The theory has been that a low-fat/high-carb diet would control weight and help prevent killer diseases. But most of the studies that followed actually failed to show a direct link between fat in the diet and heart disease and cancer. But by then it was too late even science couldn’t shake the prevailing wisdom that all fats are bad, and all carbs are good.
By investigating the genesis of this theory, Gary Taubes found that the government’s initial decision in the 1970’s to promote low-fat diets was not based on recommendations from doctors or scientists, but rather from lawyers who worked for Sen. George McGovern.
With the release of the government’s “Food Pyramid” in the early 1990s, it was official: the low-fat/high-carb diet was America’s food plan.
Dr. Robert Atkins, for one, said the government had it all wrong. More and more researchers and doctors are coming forward with the same conclusion. Good and bad fats are discussed in the treatment “Essential Fatty Acids”. Bad carbohydrates are those with a high glycemic index or simple sugars and those carbohydrates that have been refined.
It turns out that in the presence of a low fat diet, increasing the intake of vegetables actually raises LDL levels!