https://carnivoreaurelius.com/ancel-keys/
On September 26th 1955, America’s President Eisenhower had a heart attack.
The same day, stock markets plummeted over 6%, losing $14 billion in the worst day for markets since WW2.
President Eisenhower, despite being a war-hero and having access to the world’s best doctors, was still vulnerable to the vicissitudes of heart disease.
From 1900 to the 1950s, coronary heart disease skyrocketed in the US. Fear pervaded America, and President Eisenhower’s heart attack epitomized the crisis.
Enter Ancel Keys
“Middle-aged men, seemingly healthy, were dropping dead,” wrote biochemist Ancel Keys. Americans needed a solution, and Ancel Keys was the knight in shining armor.
Or so the world thought…
In 1952, Keys presented the diet-heart hypothesis that linked heart disease to fat intake. His hypothesis is why we fear eating fat to this day. Since his initial “findings”, avoiding fat has become synonymous with a healthy diet.
Americans have dutifully followed Keys’ advice to their own peril. Chronic disease has skyrocketed around the world as refined carbohydrates and cancer causing polyunsaturated fats have replaced saturated fats .
Ancel Keys essentially gave a pass to all other factors leading to chronic disease. Most Americans’ daily exercise consists of squeezing ketchup on their fries.
Yet, hundreds of millions have been spent trying to confirm Keys’ diet heart hypothesis to convince themselves of the shitty diet they’ve adopted today.
Digging a little deeper, research ends up producing results that disprove the hypothesis.
Shocking, right?
To this day, the anti-fat gospel is still the most recommended diet in all nutritional recommendations.
And the USDA has done absolutely nothing to clear the damage caused by Keys’ hypothesis.
In 2010, the USDA released their updated guidelines, still recommending 45% of calories from carbs and minimal animal/saturated fats:
