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Have
your say on federal dietary guidelines
Jan 28, 09
Suzanne Havala Hobbs
National
discussions of energy and economic policies get plenty of
attention in the news media. Health care gets regular coverage,
too.
But less attention is devoted to national dietary guidance
policy, even though what our government advises us to eat
has far-reaching implications for public health.
Take school meals, for example.
Menus served in school cafeterias – and other federally
supported child nutrition programs – are planned to
comply with the Dietary Guidelines for Americans.
The dietary guidelines advise us to cut back on saturated
fat and sodium, so fewer schools are serving hotdogs and pepperoni
pizza. The guidelines advise us to eat less added sugar and
more fiber, so schools are serving more fresh fruit and fewer
sweet desserts.
The example set for children by the meals they eat in school
could have a lasting impact on their eating habits and health
as adults.
The guidelines are also translated into teaching tools like
My Pyramid, the Department of Agriculture’s Internet-based
food guidance system that’s supposed to help us all
understand what to eat to stay healthy.
Of course, what we know about nutrition science keeps changing.
So, the dietary guidelines are updated every five years in
a process managed jointly by the Department of Health and
Human Services and Department of Agriculture.
And right now it’s time to do it again.
It’s an important opportunity for anyone concerned about
advocating for accurate, clear dietary advice and progressive
federal nutrition policies to have a say.
I’m planning to have mine.
On Thursday, I’ll be in Washington, D.C., at the Department
of Agriculture, making a presentation to the committee charged
with revising the dietary guidelines. My voice will join others
from food companies, agribusiness, health associations, consumer
and nonprofit organizations, universities and others with
an interest in shaping the government’s advice.
I plan to ask the committee to:
* Be explicit about the importance of eating a more plant-based
diet. Dietary guidelines should emphasize nutrient-dense,
plant-based alternatives to fatty meats and high-fat dairy
foods.
* Be clearer about the health risks associated with eating
red meat and processed meats. Guidelines should discourage
people from eating sausage, bacon and cold cuts.
* Develop new ways to group foods for ease of meal planning.
Beans and hamburger are both listed as “protein”
sources, but they don’t share equal nutritional merit.
And instead of assigning an entire food group to a single
food – milk – the recommendations should encourage
a variety of good sources of key nutrients such as calcium.
* Consider our increasingly diverse society and build in flexibility
to accommodate a range of cultural food preferences. Many
foods that are traditional in other cultures – soy products,
bean dishes, and a wide variety of vegetables – are
health-supporting and should be encouraged.
You can have a say, too.
Anyone with ideas about how the government should revise the
dietary guidelines can submit their comments online at www.cnpp.usda.gov/dietaryguidelines.htm.
The current guidelines are also posted on this site.
In the end, the 2010 dietary guidelines will be a compromise
that takes into consideration not only what science is learning
about nutrition, but also a range of political and economic
interests, as well as value judgments about how much –
and how quickly – Americans can change the way they
live.
Hopefully, the next set of dietary guidelines will come closer
to reflecting what current science tells us about what makes
up healthy diets, rather than bowing to the pressures of politics
and industry. We’ll find out when the new guidelines
come out next year.
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