In 1958, Ancel Keys began what became known as The Seven Countries Study, which attempted to establish The Lipid Hypothesis, which is a(n) (incorrect) theory that states that increased dietary fat, particularly saturated fat, increases bad cholesterol and thereby increases atheroma (clogging of arteries). The initial report, published in 1963, showed exactly that, and the medical community all agreed. And the “war on saturated fat” began. So food producers started removing fat from food, and now, since there was no longer any delicious fat in foods, the only solution to get people to eat their foods was to add copious amounts of sugar. So in the late 60s, food producers removed saturated fats and added sugars (sucrose and, later, because it is so much cheaper, high fructose corn syrup, which was invented in 1957, but didn’t go into widespread production until the 70s). And, beginning in the late 60s, the rates of diabetes, obesity, heart disease, and metabolic disorder has risen steadily, at a rate significantly higher than the previous dozen decades. This isn’t a coincidence.
The problem is: Ancel Keys’ study was flawed from the beginning. He hand-picked seven countries, out of 21, to ensure his findings matched his preconceived ideas. Since the lipid hypothesis was in vogue, having been developed in the 40s at the University of Minnesota…by Ancel Keys, even though the Germans in pre-WWII Europe had already published reams of peer-reviewed research papers to show that carbs caused atheroma (the Germans actually discovered atheroma, but by the end of WWII, all things German were bad), the scientific community accepted the findings because it jibed with what they already believed. And it has been killing people ever since.
Here’s a video, for those who enjoy that sort of thing:
This rant brought to you by butter, bacon, and brisket.