GOVERNMENT advice may be a fat lot of good. A controversial study claims dietary guidelines issued on fat intake to reduce the risk of heart disease were not supported by evidence from clinical trials.
In 1977, the US government said that fat should make up no more than 30 per cent of an individual鈥檚 total energy intake, and saturated fats should be limited to 10 per cent. The same guidelines were issued in the UK in 1983.
Zo毛 Harcombe at the University of the West of Scotland, UK, and her colleagues studied the only seven relevant trials they could find from before 1983. They found no evidence to support the advice (Open Heart, ).
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However, the study has been criticised for looking solely at the trials. The guidelines may still have been based on good scientific evidence, says Christine Williams at the University of Reading, UK. They are usually developed using a range of evidence, not just trials.
聯Dietary guidelines are usually developed using a range of evidence, not just clinical trials聰
Correction, 17 February 2015: When this article was first published we confused energy intake with diet
This article appeared in print under the headline 鈥淔at chance of advice鈥