Government diet guide fuelling Britain’s obesity crisis with high-carb recommendations
Official advice could be doing more harm than good
AN official healthy eating guide could be fuelling the obesity crisis, a top dietician has warned.
Dr Zoe Harcombe said its high-carb low-fat recommendation may be doing more harm than good
The Government’s Eatwell Guide features a segmented plate of daily proportions of food groups needed for a healthy diet. But the expert said its focus on the weight of food rather than their calorie count is wrong.
She stressed food firms helped compile the guide and as a result it recommends grub that may be making people fat.
But Dr Harcombe said this does not matter to the human body – what counts are calories, and macro and micronutrients.
Soaring rates of obesity within the UK since the 70s and 80s show the dietary advice to eat carbs and restrict fat is wrong, she added.
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Dr Harcombe said: “Given the vastly different calorie content of 100g of fruit and vegetables vs 100g of oils, the plate proportions change substantially when calories are counted."
A link between the diet advice and a rise in obesity and cases of type 2 diabetes “deserves examination”, she added.
The most recent guidelines – issued in March – increased the recommended intake of starchy foods from 33% to 38% and upped fruit and veg from 33% to 40%.
It also cut the amount of milk and dairy by almost half from 15% to 8%.
The previous segment of foods high in fat and sugars has morphed into unsaturated oils and spreads – prompting one food manufacturer to take out adverts celebrating their “dedicated section”.
Public Health England said it stands by the guide.
On whole life longer
EATING four portions of wholegrains a day cut premature-death risk by 22 per cent, a study found.
Harvard scientists said oats, wheat and others have multiple bioactive compounds which boost health
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