Diet expert calls for scrapping of government guide to healthy eating that ‘promotes wealth over health’

A HEALTHY eating guide used by government bodies should be scrapped because it promotes food industry wealth over public health, it is claimed.

Revised in March, the Eatwell Guide by Public Health England (PHE) is also used by agencies in Scotland and Wales to advise consumers on following a balanced diet.

But in a new article for the British Journal of Sports Medicine, Dr Zoe Harcombe a diet expert at the University of the West of Scotland said the guide is a recipe for poor health because it has been informed by industry interests, not scientific research. Harcombe, who hit out at the high carbohydrate, low fat approach, said: “The Eatwell Guide was formulated by a group appointed by Public Health England, consisting primarily of members of the food and drink industry rather than independent experts.

“It is not evidence-based. There has been no randomised controlled trial of a diet based on the Eatwell Plate or Guide, let alone one large enough, long enough and with whole population generalisability.”

Launched in 1994 as the Balance of Good Health – a segmented plate of the daily proportions of food groups needed for a healthy diet – issued by the Department of Health, the Eatwell Guide was renamed as the Eatwell Plate in 2007 and re-titled again this year under the stewardship of PHE. For the full article click here 

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