Summary
The study argues that low-fat dietary guidelines introduced in the late 1970s/early 1980s triggered major diet shifts in Western countries—less red meat and eggs, more cereals and poultry—raising overall glycemic load and lowering average “protein quality.” Using FAOSTAT country-level food supply data (instead of self-reported diet questionnaires), the author links these shifts to rising obesity and type 2 diabetes (most strongly associated with sugars/sweeteners, potatoes, and cereal carbohydrates) and to a recent stagnation or decline in average height in some affluent countries, interpreted as a sign of suboptimal child nutrition. It further suggests that lower-quality childhood nutrition could contribute to broader developmental outcomes, including possible declines in population test performance, and calls for reevaluating nutrition policy—especially protein recommendations for children—while criticizing the reliability of much observational nutrition research.
PMID: 40515743
PMCID: PMC12168400
DOI: 10.1080/07853890.2025.2514073
Abstract
Meta-analyses of observational and clinical studies conducted in recent years have raised serious doubts about the validity of the low-fat dietary recommendations introduced in the late 1970s/early 1980s, due to the absence of any convincing link between saturated fat and the risk of cardiovascular diseases. At the same time, long-term food supply statistics from the FAOSTAT database show that these recommendations were at the root of fundamental dietary changes in Western countries, which resulted in a lower consumption of eggs and red meat, a higher consumption of cereals and poultry, a decline in average protein quality and, overall, in a higher glycemic load of the diet. Because current views on human nutrition are based primarily on highly unreliable questionnaire data from observational studies, the purpose of this commentary is to provide an alternative ecological (country-level) perspective and to trace the consequences of these nutritional changes using the FAOSTAT database in combination with available anthropological and health statistics. This comparison shows a close connection between the decline in protein quality and the sudden reversal of the positive height trend in some Western countries, after ∼150 years of continuous growth, which points to suboptimal levels of child nutrition. The sharp increase in the prevalence of obesity and type 2 diabetes is strongly correlated with the increasing consumption of high-glycemic carbohydrates and sweeteners, and is also interconnected with the decrease in body height, because a high-quality, growth-stimulating diet during adolescence is inversely related to obesity. Given the long-term association between height and phenotypic IQ, the lower quality of nutrients in children's diet may also seriously affect intellectual potential and future civilizational development. In light of these findings, current nutritional strategies should be seriously reconsidered and recommended protein intakes for children must be urgently reevaluated.