Newsletter Update | June 2020
In This Issue:
- Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee Draft Report Released: Ignores all concerns:
- Still excluding ~all trials on weight loss, on low-carb diets
- Still using a “black box” methodology—not reproducible
- Take Action: Your Voice Needed! (See Below)
- MAJOR new paper on sat fats says gov. limits not warranted
Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee (DGAC) Draft Report Announced
The draft report presented at the final meeting of the 2020 DGAC on June 17 was yet another disappointment in the process for the 2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA). Although numerous groups in recent weeks expressed 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. To read more about the committee’s draft report, read our blog post.
There was one spot of good news: a proposal to reduce the cap on added sugar from 10% to 6% of calories.
The New York Times published an article (6/17):
"More than half the members of a panel considering changes to the nation’s blueprint for healthy eating have ties to the food industry."
The article is paywalled. Here's an excerpt on TNC's work:
Nina Teicholz, executive director of The Nutrition Coalition, who has championed the health benefits of diets low in carbohydrates and high in fat, said the panel had largely overlooked recent studies, some of them controversial, that question longstanding admonitions against consuming excess saturated fats.
She said she feared the agency would continue to promote patterns of eating that are overly reliant on grains and other carbohydrates.
“It’s pretty self evident that the guidelines have done nothing to prevent our country’s epidemics of obesity and diabetes,” she said.
The final report of the DGAC is due out in mid-July.
YOUR VOICE MATTERS.
Please take time to contact your Member(s) of Congress to let them know that you care about evidence-based Dietary Guidelines for all Americans—not just for the healthy but also for those in minority, disadvantaged communities, the elderly, who have different nutritional needs, and the majority of our population that now suffers from one or more diet-related disease--in short, all those people excluded by the Guidelines who most need reliable nutrition advice to help them regain their health.
Major New Paper on Saturated Fats
A group of leading nutrition scientists, including a former member of the 2015 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee (DGAC) and the Chair of the 2005 DGAC, were among the prominent authors of a “State-of-the-Art Review” in the prestigious Journal of the American College of Cardiology (JACC): “Saturated Fats and Health: A Reassessment and Proposal for Food-based Recommendations.” This review found that government limits on saturated fats are not justified by the science.
Advice to limit saturated fats has been a basic pillar of the Dietary Guidelines for 40 years. Yet this advice has never had any substantial scientific backing, according to a large and fast-growing body of scientific literature, which now includes the JACC paper.
The JACC abstract reads:
“The recommendation to limit dietary saturated fatty acid (SFA) intake has persisted despite mounting evidence to the contrary. Most recent meta-analyses of randomized trials and observational studies found no beneficial effects of reducing SFA intake on cardiovascular disease (CVD) and total mortality, and instead found protective effects against stroke. Although SFAs increase low-density lipoprotein (LDL)-cholesterol, in most individuals, this is not due to increasing levels of small, dense LDL particles, but rather larger LDL which are much less strongly related to CVD risk. It is also apparent that the health effects of foods cannot be predicted by their content in any nutrient group, without considering the overall macronutrient distribution. Whole-fat dairy, unprocessed meat, eggs and dark chocolate are SFA-rich foods with a complex matrix that are not associated with increased risk of CVD. The totality of available evidence does not support further limiting the intake of such foods.
The paper also notes, “These historical facts demonstrate that saturated fats were an abundant, key part of the ancient human diet.”
By contrast, the 2020 DGAC released a draft report last week asserting that the evidence was “strong” that saturated fats cause heart disease in both adults and children and that these fats should continue to be capped at 10% of calories. The Committee’s final report is due out in mid-July. This means that low-fat dairy and lean meat would continue to be advised over the regular versions of these foods and that a daily consumption of nearly 30 grams of industrially produced soybean oil would continue to be recommended over butter, a natural food.
Early iterations of the Guidelines simply advised people to “reduce” or “limit” saturated fats. Specific numeric caps such as 10% were formally included starting in 2000—without explanation. In fact, in an email obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, the chair of the 2015 DGAC acknowledged that the 10% limit was based on “no data….There is no magic/data for the 10% number or 7% number that has been used previously.”
The JACC paper comes after the group of scientists attended a workshop, “Saturated Fats: A Food or Nutrient Approach?” in February. Members of that workshop wrote a consensus statement, submitted two formal public comments to USDA, and sent a letter to the Secretaries of U.S. Departments of Agriculture and Health and Human Services (USDA-HHS) on their findings which concluded that limits on saturated fats are not justified and should be re-examined. The USDA-HHS have not yet replied to their letter.
More than 300 PhDs, Doctors and other Health Care Professionals Call for Reform
Last week, we released an open letter signed by more than 300 PhD’s, doctors and other healthcare practitioners —representing a wide-range of specialties, practicing in communities across the country—calling on the Secretaries of the U.S. Departments of Agriculture and Health and Human Services (USDA-HHS) to delay the expert report by the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee to ensure adequate time for a thorough investigation of allegations made by one or more members of the DGAC about the Dietary Guidelines process. The MD/PhD letter urges USDA-HHS, which together oversee the Guidelines, to seriously consider the allegations made by this/these DGAC member(s) in order to ensure that the DGA is grounded in a rigorous scientific methodology and includes all relevant evidence on nutrition and chronic illness.
From the producers: "What if the 'low fat, heart healthy' diet represents one of the most damaging public health recommendations in the history of our country? FAT FICTION is a film that questions decades of diet advice insisting that saturated fats are bad for us. Along the way, the film reveals the lies we've been told about fats, learn what fats are good, what fats really are bad, and what we can do to reclaim our health."
There’s still time to sign!
TAKE ACTION
For Everyone:
Now is the time to take action. We know that many of you have written comments to the USDA, but we can see now that the agency is unresponsive, and our efforts have fallen on deaf ears. Yet we cannot, at this point, give up. We are urging our friends and followers—anyone who cares about sane, science-based nutrition advice to restore good health to Americans—to please contact your member of Congress HERE. We’ve made it easy for you: we’ve written suggested text and summarized the important points. We just need for you to click on the blue button right here.
For Doctors, and PhDs:
Please consider also signing an open letter asking for a delay in the report of the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee in order to remedy the failures in the science described above. The Guidelines must include all the science “that is current at the time.” U.S. residents only, please.
Please Donate
The Nutrition Coalition would be grateful for your support! Like so many others, we’ve have had to cut back during this difficult time. If you are one of the fortunate people with something to give, we hope that you might consider a donation! Reducing diet-related diseases has always been urgent, perhaps now more than ever. We believe there is still good reason to hope that we can make a difference for these 2020 Guidelines.
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The Nutrition Coalition is a nonprofit educational organization working to strengthen national nutrition policy so that it is founded upon a comprehensive body of conclusive science, and where that science is absent, to encourage additional research. We accept no money from any interested industry.