Claim: Saturated Fats are Not Unhealthy

The claim: Saturated fats are not unhealthy. The claim that it would be, widely circulated in dietary advice, is based on bad science. We have no evidence that saturated fat consumption is linked to heart diseases.

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The response: There are good reasons to believe that saturated fats are associated with heart diseases, but recent studies have painted a much more complex picture than the simple saturated fats bad, unsaturated fats good often proclaimed. Reducing saturated fat intake for people with an increased heart disease risk remains a good idea, but infrequent consumption of saturated fats is likely not a big problem.

Argument: Exercise is Bad for Losing Weight

The argument: Exercise does not help with losing weight. To the contrary, it actively hurts the effort. Exercising makes you hungry, and it burns so little energy that you end up eating more than you burned.

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The response: This argument is used to tell people trying to lose weight not to bother to exercise. This is very problematic. Even though exercise alone does not usually lead to meaningful weight loss, in combination with diet-induced weight loss, it has significant beneficial effects, and does contribute to weight loss as well.