Government's guide to healthy eating 'could cause obesity and diabetes'

THE GOVERNMENT’S guide to healthy eating could actually be causing obesity and diabetes, a top clinical nutritionist warned last night.

By John Chapman 

The 'Eatwell Guide' may be harmful because foods are measured by weight not content

Dr Zoe Harcombe said the ‘Eatwell Guide’, which takes a high carb/low fat approach to diet, may be harmful because foods are measured by weight and not content.
She believes the updated Eatwell Guide is not based on evidence.

The greatest flaw of the latest public health dietary advice might be the missed opportunity to deliver a simple and powerful message to return people to the diets we enjoyed before carbohydrate conditions convened

Dr Zoe Harcombe

Under newest government guidelines, the amount of starchy foods and fruit and veg we should be eating has gone up, while milk and dairy consumption is advised to be dropped.
But Dr Harcombe, of the Institute of Clinical Exercise and Health Science, University of the West of Scotland, said: “The Eatwell Guide was formulated by a group appointed by Public Health England, consisting primarily of members of the food and drink industry rather than independent experts.
“It could be said that the high carb-low fat diet has been tested on the UK population, but with negative impact, as the rates of obesity and diabetes have soared since the 70s and 80s,
“The association between the introduction of the dietary guidelines, and concomitant increases in obesity and diabetes, deserves examination.”

But the primary flaw of the Eatwell Guide “as with its predecessors, is that it is not evidence based,” she claimed.
The top nutritionist added: “Not even the hydration message to drink six glasses of sugar-free fluid holds water.”
The Food Standards Agency confirmed that the food group percentages for the Eatwell Plate were based on weight, but she countered: “Food weight doesn’t matter to the human body; what counts are calories, macro and micronutrients.”
Writing in the British Medical Journal, Dr Harcombe added: “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.”
 

But the primary flaw of the Eatwell Guide “as with its predecessors, is that it is not evidence based,” she claimed.
The top nutritionist added: “Not even the hydration message to drink six glasses of sugar-free fluid holds water.”
The Food Standards Agency confirmed that the food group percentages for the Eatwell Plate were based on weight, but she countered: “Food weight doesn’t matter to the human body; what counts are calories, macro and micronutrients.”
Writing in the British Medical Journal, Dr Harcombe added: “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.”

She added: “The greatest flaw of the latest public health dietary advice might be the missed opportunity to deliver a simple and powerful message to return people to the diets we enjoyed before carbohydrate conditions convened.”
The Eatwell Guide started out in 1994 and was authorised by the Department of Health.
The Food Standards Agency re-launched it with “cosmetic changes” as the Eatwell Plate in 2007, and turned it into the new Guide in March this year - as part of a Public Health England campaign.

http://www.express.co.uk/life-style/health/679654 

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