1. INTRODUCTION
For decades, dietary guidelines have instructed us to eat a “low-fat” diet.
The way this diet is defined, is that fat is supposed to be around 30% of calories.
Many studies have shown that this diet is ineffective in the long-term.
The largest and longest studies show only tiny reductions in weight, and no effects on heart disease or cancer risk (1, 2, 3, 4, 5).
However, many proponents of low-fat diets claim that such a diet is highly flawed, because it isn’t low-fat enough.
Many scientists and doctors who study low-fat diets claim that it needs to be around 10% fat in order to work.
As with low-carb diets, the difference between 30% and 10% can be massive.
This article takes a detailed look at “ultra” low-fat diets and their health effects.