended/required.

[@SashaUvarov95]

I dont have any links to back this up, but I have taken many nutrition courses in university. Minimizing carbs to such a low level will not necessarily harm you but you may feel tired because carbs give you that immediate energy that you need. However, they need to make sure they get their vitamins in, which are found in vegetables and vegetables are carbs- but you can take multivitamins for that. In my experience, This type of diet is only really useful to cut the fat thats extremely hard to lose (for example the one that covers your abs)

[@SurmaSampo]

Diana Peña "Saying that carbs make you fat is like saying that protein makes you fat. Both are fattening if excessively consumed."This is demonstrably false. You cannot convert proteins into fat in any significant way, we just lack the biological capacity to do so. There are many health risks with having prurient as your only energy source over a long term and starving to death is one of them, commonly referred to as "rabbit starvation". This terms comes from the occurrence of poor people who's main energy source is rabbit or hare meat (very high protein and very low fat) dying from starvation (lack of adequate energy intake over time).On the other side of the coin, humans have metabolic regulatory cells (only proven a few years ago due to the immense difficulty in finding these little spindly hormone factories) that cause the cells around it to switch from a high metabolic activity to low activity when excess glucose passes to them from the surrounding cells (they lack direct access to the blood stream). Consuming too many carbohydrates not only adds energy potentail to your diet but it also slows the rate at which you burn it. When combined with the lower metabolic cost of converting carbohydrates to glucose (relative to fats and proteins), this makes normally digestible carbohydrates the most fattening per gram.Contrary to popular belief, the amount of energy listed on foods isn't how much your body can usefully absorb from the food. It is how much energy is released if dried and burned (see the meaning of the word calorie).

[@MatthewGoreBGenomics]

So, the take-away is, something like: Don't eat fatty fastfood if you have a normative attitude toward your own health. If it's normalizing, that's just too bad.

[@Learning2luvME]

Everything in moderation and listen and know your own body is my way of living. If we listen to these studies we will drive ourselves crazy 🤨🤨🤨

[@billymoore1970]

So who were the knuckleheads who published the recommendations in 1977 and why haven't they been charged with a crime?

[@FrancoisBothaZA]

OK, but what about all those HIGH fat, low carb diets, e.g. Banting?

[@Nutmegp]

www.google.co.uk/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&es_th=1&ie=UTF-8#q=high%20fat%20low%20carb%20diet%20ncbi&es_th=1

[@FrancoisBothaZA]

Yes, I know, but for me to convince some people, it's going to have to be in a nice video like the rest of HTC's stuff.

[@yogiyoda]

Dr. Aaron Carroll, How do you explain Dr Caldwell Esselstyn's reversal of heart disease with a low fat diet. Dr Ornish has also had similar results with a low fat diet. I think you are missing something here! How low was the low-fat diet in the randomized trials? I have a feeling it was not low enough.

[@jed2321]

The short comment you made about doing a randomized controlled trial on smoking would be unethical. Smh.

[@5E4N3R]

Watching this while drinking a big glass of milk.

[@MagusSartori]

So having been lied to twice (fats and salts), you understand that as a layman in this field that a nutritionist is going to have to move the freaking world to convince me that they know what the heck their talking about. The only thing people seem to agree upon is that unprocessed fruits and veggies are OK. (shakes fist at vegetarians)

[@grantcivyt]

This is what everyone should conclude. Physicists and chemists do excellent science. Then there's everyone else.... Ph.Ds (of the academic variety) like to discuss their "best available science" without mentioning that the standards in their fields are abysmal. Self-reported surveys, sample sizes in the teens, and lack of reproducibility are rampant in the "soft sciences." Then you have the media who look for the first douche in a lab coat to put on screen as their token "expert." And we round it off with politicians who have to "do something" because of the media pressure or simply to justify their existence.

[@someguy2135]

Don't blame the vegetarians (or vegans.) We didn't make the rules. A whole food plant based diet is the healthiest. BTW, I know you weren't serious.

[@moestietabarnak]

@@someguy2135 except the lectin part... you know, the toxin plant create to protect themself from predator (insects mostly) ...

[@someguy2135]

@@moestietabarnak Lectins are a boogyman that charlatans like Dr. Steven Gundry use to sell books and make money. Red kidney beans could kill you if you ate them raw (which would protect them against insects) but if thoroughly cooked, they are beneficial. Beans are associated with longevity, more than any other food. All Blue Zone populations eat them as a staple. Any remaining lectins after cooking fall below the level of being harmful. Medical professionals use the ancient maxim- "The dose makes the poison." Too much oxygen or water could kill you.

[@moestietabarnak]

@@someguy2135 that's fine for cooked, but what about raw? there is peoples reacting to lectin.. and then there gluten. and don't forget you need supplement that vegetable doesn't provide.

