HomeUploadUpload DirectHotlinkRandomAbouttheme toggle
Expand

How Big Government Backed Bad Science Made Americans Fat

Views:1010
@ReasonVids

Q&A with journalist Nina Teicholz.
----
Subscribe to our YouTube channel: http://youtube.com/reasontv
Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Reason.Magaz...
Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/reason
Subscribe to our podcast at iTunes: https://goo.gl/az3a7a

Reason is the planet's leading source of news, politics, and culture from a libertarian perspective. Go to reason.com for a point of view you won't get from legacy media and old left-right opinion magazines.
-----
"Government made a big mistake with the dietary guidelines," says Nina Teicholz, author of New York Times bestseller The Big Fat Surprise: Why Butter, Meat and Cheese Belong in a Healthy Diet. "Given the track record that they have so far, you can really make a plausible argument that they've done more harm than good."

Consumption of meat, butter, eggs, and cheese were once encouraged as part of a healthy diet. Then in the 1950s, a Minnesota doctor named Ancel Keys put forth his diet-heart hypothesis, claiming that saturated fats raise cholesterol levels and cause heart attacks.

Keys produced landmark studies of the relationship between diet and heart disease that transformed nutrition science. He became a powerful figure in the science community. Contemporaries who publicly questioned the validity of his findings risked losing their research funding or becoming pariahs. When the U.S. adopted dietary guidelines in 1980, Keys' recommendations became enshrined in national food policy.

"We have made our policy based upon this weak kind of science called epidemiology which shows association, but not causation," Teicholz explains. "We have the situation where we just cannot reverse out of these policies that were originally based on really weak science."

Keys' flawed research is one reason Americans have been getting fatter and unhealthier for decades. Despite major advances in treatment, heart disease is still the leading cause of death for men and women.

"The really dominant view is that the dietary guidelines are good...and the reason America is fat and sick is that America has failed to follow them," Teicholz says. "That's when you start looking at the data...By every food category you can find, we have faithfully, dutifully followed the guidelines."

Today the science behind Keys' dietary findings is once again being challenged. Teicholz has launched the Nutrition Coalition, which aims to inform food policy with rigorous science.

"Our goal is educate people about how the dietary guidelines have not been successful...and to bring this alternative policy viewpoint to policy makers," says Teicholz. "More and more experts are willing to talk out about the science, and I think that will support change."

Produced by Alexis Garcia. Camera by Jim Epstein.

"Blizzard (PON 1)" by Kai Engel is licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) Source: http://freemusicarchive.org/music/KaiEngel/ChapterOneCold/KaiEngel-ChapterOne-Cold-03BlizzardPONI Artist: http://freemusicarchive.org/music/KaiEngel/

"Rainfall Serenade" by Kai Engel is licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) Source: http://freemusicarchive.org/music/KaiEngel/EveningColors/03-RainfallSerenade Artist: http://freemusicarchive.org/music/KaiEngel/

