Newsletter Update | October 2024

News from the Nutrition Coalition: First-ever rally for metabolic health held in Washington, DC—see photos! The Dietary Guidelines poised to get even worse on protein More erosion of protein in the Dietary Guidelines Some revelations emerged from the 5th meeting of the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee on September 25-26, 2024. If you don’t already know, this committee will soon produce an expert report that will serve as the foundation of the next edition of the U.S. Dietary Guidelines for Americans, due out by the end of the year. Several modifications were proposed for one of the USDA’s “Dietary Patterns,” called the Healthy U.S.-Style Dietary Pattern (the other are the “Mediterranean-style” and “Vegetarian” patterns). The committee’s proposed changes included:  Beans, Peas, Lentils: Increasing by 1⁄2-1 cup-equivalents (cup-eq) per week based on systematic review evidence supporting these foods.  Meats, Poultry, Eggs: Decreasing by 31⁄2-4 ounce-equivalents (oz-eq) per week based on systematic review evidence on reducing red/processed meat.  Total Protein: Decreasing by 1⁄2 oz-eq per day, which aligns with reductions to the “Meats, Poultry, Eggs” food group.  Starchy Vegetables: Decreasing by 1⁄2-1 cup-eq per week to offset calorie increases from the “Beans, Peas, Lentils” modification.  These suggestions fly in the face of our knowledge that plant proteins are of lower quality than animal proteins. With the exception of soy, all plant proteins lack all the necessary amino acids to make muscle tissue (as well as perform other critical functions in the human body). Plant proteins, such as beans, nuts and lentils also carry a powerful punch of carbohydrates, which cause blood sugar to spike—a bad effect for all people but especially harmful to people with metabolic diseases such as obesity and diabetes.  Reducing the total amount of protein and replacing animal proteins with plant proteins are both harmful changes. These alterations will mean that anyone receiving USDA-funded meals, such as kids consuming school lunches, the women and infant children on the WIC program, and the elderly will receive fewer complete proteins.  Also, reductions in meat, dairy and eggs are sure to exacerbate nutritional deficiencies in the guidelines, which currently fail to meet basic targets iron, vitamin D, vitamin E, choline, and folate. The Dietary Guidelines are already deficient in complete proteins. The erosion of protein in the guidelines has been happening for decades, as we wrote about in this post.  The proposed changes are not based on rigorous science and will harm human health.  DC rally for metabolic health! The first-ever rally for metabolic health took place last Sunday in Washington, DC, on the grounds of the Washington Monument. Organized by a new group called the Metabolic Revolution (MR) led by Jess Apple, the rally was supported by many groups focused on metabolic health including the Nutrition Coalition. Jess Apple The goals of the rally were: To call upon the next President to develop serious policies to address metabolic and mental health conditions, and To reform the Dietary Guidelines so that they are evidence based and can reverse diet-related diseases. Hundreds of people turned out to hear a fantastic line-up of speakers, including Dr. Robert Lustig, Dr. Georgia Ede, Dr. Tony Hampton, Dr. Eric Westman, Dr. Tro, Dr. Chris Palmer, and more. I was proud and honored to be the emcee for this fantastic event. Carl Franklin, one of the Keto Dudes who produced an eponymous podcast (no longer on the air), wrote and performed an original song for the event, called “Trust Issue.” We sang (and danced!). An audio track and the lyrics to the song are on the MR home page, linked above. Carl Franklin Particularly moving was the testimony by Ajalah Efem, a single-mother from the South Bronx. She describes her journey from complete despair to the successful reversal of her type 2 diabetes, with the help of Dr. Mariela Glandt, CEO of Owna and also a speaker of the rally. (I wrote about Ajalah’s story for Medscape here.) Ajalah Efem As drums played, there was also a “Parade” of patients speaking about the diseases from which they’ve recovered on a low-carbohydrate or ketogenic diet. See, also, this excellent video round-up of the rally.  