[@kjell159]

When your concept of carbohydrates is pure sugar & white bread, sure. Food is more then just macronutrients. Why mention the thousands of phytonutrients, why take dietary fiber into consideration, methionine rich protein in animal produce, carnitine & choline that are turned into TMA by the gut microbiome of people with a bacteroides enterotype, etc. When you can just create a dichotomic mindset of fat vs carbs... It's as ridiculous imho, as left vs right politics.

[@toddscamera]

So The Starch Solution isn't the solution? Dang man. I'm just gonna stick to non processed products.

[@fluffysuds]

It's the solution for me :)

[@DomSchu]

No, the Starch Solution is still a great and healthy diet. Most of these studies against carbohydrates focus on refined carbohydrates and not whole foods.

[@kgal1298]

DomSchu True and most the carb up people forget that people are fat from refined carbs not fruit and veggie carbs. It makes me shake my head at them. Overall though fats still needed for the body to function especially for women. I don't get the low fat diets that promote such a low fat amount that women lose their periods. That just seems dangerous.

[@AshfordAH1Z]

Starch solution is the ONLY solution. Look around the world. What is the staple food of countries. STARCH.

[@FubukiShiromiya]

As someone who follows that same diet, saying it is the only solution is a claim you need to support. There's more than one lifestyle out there that promotes good health and lots of people that don't follow this diet do have good health. What a lot of these studies get wrong is that often when they are talking about low-fat they are talking about 30+% of calories from fat and, as others have pointed out, highly processed carbohydrates from junk food. I don't know who is out there arguing that that's a healthy diet. Conversely, all of this carbophobia is idiotic. When people eat pizza and then complain that they ate "too many carbs", no you fucking didn't, you ate too much fat, and calories in general without much nutrition.

[@RainAngel111]

Here's your dietary recommendation: Get more exercise, and eat less processed food. a burger you made yourself from regular store bought packs of ground beef, fresh bread from the store and all fresh vegetables from the grocers, is gonna be 10x better for you than any burger at mcdonalds, and 11x better than any salad you get at Mcdonalds A burrito you cooked yourself instead of the factory made frozen breakfast burrito, is gonna be 10x better for you. Eating more fruits instead of having that hostess cake is gonna be better for you. We're dying of people too lazy to cook a proper meal from real ingredients instead of just putting some frozen food in the oven. I'm not talking about gluten free, organic, no specialty stuff. Just simple ingredients that haven't been in a can or a freezer.

[@vwoxy1]

Perhaps we shouldn't have blanket dietary recommendations for everyone, and instead make personalized recommendations part of seeing your GP. We would still all start at the same general baseline, but GPs should be encouraged to encourage dietary modifications to improve overall health.

[@Nox444]

I know you may have many of your videos planned far in advance, but I've seen a lot of hooblah about "medical marijuana curing cancer." This sounds like total BS to me. But if there is actually scientific evidence/studies surrounding this claim, it would be awesome to see a video of it on your channel. Keep up the good work.

[@calcarchr]

At the end of the program you blame science for getting it wrong but as you clearly stated, there were already many studies at the time the recommendations were created running contrary to the recommendations to suggest that this was possibly a political move rather than a science based one.

[@colonelweird]

So after telling viewers in video after video that they need to rely on the science, the Science! THE SCIENCE!!! .... now we get the message that a lot of this so-called science is bunk. And yet I can't help suspecting that in future videos, Dr. Carroll will continue to mock people who adopt a skeptical attitude towards various particular findings of science. The reality is, you can't have it both ways. Dr. Carroll has a positive obligation to adopt a more sophisticated epistemology of science -- one that accounts for the truths discussed in this video. We all need to find a way to take science seriously without putting the same degree of confidence in it that Dr. Carroll has advocated prior to this video.

[@ofMindandHeart]

*No.* We got a message that the people who wrote the dietary guidelines _didn't look at all the studies available_, and new studies have been done since. It does NOT mean that the concept of scientific research is flawed, just that the reporting of findings tends to be behind the times.

[@colonelweird]

ofMindandHeart1 Your comment implies that "the people who wrote the dietary guidelines" were not scientists. And presumably you mean also that after the guidelines were published, scientists did not support them or advocate for them. In fact, if "scientific research" showed clearly that the dietary guidelines were flawed, then no doubt true scientists must have been stepping forward for decades condemning the guidelines. Did that happen? Was there an outcry from the scientific community from the beginning? Did they warn the public that these mysterious unknown persons who wrote the dietary guidelines were leading people astray? I suspect the answer is no. If they had, Dr. Carroll would have said so. The reality is much more complex than your simplistic distinction between pure scientific research and the dietary guidelines suggests. I would be very surprised if scientists were not actively involved in important ways in the creation and promulgation of the dietary guidelines discussed here -- yet, as you say, they simply couldn't be bothered to look at all the studies available. And I very seriously doubt many other scientists actively opposed these guidelines on the grounds of their dedication to pure science and its results. Why not? And why does no one want to ask "why not?"? Why do you want to minimize and effectively dismiss the seriousness of this failure? The point of my comment is that science is a human activity and is therefore subject to all the limitations of every human activity. This is true even of "pure" research: the way studies are structured, the things that get studied, how these things are studied, etc., are always shaped (among many other things) by the way previous studies, and their results, were communicated. Therefore they are subject to the same distortions that any such communication exhibits. When those distortions are communicated to journalists, policymakers, and the like, the distortions get spread far and wide. To ignore these realities in favor of an almost religious devotion to the unblemished character of pure research is simply another form of anti-intellectualism.