Photo Credits: Tom Wallace/ZUMA Press/Newscom

libertarian
,
reason magazine
,
reason.com
,
reason.tv
,
reasontv
,
nina teicholz
,
food
,
food policy
,
diet
,
fat
,
sautrated fat
,
ancel keys
,
cholesterol
,
dietary guidelines
,
nutrition
,
nutrition science
,
big fat surprise
    Thumbnail for Trump, Reagan, and Why Republicans Flip-Flopped on Free Trade6:05
    Trump, Reagan, and Why Republicans Flip-Flopped on Free Trade
    ReasonVids
    959 views
    Thumbnail for Ask a Libertarian Lightning Round: Libertarianism in Pop Culture & Pop Culture in Politics4:29
    Ask a Libertarian Lightning Round: Libertarianism in Pop Culture & Pop Culture in Politics
    ReasonVids
    962 views
    Thumbnail for Hard worker0:23
    Hard worker
    bestofhtlunited
    1281 views
    Thumbnail for Guidelines 2 Rise - Travel Tips for Nationalists9:05
    Guidelines 2 Rise - Travel Tips for Nationalists
    SmashTheJourgeoisie
    1860 views
    Thumbnail for Getting a massive team together0:27
    Getting a massive team together
    AOUisgay
    532 views
    Thumbnail for Groundhog Day: 20182:28
    Groundhog Day: 2018
    ReasonVids
    1012 views
    Thumbnail for Glenn Greenwald Discusses Tucker Carlson | ReasonTV1:36
    Glenn Greenwald Discusses Tucker Carlson | ReasonTV
    invidious
    372 views
    Thumbnail for How to Design and 3D Print a RC Aircraft Wing (Reducing Mass) Part 2 | C Brindle12:29
    How to Design and 3D Print a RC Aircraft Wing (Reducing Mass) Part 2 | C Brindle
    invidious
    407 views
    Thumbnail for Desk from 1840 with many secret drawers1:00
    Desk from 1840 with many secret drawers
    bestofupgoat
    481 views
    Thumbnail for We can jump and we can run4:13
    We can jump and we can run
    bestofupgoat
    498 views
    Thumbnail for RFK Jr Deconstructs BBC Journalist’s Illogical Arguments For Pro-Vaccine Narrative4:13
    RFK Jr Deconstructs BBC Journalist’s Illogical Arguments For Pro-Vaccine Narrative
    bestofupgoat
    530 views
    Thumbnail for shithole engineering0:59
    shithole engineering
    bestofupgoat
    126 views
    Thumbnail for Berliners Mark 25 Years Since Fall of the Berlin Wall1:45
    Berliners Mark 25 Years Since Fall of the Berlin Wall
    ReasonVids
    917 views
    Thumbnail for Dangus in the morning0:14
    Dangus in the morning
    bestofupgoat
    274 views
    Thumbnail for Trump Scolds 'Incompetent' Zelensky As Kyiv Complains Over First U.S.-Russia Talks Sans Ukraine | Times Of India19:25:41
    Trump Scolds 'Incompetent' Zelensky As Kyiv Complains Over First U.S.-Russia Talks Sans Ukraine | Times Of India
    invidious
    161 views
    Thumbnail for American Muskrat's Family Funeral-cation: Bears @ the cabin in the woods on the lake0:20
    American Muskrat's Family Funeral-cation: Bears @ the cabin in the woods on the lake
    AmericanMuskrat
    739 views
    Thumbnail for Montana’s Yoga Pants Ban is a Joke (or is it?) Nanny of the Month (Feb ‘15)1:44
    Montana’s Yoga Pants Ban is a Joke (or is it?) Nanny of the Month (Feb ‘15)
    ReasonVids
    992 views
    Thumbnail for Mountain Lion Captured on Ring Camera in Billings, Montana0:24
    Mountain Lion Captured on Ring Camera in Billings, Montana
    bestofvoatxyz
    835 views
    Thumbnail for Holding Border Patrol Accountable: Terry Bressi on Recording his 300+ Checkpoint Interactions6:52
    Holding Border Patrol Accountable: Terry Bressi on Recording his 300+ Checkpoint Interactions
    ReasonVids
    933 views
    Thumbnail for Detained for 19 Days: Immigration Checkpoint Refusal Gone Wrong9:47
    Detained for 19 Days: Immigration Checkpoint Refusal Gone Wrong
    ReasonVids
    1063 views
    Thumbnail for Second Oldest Trick in Sleight of Hand | susiefilms5:22
    Second Oldest Trick in Sleight of Hand | susiefilms
    invidious
    272 views
    Thumbnail for What a Single Crime Can Teach Us11:10
    What a Single Crime Can Teach Us
    AmericanRenaissance
    1562 views
    Thumbnail for The Growing Libertarian Youth Movement: Q&A with SFL's Alexander McCobin and Blayne Bennett2:16
    The Growing Libertarian Youth Movement: Q&A with SFL's Alexander McCobin and Blayne Bennett
    ReasonVids
    920 views
    Thumbnail for Stirrings in the ‘White Community’?8:50
    Stirrings in the ‘White Community’?
    AmericanRenaissance
    1605 views
    Thumbnail for Dana Goodyear on the Coming Clash Between Foodies & Regulators8:59
    Dana Goodyear on the Coming Clash Between Foodies & Regulators
    ReasonVids
    969 views

points

Permalink
Reply
libertarian
,
reason magazine
,
reason.com
,
reason.tv
,
reasontv
,
nina teicholz
,
food
,
food policy
,
diet
,
fat
,
sautrated fat
,
ancel keys
,
cholesterol
,
dietary guidelines
,
nutrition
,
nutrition science
,
big fat surprise
TOS  •  Add Keywords  •  Donate  •   Analytics  •   DMCA  •   Puzzle