The Obesity Epidemic: What Caused It? How Can We Stop It?

by Zoe Harcombe

The liver doesn’t make LDL. LDL is a residue of IDL, which is a residue of VLDL.

even if you think that LDL is harmful in some way, the key question is – since LDL is a remnant of VLDL (through IDL), what determines VLDL? The answer is – carbohydrates

the American Heart Association had just endorsed the Keys’ hypothesis.

If someone is self harming, we should try to stop this, rather than putting a plaster on the cuts. Human breast milk contains significant quantities of cholesterol.[158] I assume that it would not do so if cholesterol were in any way a harmful substance.

If we have an operation, there is a lot of cell repair needed, so we need more cholesterol. Pregnant women have ‘high’ cholesterol levels – presumably to make a healthy baby.

We can only measure total cholesterol and HDL with the standard blood test and Triglycerides (VLDL) and LDL are together assumed to account for the difference.

We accuse cholesterol of causing atherosclerotic plaques because we may find lipoproteins alongside such plaques. As we will see in Chapter Twelve, analysis of plaques shows them to be comprised primarily of polyunsaturated fats. Given that fat and cholesterol particles are travelling around the blood stream in lipoproteins, if anything causes a lesion along the endothelial wall (the lining of an artery), it is virtually guaranteed that some lipoproteins will get caught by this lesion.

“When the content of dietary carbohydrate is elevated above the level typically consumed (>55% of energy), blood concentrations of triglycerides rise. This phenomenon, known as carbohydrate-induced hypertriglyceridemia,

if sugar can erode the strongest substance in the human body – tooth enamel – are we certain that it can not cause damage to the lining of blood vessels?

Saturated fat occurs naturally in the majority of foods on the planet (even in brown rice, porridge oats and avocados, as examples). Trans fats also occur naturally in the milk and body fat of ruminants (grazing animals such as cattle and sheep),

When we mention trans fats, we mean the unnatural, manmade, substances where some rather serious alterations have been made to real foods, like vegetable oil, to make them solid at room temperature. At the time of the COMA report, trans fats were invariably made by hydrogenation – literally adding hydrogen atoms in the food manufacturing process.

“On a per-calorie basis, trans fats appear to increase the risk of CHD more than any other macronutrient, conferring a substantially increased risk at low levels of consumption

Fibre’s importance has been inflated over the years since the initial changes in dietary advice. I suggest that this is because the notion that fibre might be good has been beneficial for the food industry. It has spawned bran and fibre cereals, snack bars and other products that we managed to survive without for tens of thousands of years.

completely agree that we cannot hope to solve an obesity epidemic when a bag of salad leaves can cost more than a dozen cookies.

it is all very well having healthier options (whatever these are considered to be) in convenience stores – but, lower income families will still buy processed food if it is cheaper.

sugar is now hidden in almost every processed food we can buy – from the obvious ones like biscuits, cakes and sweets to less obvious products like tins of vegetables, soups, packaged hams and virtually every manufactured food.

obesity has increased nearly ten fold during this time. On the evidence of what we have been eating, during the period in which obesity has increased so dramatically, dietary fat is fully exonerated from any role in the obesity epidemic and starchy foods are firmly on trial.

Never mind that we switched the entire diet advice for the developed world 180 degrees on the back of one man’s flimsy study. We appear to have no ethics when it comes to encouraging humans to eat a diet completely alien to that which we have consumed for over 3.5 million years and yet we think that meat or eggs might have people dying in the thousands.

My guess is that extremely busy doctors don’t have time to question everything and rely upon supposedly independent organisations, such as the Food Standards Agency (FSA), to have robust and unquestionable evidence. I sincerely

anything in animals were bad for us, let alone responsible for a killer disease, evolution tells us that we would have either a) died out or b) evolved to not need the ‘fatal’ substance. As there is no evidence of either (a) or (b), common sense alone tells us that we are quite safe eating animals and animal products.

the location of settlement was a major determinant of the diet consumed. What we now know to be Africa provided root vegetables and tubers in good measure. However, over the past two million years, as early human beings settled in more northern regions, including the arctic, there were increasing geographical areas where there was no choice but to eat meat.

“Stable isotope analyses of carbon and nitrogen in bone collagen now show Neanderthals to have been carnivores to a very high degree.” Paleolithic cave art of Europe centres very heavily on the representation of animals.

From 10,000 years ago, climatic improvement led to warm-period hunting and gathering, probably involving larger components of roots and berries. Then farming came in, so that cereals and milk have been major products for the last 5000 years, or 200 generations.”

Fats, commonly known as lipids, consist of a wide group of organic substances that are not soluble in water. In simple terms, fats are chains of carbon atoms (chemical symbol C) with hydrogen atoms attached (chemical symbol H) and they have a COOH group at one end (carbon, oxygen, oxygen and hydrogen). There are two groups of fats in which we have a nutritional interest – saturated and unsaturated. Within the unsaturated category, there are two further types – monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats.

Saturated fats are the most stable fats (this is merely a statement about chemical structure). They have all available carbon bonds filled with (i.e. saturated with) hydrogen. Saturated fats are solid at room temperature. Interestingly, when our glycogen (storage form of glucose) capacity is full, the liver turns the excess glucose (from carbohydrates) into fat in the liver and it turns it into saturated fat.

Monounsaturated fats have one double bond in the form of two carbon atoms ‘double-bonded’ to each other and, therefore, lack two hydrogen atoms. Mono means one and hence, with monounsaturated fat, there is one double bond. Monounsaturated fats tend to be liquid at room temperature (but solid at fridge temperature) and are the next most stable fat. The best known monounsaturated fat is oleic acid, the main component of olive oil. Oleic acid is also found in the oils from almonds, pecans, cashews, peanuts and avocados.

