CBS Sings the Praises of Fat (!)

November 21 2011 by in Failed low-fat diets, Gary Taubes

This is pretty cool. CBS News, one of the biggest news programs in the world, just questioned whether fat is really bad (of course it’s not). They also interviewed Gary Taubes and the writer of the cool cookbook “Fat”. Can you feel the paradigm shift going on?

Read and comment on the news report.

21 Comments

1
Brian
November 21 2011
Did anyone else notice?

Jennifer McLagan & Gary Taubes = Skinny as rails

Gordon Tomaselli = A wee bit on the chubby side!
2
Meghan
November 21 2011
Totally! I noticed that right away :) I love how the one guy talked about fat raising cholesterol as if all cholesterol is created equal. I'd like to hear them quantify those statements for once.
3
Janknitz
November 21 2011
They still had to give the AHA a platform for their anti-fat campaign, paid for by the drug companies, but I think tiny cracks in the facade are finally starting to appear. Good to see!
4
nell
November 21 2011
...and here's the bullshit overview for those 6 minutes, just in case anyone's in doubt about something:

"a moderate amount of animal fat"
marrow on TOAST
"we've been eating animal fats for 10.000 years"
"excess in anything is bad for you (...) maybe the key (...) is moderation"
MAN LOOKING DECIDEDLY DEAD TALKING ABOUT HEALTHY EATING

I know, I'm picky...
5
Darren
November 22 2011
Actually, CBS is the name of the network, not the show... the show is the CBS News. :)
6
Peggy Holloway
November 22 2011
Notice that the AHA representative referred to "epidemiological studies." Isn't that the same as "observational studies?" The notoriously unreliable data mining exercises that pass for "science?"
7
Pat B
November 22 2011
Actually it was Sunday Morning on CBS on 11/20/11 It was great!
8
Josh
November 22 2011
Ugh, way too much bread and pasta in the video clips.
9
Margaretrc
November 22 2011
Yes, Peggy Holloway, Epidemiological studies (which he was careful not to cite) are observational and what he said is total BS anyway. There aren't any epidemiological studies to speak of that show a link between saturated fat intake and heart disease. Even the famous Framingham, Mass study didn't--according to one of its own directors. But I'm encouraged that a major television studio would have such a program at all. Very encouraging.
10
gallier2
November 22 2011
To the conclusion at the end, I can only say one thing: f... moderation

This moderation bs is still a remnant of the typically American (but unfortunately much more widespread) puritanic tendency.
11
Ted Hutchinson
November 22 2011
Length and site of the small intestine exposed to fat influences hunger and food intake. shows us the Ileal brake on appetite is activated by cholecystokinin (CCK), glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1), peptide YY (PYY) whose release is triggered by fat. It's as crazy to remove the brakes on appetite as to remove the brakes on your car.
12
Justin B
November 22 2011
At least word is getting out there that maybe, just maybe, the standard advice is wrong. I don't need for the correct advice to completely take over, since that may just be a pipe dream. If both sides are unbiasedly provided on mainstream platforms, I will be happy.
13
Steve
November 22 2011
Hey Doc, thanks for the great post and blog!!

Anybody looking to be entertained for a bit should read the comments on CBS's site for this video/article. Should I feel bad that I'm laughing at some of those people? I can't help it when I read things like "The saturated fats and cholesterol in animal fats are off the charts - the bad WAY outweighs the good. People are living longer because of Lipitor and high blood pressure medication..."

Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/8601-3445_162-57328292.html?assetTypeId=41...

Steve
14
Justin B
November 23 2011
@Steve,

I can't do it. I'd rather not have my mood soured.
15
Galina L.
November 23 2011
Surprising turn, did the Kellogg or Kraft sponsors offended CBS management in some way? It is funny sometimes to find out the root of some media activity. We (me and my husband) had been surprised for a while with commercials "Fight hunger in America". It didn't make sense for us until my husband found out that the complain was sponsored by the Kraft company. I feel like CBS is working on creating a butter shortage in America like the one in Scandinavia. The problem with America - it is much bigger. I noticed that historically things in America, when done, are going easily overboard due to a very aggressive and creative business approach. What would happen if grass-fed beef and butter were in fashion? So far people like Dr.Oz, Oprah, Dr.Sanjey Gupta are promoting a low-fat-whole-grain eating and my butter supply is safe.
16
Maggan A
November 23 2011
Galina

You´ve got a point about the supply of butter ;-)

But on the other hand it would be fabulous - not ony for Oprah self - if she finally find out what really works. She is a powerfull woman!
17
Milton
November 23 2011
@Peggy (6): Sadly, epidemiological studies get a bad rap because they get misused so often. They are, IMO, an integral part of the scientific process (the phase where observations are made and hypotheses and theories are born).

But you are correct in that far too many people try to pass them off as proof instead of recognizing that they are just data, which may show correlations that require further study. It is so aggravating to see the AHA rep refer to them in an attempt to dismiss the evidence in support of fat in the diet. It's the same thing we often see here from some of the occasional vegan visitors who assume that we never heard of The China Study.
18
Margaretrc
November 23 2011
@Steve, I, too, couldn't believe some of the ridiculous anti-fat comments on the site for this video. I think one of the most ludicrous was by someone who compared the process by which the truth about cigarettes came out with the process by which the "truth" about the "harmful" effects of sat fat will eventually be realized. It's truly unbelievable just how brainwashed people are.
@Milton, #17. So true.
19
Jim Purdy
November 26 2011
My main concern about eating a lot of fat is something that very seldom comes up in these discussions: possible overdoses of fat-soluble vitamins.

I'm not not talking about the content of the ingested fat -- not the fat, or the saturated fat, or cholesterol.

I'm talking about what's already in our bodies' fat stores. When someone like me tries to lose a lot of weight, I will be burning up a lot of my stored fat, which presumably contains a lot of fat-soluble vitamins.

Is it possible that rapid weight loss -- in other words, rapid fat burning -- will dump too many fat-soluble vitamins into the blood stream? And then when you add in the fat-soluble vitamins in the ingested fat, you're getting a lot of vitamins very quickly.

And some fat-soluble vitamins are toxic in excess. Can't that be a problem in a fat-based weight loss diet.
20
Zepp
November 26 2011
I do think most of our vitamins are stored in the liver, whith som E vitamin in the adipose cells as anti oxidants.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liver#Physiology
21
Lawrence Louis
December 5 2011
I am so proud of CBS, one of the biggest news networks in the United States, for promoting the truth about nutrition for once, instead of repeating the very unscientific notion of low fat/high carb. I hope Dr. Oz is watching this and is bursting with rage! Ha! Ha!

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