Obsessing over calorie counts may fuel obesity crisis

Recent research wants us to throw the dietary advice that we have been given for decades. Experts claim that calculating calorie intake does not serve any real purpose and may even do more harm than good. Cardiologists advised us to focus on the content of our food, rather than how much of it we eat, in a recent report published in the BMJ journal Open Heart, according to the Daily Mail.

In fact lead author and cardiologist Dr Aseem Malhotra of Frimley Park Hospital in Surrey went on to say that focusing on arbitrary calorie limits has actually pushed people towards junk food consumption, reports the Daily Mail. For example, low-fat yoghurt contains fewer calories than a full-fat version but at the same time has far more sugar, which is a major cause of obesity and heart disease.

“Shifting the focus away from calories and emphasising a dietary pattern that focuses on food quality rather than quantity will help to rapidly reduce obesity, related diseases, and cardiovascular risk,” the experts wrote in the report.

Dr Louis Levy of Public Health England advises to eat more fruit, vegetables, oily fish and fibre and also to cut back on sugar, salt and saturated fat for a healthier lifestyle, reports the Daily Mail.