[@ofMindandHeart]

Hi Frank. This is clearly something you feel very strongly about. I'm sorry that my original post did not go into full detail. Sometimes it's hard to know how much information people want to know about a subject. It seems that in some areas we actually have very similar views. I agree that humans are flawed. This means the execution of research needs to be monitored carefully for the same follies that are present in all areas of human activity. We need to be aware of conflicts of interest, potential monetary gains from particular research outcomes, and biases based on researcher beliefs. We need to look carefully at sample sizes, experimental setup, and possible confounding variables. And we definitely need to watch out for inexperience and incompetently designed studies. Furthermore, even well designed studies can cause unfounded recommendations when their results are overgeneralized. In this case the issue is more focused on the doctors and other authority figures who formed, reported, and supported the guidelines without considering the studies more carefully. I was not trying to imply that the guideline writers weren't scientists. But "scientist" does not mean "superhuman". My point was that the writers _did not read _*_every single_*_ available piece of research_ before publishing their findings. What's more, they had no way of predicting the results of future studies, something we really can't fault them for. You're right that the scientific method does not magically produce perfectly unbiased results. It's not inherently impartial, and it's certainly not foolproof. Yet I still feel throwing out the scientific method entirely would be a poor decision. If we were to discard it completely - if we stopped taking surveys or computing trends or using decent sample sizes - then the only thing for us to fall back on would be individual personal experience. Our *flawed, biased, human experience*. To me that doesn't seem any better.

[@AssClappicus]

I always thought low-fat was just so you get less fat...

[@Nutmegp]

best troll ever

[@krackerkid5]

so let me see if i can get this straight. cutting fat and cholesterol does nothing for health. you have to cut sat. fat and carbs?

[@Nutmegp]

Yeah, both saturated fats and carbs are fine in moderation

[@monkey314159]

ANNOYED!

[@steampunkerella]

turns out just eat a sane amount of all types of foods like nature intends was the best idea all along. whodathunk

[@suruxstrawde8322]

*hisses*-Keeeeetooooo- - -

[@cassieoz1702]

It's worth watching YT vids by Zoe Harcombe. There never WAS any evidence to support the guidelines. Ancel Keys strikes again

[@masterkey6596]

More people are using trainers Heart disease increased Boycott the shoe industry!

[@feroxlara21]

High Fat, Moderate Protein, Low Carbohydrate Let's get into Ketosis, my friends!

[@feroxlara21]

You can. But I'm going Keto. Have a great life, man.

[@feroxlara21]

Well, I've spent the majority of my life working out for athletics, extreme weight loss, and health.. The conclusion that most people need to reach is this, what way of eating is going to be most beneficial to you, AND that you can maintain for the rest of your life? Not going into the vast amount if disinformation put out, humans will have a much easier time sticking to a diet of High fats, and low carbohydrates(Also low sugars) Everything can work in moderation, but what way of eating can you stick to, and be happy with, while moderating it? I'll leave you with a documentary that will give you lots of info. "The perfect human diet" Have a good one, man.

[@pellaken]

"Prepare to get annoyed, this is Healthcare Triage" - I suspect this is true for all episodes if you are right-wing enough.

[@loganwolv3393]

Whoa whoa whoa, so saturated fats are pretty well correlated with increase CVD but not with all cause mortality? Hmm so does that mean that saturated fats while slightly increasing your odds of CVD, it decreases risks of like other issues?

[@TheCreeperRealm]

High protein and heavy squats that is the way forward suckaz.

[@InorganicVegan]

Um, no. You don't use most of the protein you eat, so you're wasting your money. Not to mention that if everyone went on a high protein diet, then we would need several planets to meet the demand.

[@Nutmegp]

Diana Peña Nah because all the people who have made gains can just steal the cows we need. You do use most of the protein you eat, you have just made a claim without citing any studies www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22150425 science

[@TheCreeperRealm]

NutmegPluto thanks sanic!

[@Nutmegp]

Akbar Iqbal just doin my job, gotta go fast

[@InorganicVegan]

Nutmegpluto No, you don't. No one needs 300g of protein a day or whatever other ludicrous number these jocks propose.

[@shintsu01]

OMG epic fail