This Christmas I got one of the best gifts I could ask for – a study that rips to shreds government Dietary Guidelines. Santa, you know me so well.

The study is reported on here, or if you have a Medscape account (which is free) you can find the original study here. Interestingly, one of the researchers in the study was Dr. Zoë Harcombe, author of The Harcombe Diet and big name in the low-fat, high-carb scene. Her Twitter feed is generally very informative.

The study is actually the fourth in a series that have each shown the complete lack of evidence for government dietary guidelines (specifically the US and the UK) in regards to association between coronary heart disease (CHD) deaths and total fat consumption. This series of studies are great for many reasons, but the one that tops the list for me is the fact that it shows that there never was any scientific basis for the dietary guidelines to recommend restriction of total fat consumption, or specifically, saturated fat consumption, based on the stated purpose of those guidelines: to stem the tide of increasing CHD.