Fat vs. Sugar: A Recent History

Hi everyone, it's Karen here and I'd like to share some interesting history with you. If you are of a certain age, you probably remember the fat-free craze of the 90's. In an instant, we were told to shun all forms of fat because it would (supposedly) lead to our untimely death from heart disease. Snackwell's became a household name, pretzels were elevated over greasy potato chips, and people were making grilled cheese with fat-free cheese (which doesn't melt, but I digress). As is the case in any hysteria, a lot of nuance was missed (or perhaps ignored, but that is for another time). And you could argue that American public health has suffered for it. 

Here's what happened:

• No one bothered to make the distinction between "good" heart-healthy fats and "bad" artery-clogging fats. Almonds (good fat) and hot dogs (bad fat) were treated just the same. So while people consumed less overall fat, they also consumed less good fat. 
• If people were not eating fat, they had to eat something else. "What was that?" you may be asking. Mostly refined carbohydrates that were low in fiber and high in added sugar. 
• During this time, the overall calorie consumption of Americans increased. Yes, you read that right. And the so-called experts who pushed the fat-free trend claimed victory when the percentage of calories from fat that Americans were eating decreased. But people were eating more calories overall! This is probably because fat-free foods don't provide the satiety that fat-containing foods do. So people ate whole packages of fat-free cookies trying to get full (I was a teen in the 90's and I totally did this).
• In the end, we were less healthy at the end of the fat-free experiment. And we are still recovering from our fear of fat. To this day, I hear clients ask things like "Isn't peanut butter bad because of all that fat?" And I don't blame them. It's what they've been trained to think. 

The lesson here is that by vilifying one nutrient (fat in this case), we inadvertently pushed millions of people to consume something just as bad, if not worse (sugar in this case).  The irony, as we'll discuss in this week's class, is that now we're trying to urge everyone to cut back on sugar intake! This is the importance of balance and perspective, and not losing sight of the forest for the trees. Keep that in mind when the next nutrition craze comes along ;)