Sick of health fads running your life? Us too. Making healthy choices is simpler than the latest trend suggests, and it rarely involves drinking charcoal or catching your food like a caveman. So here's round two of the facts behind the fads.
Is snacking bad for you?
The fight between snackers and non-snackers is fierce. Some people say small meals through the day stop them overeating; others say snacking is a fast track to weight gain. As with most good arguments, there are two sides, and then there's the evidence.
Reviews of the research find no consistent link between how often people eat and their body weight. What you snack on matters more. A 2024 systematic review found that discretionary snacks like chips, candy and pastries may add modestly to daily calories, and longitudinal studies in adults linked eating more of them with gradual weight gain.
Bottom line: don't eat if you're full, and don't starve yourself between meals if you're hungry, because that often backfires later. If your go-to snack is a handful of nuts, some fruit or vegetables and hummus, snack away.
Is low fat always healthier?
From ice cream to salad dressing to frozen dinners, few foods escaped the low-fat fad. We were taught that fat is bad, no questions asked. The truth is more nuanced. Your body needs some fat from food: it provides energy and helps you absorb fat-soluble vitamins. But not all fats are created equal.
Trans fats: the ones to avoid
Industrial trans fats, once common in stick margarine, shortening, pastries and fried fast food, are the clear villain. A large meta-analysis found that higher trans fat intake was associated with higher all-cause mortality and coronary heart disease. Because trans fat raises LDL cholesterol, the FDA has taken major steps to remove partially hydrogenated oils, the main source, from the US food supply.
Unsaturated fats: the ones to enjoy
Monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats are found in nuts, seeds, avocados and olive oil, and are a big part of the Mediterranean way of eating. Omega-3s are polyunsaturated fats too. The research on omega-3 supplements and heart disease is more modest than headlines suggest: a Cochrane review found that increasing long-chain omega-3s probably makes little or no difference to overall mortality or cardiovascular events, though it may slightly reduce coronary heart disease events. Omega-3 DHA is still important for normal brain and eye function, and if you don't eat fish, Head & Heart provides 500 mg of DHA from algae. Learn more in ALA vs. EPA vs. DHA.
Watch out for "low-fat" labels
Low-fat processed foods want you to believe that cookies and chips can be made healthy. When researchers compared fat-free, low-fat and regular versions of the same foods, they found that the lower-fat versions generally contained more sugar. File that under "too good to be true."
Does eating late at night make you gain weight?
This trend probably started with celebrities claiming they never eat after 6pm. For people in the real world, that's not always an option. As with snacking, it isn't all or nothing.
There is some evidence that timing matters. In a small, tightly controlled trial, adults with overweight who ate the same meals about four hours later in the day felt hungrier and burned fewer calories than when they ate earlier. Observational studies have also linked eating less in the late afternoon and evening with lower body weight, though reviewers rated the overall evidence on meal timing as limited.
So if you're a night owl, a late-night gym-goer or just plain hungry, don't panic. Eat. Where you can, make dinner your lighter meal, and reach for fruit, vegetables or nuts rather than chips when a late craving hits. Missed round one? Read part I.
