Butter And Cheese, Not As Bad As Believed For Health

Butter and cheese are not as bad for health as believed, says a new study titled "Dietary advice not merely needs review; it should not have been introduced," published in the British Medical journal on Tuesday Feb 10, 2015. There is no proper evidence to back up the guidelines issued by the UK and the US to avoid eating fatty foods that includes butter and cheese.

The dietary guidelines recommended people to reduce consumption of overall fat to 30 percent and that of saturated fat to 10 percent in their food intake in an effort to prevent coronary heart diseases. About 56 million people of the UK and 220 million people of the US were advised to follow the low fat dietary guidelines in 1983 with reference to randomised control trials without any supporting evidence, says the research.

Zoë Harcombe, main author of the study, said that there was no difference in the overall deaths between the two groups, one that followed the dietary guidelines and the other that did not. No statistical difference in the number of reported heart deaths between the two groups was observed, says the investigator. The consequences of increase in the intake of carbohydrate due to restricted consumption of fat among people are not known, said the researcher, pointing out the increased rates of obesity and type II diabetes in the past 30 years.

Dr Alison Tedstone, Public Health England's chief nutritionist, cautioned that the study does not favour the intake of saturated fats as such but suggest that the dietary guidelines in 1980s were introduced prematurely without proper evidence.

The Committee on Medical Aspects of Food Policy in 1991 recommended low fat intake since saturated fat intake increases the cholesterol levels, leading to heart disease risks. Experts caution that portraying saturated fat as main dietary villain, excluding other possible risks like carbohydrates fuel the causes like obesity.

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