Food Politics

Food industry pressures on Congress and federal agencies, ties between nutritionists and the food industry, and the inability of just about everyone to separate science from personal beliefs and opinions (whether recognized or not) affect dietary advice.

Like pretty much every committee that has considered the issue, this one viewed the preponderance of the evidence as favoring a population-based approach—meaning a recommendation that everyone cut down on salt intake—on the grounds that prevention always is preferable to treatment and that not everyone has access to medical diagnosis

How dairy foods came to be considered essential despite their high content of fat, saturated fat, and lactose is a topic of considerable historical interest. As it turns out, nutritionists have collaborated with dairy lobbies to promote the nutritional value of dairy products since the early years of the twentieth century.

Despite rapidly rising rates of obesity and related diseases in FAO’s constituent countries, its guide contains no hint that people might be healthier if they ate less of some foods than of others. When it comes to dietary advice, the science that favors consumption of some foods more than others is difficult to disentangle from the commercial implications of such advice.

Healthy People In 1979 the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (DHEW) issued Healthy People, a report from the surgeon general, intended to “encourage a second public health revolution in the history of the United States. And let us make no mistake about the significance of this document. It represents an emerging consensus among scientists and the health community that the Nation’s health strategy must be dramatically recast to emphasize the prevention of disease.”27

In the mid-1980s, the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) announced a national campaign to lower blood cholesterol across the entire population, beginning with advice to reduce intake of fat and saturated fat. Although some physicians argued that people did not need to restrict their diets until doctors told them to, the NHLBI judged scientific support for a population-wide campaign sufficiently strong to justify its implementation

Large portions attract customers who flock to all-you-can-eat restaurants and order double-scoop ice cream cones because the relative prices discourage the choice of smaller portions

When food is plentiful and people can afford to buy it, basic biological needs become less compelling and the principal determinant of food choice is personal preference.

Once people have access to meat, they usually do not return to eating plant-based diets unless they are forced to do so by economic reversal or are convinced to do so for reasons of religion, culture, or health

Also ironic is that once people become better off, they are observed to enter a “nutrition transition” in which they abandon traditional plant-based diets and begin eating more meat, fat, and processed foods. The result is a sharp increase in obesity and related chronic diseases