Nutrition Troubles

Abstract

This conversation is part of a special issue on ''Critical Nutrition'' in which multiple authors weigh in on various themes related to the origins, character, and consequences of contemporary American nutrition discourses and practices, as well as how nutrition might be known and done differently. In this section one author calls into question the validity and efficacy of the 1977 Dietary Goals for the United States that are still widely used in official nutrition information.A second author considers whether official dietary recommendations are commonly known, let alone followed, and therefore questions their effectiveness at shaping actual dietary practice.

The 2015 Dietary Guidelines for Americans: Irrelevant or Alarming? or Both?

“…The DGAC creates a report that ostensibly provides a review of current scientific evidence to inform revisions to the next edition of the DGA. The DGA are then written by staff members at the USDA and HHS and may or may not be based on recommendations in the DGAC report [1]. In 2015, a media frenzy surrounded both the DGAC report and the final DGA.…”

“…Dramatic-and potentially dangerous-limits on sodium for some subpopulations disappeared, although the general population is still limited to no more than a teaspoon of salt a day. This edition also advised that "added sugars" be limited to 10% of total calories, although naturally occurring sugars are not implicated [1]. Numerical limits on cholesterol were eliminated, but the DGA still advised "individuals should eat as little dietary cholesterol as possible" [1].…”

“…This edition also advised that "added sugars" be limited to 10% of total calories, although naturally occurring sugars are not implicated [1]. Numerical limits on cholesterol were eliminated, but the DGA still advised "individuals should eat as little dietary cholesterol as possible" [1]. And despite rumors proclaiming the "low-fat era" is over [14], there was little in the DGA to warrant this claim.…”

“…And despite rumors proclaiming the "low-fat era" is over [14], there was little in the DGA to warrant this claim. Although vegetable oils were now a food category and the lower limit on oils in the diet had shifted from no less than 20% of calories to no less than 25%, the upper limit on dietary fat as a macronutrient remained at 35% of calories, as it had been for the past decade [1]. As for meat, it did not disappeared altogether, but the DGA recommend "lower intakes of meats, including processed meats," lumping meat into the same category as sugar-sweetened food and refined grains [1].…”

“…The call for "aligning with the Guidelines" asserted that "health professionals, communities, business and industries, organizations, governments and other segments of society" could work together to "influence individual decisions, and ultimately social and cultural norms and values to align with the Dietary Guidelines" [1]. The effort to have all sectors of society enforce an individual's right to eat what the DGA have determined is best for everyone should be of concern to all in the ancestral health community.…”