Dieting - Fat Highly Exaggerated As A Risk For DiseaseThe Plus Size Advocate

Posted by: Bobby G. Keith

A recent study by two researchers, one a UC Davis nutritionalist, show that Dieting and weight-loss efforts may actually lead to weight gain and decreased health. Researchers Linda Bacon and Lucy Aphramor’s new study appeared in the Jan. 24 2011 issue of The Nutrition Journal.

Below is a portion of the UC Davis press release . You can read the full study from this link Weight Science: Evaluating the Evidence for a Paradigm Shift

Rather than focusing on weight loss, the researchers recommend that people focus on improving their health status.

In the new study, co-authors Linda Bacon, an associate nutritionist in the UC Davis Department of Nutrition, and Lucy Aphramor, an NHS specialist dietician and honorary research fellow at the Applied Research Centre in Health and Lifestyle Interventions at Coventry University, England, cite evidence from almost 200 studies.

“Although health professionals may mean well when they suggest that people lose weight, our analysis indicates that researchers have long interpreted research data through a biased lens,” Bacon said. “When the data are reconsidered without the common assumption that fat is harmful, it is overwhelmingly apparent that fat has been highly exaggerated as a risk for disease or decreased longevity.”

Bacon noted that the study findings do not support conventional ideas that:

weight loss will prolong life;

anyone can lose weight and keep it off through diet and exercise;

weight loss is a practical and positive goal;

weight loss is the only way overweight and obese people can improve their health; and

obesity places an economic burden on society.

“The weight-focused approach does not, in the long run, produce thinner, healthier bodies,” said Bacon.

“For decades, the United States’ public health establishment and $58.6 billion-a-year private weight-loss industry have focused on health improvement through weight loss,” she said. “The result is unprecedented levels of body dissatisfaction and failure in achieving desired health outcomes. It’s time to consider a more evidence-based approach.”

Aphramor added: “It’s the unintended negative consequences that are particularly troubling, including guilt, anxiety, preoccupation with food and body shape, repeated cycles of weight loss and gain, reduced self esteem, eating disorders and weight discrimination.”