We were outraged by an article in an Australian medical magazine this week presenting the ideal diet for prevention of cardiovascular disease. It claimed that the PREDIMED study had proven that an animal-protein-rich Mediterranean diet was superior to a low fat diet for reducing cardiovascular disease. Somehow the authors missed the research of Ornish and Esselstyn showing that a low fat plant-based diet could actually reverse cardiovascular disease. The nut and oil industry funded PREDIMED study has been hugely successful in convincing health professionals that an animal-protein-rich Mediterranean diet is more effective for cardiovascular disease prevention than a low fat diet. From the food industry perspective (including meat, egg and dairy who are all threatened by low fat, plant-based diets) it does not matter that the data from the PREDIMED study did not support this claim. What matters to industry is that health professionals believe that this is what the study showed. Please note that the study compared the Mediterranean diet with a control diet that was almost as high in fat (37% of calories) but lower in health supporting vegetables, fruits and legumes. Unfortunately, the publicity campaign based on PREDIMED and other studies has been so successful that that our health professionals will be continuing to promote this view for many years to come. The damage has been done. We ask ourselves, what industries are behind the multitude of studies being performed to give credibility to the Mediterranean diet? Its hard to believe that the olive oil and nut industries have enough money and influence to be the main players. Pushing the Mediterranean diet as the healthiest eating pattern is a smart move for many food industry groups - red meat, chicken, fish, eggs, dairy foods and wine can all be included in the diet. Contrast this to a low fat, plant-based diet - no oil, no animal products and limited nuts. Not many food industry friends here. But research continues to show that a low fat, plant-based diet has a profound healing effect, even reversing our number one killer, coronary heart disease. Its hard for them to challenge the plant-based nutrition research directly, but then they dont have to if their goal is to win at marketing, not prove the science. The strategy used to win this battle is to fund research that compares diets which include their products with unhealthy ‘control group’ diets. If they say the control group are on a low fat diet when they are not, it doesnt matter, as long as the press release gives this impression. Its in the interest of all animal agriculture groups to discredit low fat diets as ‘old nutrition’ and to somehow promote the view that higher fat diets are healthy. First, the message was it’s alright to eat a lot of fat as long as its good fat, and now, as if emboldened by their earlier successes, industry allies are vigorously promoting the view that even saturated fat is OK. Another industry group that would lose out if more people adopted a low fat, plant-based diet is the pharmaceutical industry. Doctors and organisations promoting WFPB nutrition are empowering patients to manage their chronic diseases with diet greatly reducing their need for long term pharmaceuticals. Although we are not aware of any direct funding of diet studies, it was disclosed that the principle researchers of the PREDIMED study were receiving support from the pharmaceutical industry.
Posted on: Sun, 03 Aug 2014 11:08:30 +0000
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