“Follow the science!” Wasn’t that the global mantra during Covid? Constantly on TV, and blasted all over social media?
Science, if you think about it, evolves through thorough scrutiny, constant questioning and challenges. What might have once been accepted as fact can change.
At one time people believed unequivocally that the Earth was flat and the centre of the universe, until challenged by Galileo. He was considered a heretic and sentenced to life house arrest. He died at home in 1642. It can be dangerous to challenge established thinking! He was later hailed as a genius.
We grew up seeing the Food Pyramid on classroom walls, and it was treated as gospel: We were told to eat fats, meat and cheese sparingly, while making carbohydrates such as grains, starches, cereals and bread the bulk of our diet. Low-fat everything, all profitably refined and processed, was big news and we all tucked in!
Over time, low-fat diets and products such as low-fat spreads have fallen out of favour as new-generation scientists concluded that they did not improve our health and may have contributed to a range of medical problems.
A growing amount of research now debunks the original food pyramid and goes as far as to indicate that it was grossly flawed.
Scientists linked the high rates of heart disease in Western countries to fat-rich diets. However, blaming fats alone ignored other factors in Western lifestyles, including sugar, processed and fast foods, inactivity, smoking, overeating and the resultant obesity.
Fat as a causal factor doesn’t add up when looking at Mediterranean diets, which include a lot of fatty fish and olive oils.
Follow the money… the big industrial, multinational food corporations had vested interests in that original food pyramid and marketed “fat-free”, “low-fat” and “% fat” as “healthy” options. Not natural… ultra-processed and very profitable!
Real butter was the deadly enemy; the new Food Pyramid, which is probably nowadays in every classroom, tells us 70% of our calories should come from fat from natural, healthy sources e.g. olive oil, butter, avocados, oily fish, eggs and coconut are all top of the pops at the moment.
Carbohydrates should come sparingly from bread and cereals, but more from leafy greens, low-carb vegetables, nuts and seeds, and low-carb fruits and berries. These are good fibrous foods which are good for gut health.
Look around the supermarkets these days, everything has “Protein Rich” or “High Fibre” blazoned across the packaging. It’s all advertising and marketing. Cottage cheese has always been full of protein, but it wasn’t a fashionable marketing tag. Now it is.
There was actually very little science behind the former food pyramid, but it was widely adhered to by all first-world countries. These countries are now seriously suffering from epidemics of obesity, diabetes, cancers, and many physical and mental health crises. Solution? Great news for big pharma! Enter weight-loss drugs… Ta! Da!
Millions of people now take relatively new anti-obesity drugs, and Denmark’s entire economy is benefiting from the success of Novo Nordisk and Wegovy.
On September 22, The Mail on Sunday reported: “Last year the UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency recorded 82 fatalities involving GLP-1, of which 22 were reported in connection with weight management. In the same year 18,046 adverse reactions were reported for semaglutide, of which 1,765 were serious.” According to Prof. Donal O’Shea, the HSE’s lead for obesity, Irish figures are usually 10% of UK figures.
Big demands result in a highly profitable black market. The precise amount of illegal weight-loss drugs in Ireland is unknown, but health authorities recorded 14,000 illicit online purchases in 2025 (no medical appointment or prescription necessary).
The list of side effects from weight-loss drugs grows with time, including gastrointestinal issues, nausea, constipation, bloating, stomach pain, headaches, fatigue, insomnia, increased heart rate, elevated blood pressure, dry mouth, pancreatitis, gallbladder issues, gastroparesis, thyroid issues, muscle mass loss, possible blindness and unplanned pregnancies!
Every drug has side effects. Drugs must be rigorously tried and tested at scale over a very long period. Properly prescribed and carefully monitored, weight-loss drugs are life-savers for many people with diabetes, hypertension and obesity, but they can be life-destroyers if used casually e.g. pre-wedding “bridal shed”.
Be wary of mantras like: “Follow the science”. We need to be so careful. Research trials need to be long-term and extensive, without bowing to pressure or profits.
Remember: What was gospel yesterday may be debunked tomorrow. Science evolves. Our bodies are miraculous and should be treated naturally and respectfully. We are, after all, Naked Apes!
