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4B – Daily News – Tuesday, July 6, 2010 Shaping how Americans eat: the debate rages By MELISSA HEALY Los Angeles Times (MCT) The U.S. government has just served up a heaping mouthful to people who eat — the Report of the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Com- mittee on the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2010. It not only squarely addresses the undeniable — that two-thirds of American adults are either overweight or obese and that our chil- dren are on a similar trajec- tory — it also recasts some advice we have heard before: urging Americans, for instance, to shift their diets away from meat and animal protein and fats — foods such as red meat, cheese and butter — toward a more "plant-based diet," a term that includes not just fresh fruits and vegetables but also foods such as nuts and lentils and olive or canola oil. Then the report goes fur- ther. It recommends that we slash our salt intake by almost a third. It makes clear that people put their health at risk when they, on a weekly basis, do less than 2 hours of moderate physi- cal activity or 75 minutes of high-intensity exercise. And it discusses at length the social and economic forces at work that have made good diets and adequate exercise easy for Americans to achieve. The report — 677 pages long and two years in the drafting — is the first step in the federal government's effort to (again) shape what, and how, Americans should Citrus Trees ARE NOW HERE! • ORANGES • GRAPEFRUIT • MANDARINS • LIME • TANGERINES & KUMQUATS HAPPY VALLEY eat to optimize their well- being. It has embarked on this effort every five years since 1980. The bland title belies a history of controversy. In the last two decades, clini- cal nutrition researchers have generated tomes of maddeningly contradictory advice for healthful eating. At the same time, nutrition watchdogs have charged that the food and restaurant industries and American farmers — in short, sectors with powerful financial interests at stake — have effectively hijacked the dietary guidelines. Meanwhile, Americans have grown fatter and sick- er. With its latest report, an advisory panel of 13 inde- pendent experts in health and nutrition has tried to (again) lay to rest these con- troversies and lay the groundwork for dietary guidelines based on research evidence. Released June 15, the report (available online at www.cnpp.usda.gov) will be open for public comment until July 15. It's a joint product of the U.S. Depart- ment of Agriculture and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. What the experts say Some see sound advice and applaud the suggestions for a more plant-based diet. But others say the new guidelines can be confusing or don't go far enough in combating obesity. 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FREE Valid for up to 2 Children Active Senior Citizens A Retirement Community for the Clint Heiber & Russ Harman owners Lic#381307 8am-12pm Mon.-Fri. 8am-5pm Sat. ton) The dietary guidelines provide sound advice for the majority of Americans. Basic nutrition advice hasn't changed much over the 30 years that the dietary guide- lines for Americans has been published. It has long advised people to eat less unhealthy fats, salt and added sugars and more fruits, vegetables and whole grains — and, for the most part, that advice has been ignored by individuals and institutions. The new Dietary Guide- lines Advisory Committee report, at long last, recog- nizes that what is most needed is an unprecedented effort to help people follow the dietary guidelines, including changes in policy and the food environment. The report wisely recom- mends that USDA and HHS develop a national strategy to help people eat better, including ramping up nutri- tion education, expanding access to fruits and vegeta- bles, and getting industry to provide more healthful products. The refinement of the advice to reduce unhealthy fat intake is a good step toward better health; i.e., limiting saturated fat intake to less than 7 percent of total calories and avoiding artifi- cial trans fat. But I do think the advice to limit choles- terol-raising fats (saturated fats exclusive of stearate and trans fat) to less than 5 percent to 7 percent of ener- gy is misguided. Stearate may not raise cholesterol levels, but it is still not clear whether it contributes to implementing the guide- lines, both of which are very important. They summarize four major findings that are very appropriate (reduce obesity, increase plant-based foods, decrease sugar and solid fats, and increase physical activity). But there is so much information here, it is challenging to summarize these recommendations into easy-to-understand distinct points, so it will be chal- lenging for most people to read and understand. The final document is extremely comprehensive, well thought out, up to date and practical. Whether this will change the way Americans eat will depend on other aspects of implementation. DR. WALTER C. WIL- MCT photo The Report of the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee on the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2010,suggests that Americans need to shift away from red meat. heart disease in other ways. The advice is too complicat- ed, and impossible for peo- ple to follow, since stearate is not listed on food labels. DONALD HENSRUD, medical editor in chief, "The Mayo Clinic Diet," The Mayo Clinic (Rochester, Minn.) In the past, the dietary guidelines were for "all healthy Americans." 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They have also added chapters on the total diet and practical recommenda- tions for people to follow, and on the environmental and societal aspects of LETT, chairman of the Department of Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health (Boston), Author, "Eat, Drink and Be Healthy" Positive changes include a more explicit and stronger recommendation to reduce consumption of sugary drinks, a greater emphasis on reduction of sodium and less emphasis on the per- centage of calories from fat. Shortcomings of the report include: The percentage of total fat is still recommended to be less than 35 percent of calories. The advisory panel apparently adopted this rec- ommendation to stay con- sistent with another set of guidelines — the Institute of Medicine's Daily Rec- ommended Intake levels. But the Institute of Medi- cine's recommendation is entirely related to weight control, and it's out of date. The best available evidence demonstrates that percent of calories from fat in a diet has no bearing on weight loss — a point the dietary guidelines committee acknowledges. Rosser’s Bakery & Specialty Foods