The Women's Health Initiative (WHI) Dietary Modification Trial, which involved nearly 49,000 women aged 50 to 79, over an eight year period, has confirmed that fat balance and fat quality are the key factors to be considered when people are aiming for good health and a lower risk of disease.
This largest study ever on whether a low-fat diet can lower the risk of cancer or heart disease, has found that, overall, a low-fat diet had no protective effect against these diseases.
Despite the 'I told you so attitude' of some experts, it remains that low-fat and non-fat were promoted as an almost holy grail often by public-health bodies that has, over the years, produced a run of conflicting advice on health and diet.
Former bad guy butter is now apparently not so bad for us in moderation, and no persuasive evidence has been produced that salt is bad for the heart and now of course fat.
Many public health groups are now explaining that they had already abandoned the "fat is bad" motto a long time ago, but in fact as recently as 2000, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) was enthusiastically recommending low-fat and high-fiber diets in its Action Guide for Healthy Eating.
The NCI’s related "Action List for Fat" called on consumers to use reduced-fat or non-fat salad dressings, low fat and fat-free foods and margarine.
The NCI also says that eating a healthy diet, low in fat, high in fiber may help to lower cancer risk.
It is now known that low-fat salad dressings for example can lead to more weight gain than their full-fat counterparts since the fat attraction often encourages people to dollop on more of it to feel satisfied, and we now too that most margarine is packed with unhealthy trans fats.
The high-fiber myth has also been shot down following a 2005 review of 13 studies that appeared in JAMA: Journal of the American Medical Association which found that high-fiber diets did not reduce the risk of colon cancer.