Consultant: "You've had a heart attack. To stop the next one, we need to talk about your diet." Patient: "Go on. What's the plan?" Consultant: "Less red meat. Whole grains. Butter swapped for a spread. Low-fat where you can." Patient: "..." Consultant: "Porridge is a lovely way to start the day." Patient: "That is my day. Has been for thirty years." Consultant: "Then we tighten it up." Patient: "Tighten it? I was the model patient. Oats, margarine, skinless chicken, the lot." Consultant: "And yet here you are." Patient: "On the heart ward. Being handed the heart-ward leaflet." Consultant: "It's evidence-based." Patient: "So is the ward. It's full." Consultant: "Just follow the leaflet." Patient: "The leaflet's the menu I've eaten for thirty years." Consultant: "..." Patient: "Print one that ends somewhere other than this bed."

Watch the pattern. It only ever runs one way. When butter was demonised, Unilever was ready with margarine. When lard and tallow were demonised, Procter and Gamble was ready with Crisco. When eggs were demonised, Kellogg's was ready with a bowl of cereal. When red meat was demonised, Cargill was ready with soy. When breastfeeding was demonised as backward, Nestlé was ready with formula. When leather was demonised, BASF was ready with plastic cut to look like hide. When wool was demonised, ExxonMobil was ready with the feedstock for polyester. When animal fat itself was demonised, seed oil climbed from industrial waste to the most used cooking fat on earth. Every one of them was a food or a fibre humans had thrived on for thousands of years, condemned at the exact moment a cheaper factory copy was sitting ready on the shelf. The product came first. The science came trotting along behind it, right on cue, the instant there was a substitute to sell. Follow the money. The advice starts to make a great deal more sense.