The Big Fat Surprise: Why Butter, Meat and Cheese Belong in a Healthy Diet

For decades, the public was told that saturated fat, butter, red meat, and cheese were among the worst foods for human health. In this presentation, investigative journalist and author Nina Teicholz examines the evidence behind those recommendations.

Drawing on the extensive research presented in her bestselling book, The Big Fat Surprise: Why Butter, Meat and Cheese Belong in a Healthy Diet, she challenges more than 40 years of conventional dietary advice and makes the case that these traditional foods are nutritious and do not deserve the reputation they have been given.

https://youtu.be/hzQAHITIUhg

During this lecture, Ms. Teicholz recounts her investigation into how dietary guidelines were shaped by a combination of influential scientists, government agencies, and industry interests—often without the rigorous scientific evidence needed to support them. She explains how these recommendations have had far-reaching consequences for the health of millions of Americans.

She also shares the series of discoveries that led to her research and discusses the work of the Nutrition Coalition, the bipartisan, nonprofit organization she founded. Through the Coalition, she advocates for nutrition policies grounded in transparent, high-quality scientific evidence and works to educate policymakers about the need for evidence-based dietary guidelines.

About Nina Teicholz

Nina Teicholz is an American investigative journalist and author best known for challenging conventional U.S. dietary guidelines and helping revive public debate over low-fat nutrition advice. She is the bestselling author of The Big Fat Surprise, a book that examines the history of nutrition science and the rise of low-fat dietary recommendations. Her work sheds light on nutrition policy, dietary fats, and the questionable scientific evidence underlying many long-standing public health nutrition claims (such as "heart healthy").

Nina Teicholz was among the first contemporary writers to publicly question the health claims surrounding industrial seed oils. Through her publications and public presentations, she has explored the history of how these oils came to dominate the modern food supply. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, The New Yorker, the British Medical Journal, Gourmet, the Los Angeles Times, and numerous other publications.