Is low fat better than low carb? Is Atkins the answer? And has the USDA food pyramid done more harm than good? In "Diet Wars," airing Thursday, April 8, at 9 P.M. on PBS (check local listings), FRONTLINE examines the great diet debate. Viewers follow FRONTLINE correspondent Steve Talbot, whose discovery that those "few extra pounds" have put him perilously close to the clinical definition of obesity prompts him to evaluate the myriad of diets now available to overweight Americans.
"America has become the fattest nation on earth," Talbot says. "About two-thirds of the American population is overweight, and of those, half are already obese. The diet industry is the visible sign of a looming public health problem."
How did America get so fat in recent years? "Diet Wars" offers a brief historical look back to the first half of the 20th century, when the biggest dietary concern was whether some Americans were getting enough to eat as opposed to too much. The documentary also pays a nostalgic visit to the plentiful, post-war 1950s, when Leave it to Beaver's Cleaver family typified millions of Americans who gathered around the dining room table each evening for a healthy, home-cooked meal.
(Talbot--who as a child portrayed Beaver's best friend, Gilbert, on the classic TV show--ruefully notes that while children were generally far more active back then, both he and "the Beav"--Jerry Mathers--have suffered weight problems as adults.)
"Diet Wars" explores the social, cultural, and dietary factors that have led to the fattening of America, while also examining how the medical and diet industries have responded to consumers' desire to lose weight. The documentary examines how concerns in the early 1960s that Americans were eating too much animal fat and cholesterol prompted doctors to begin recommending that patients reduce the amount of fat in their diets. The problem, some observers say, is that the low-fat recommendations failed to distinguish between the so-called "good fats"--unsaturated vegetable and fish oils--and the "bad fats"--saturated animal fats--associated with clogged arteries, heart disease, and other health problems.
"...Somehow, we got this notion that, 'Aha! If we take the fat out of foods we will be able to reduce the total caloric intake and people will be able to control their weight,'" says Tufts University Nutrition Professor Dr. Jeanne Goldberg. "And so industry got very busy making low-fat, reduced-fat, fat-free products...."
Soon, low-fat and fat-free products flooded the marketplace, as did high-profile low-fat diets like Pritikin and Ornish. In "Diet Wars," Talbot's search for the perfect diet takes him from a Weight Watchers pep rally--where spokeswoman Sarah "Fergie" Ferguson revs up the audience of faithful followers--to several low-fat diet centers, where proponents extol the virtues of their respective plans.
