Obesity: Historical Overview: Dietary Fat: A New Culprit

In the early 1960s the entire discussion of weight loss took a turn that contributed to a paradoxical effect. Overweight had by then been linked to increased risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and some types of cancer. Based on little scientific evidence, private health organizations—including the American Heart Association, the American Cancer Society, and the American Diabetes Association—began to condemn dietary fat as the culprit for adverse health consequences and weight. They recommended cutting back fat to no more than one-third of daily calories. By the late 1970s the government had added its sanction to the low-fat message, promoting a diet based primarily on carbohydrates. Eventually, these groups made distinctions among various fats (saturated fats and trans-fatty acids were bad; others, like monounsaturated fats, were beneficial for blood lipids).