Some time during the last century the medical community came to the consensus that consuming fats, especially so-called "trans fats", is bad for your health and causes obesity and all kinds of cardiovascular diseases. Similarly, cholesterol was deemed even worse, and a killer, and one of the leading causes of deaths.
As a consequence, many countries, especially western countries, have engaged in a massive decades-long awareness campaign warning of the dangers of trans fats and cholesterol. It has been also a massive success. Grocery store shelves are stock full of "fat free" products, and products seem to compete with each other on how visibly they can announce that they contain low or no fat. Many people are outright morbidly afraid of consuming anything else, and think that even small amounts of fats is unhealthy to them. Also cholesterol is a real bogeyman, and many people will eg. avoid eating too many eggs too often for the fear of the evil cholesterol. Also red meat has got a really bad reputation and is also widely considered a killer. Dietary recommendations almost universally recommend against eating too much fat, too much cholesterol, and too much red meat. Stores and pharmacies are full of products that claim to reduce cholesterol and trans fats.
During the past decade or two, however, more and more of the medical community is actually reversing this almost century-long common wisdom, as it turns out to be almost completely bogus.
It turns out that fats and cholesterol are actually not harmful or unhealthy to humans, not even if consumed in "excess" (at least compared to other nutrients). The evidence that shows a correlation between fat consumption and cardiovascular diseases shows just that: Correlation. Not causation.
Many studies that have been better made and consider more variables show that there is actually not even a correlation, much less a causation between the two. Perhaps the most notorious and telling one is the fact that the Masai tribes in Africa consume pretty much nothing else than fatty red meat, and little to no plant food. One would think that their arteries would be absolutely clogged and the amount of cardiovascular diseases would be very high. Yet the exact opposite is true: The Masai tribes have the lowest incidence of cardiovascular disease in the world. It's almost non-existent among them.
Of course that's not the only study. There are many, many others, including ones that show no correlation between cholesterol levels and cardiovascular disease. (There exist studies that show there is, but these studies have been shown to be flawed, using the wrong methodology and ending up with the wrong conclusions.) On the contrary, many studies have shown that artificially trying to decrease cholesterol levels with medication actually causes cardiovascular disease, rather than prevent it. More and more doctors are now strongly speaking against using such medication, because it's highly dangerous.
What kills people is actually obesity, not the consumption of fat or cholesterol. And even though it sounds highly unintuitive, it's not primarily fat consumption that causes obesity. As unintuitive as it sounds, the body doesn't actually store consumed fat almost at all.
Do you know what is the primary cause of obesity, and thus indirectly obesity-caused diseases and deaths? Excess carbohydrates. Sugars. (In addition, excessive sugar consumption has also other more direct health hazards.)
While people generally know that sugar is bad for your health, and causes obesity (and other problems, such as caries), there nevertheless has not been such a huge awareness-raising campaign against sugars, and people will consume enormous amounts of it, and wonder why they get so obese even though they avoid trans fats and cholesterol.
The anti-fat anti-cholesterol awareness-raising campaign has been going on for many decades in many countries, yet the results have been the complete opposite of what was expected. People are more obese than ever, and obesity-related diseases are among the top causes of deaths.
The major problem is that most of those "fat-free" products are stock-full of sugar. And not only are candy, chocolate, pastries and so on and so forth stock-full of sugar, but all kinds of other common food, even food that's often considered "healthy", are full of carbohydrates, including foods like bread, potatoes, rice, flour, and so on and so forth. If you start reading the nutrient contents of food products in the grocery store, you'll start noticing how amazingly large amounts of carbs there is in almost everything. Most products have at least 10% carbs by weight, which is a lot. Some products can go as high as 50% and more, which is just staggering.
Finland is one of the countries where the decades-long awareness campaigns against he "dangers" of fats and cholesterol have had the strongest results, and most people are almost morbidly afraid of eating too much fat, and will always choose the "fat-free" products, even when those contain excessive amounts of sugar, and are actually significantly unhealthier and more weight-gaining than the fatty alternatives. Most people don't pay any attention to the carbohydrate content of what they eat.
What's worse, Finnish doctors have been duped for over a decade now to prescribe anti-cholesterol drugs to elderly people, even those who are at low risk of any cardiovascular diseases. Very ironically, rather than decrease the amount of cardiovascular disease, they have only increased during these decades.
In the past decade or two many medical professionals have been trying to speak against this madness. They have been strongly speaking against these anti-cholesterol drugs, which they consider to be extremely dangerous, as well as against the anti-fat anti-cholesterol culture (which, ironically, pretty much ignores the actual dangers of excessive carbohydrates).
But the indoctrination sits deep, both in the public consciousness, and in the consciousness of many medical professionals. It's extremely hard to make people let go of these notions. No matter how many studies are made that show that the awareness campaign was wrong, most people cannot just let go of it. And store shells are still full of "health" products that are actually really unhealthy and the major cause of obesity, and thus obesity-related diseases and deaths, because they are stock full of sugars and other carbs.
This goes to show how effective social engineering can be, and how dangerous if the message is actually wrong, and ends up harming the population.
A few countries have tried introducing a "sugar tax" to make candy and other unhealthy products more expensive, and thus deter people from consuming it too much. This is completely in vain, and the wrong approach. Candy is only a small part of the problem, as the majority of carbs come from other foods (such as for example bread and potatoes, among many other "basic" common food products.)
