Zoë Harcombe, MA, of the University of the West of Scotland, along with collaborators in Wales and the United States, recently decided to analyze studies focusing on dietary fat and coronary heart disease published before 1983. It turns out that the scientific evidence at the time did not support a reduction in dietary fat or cholesterol.

Harcombe and her colleagues found only six dietary randomized clinical trials, involving 2,467 men, that focused on dietary fat and coronary heart disease. In those studies, which lasted for an average of 5.4 years, 370 people died of any cause. Of those, 207 had died in the low-fat groups and 216 had died in the control groups from coronary heart disease.

“There were no differences in all-course mortality and nonsignificant differences in coronary heart disease mortality, resulting from the dietary interventions,” Harcombe concluded.

They added, “No randomized controlled trial had tested government dietary fat recommendations before their introduction. Recommendations were made for 276 million people following...studies of 2,467 males...”

Editor’s note: The dietary recommendations for eating low-fat foods resulted in an increased intake of refined carbohydrates (including sugars) and trans fats. Since then, the incidence of obesity, prediabetes, and type-2 diabetes has skyrocketed, largely a consequence of these dietary changes.