Re-evaluate the Dietary Guidelines?
Researchers in the January 2008 issue of The American Journal of Preventive Medicine have declared that our National Dietary Guidelines are based on weak evidence
and may be contributing to the epidemic of obesity.
They stated that the Dietary Guidelines committee was quoted in a 2000 statement that “obesity in the US has correlated roughly with the absolute consumption of an increase in carbohydrate intake.” The researchers further noted that the earlier recommendations made in 1995 by the US Dietary Guideline Advisory Committee to lower fat intake was reversed stating that it might have been ill-advised and even have some potential for harm.
The increase in consumption of carbohydrates was in part driven by an apparent ’seal of approval’ of “fat free” carbohydrates such as fat free cookies, which are low in fat, but high in carbs.
National dietary guidelines have been propagated based on scientific reasoning and indirect evidence which was accepted as adequate justification for the guidelines stated the research team.
To avoid possible harm, specific and transparent classification of the quality of the evidence used to develop the guidelines should be attended to and if that evidence is not available the best scenario may be to issue no guideline.
In a critical rebuttal of this research, Drs. Steven Woolf and Marion Nestle of the Virginia Commonwealth University differed with the investigators stating that the guidelines were not the culprit in the obesity epidemic. They stated that
the larger concerns are poverty and an environment that promotes overeating and inactivity. A guideline cannot single-handedly change a nation’s eating habits. Food preferences, portion sizes and physical activity levels are products of advertising, the environment, and a milieu of other obesogenic influences and not the consequence of a poorly distributed federal publication.
Clearly, the Dietary Guidelines are at the forefront of much debate among researchers. However, the important thing to take home from this is the possibility that we are a nation consuming too much sugar and highly refined carbohydrates and that may be based on ill-informed choices propagated by recommendations to increase our grain consumption - to get more rice, pasta, bread and cereals in our diet. Perhaps we are eating too many of the wrong types of carbohydrates and we need to re-evaluate our diets and lifestyles as well as the Dietary Guidelines and their overall message.
Source: Marantz P, et al “A call for higher standards of evidence for dietary guidelines” Am J Prev Med 2008
Source: Woolf S, Nestle M, “Do the Dietary Guidelines explain the obesity epidemic?” Am J Prev Med 2008
Source: Marantz P, et al. “The authors respond” Am J prev Med 2008
About the Author
Kathy Shattler received her Master of Science degree from Michigan State University in E. Lansing Michigan in Human Nutrition. Her twenty-two years of practice includes holding positions as a Lecturer, Chief Clinical Dietitian and Program Manager. Kathy is the Founder of Nutri-Care Consulting and is currently the Nutrition Director of www.CEU4U.COM, an online continuing education management company for Registered Dietitians and Dietetic Technicians.
