Nutrition science is an ever-evolving field. And like any scientific field, it’s had its hiccups, misunderstandings and outright mistakes.
Problem is, some mistakes, and the shonky nutrition beliefs they give rise to, stick around way longer than they should. Which can make it tricky to figure out exactly what is and isn’t making us healthy. Or making us sick.
We thought we’d clear up a few times nutrition science got it, well, wrong.
Saturated fats are the devil.
Back in the 1960s, a scientist named Ancel Keys was trying to figure out what caused heart disease. After some pretty dodgy cherry picking from his experiments, he named saturated fats as the culprit.
This flawed idea took off like a rocket, and an entire generation was taught to fear fat. And opt for the sudden smorgasbord of low-fat products packed with (you guessed it) sugar.
Disturbingly, a report recently revealed the sugar industry actually paid scientists to downplay the sweet stuff’s role in cardiovascular disease at the time, and support the idea that fat was the devil!
Spinach is the richest source of iron in the world.
Don’t get us wrong, we LOVE us some spinach. But while the green is packed full of good stuff, it doesn’t have as much iron as you might think.
A German chemist actually bungled spinach’s iron content when he misplaced a decimal point. For years, it held “true” that spinach had 35mg of iron per 100g. There’s actually only 3.5mg per 100g, which is still nothing to be sneezed at (but not quite enough to keep Popeye going)!
Eating eggs gives you high cholesterol.
Contrary to the dominating thoughts hatched by nutrition science a few decades back, eating foods high in cholesterol – like eggs – has little effect on your own cholestrol levels and does not increase your risk of heart disease or stroke.
Eggs do come packed with vitamins, minerals, healthy fats and quality proteins. Even the Australian Dietary Guidelines have just given the okay to eat eggs every day!
Vegetable oils are good for you.
About the time nutrition science was unfairly demonising fat, vegetable oils come to the fore as a “better for your heart” alternative.
But vegetable oils are far from good for you. They’re highly refined by way of harmful chemicals and come packed inflammation-promoting omega-6, which is really problematic in large doses.
They’ve been associated with a raft of issues, including cancer, motor neuron disease, depression, cardiovascular disease, asthma and skin allergies and even homicide rates! We’ll stick with olive oil, thanks.
Sugar doesn’t cause type 2 diabetes.
Even today, nutritional bodies continue to play catch up on the effect of sugar on our health. As our fructose-free mate David Gillespie says, “perhaps that is why the Heart Foundation is happy to endorse high-sugar foods like Milo.”
But the science is in. And it paints a pretty harrowing picture. Sugar consumption is not only a primary cause of type 2 diabetes, it’s also linked to metabolic syndrome, heart disease, kidney disease, liver disease and cancer. Is it time you cut down on the sweet stuff?
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