As a consequence, many countries, especially western countries, have engaged in a massive decades-long awareness campaign warning of the dangers of trans fats and cholesterol. It has been also a massive success. Grocery store shelves are stock full of "fat free" products, and products seem to compete with each other on how visibly they can announce that they contain low or no fat. Many people are outright morbidly afraid of consuming anything else, and think that even small amounts of fats is unhealthy to them. Also cholesterol is a real bogeyman, and many people will eg. avoid eating too many eggs too often for the fear of the evil cholesterol. Also red meat has got a really bad reputation and is also widely considered a killer. Dietary recommendations almost universally recommend against eating too much fat, too much cholesterol, and too much red meat. Stores and pharmacies are full of products that claim to reduce cholesterol and trans fats.
During the past decade or two, however, more and more of the medical community is actually reversing this almost century-long common wisdom, as it turns out to be almost completely bogus.
It turns out that fats and cholesterol are actually not harmful or unhealthy to humans, not even if consumed in "excess" (at least compared to other nutrients). The evidence that shows a correlation between fat consumption and cardiovascular diseases shows just that: Correlation. Not causation.
Many studies that have been better made and consider more variables show that there is actually not even a correlation, much less a causation between the two. Perhaps the most notorious and telling one is the fact that the Masai tribes in Africa consume pretty much nothing else than fatty red meat, and little to no plant food. One would think that their arteries would be absolutely clogged and the amount of cardiovascular diseases would be very high. Yet the exact opposite is true: The Masai tribes have the lowest incidence of cardiovascular disease in the world. It's almost non-existent among them.
Of course that's not the only study. There are many, many others, including ones that show no correlation between cholesterol levels and cardiovascular disease. (There exist studies that show there is, but these studies have been shown to be flawed, using the wrong methodology and ending up with the wrong conclusions.) On the contrary, many studies have shown that artificially trying to decrease cholesterol levels with medication actually causes cardiovascular disease, rather than prevent it. More and more doctors are now strongly speaking against using such medication, because it's highly dangerous.
What kills people is actually obesity, not the consumption of fat or cholesterol. And even though it sounds highly unintuitive, it's not primarily fat consumption that causes obesity. As unintuitive as it sounds, the body doesn't actually store consumed fat almost at all.
Do you know what is the primary cause of obesity, and thus indirectly obesity-caused diseases and deaths? Excess carbohydrates. Sugars. (In addition, excessive sugar consumption has also other more direct health hazards.)
While people generally know that sugar is bad for your health, and causes obesity (and other problems, such as caries), there nevertheless has not been such a huge awareness-raising campaign against sugars, and people will consume enormous amounts of it, and wonder why they get so obese even though they avoid trans fats and cholesterol.
The anti-fat anti-cholesterol awareness-raising campaign has been going on for many decades in many countries, yet the results have been the complete opposite of what was expected. People are more obese than ever, and obesity-related diseases are among the top causes of deaths.
The major problem is that most of those "fat-free" products are stock-full of sugar. And not only are candy, chocolate, pastries and so on and so forth stock-full of sugar, but all kinds of other common food, even food that's often considered "healthy", are full of carbohydrates, including foods like bread, potatoes, rice, flour, and so on and so forth. If you start reading the nutrient contents of food products in the grocery store, you'll start noticing how amazingly large amounts of carbs there is in almost everything. Most products have at least 10% carbs by weight, which is a lot. Some products can go as high as 50% and more, which is just staggering.
Finland is one of the countries where the decades-long awareness campaigns against he "dangers" of fats and cholesterol have had the strongest results, and most people are almost morbidly afraid of eating too much fat, and will always choose the "fat-free" products, even when those contain excessive amounts of sugar, and are actually significantly unhealthier and more weight-gaining than the fatty alternatives. Most people don't pay any attention to the carbohydrate content of what they eat.
What's worse, Finnish doctors have been duped for over a decade now to prescribe anti-cholesterol drugs to elderly people, even those who are at low risk of any cardiovascular diseases. Very ironically, rather than decrease the amount of cardiovascular disease, they have only increased during these decades.
In the past decade or two many medical professionals have been trying to speak against this madness. They have been strongly speaking against these anti-cholesterol drugs, which they consider to be extremely dangerous, as well as against the anti-fat anti-cholesterol culture (which, ironically, pretty much ignores the actual dangers of excessive carbohydrates).
But the indoctrination sits deep, both in the public consciousness, and in the consciousness of many medical professionals. It's extremely hard to make people let go of these notions. No matter how many studies are made that show that the awareness campaign was wrong, most people cannot just let go of it. And store shells are still full of "health" products that are actually really unhealthy and the major cause of obesity, and thus obesity-related diseases and deaths, because they are stock full of sugars and other carbs.
This goes to show how effective social engineering can be, and how dangerous if the message is actually wrong, and ends up harming the population.
A few countries have tried introducing a "sugar tax" to make candy and other unhealthy products more expensive, and thus deter people from consuming it too much. This is completely in vain, and the wrong approach. Candy is only a small part of the problem, as the majority of carbs come from other foods (such as for example bread and potatoes, among many other "basic" common food products.)
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