Zoë Harcombe

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This is why I get seriously pissed off with five-a-day. It isn’t evidence based, never was and we are telling people to eat foods that can never compete with genuinely nutritious foods. To add insult to injury – the most nutritious foods are the ones that we demonise. I think that justifies the words pissed off!
—Harcombe complaining about fruit and vegetables, despite eating a lot of them, "most days".[1]

Zoe Harcombe is an author, nutritionist and food woo promoter from Wales. Harcombe disagrees with mainstream medical advice on dieting. She has been criticized for promoting misleading health advice, not based on scientific evidence.[2] She promotes a fad diet known as the "Harcombe Diet".[3]

Credentials

In 2011, Harcombe stated she was studying for a PhD in nutrition and described herself as a "qualified nutritionist". These claims were questioned.[4][5] During this time she was not registered for a PhD.[6] In 2013, Harcombe was pursuing a PhD at the University of West of Scotland.[5] In 2016, she obtained her PhD in public health nutrition.[7][8] Her thesis can be found on her website but is behind a pay-wall.[9]

Controversial claims

Zoe Harcombe. Carb avoider, nutritional maverick and the sworn enemy of fibre, five-a-day and common fucking sense. The writer of a nauseating and pointless stream of ridiculous diet books, and creator of endless piles of Daily Mail clickbait fodder, Zoe Harcombe is the long standing Queen of evidence mangling nutri-bullshit, desperate to challenge the orthodoxy in order to drive book sales and website traffic.
—Anthony Warner on Zoe Harcombe.[10]

In her book The Obesity Epidemic (2010), Harcombe made the following dietary claims, which were advertised in a credulous article in the Daily Mail:[11]

  • Eat meat, fish, and eggs and ignore starchy carbohydrates such as bread, pasta, potatoes and rice.
  • To lose weight cut down not on calories but the consumption of carbohydrates.
  • Avoid extra exercise because it is counterproductive and will make you hungry.
  • Real fat is responsible for a healthy heart and good mental health.
  • Saturated fat does not cause heart disease.
  • High cholesterol levels are not a bad or dangerous for health.
  • Dietary fibre should be avoided.
  • Eating five portions of fruit and vegetables a day is a marketing scheme. There is no evidence for any cancer benefit.
  • Fruit should be avoided by those attempting to lose weight. Instead, meat and dairy products should be eaten.
  • All food advisory bodies give false health advice as they are sponsored by the food industry.

Contradictory dieting advice

Harcombe has criticized fruits and other high-fibre foods but actually admits to eating a lot of them. According to her website:

I eat fruit most days, but not too much and because I like it, not because I think it is good for me. I eat a lot of vegetables/salads – locally grown/in season wherever possible. I eat very dark chocolate pretty much every day and quite a lot of it! It’s a great source of minerals and saturated fat ;-). I do eat starchy carbs – just not daily. I enjoy porridge (plain oats and whole milk) – especially in the winter. I like brown rice and (veggie) curries/chilli. Sometimes, there’s nothing like a crispy baked potato and melted cheese.[12]

This is despite the fact, she considers all fruit and vegetables as "pretty useless nutritionally" and "not the healthiest foods available".[1][13] She claims fibre has no requirement in a human diet and recommends her readers to stay away from high-fibre foods but eats fruit "most days" and enjoys brown rice and oats.[13][14]

See also

External links

References