What is dietary guidelines for Americans?

Answer 1

1.Eat a variety of food, 2. Balance the food you eat with physical activity, 3. Choose a diet with plenty of grain products, vegetables, and fruits. 4. Choose a diet with low in fat, saturated fat & cholesterol, 5. Choose a diet moderate in sugars, 6. Choose a diet moderate in salt and sodium, 7. If you drink Alcoholic Beverages, do so in moderation.

Answer 2

The Dietary Guidelines for Americans are published jointly every 5 years by the U.S. Departments of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Agriculture (USDA), as mandated by Congress. The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (AND), formerly the American Dietetic Association (ADA), bases its recommendations almost exclusively on the USDA Dietary Guidelines. Unfortunately, lobbyists and special interests typically have more influence over the final recommendations than science.

The USDA is charged with, among other things, promoting the nation's agricultural businesses. Top USDA positions have been filled over the years with former executives from Monsanto, the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, the National Pork Board, the National Pork Producers Council, the National Livestock and Meat Board, the Packers and Stockyards Administration, the Meat Export Federation, Infinity Pork, and ConAgra Foods.

In addition to promoting this industry, the USDA is supposed to be regulating it, and, every five years, it tells Americans what to eat (and therefore which industry products to buy). The USDA has, for its entire existence, promoted eggs, meat, dairy, and grains as key components of a healthy diet, because the United States agricultural industry makes a lot of profit selling eggs, meat, dairy, and grains.

In 1916, the USDA's first dietary guidelines, based on the science of the time, informed Americans to "eat less" and consume less fat. The concept of "eating less" and reducing fat intake alarmed the meat and dairy industry, which was depending on people to continually eat more and consume more fat. Therefore, starting in 1916 and continuing until the present, the meat, egg, and dairy lobbyists (along with grain producers and processed food producers) have intervened in every aspect of federal nutritional policy. In 1979, proposed language included "eat less" and "cut down" in reference to meat. The meat industry objected, and ensured that the words were altered to "choose lean" in describing meat. The Food Pyramid, introduced in 1992, proposed 2-3 servings of meat, which was actually an increase from the previous dietary goals.

For each revision of the Guidelines, an Advisory Committee of nutrition scientists, epidemiologists, and researchers debate the latest evidence on nearly every aspect of diet, nutrition, and health. Prior to 2000, the USDA had refused to disclose whether any members of the Advisory Committee might have conflicts of interest. But in December 2000, the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine won a suit against the USDA, and showed that a majority of the members on the U.S. Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee had financial ties to meat, dairy, and egg interests. The committee selected for the 2005 revision was similarly skewed.

The Independent Scientific Review Panel peer-reviews the recommendations of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans to ensure that they were based on the preponderance of the scientific evidence. Of the eight members of the 2010 Panel, seven were Registered Dietitians (RDs) and members of the AND (formerly ADA). Therefore, the AND/ADA, which bases its recommendations on the USDA Dietary Guidelines, provides the bulk of the panel that determines whether the Dietary Guidelines are based on science. If that weren't enough, a Congressional investigation revealed that the AND/ADA receives over $1 million a year in payments from pharmaceutical companies and an undisclosed amount from companies such as Coca-Cola, Hershey, the National Dairy Council, Mars, PepsiCo, and others. The credentialing arm of the AND, the Commission on Dietetic Registration, offers continuing professional courses sponsored by Coca-Cola.

After the Advisory Committee releases its report, the public is invited to comment. As with many public policy issues, the majority of the comments come from lobbyists for special interests, who vehemently object to any recommendations that would hurt sales of their products. The Sugar Association, for example, argued that there was insufficient evidence to support a recommendation that Americans cut back on sugar. The National Pork Producers Council, complained to the Senate Commerce Committee's Subcommittee on Consumer Affairs and Product Safety that "urging Americans to shift to a more plant-based diet and consume only moderate amounts of lean meat implies they should decrease consumption of this vital, complete protein." You get the picture.

In response to criticism that the Dietary Guidelines are unduly influenced by vested interests in the food industry, the Harvard School of Public Health, Dr. Joel Fuhrman, and PCRM, among other organizations, publish their own dietary guidelines.