The Dietary Guidelines for America (DGA), which are sponsored by
the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and make up the foundation
of the Food Guide Pyramid, are neither nutritionally or biochemically
sound. In fact, many experts now believe that the very principles
that were meant to be "heart healthy and beneficial to all
who followed them" may be responsible for the epidemics of
heart disease, type 2 diabetes and obesity facing the nation.
The principles are based on the "lipid hypothesis," developed
in the 1950s by nutrition pioneer Ancel Keys, that linked dietary
fat to coronary heart disease--the nutrition community of that time
completely accepted the hypothesis, and encouraged the public to
cut out butter, red meat, animal fats, eggs, dairy and other "artery
clogging" fats from their diets. This was a radical change
to the diets of tens of millions of Americans.
Experts cite the following problems with
the Dietary Guidelines:
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Protein is considered to be the least important macronutrient.
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The fat-phobic recommendations lead to a critical deficiency
in saturated fat, an unnecessary limitation of dietary cholesterol
and an unhealthy ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acids.
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The essential fatty acids are ignored.
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An unhealthy excess of carbohydrates is recommended.
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There is not enough of a recommendation to limit the dangerous
trans fatty acids.
The paper's authors acknowledge that it won't be easy to change
the "long-held beliefs that animal fats cause cardiovascular
disease and grain products are the staff of life," but say
that ignoring the science that says otherwise is no longer an option.
Further, they point out that the 2005 changes to the DGA and Food
Guide Pyramid will make the guidelines more complex but won't correct
the errors.
Journal
of the American Physicians and Surgeons, Winter 2004: 109-113
(Free Full-Text PDF)
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