Newsletter Update | June 2023

House Committee Cites Need for Dietary Guidelines to Combat Chronic Diseases Since 2017, the Nutrition Coalition has advocated for Dietary Guidelines for all Americans, including those with obesity and diabetes, and we recently secured a small, but noteworthy win. The House Appropriations report for 2024 acknowledges the need for our guidelines to address not just disease prevention, for healthy Americans but also disease treatment, for the 60% of adults with a chronic disease. The report includes the following language: The Committee recognizes that the Dietary Guidelines for Americans is designed to include all Americans. Given the increase in chronic disease, the Committee directs USDA to include in the 2025–2030 Dietary Guidelines for Americans a dietary pattern for the treatment of diet-related diseases, including obesity and diabetes, based exclusively on rigorous data. To be technical for a minute, report language is non-binding, but it makes a powerful statement about the intention of Congress and is precedent setting. We can now say that Congress has, for the first time, acknowledged that the Dietary Guidelines ignore the majority of the adult population and point to this language in future advocacy efforts. Putting Whole Milk Back in Schools The Nutrition Coalition has spent most of June working to bring whole milk back to public schools, where it’s been banned since 2010 (primer on how it all went wrong here). Our best chance at doing this is via the Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act that was introduced earlier this year by Chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, Glenn "GT" Thompson (R-PA), and Kim Schrier (D-WA). On June 6th, the bill passed a major hurdle when the House Committee on Education and Workforce voted to pass it out of committee. It currently awaits a vote from the full House.  In order to support this legislation we first submitted a letter of support to Chairman Thompson highlighting the fact that whole milk is a natural food that humans have been consuming for thousands of years, long before the epidemics of obesity and heart disease. This letter was entered into the official Congressional Record, and Chairman Thompson mentioned the Nutrition Coalition coalition by name during the committee hearing (1:54:29). Here’s a great excerpt from the Chairman’s remarks: “This policy has cheated our children and has led to economic demise in Rural America as we’ve seen a loss of dairy farms and small businesses that are in that supply chain. It’s time to reverse the mistake that was made in 2010. We need to follow real science, not political science. I question the process of the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee. These are unelected bureaucrats, and there’s no oversight. This is our chance to actually do something positive in that process to say ‘hey we’re watching what you’re doing. We’re looking over your shoulder…’” A few weeks ago, our executive director, John Bates, joined the Chairman for a policy panel on Capitol Hill to educate staffers on the benefits of whole milk and the misguided policies that led to it being banned in the first place. Here’s an excerpt from an article about the event in Ag Moos: For the Nutrition Coalition, John Bates explained they are a non-profit, non-partisan organization that seeks to improve health in America by ensuring that the public gets evidence-based nutritional advice. They emphasize good science, transparency, and methodology and receive no industry funding. “When the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act was enacted in 2010, milk became counted as part of that less than 10% of calories from saturated fat, when previously it had been in its own, separate beverage category,” said Bates. He noted that the U.S. Dietary Guidelines that these rules for schools are based on “never reviewed studies on dietary fat specifically for children until 2020. Children have just been assumed to be like adults, but children are different: they need more protein for their growing bodies and more fat for their growing brains,” said Bates. What's Next? Last week, we shared an update on how to help with the House version of the whole milk bill. Many of you responded to let us know that you’d contacted your representative, thank you for your help! A companion bill has been introduced in the Senate by Senator Roger Marshall, a physician from the states of Kansas. While we wait for a full vote in the House, the most important thing we can do is help add cosponsors in the Senate. You can find out who your Senators are and how to contact them here. When you call, tell them you’d like them to cosponsor S.1957 to allow schools to offer whole milk through the National School Lunch Program. An Attempt to Make SNAP Healthier The House Appropriations Committee recently passed a measure that would allow for a pilot program to disallow Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as food stamps, from being spent on “non-nutritious foods.” A pilot program is the government’s version of a policy experiment. Unfortunately, nutritious foods in this program are defined as those that our current Dietary Guidelines deems to be “nutrient dense”--a definition that is not about the inclusion of essential nutrients in foods, as one might expect, but instead about what’s excluded. According to the guidelines, “nutrient dense” foods must be low in saturated fats, sugar, and sodium, which leads to more than a few absurdities. Water and vegetable oil are nutrient dense, really? This proposal underscores the crucial role that the Guidelines plays in all areas of nutrition policy. Unscientific guidelines leads to supplying nutritionally inadequate foods to vulnerable individuals. If we can fix the Guidelines, we can provide healthier, evidence-based nutrition strategies to at-risk populations who rely upon food assistance programs. USDA Approves Lab-Grown Meat In a significant development, the U.S.Dept. of Agriculture USDA) has granted approval for the production and sale of laboratory-grown meat. This decision allows two California companies, Upside Foods and Good Meat, to introduce chicken produced from animal cells into the market, which is expected to take five to ten years. Aside from viability, there are still a lot of unknowns with these types of alternative proteins. Advocates believe that lab-grown meat offers potential benefits in terms of environmental impact, food safety, and animal welfare. However, skeptics raise concerns about scientific and safety risks, and they question the validity of the purported environmental advantages. There’s also an effort by farm groups to establish safeguards for the term “meat.” We’ve seen similar disputes around the use of the word “milk” to describe non-dairy products. Social Media Volunteers Needed The Nutrition Coalition is seeking motivated volunteers to help with our social media efforts. The ideal candidates will have a strong understanding of social media platforms and best practices. Let us know if this sounds like you: Fluency in nutrition science and the benefits of a real-food, low-carbohydrate lifestyle. Experience creating engaging and shareable social media posts and graphics Experience engaging with followers and responding to comments and messages Experience managing multiple social media channels. If you think you’d be a good fit, we’d love to hear from you. Please send a note (John@nutritioncoalition.us) letting us know why you’re interested and any examples of past work. Thank you! Low-Carb San Diego We wanted to flag an upcoming conference, Low-Carb San Diego that will take place on August 17th-20th. The conference is a part of the Low Carb USA series and is a great opportunity to hear from clinicians and experts on the cutting edge of using carbohydrate reduction as a therapeutic intervention. It’s also a chance to spend a weekend with like-minded and health-conscious people such as yourselves. You can buy tickets and check out the speaker line-up here. Donate to the Nutrition Coalition The Nutrition Coalition is a 501(c)(3), and its EIN is 81-4498321. The Nutrition Coalition is a nonprofit, and we get the bulk of our funding from individuals like you. Hence, these requests for donations. The Nutrition Coalition The Nutrition Coalition 459 Columbus Ave. #710 New York, NY 10024 You received this email because you signed up on our website or made a contribution to us. Unsubscribe