We hope this is the first of many advocacy efforts to come! With so much attention currently on the problem of chronic disease, now is our moment. Donate to the Nutrition Coalition Text of speech by Nina Teicholz at the rally: Friends, I’m thrilled to stand here today with all of you as part of the Metabolic Revolution! This movement was born from a sense of urgency—because something MUST change. The science to reverse chronic diseases exists. Science that can save lives, science that could heal so many, yet our officials and experts refuse to recognize it. Why? We are not here to be silent. We are here to raise our voices! To sing, to drum, to march, to hold hands—to make sure we are heard! We eat eggs, and we are fierce! I want to take a moment to thank the amazing volunteers of the Metabolic Revolution, who’ve put their hearts and souls into making this rally happen. Volunteers, we thank you! Also, a special thanks to our fearless leader, Jess Apple, who only a few months ago hatched the idea for this rally—and has worked tirelessly to make it happen! Jess, we thank you! Last but not least, thank all of YOU (audience) who are here to advocate for the health of our nation! Our good health is OUR right! And we are fighting for it. Now, let me explain why I believe we need to protest. Nine years ago, I launched a non-profit called the Nutrition Coalition, believing we could change the Dietary Guidelines. This policy is the single-most powerful lever affecting our food choices. Yet it’s built on inaccurate advice. They tell us to limit saturated fats and instead eat 5 ½ teaspoons of seed oils every days. They tell us to eat more than half of our calories as carbohydrates. This advice is squarely contradicted by rigorous clinical trials. I thought, maybe these USDA officials just didn’t know the science. But I was naive. So, what did I do? I met with the Secretary of Agriculture himself. I met with members of Congress, urging them to demand a review of the dietary guidelines process by the National Academies of Sciences. And guess what? They did it! They ultimately allocated $2 million dollars for several reports. And what did the reports say? They said the guidelines lack rigor, lack transparency, and don’t use sound methodology. The National Academies made 11 recommendations to fix it. And guess how many of those recommendations the USDA fully adopted? Zero! We didn’t stop there. We brought dozens of doctors to Washington, D.C. to testify before the Dietary Guidelines Committee. twice we did that! We testified about low-carbohydrate diets. And guess what? They ignored us. Our beloved, the late Dr. Sarah Hallberg came to D.C. She led the largest clinical trial of low-carb diets for diabetes, and she stood before Congressional staffers to say—type 2 diabetes is reversible! I was so proud to see her there. And you know what? They ignored her too. But WE persisted! We got the last guidelines committee to finally review low-carb studies. That was a win! But what did the committee say? They said they couldn’t find a single low-carb study. This was in 2020! When hundreds of studies had already been published, and one of the committee members herself was an author of one of those studies! They couldn’t find it? Outrageous. For this current guidelines process, we rallied tens of thousands of people to submit comments demanding a review of low-carb diets. Our comments dominated the process. And yet—there has still been NO review. The new guidelines are due out soon, and once again, low-carb is being ignored. The same has happened with saturated fats. We brought some of the nation’s most eminent scientists to Washington. They submitted 20 systematic review papers showing that there’s no good evidence to cap saturated fats. And again—we were ignored. We even got thousands of people to support a bill just to bring whole milk back into schools. We presented evidence showing that whole milk is healthier for growing children. And still—we were ignored. I went the academic route, too. With top nutrition experts, I authored critiques of the guidelines in scientific journals, including one published in no less than a journal of the National Academies of Sciences! And USDA officials—I kid you not—formally labeled this paper “misinformation.” My friends, we have been ignored. The science has been denied. It has been suppressed. I do not say this lightly—the system is broken. The Dietary Guidelines are broken. Now our movement has grown. Chronic disease has gained a platform. I’m grateful to those who’ve made that happen. Let’s make the MOST of this moment to ensure that reform of our Guidelines is part of this change. Short of nixing the Guidelines altogether, a low-carb option in the guidelines is still the only option, supported by science, to reverse chronic disease and restore good health to America. We CAN DO THIS. 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