Eat This, Not That - Why the Controversy?
There is broad agreement that a diet of mostly fruits, vegetables, legumes and whole grains is associated with lower mortality and reduced cardiovascular disease. (Ref. American Heart Association 2021 Dietary Guidance, Lyon Diet Heart Study, Adventist, )
But controversy creates catchy headlines and generates more clicks for advertising revenue. This worked for the tobacco industry for many years, even though the first studies indicating smoking was associated with lung cancer surfaced in the 1930’s.
Eating meat today is like smoking in the 1950’s.
Today, there are billion dollar companies (food and animal agriculture), employing thousands of people, whose profits and jobs depend on us eating foods that make us sick. Clearly, the incentives for our health and that of the private sector are not aligned. Creating hyperpalatable foods and research designed to prove a specific outcome and create confusion makes people think all nutritional scientists are confused.
But these companies are simply responding to market forces. Plant based meats are proliferating because people are buying them. We need to exercise our personal and collective power to encourage the purchase of more vegetables, fruits, beans and whole grains. And discourage the purchase of meat, chicken, fish (for environmental reasons), eggs, dairy and ultra processed foods in our homes, schools and public places, as committed people did to turn the tide on tobacco.
Pharmaceutical companies, while providing many short term treatments, do not benefit from us needing less medications.
Our health care system is great for acute, sick care, but is not designed to help us avoid chronic disease in the first place.
Patients often are looking for the easy fix which requires the least effort. This means many patients prefer to take multiple medications rather than make the effort to change what they put into their body. It may also explain why there is so much enthusiasm for low carb / high animal product (saturated fat) diets. People like feeling good about eating highly palatable foods especially when it may offer short term weight loss, even though it is very difficult to sustain and results in higher LDL cholesterol and risk of heart disease.
so, when you see headlines that contradict the basic message that a plant predominant diet is the path to your best health, ask yourself 3 questions: A. b. c.
Does this ALIGN with ALL the evidence?
Is it a compelling story about one person’s experience or a study with hundreds of patients?
Who Benefits?
Is it being funded by a large organization that benefits from the research?
Is someone financially benefiting from this message?
Compared to what?
Are they comparing plants to animal products or sugar to saturated fats?
Is this a rodent study or a human study?
The bottom line is:
“Eat food, Not too much, Mostly Plants.”
