New USDA Dietary Guidelines Ignore Science
Jan 16, 2021NEW USDA GUIDELINES REJECTS THE ADVICE OF A 20 PERSON SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE
The USDA food guidelines and pyramid mold the foundation of health in the United States, and are updated every five years in order to reflect the current scientific consensus on nutrition. This is a guideline that helps create school lunch programs, busy parents who haven't found time to educate themselves, and directly impacts the food produced by companies (hint - that's the most important one). And although we're located in Canada, much of what happens to our neighbors south of the border finds its way creeping up into our igloos way up north here.
The committee of doctors and researchers were hired to give the USDA instructions and guidance on what needs to be edited on the current food guideline for Americans, looking out for the best interest for the american society.
SPOILER ALERT - The final version of the guidelines, ignore changes suggested by the panel, such as the benefits of breastfeeding, the recommendation that pregnant women eat a diet rich in omega-3 fatty acids, reducing nationwide sugar, alcohol consumption, and more. Hiring these doctors was likely just a PR stunt. In this article we'll go over the recommendations for sugar and alcohol.
1. LOWER SUGAR: The team of doctors and researchers recommended reducing added sugars in the diet from the current 10% down to 6% of a person's daily calories, citing a link between the rise of type 2 diabetes, heart disease and cancer to sugar. For example, if a person was to eat a total of 2000 calories per day, currently it is deemed as "safe" to consume 10% of those calories from added sugars, for a total of 50 grams of sugar, instead of a recommended 30 grams (in a 2000 calorie example). This is ADDED sugars...not naturally occurring in fruit for example. A current obesity epidemic is likely fueled partially by sugary drinks, and even 30 grams of added sugar per day is unacceptable in our opinions. For example, this is like saying a can of sprite every day (33g of sugar) is completely safe at a near 6% level, which it's not. It's better than the current 10% model, but NOT safe.
The USDA responded to this by saying;
"While limiting intake of sugars is strongly encouraged throughout Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2020-2025, the science reviewed by the 2020 Dietary Advisory Committee did not provide a preponderance of evidence to support a quantitative change to the specific levels as the committee recommended...by law, the Dietary Guidelines for Americans is required to be based on the preponderance of evidence."The spokesperson then went on to add: "Subsequently, the recommendation for sugar intake remains unchanged from the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2015-2020, as there was not significant evidence that supported the specific recommendation of 6%, but the document continues to prominently support a focus on lower intakes of added sugar and higher intakes of nutrient-dense foods."
Funny, has diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and most all inflammatory caused diseases increased or decreased in the past 5 years?
According to the new 2020 to 2025 USDA Dietary Guidelines, sugar-sweetened beverages make up about 24% of the added sugars in Americans' diets. Next, the combination of desserts and sweet snacks make up 19%, coffee and tea drinks - 11%, candy and sugars - 9%, breakfast cereals and bars - 7%, sandwiches - 7%, and higher fat milk and yogurt - 4%.
In other words, soft drink and candy companies paid a lot of money to keep the standards at what they're at.
Fun fact: Americans currently consume 13% of their daily calories from added sugars. This means that if they USDA were to recommend people to eat 6% or less of added sugars, that would cut the large corporations profits to over 50%. That's billions upon billions of dollars, meaning throwing a couple million dollars under the table into the pockets of the decision making people at the USDA is an easy investment in profit preservation.
Our final he team said that NO CHILD under the age of 2 years old should consume any added sugar. Shockingly this is only the first time any guideline has ever been recommended to anyone under the age of two.
In an article with the Wall Street Journal, Timothy Naimi, a a physician and alcohol researcher at Boston University who served on the federal committee said; “Whatever kind of study you look at, two drinks a day is associated with a higher risk of death than drinking one drink a day. In the context of a health document, why would you endorse people drinking up to a level in which mortality increases?”.
2. LESS ALCOHOL: Based on observational studies that linked alcohol consumption with health conditions ranging from cancer to cardiovascular disease to outright death, the team of doctors and researchers said that america needs to lower its alcohol consumption, specifically lowering men's current safe limit of 2 drinks per day down to the current women's healthy limit of 1, saying that it leads to a higher risk of death.
In an article from QZ.com, health and science reporter Katherine Foley writes;
"Lots of adults drink—and scientists haven’t been able to pinpoint exactly what level of daily drinking becomes dangerous. (Ignoring acute alcohol poisoning, and all the other risky behavior people who have been drinking may choose to engage in.) They do know, however, that alcohol consumption has risen steadily in the US over the past two decades, especially over the course of the pandemic. Instead of lowering the limit of recommended daily drinking levels for men, the organization recommends “limited intake.”
If it wasn't clear enough already, all of this information is a plain and simple indicator that in order to live a long and healthy life, you MUST TAKE YOUR HEALTH INTO YOUR OWN HANDS. Whether this be the research you do on your own, or perhaps hiring a team (*cough cough Embodied Wellness coaches cough cough*) of experts that do this research themselves, your health is your responsibility. You CAN NOT depend on governments and politicians that DO NOT have your best interest in mind.
So if the USDA is willing to completely ignore scientific evidence, it's fair to say that you can also ignore their recommendations as well.
Stay informed Wellness Gang, education is the only cure for ignorance.
Denon Maximchuk
Team Embodied Wellness Co.
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