Nina Teicholz (author of The Big Fat Surprise) testified before congress and fought hard to get them to require the National Academy of Health to review the scientific basis for the Dietary Guidelines for Americas.
On September 1st, the committee will meet to review the current processes for each of the following:
How the advisory committee selection process can be improved to provide more transparency, eliminate bias, and include committee members with a range of viewpoints;
How the Nutrition Evidence Library (NEL) is compiled and utilized, including whether NEL reviews and other systematic reviews and data analysis are conducted according to rigorous and objective scientific standards;
How systematic reviews are conducted on long-standing DGA recommendations, including whether scientific studies are included from scientists with a range of viewpoints; and
How the DGA can better prevent chronic disease, ensure nutritional sufficiency for all Americans, and accommodate a range of individual factors, including age, gender, and metabolic health.”
Please, please take the time to speak out. The committee is accepting public comments from now until August 28th.That is just 10 days away! Leave your own feedback about how the system can be improved and share this message with all your contacts.
Read the Review of the Process to Update the Dietary Guidelines for Americans here and leave your comments: http://www.nationalacademies.org/hmd/Activities/Nutrition/DietaryGuidelinesforAmericans.aspx
The first set of dietary guidelines from our government came out in the early 1980s. They recommended a low-fat diet with most of its calories coming from carbohydrates and grains and replacing saturated fats with vegetable oils. Subsequent guidelines have changed very little in the last 40 years. Here is a graph that shows how much they have improved the health of Americans:
Ben Fury posted a month of DGA-guided “healthy” breakfast menus for school children here. Does the DGA committee really think anyone, let alone someone who is overweight, diabetic, or metabolically challenged (in other words, the majority of Americans!), should eat a breakfast of “fruit strudel, fruit yogurt, granola bar, banana, cereal, and 1% chocolate milk”? Or, “bean and cheese burrito, fruit juice, 1% milk, and cereal”? Or, “banana bread, fruit, cereal, and 1% chocolate milk?”
Thank you, Nina for giving us this opportunity. I hope it is a game changer!
(c) 2016, Judy Barnes Baker, www.carbwarscookbooks.com
As a first step with no investigation or planning, eliminate the Guidelines and apologize. Next step is to interview people born before 1940 for advice on what used to be thought if as an acceptable diet. This will capture some of the advice of science and medical professionals of the time who are now deceased. Why is it unlikely this advice will be followed? Hubris, credentialitis and delusions of competence. What will happen is a continual slide by accredited nutrition into disrepute followed by Max Planck’s inevitable conclusion. Think this is extreme condemnation of those responsible? We are talking of people who believed for decades that eating fat would make one fat. This is just as foolish as thinking eating Albert Einstein would make one smart and points to the total lack of understanding of the core role of metabolism.
Great comment, David Boothman! I hope you will post it on the DGA site. Let’s hope some of the reviewers are open minded enough to actually listen.
That chart is meaningless and does not establish causation.
Thanks for the comment, Phil Dano. You are right, of course. Correlations do not prove anything, but if they are very strong, they can tell you where to look for answers. As Dr. Feinman pointed out, they can show causation if they are strong enough, as for example in the case of lung cancer and smoking.
Here I was just pointing out that our epidemic of obesity started with the first set of guidelines, which is an indication that they are a suspected cause. I have posted many studies that do show causation here on my blog, such as this one: https://www.carbwarscookbooks.com/response-to-the-new-dietary-guidelines-for-americans-2010-the-nutritional-law-of-the-land/