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Petition for better dietary guidelines

pamojja

Senior Member
Messages
2,384
Location
Austria
11.➔Don’t issue population-wide guidelines based on weak data

Experts developing the guidelines have, in many cases, issued recommendations based on weak, observational data, while ignoring relevant clinical trial data to the contrary. The guidelines should be based on a complete, comprehensive review of the most rigorous (randomized, controlled clinical trial) data available, and on subjects for which this data is lacking, the guidelines should either issue “weak recommendations” or else remain silent.
 

pamojja

Senior Member
Messages
2,384
Location
Austria
10.➔Recommend regular meat and milk rather than the low-fat/lean alternatives


There is no clinical trial data showing that “lean meat” or “low-fat” dairy are better for health than the more natural versions of these foods. Nor are there rigorous, clinical trial data showing any ill effects of red or processed meats.
 

pamojja

Senior Member
Messages
2,384
Location
Austria
9.➔Stop recommending vegetable oils for health

Large, government-funded controlled clinical trials on more than 50,000 people have demonstrated that
replacing saturated fats with polyunsaturated vegetable oils such as soybean and corn (but not olive oil), did not reduce cardiovascular mortality and in quite a few trials, caused an increase in death rates from cancer and suicides.
 

Wolfcub

Senior Member
Messages
7,089
Location
SW UK
I don't live in the US but England. I am not sure where the dietary guidelines fall short in US, and the PDF refused to download.
But I did sign, as it must be needed from what I can see from the response.
 

ljimbo423

Senior Member
Messages
4,705
Location
United States, New Hampshire
I don't live in the US but England. I am not sure where the dietary guidelines fall short in US, and the PDF refused to download.
But I did sign, as it must be needed from what I can see from the response.

The link to the PDF at the top of the page didn't work for me either. There is another one at almost the bottom of the page that does work.:)
 

ScottTriGuy

Stop the harm. Start the research and treatment.
Messages
1,402
Location
Toronto, Canada
I'm signing - from Canada - only because I listened to this interview with an investigative journalist who called out the US Dietary Guidelines as not evidenced based.

The amount of push back she (and others) received from the nutrition industry and researchers trying to protect their dogma (and careers, reputations, and bank accounts) was shocking.

Excellent interview, highly recommended: https://www.ihmc.us/stemtalk/episode-52/
 

pamojja

Senior Member
Messages
2,384
Location
Austria
The link to the PDF at the top of the page didn't work for me either. There is another one at almost the bottom of the page that does work.:)

Was the same for me. However, the PDF doesn't contains more than just the text already on that petition website.
 
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pamojja

Senior Member
Messages
2,384
Location
Austria
8.➔Stop telling the public that reaching and maintaining a healthy weight can be accomplished by choosing “an appropriate calorie level.”

The calorie-in-calorie-out (“energy balance”) model of obesity -- which asserts that people can achieve and maintain significant weight loss simply by reducing calories and increasing exercise–-oversimplifies the issue. Insulin and other hormones are among other factors also involved in determining weight.
 

pamojja

Senior Member
Messages
2,384
Location
Austria
6.➔Stop recommending aerobic exercise for weight loss


The most comprehensive expert review of data on exercise, published in 2008 by US Department of Health and Human Services and cited by the DGAs to inform its recommendation on exercise, concludes that aerobic exercise is ineffective for weight loss and only marginally effective for weight maintenance
(Although exercise is an important part of overall health and well-being)
 

pamojja

Senior Member
Messages
2,384
Location
Austria
5.➔Make the DGA diets nutritionally sufficient, with nutrients coming from whole foods

The current recommend DGA diets are deficient in potassium, vitamin D, vitamin E, and choline, according to the DGAs’ own expert report. Further, to the extent that the DGA diets are nutritionally sufficient, they rely heavily upon the 3-5 recommended daily servings of artificially fortified refined grains, which are high in refined carbohydrates and are not a natural source of these nutrients.
 

pamojja

Senior Member
Messages
2,384
Location
Austria
4.➔Offer a meaningful diversity of diets

Although the DGAs now feature three recommended “Dietary Patterns” – “US-style,” Mediterranean, and vegetarian -- the current guidelines remain a one-size-fits-all diet, which is not appropriate for a general population in which nutritional needs vary by age, genetics, gender, race, and degree of disease state.
 

pamojja

Senior Member
Messages
2,384
Location
Austria
3.➔Offer low-carbohydrate diets as a viable option for fighting chronic disease

Expert committees for the guidelines have never systematically reviewed the large body of research on
low-carbohydrate diets, which now amounts to more than 70 clinical trials on altogether thousands of people, including two-year trials, which is considered long enough to reveal any harmful side effects. These trials demonstrate the safety and efficacy of this diet for combating obesity, diabetes, and heart disease.
 

pamojja

Senior Member
Messages
2,384
Location
Austria
2.➔Ease or lift caps on saturated fats

At least 14 meta-analyses and systematic reviews of the scientific literature now conclude that saturated fats are not associated with heart disease and/or have no effect on cardiovascular mortality. Saturated fats are part of many natural, unprocessed foods, such as meat and dairy, that contain needed nutrients, and should not be discouraged.