Fat: The Documentary – official trailer

“People say believe half of what you see, son, and none of what you hear.” Marvin Gaye, I Heard it Through the Grapevine

I love that song lyric. Even though it is rather pessimistic of what we can believe from others, it has always stuck with me. This quote rings true when it comes to filtering all the information from books and documentaries about food, our health and the environment. What speaks louder to you – a book or a movie? In today’s society, it seems like movies carry much more weight. We can debate how that signals the decline of civilization, but I’m not writing about that today!

Over the past few years, we have seen a series of vegan-based documentaries garner quite a bit of attention. While they usually have a segment of truth (factory farming can be cruel and a tremendous pollutant), they also frequently promote blatant mistruths (eating an egg is the same as smoking seven cigarettes). It is hard to separate decent science from biased propaganda. How is the general public supposed to know the difference?

That is a complicated question. Fortunately we are on the verge of seeing a series of documentaries from a different perspective. Diana Rodgers is working on “Kale vs. Cow” to highlight how meat is an important component for our health and how raising cattle properly can benefit our environment. Brian Sanders is working on “Food Lies” to help uncover the many mistruths we have been told about food, our health and the environment.

And now we have the release of the trailer for Vinnie Tortorich’s “Fat: The Documentary.” I got chills watching it. Not just because I was fortunate enough to be included, but because it shows the power of a Hollywood level production aimed at telling the truth. There have been numerous books written about the misinformation surrounding fat, but I feel none will be as powerful as a well-produced, truthful documentary film.

I look forward to the film’s release with great anticipation. I have hope that we can turn the tide of overly biased and blatantly false documentaries meant to scare us into a certain way of living. Instead, I welcome the coming series of films that should present a clearer picture of how food impacts our health and our environment.

We all have our biases. That is human nature. But that shouldn’t keep us from producing and continually searching for objective and helpful information sources.

I’d say pass the popcorn, but you know, it’s popcorn.

Thanks for reading,
Bret Scher, MD FACC

Fat: The Documentary is planned to be released in 2019.

Earlier

Does cholesterol cause heart disease? New study says no

Nina Teicholz in WSJ: “Carbs, good for you? Fat chance!”

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