Butter Is Back!

Or is it? The Big Fat Debate rages on.

There has been much debate as to which nutrients make us sick and fat: Is it carbohydrates? Or is it fat?

The general consensus within the scientific community for much of the last few decades has been that we should limit our total fat and saturated fat intake as much as possible in order to stay healthy. However, even though people have been making a concerted effort to reduce their fat intake (albeit with marginal success), the human population has only been getting fatter and sicker, leading many to believe that our fat intake is not the only villain in this scenario.

In the last few years, many popular diets have emerged promoting high fat, low carbohydrate intake as the panacea for longevity and well-being. All these diets vary slightly in composition, however most encourage the intake of saturated fat as a health-promoting food.

Despite these diets being hotly debated amongst the scientific community, they have been accepted as the new science amongst much of the general public, so much so that people are consuming more full-fat dairy products, butter, and eggs than ever.

I see it in my daily practice: people used to be proud to tell me that they eat bran flakes with low fat milk for breakfast, they are now happy to report that they eat fried eggs and bacon every day.

Where people used to tell me that they only drink low fat or skimmed milk, they now sternly tell me that low fat products are poison and they only consume full-fat dairy.

One thing I see most often in my consulting room is something I call nutrition confusion: a state of utter confusion and exasperation regarding the science of nutrition perpetuated by mixed messages in the media and in popular diet culture.