Government's Guide to Healthy Eating 'Could Cause Obesity and Diabetes', Expert Warns

The revised UK ‘Eatwell Guide,’ which visually represents the government’s recommendations on food groups for a ‘healthy, balanced diet,’ is not evidence based, and has been formulated by too many people with industry ties, insists a dietary expert in an editorial published online.

Dr. Zoe Harcombe, of the Institute of Clinical Exercise and Health Science in the University of the West of Scotland, said the ‘Eatwell Guide’, which takes a high carb/low fat approach to diet, may be harmful because foods are measured by weight and not content.

 

She believes the updated Eatwell Guide is not based on evidence.

 

Under newest government guidelines, the amount of starchy foods and fruit and vegetables we should be eating has gone up, while milk and dairy consumption is advised to be reduced.

 

But, Dr. Harcombe said: “The Eatwell Guide was formulated by a group appointed by Public Health England, consisting primarily of members of the food and drink industry rather than independent experts.”

 

“It could be said that the high carb-low fat diet has been tested on the UK population, but with negative impact, as the rates of obesity and diabetes have soared since the 70s and 80s.”

 

“The association between the introduction of the dietary guidelines, and concomitant increases in obesity and diabetes, deserves examination.”

 

But the primary flaw of the Eatwell Guide “as with its predecessors, is that it is not evidence based,” she claimed.

 

The top nutritionist added: “Not even the hydration message to drink six glasses of sugar-free fluid holds water.”

 

The Food Standards Agency confirmed that the food group percentages for the Eatwell Plate were based on weight. However, the obesity researcher countered: “Food weight doesn’t matter to the human body; what counts are calories, macro and micronutrients.”

 

Writing in the British Medical Journal, Dr. Harcombe added: “Given the vastly different calorie content of 100g of fruit and vegetables vs 100g of oils, the plate proportions change substantially when calories are counted.”

 

She added: “The greatest flaw of the latest public health dietary advice might be the missed opportunity to deliver a simple and powerful message to return people to the diets we enjoyed before carbohydrate conditions convened.”

 

The Eatwell Guide was developed in 1994 and was authorized by the Department of Health. The Food Standards Agency re-launched it with “cosmetic changes” as the Eatwell Plate in 2007, and turned it into the new Guide in March this year as part of a PHE (Public Health England) campaign.

 

A new section in the guide, which advised people to eat unsaturated oils and spreads, prompted Unilever – which makes Flora Proactiv – to 'place adverts in national newspapers to celebrate their 'dedicated section', Dr. Harcombe said.

 

The group included the British Retail Consortium, the Food and Drink Federation, and the Institute of Grocery Distribution, whose members include Tesco, Sainsbury's, Asda and Waitrose, as well as major food producers and brands.

 

It also included representatives from the Association of Convenience Stores and the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB), which is funded by farmers and growers and supports the meat, dairy and potato industry.

 

Health bodies such as Association for Nutrition and the British Nutrition Foundation were also represented in the external reference group, which met several times in 2014 and 2015.

 

The group was tasked with revising the segment sizes from the previous Eatwell Plate, reviewing the visuals and suggesting 'approaches for reflecting messages on foods that should be consumed in limited amounts'.

 

Dr. Harcombe believes some of the stakeholders' input led to a new section on the plate called 'Eat less often and in small amounts' away from the plate – which included pictures of crisps, sweets, fizzy drinks and chocolate.

 

PHE has insisted decisions on the Eatwell graphic were made separately to the nutritional recommendations underpinning them.