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The draft report presented at the final meeting of the 2020 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee (DGAC) on June 17 was yet another disappointment in the process leading up to the next iteration of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA). Despite numerous groups expressing profound concerns about the myriad of ways the process lacks scientific rigor and transparency, as well as the policy’s narrow scope—the Guidelines are focused only on healthy people--the DGAC made no attempt to address these issues.
2020 DGAC Not Budging
The 2020 DGAC committee confirmed its intentions to:
Exclude all studies on weight loss
Continue caps on saturated fat at 10% of calories
The data used to conclude that saturated fats “cause” heart disease was weak and insubstantial. See our analysis here.
This conclusion contradicts nearly 20 reviews of the data by independent groups of scientists around the world, including a just-published review in the prestigious Journal of the American College of Cardiology, whose authors include a member of the 2015 DGAC as well as the Chair of the 2005 DGAC. The paper states, “The recommendation to limit dietary saturated fatty acid (SFA) intake has persisted despite mounting evidence to the contrary….The totality of available evidence does not support further limiting the intake of such foods [containing these fats].” Other conclusions and study links of all review papers can be found here.
Use a “Black box” methodology, a.k.a., an unverified, unknown methodology for reviewing the science that does not include any description of how studies are graded. This lack of any description of the process means that the USDA reviews are not reproducible, which is the hallmark of good science. Moreover, the USDA is taking this non-scientific approach despite being told, by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, in a 2017 report, that the scientific review process was not systematic and needed to be upgraded. USDA continues to reject the Academy’s recommendations on this and other important points.
Continue to recommend diets that fall short of meeting targets for essential nutrients needed to preserve good health. Specifically, the diets for adults fail to meet nutrient goals for choline, iron, Vit. D, Vit. E. The “healthy vegetarian” diet fails to meet even more nutrient targets. Infant/toddler diets were noted also to be short on zinc and potassium. Red meat and even liver were recommended by the Subcommittee looking at this age group as good food sources for iron and zinc.
“We did learn of the importance of prioritizing certain food groups, for example, certain animal source foods are very important sources of key shortfall nutrients, not just iron and zinc, but choline and long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids,” said a committee member [1]
However animal foods are limited by caps on saturated fats, making nutritionally adequate diets impossible for the DGA. The DGA diets are therefore designed in a way that cannot ensure good health.
Exclude nearly all trials on the low-carb diet.
By excluding these studies, the Committee was able to conclude that there was “limited” or “insufficient” evidence to make any statements about the effects of low-carbohydrate diets.
This conclusion contradicts statements by the American Diabetes Association and both its Canadian and European counterparts stating that both a low-carb and “very low-carb” or ketogenic diet are safe and effective for the management and treatment of type 2 diabetes. By contrast, the 2020 DGAC could not find any of this evidence.
This dietary option is needed for people with insulin resistance, nearly always a precursor to Type 2 diabetes, obesity, hypertension, heart disease and other diet-related diseases.
Make No Accommodations for People of Different Racial, Ethnic, Cultural Backgrounds. Despite talking extensively throughout the DGA process about the need to recognize diverse ethnic/racial needs, the Committee nevertheless appeared to rely predominantly on studies on white, middle-class Americans. Further, it continued to recommend the same three ‘Dietary Patterns:’ “US-Style,” “Mediterranean,” and “Vegetarian.” These patterns are highly similar and continue to represent a one-size-fits-all diet for all Americans, irrespective of nutritional needs that vary by age, racial and ethnic, or cultural background.
The DGAC Announced Some surprises, too:
Less Booze for Men: “For those who drink alcohol, recommended limits for better health are up to 1 drink per day for both women and men,” the panel concluded, relying exclusively on epidemiological (associational) data. The recommended advice would be unchanged for women.
Less Sugar The committee suggested that Americans should consume even less added sugar than previously advised. The last iteration of the guidelines recommended that people not get more than 10 percent of their calories from added sugars. A lower limit of 6 percent was recommended.
However, remember that the DGA, in its fine print, continues to recommend an equal amount of refined grains as whole grains. Why? Because refined grains are enriched and fortified, and without them, the Dietary Guidelines would be more nutritionally deficient than they already are.
[1] 2020 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee Public Meeting, June 17, 2020. Morning Session Part 2 @ min. 1:31:00