Normally poly means many, but, in the case of polyunsaturated fat, it can mean only two. Polyunsaturated fats have two or more pairs of double bonds and, therefore, lack four or more hydrogen atoms. Polyunsaturated fats are liquid at room and fridge temperature. The two polyunsaturated fats found most frequently in our food are double unsaturated linoleic acid, with two double bonds, also called omega-6; and triple unsaturated alpha-linolenic acid, with three double bonds, also called omega-3.

Omega-3 and omega-6 fats are called “Essential Fatty Acids” because the body cannot make them, so it is essential that they are consumed.

all fats and oils, whether of vegetable or animal origin, are a combination of saturated, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fat. Coconut oil has the highest saturated fat content of all foods at 92% saturated, 6% monounsaturated and 2% polyunsaturated. Lard is 41% saturated, 47% monounsaturated and 12% polyunsaturated. Olive oil is 14% saturated fat, 75% monounsaturated and 11% polyunsaturated.

100 grams of butter has 51 grams of saturated fat, 21 grams of monounsaturated fat and 3 grams of polyunsaturated fat.

fats can be classified according to their chain length, as well as their degree of saturation.

Fats that have fewer than six carbon atoms are called short chain fatty acids (SCFA’s). SCFA’s are always saturated and include butyric acid (found mostly in butterfat from cows) and caproic acid (found mostly in butterfat from goats),

Medium chain fatty acids (MCFAs) have 6-12 carbon atoms and are found mostly in butterfat and the tropical oils. Like the short chain fatty acids, these fats have antimicrobial properties; are absorbed directly for quick energy; and contribute to the health of the immune system.

Long chain fatty acids (LCFAs) have 14-18 carbon atoms and can be either saturated, monounsa...

Lauric acid, palmitic acid and stearic acid are perhaps the best known examples of saturated long chain fatty acids, with 12, 16 and 18 carbons in their chains respectively. Oleic acid, mentioned above as the well known component of olive oil, is an 18 carbon chain monounsaturated fat. The two essential fats (omega-6 and omega-3) are also long chain, each 18 carbons in length.

Fats serve four key purposes: 1) They provide the essential fatty acids (EFA’s); 2) They are the carriers of the fat soluble vitamins A, D, E and K; 3) They supply the most concentrated form of energy in our diets; 4) They help make our diets palatable. Food with little or no fat can be quite tasteless and sometimes difficult to digest.

Starting with the EFA’s, good sources of the essential fats are as follows: omega-6 is provided by meat, eggs, avocado, nuts, whole grains and seeds and their oils (sunflower seeds, rapeseeds and pumpkin seeds as common examples). Omega-3 is found in meat, fish and fish oils

Omega-6 deficiency may cause: growth retardation; eczema-like skin conditions; behavioural disturbances; arthritis-like conditions; liver and kidney degeneration; excessive water loss through the skin accompanied by thirst; drying up of glands; susceptibility to infections; wounds fail to heal; sterility in males; miscarriage in females; heart and circulatory problems; dry skin and hair; dry eyes and hair loss.

>Omega-3 deficiency may cause: growth retardation; dry skin; behavioural disturbances, tingling sensations in arms and legs; weakness; impairment of vision and learning ability; high blood pressure; sticky platelets; tissue inflammation; mental deterioration and low metabolic rate.

Vitamin A has many functions within the body. It is needed for our sight, cell function, skin, bones, growth, reproduction, blood formation and to fight infection. Vitamin A is particularly important for pregnant women and growing children. Deficiency in vitamin A can lead to: sight conditions generally and night blindness particularly; growth and reproductive impairment; increased susceptibility to infections; and rough, dry, scaly skin.

only animal products contain retinol; b) plant sources of vitamin A come in the form of carotene, which requires conversion within the body into retinol; c) even with Beta-carotene, the carotene most easily converted into retinol, there is substantial loss such that the conversion ratio is at best 6:1

d) not every person is capable of converting carotene to retinol “Diabetics and those with poor thyroid function cannot make the conversion.

carotenes are converted by the action of bile salts and very little bile reaches the intestine when a meal is low in fat.

Vitamin D is critical for the absorption of calcium and phosphorus.

Deficiency in vitamin D can lead to tooth decay, muscular weakness and a softening of the bones (rickets), which can cause bone fractures or poor healing of fractures.

Vitamin E is a generic term for a family of fat soluble vitamins active throughout the body. We are learning more about the different forms of vitamin E and more of them are being found to have unique functions. The key role of vitamin E is as an antioxidant. The oxygen that we need to breathe can make molecules overly reactive and this can damage cell structure. This imbalanced situation involving oxygen is called oxidative stress. Vitamin E helps prevent oxidative stress by working together with a group of nutrients (including vitamins B3, C and selenium) to prevent oxygen molecules from becoming too reactive.

Deficiency in vitamin E can lead to dry skin, poor muscular and circulatory function, damage to red blood cells and blood vessels and an inability of the white blood cells to resist infection.

Sunflower seeds are one of the best sources of vitamin E and they have 51 grams of fat per 100 grams of product.

blood clotting and wound healing. Vitamin K is very important for the health of our gut and it is being destroyed with the high modern consumption of anti-biotics, leaving humans prone to imbalance in the gut flora and concomitant illness. Deficiency in vitamin K complicates blood clotting and can manifest itself in nose bleeds, bleeding gums, heavy menstruation or even blood in the urine or stools. A propensity to bruise can also be a sign of vitamin K deficiency.

Vitamin K comes in two forms: K1 and K2. K1 is found in plants, green leafy vegetables particularly, and is also called phylloquinone. Vitamin K2 is found in animal foods. K2 is also known as menaquinone and comes in different forms