A new study disarms the food police’s big gun in the war on obesity: junk food bans. As Reuters reports:
Reducing people’s options for junk foods gets them to cut back on the amount of calories they take in from junk food, but it doesn’t help them to lose weight… “Limiting variety was helpful for reducing intake for that type of food group, but it appeared that compensation occurred in other parts of the diet,’ said Hollie Raynor, a professor at the University of Tennessee [Obesity Research Center] and the lead author of the study. In other words, people tend to make up for the fewer calories in the restricted food group by eating more calories from other types of foods. …Raynor said the message to dieters is that if they are trying to lose weight by restricting the variety in their food choices, they should be aware of their other food choices so that it doesn’t undermine their efforts.
Politicians should also think twice about demonizing food for the sake of slimmer waistlines.