Studies show a low fat diet leads to increased carbohydrates and weight gain.
Nutrition Non-Profit Cites Inconsistencies, Poor Science, Failure to Meet Nutritional Needs
Despite a growing body of evidence that low-fat diets are harmful to health, the 2015 Dietary Guidelines for American Committee (DGAC) continues to recommend failed low-fat advice in its latest Advisory Report and request for public comment [http://www.health.gov/dietaryguidelines/2015-scientific-report/].
The Weston A. Price Foundation, a nutrition education foundation, recently filed comments that detail serious inconsistencies and bias in the Report. For example, the Committee recommends avoidance of red meat, but notes serious nation-wide deficiencies in protein, iron and zinc, nutrients best supplied by red meat. In addition, the Report continues warnings against animal fats like butter and lard, while urging increased consumption of omega-6 vegetable oils. Animal fats provide vitamins A and D, nutrients also lacking in the American diet, while the omega-6 vegetable oils are linked to cancer and heart disease.
The WAPF comments were prepared by registered dietitians Pam Schoenfeld, MS, RD and Adele Hite, MPH, RD for the Weston A. Price Foundation and were submitted as comment 28781 on May 8, 2015.
“Every week in my nutrition practice, I see children and adults who have been negatively impacted by the government’s low-saturated fat nutrition dogma,” says Schoenfeld. “As a nation, we must end this population-wide nutritional experiment we call the Dietary Guidelines. It is clearly failing.”
The Committee reversed a long-standing prohibition on dietary cholesterol, no longer placing any limits on the amount of cholesterol in the diet; however, elsewhere in the Report the Committee warns against consumption of cholesterol-rich foods like whole eggs, meat and organ meats and full-fat dairy foods. .
Research shows that the risk for childhood obesity is greatest for undernourished fetuses who then experience the excesses of the Standard American Diet; the WAPF commentary exposes several nutrients of concern that contribute to prenatal under-nutrition.
“The tragedy is that these unscientific and agenda-driven guidelines are applied to breakfast and lunch in schools and day-care centers,” says Sally Fallon Morell, President of the Weston A. Price Foundation. “For example, growing children need the nutrients in the butterfat of whole milk, but whole milk is not allowed in federally funded meal programs.”
“It is particularly alarming that the DGAC has devoted a significant amount of space in the Report to calls for policies, programs and regulations to ensure that Americans conform to the Committee’s idea of what a healthy diet should be,” says Adele Hite, director of Healthy Nation Coalition, a public health advocacy group working to reform federal nutrition guidance. “They want to enforce a diet that will result in poor health for many Americans. The DGAC expects us to eliminate foods that are traditionally found in nourishing dietary patterns. Instead, the federal government should focus on recommendations that help all Americans acquire adequate essential nutrition.”
The Weston A. Price Foundation will be working with Congress and other interested groups to urge a reformulation of the Guidelines, which are due out sometime later this year.
“With the declining health of our nation,” says Fallon Morell, “we cannot afford another five years of biased and scientifically unsound nutritional guidance.”
The comments are posted at
http://www.westonaprice.org/wp-content/uploads/DGAC2015GuidelinesWAPFComments.pdf
The Weston A. Price Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nutrition education foundation with the mission of disseminating accurate, science-based information on diet and health. Named after nutrition pioneer Weston A. Price, DDS, author of Nutrition and Physical Degeneration, the Washington, DC-based Foundation publishes a quarterly journal for its 15,000 members, supports 600 local chapters worldwide and hosts a yearly international conference. The Foundation phone number is (202) 363-4394, www.westonaprice.org, info@westonaprice.org.
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