Hey, how about this, from Scientific American?:

Eat less saturated fat: that has been the take-home message from the U.S. government for the past 30 years. But while Americans have dutifully reduced the percentage of daily calories from saturated fat since 1970, the obesity rate during that time has more than doubled, diabetes has tripled, and heart disease is still the country’s biggest killer. Now a spate of new research, including a meta-analysis of nearly two dozen studies, suggests a reason why: investigators may have picked the wrong culprit. Processed carbohydrates, which many Americans eat today in place of fat, may increase the risk of obesity, diabetes and heart disease more than fat does–a finding that has serious implications for new dietary guidelines expected this year.

More:

“If you reduce saturated fat and replace it with high glycemic-index carbohydrates, you may not only not get benefits–you might actually produce harm,” Ludwig argues. The next time you eat a piece of buttered toast, he says, consider that “butter is actually the more healthful component.”

The time in my life when I was losing weight and felt great, and full of energy, was the time in my life when I cut way down on carbs, and ate lots of lean meat and fresh vegetables. I love me some bread and rice, but if the data are correct, there’s no getting around the fact that it’s not good for us, at least not in the quantities we typically eat. If you missed it eight years ago, here’s Gary Taubes’ much-commented-on NYT Magazine piece making the same point. Excerpt:

If the members of the American medical establishment were to have a collective find-yourself-standing-naked-in-Times-Square-type nightmare, this might be it. They spend 30 years ridiculing Robert Atkins, author of the phenomenally-best-selling ”Dr. Atkins’ Diet Revolution” and ”Dr. Atkins’ New Diet Revolution,” accusing the Manhattan doctor of quackery and fraud, only to discover that the unrepentant Atkins was right all along. Or maybe it’s this: they find that their very own dietary recommendations — eat less fat and more carbohydrates — are the cause of the rampaging epidemic of obesity in America. Or, just possibly this: they find out both of the above are true.