By: Dr. Jonathan Ellen
Dr. Jonathan Ellen is the CEO of Labrador Health. A pediatrician and epidemiologist, he is the former CEO and physician-in-chief at Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital.
“Don’t eat carbohydrates.” “Don’t eat seed oils.” “Eat kale.” “Don’t eat kale.” “Oatmeal is poison!” “Eat these ten things to detoxify your liver.” “Don’t eat natural flavors!” “Do you have a leaky gut?” “Have you considered the benefits of switching to a ribeye-based diet?”
Spend any time on the internet these days, and one is likely to see a multitude of influencers pushing what they claim is the latest and greatest healthcare advice, armed with cherry-picked data and a dramatic anecdote about the origin of a specific ingredient that consumers must avoid at all costs.
It would be nice to laugh off some of these ridiculous claims, but many of them are gaining traction with the public and policymakers. And unfortunately, it’s easy to see why.
In the U.S. and around the world, obesity is on the rise. The rates of Type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease are increasing. People are sick and tired of being sick and tired, and in the course of their busy lives, they’re searching for a quick fix, especially one that blames something or someone else for their health woes. And all too often, influencers who know more about marketing than healthcare are ready to provide them with the “one cool trick” that can solve all their problems.
The ongoing campaign against sustainably-sourced palm oil is certainly emblematic of this. Palm oil is a versatile, balanced mix of both saturated and unsaturated fats, and is found in many of the foods consumed in the U.S., Europe and other Western markets. The unscientific community will tell you that palm oil is full of trans fats and that it is a “seed oil” – both of which are factually untrue.
The truth is something a bit less interesting in the era of splashy headlines and viral social media posts. The wide adoption of palm oil is due to its affordability and abundance, allowing it to serve as an alternative to controversial trans fats, which many believe are associated with raising bad cholesterol while lowering the good. In contrast, palm oil has been found by numerous studies to have a neutral impact on cholesterol. In this case, replacing trans fats with more innocuous palm oil should be recognized as a globally beneficial outcome. Unfortunately, efforts to replace this perfectly safe consumer product with more expensive alternatives continue apace, mostly led by some of the underqualified voices online. All this, despite a global food insecurity crisis and rising food price inflation in many parts of the world.
We need to get back to what works. It’s incumbent upon the scientific community to stress both here and abroad that there is no quick fix for what ails someone. While radical elimination diets and fads might yield encouraging short-term results, they are often physically and fiscally unsustainable.
Above all, we need to get back to understanding that good health requires a consistent commitment to a balanced lifestyle.