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This is big: nearly 200 doctors and allied health practitioners in Canada have signed an Open Letter to their government calling for urgent, radical reform of nutrition guidelines to include low-carb diets.
They say that authorities told Canadians to follow low-fat, high-carb guidelines for nearly 40 years. During that time, nutrition-related diseases, such as obesity, diabetes and heart disease, increased sharply. The doctors are also concerned about sharp increases in childhood obesity and diabetes rates.
They say that the evidence does not support conventional low-fat dietary advice. In fact, they say it worsens heart-disease risk factors. They say that those responsible must be free to compile dietary guidelines without food and drug industry influence. They want the guidelines to promote low-carb diets as “at least one safe, effective intervention” for people with obesity, diabetes and heart disease.
At heart, the letter’s signatories call for mainstream medical advice to include low-carb, healthy-natural-fat. Here’s more of these doctors’ powerful challenge to orthodoxy.
It’s a daring initiative given that some signatories have already faced ridicule and attack from establishment quarters for their views on low-carb. There are also salutary examples in other countries of doctors who dared to challenge dogma and go up against powerful vested interests. In this case, there’s probably safety in numbers.

•Eliminate caps on saturated fats;

•Stop advising people to replace saturated fats with polyunsaturated vegetable oils to prevent cardiovascular disease.

•Favour “real” food, that is, whole, unprocessed foods that include full-fat dairy and regular red meat;

•Recognise controversy on salt and avoid a blanket “lower is better” recommendation;

•Not emphasise aerobic exercise as a weight-loss tool. In other words, language should not suggest that people can manage their weight sustainably just by creating a caloric deficit;

•Involve a complete, comprehensive review of the most rigorous data available, and

•Offer “a true range of diets” that responds to the population’s diverse needs;

• Prepare meals from staple and fresh foods.
• Use oils, fats, sugar and salt in moderation.
• Limit consumption of ready-to-consume food and drink products
• Eat regular meals, paying attention, and in appropriate environments.
• Eat in company whenever possible.
• Buy food at places that offer varieties of fresh foods. Avoid those that mainly sell products ready for consumption.
• Develop, practice, share and enjoy your skills in food preparation and cooking.
• Plan your time to give meals and eating proper time and space.
• When you eat out, choose restaurants that serve freshly made dishes and meals. Avoid fast food chains.
• Be critical of the commercial advertisement of food products.

Oh, happy days. My sense of what is now happening is that the momentum against the very stupid and damaging nutritional guidelines that have dominated the Western World for the last forty years is reaching breaking point. This group even managed to throw ‘restricting salt intake’ into the dustbin. Oh, happy days.
If this carries on, I will have nothing left to blog about soon. Suits me.

Points for Change

The Canadian Dietary Guidelines should:
•Clearly communicate to the public and health-care professionals that the low-fat diet is no longer supported, and can worsen heart-disease risk factors
•Be created without influence from the food industry
•Eliminate caps on saturated fats
•Be nutritionally sufficient, and those nutrients should come from real foods, not from artificially fortified refined grains
•Promote low-carb diets as at least one safe and effective intervention for people struggling with obesity, diabetes, and heart disease
•Offer a true range of diets that respond to the diverse nutritional needs of our population
•De-emphasize the role of aerobic exercise in controlling weight
•Recognize the controversy on salt and cease the blanket “lower is better” recommendation
•Stop using any language suggesting that sustainable weight control can simply be managed by creating a caloric deficit
•Cease its advice to replace saturated fats with polyunsaturated vegetable oils to prevent cardiovascular disease
•Stop steering people away from nutritious whole foods, such as whole-fat dairy and regular red meat
•Include a cap on added sugar, in accordance with the updated WHO guidelines, ideally no greater than 5% of total calories
•Be based on a complete, comprehensive review of the most rigorous (randomized, controlled clinical trial) data available; on subjects for which this more rigorous data is not available, the Guidelines should remain silent.