New U.S. Dietary Guidelines committee report

lynn_glenmont

I don't have much to say about it, as it's lengthy and I haven't had a chance to read it all, but I thought I'd just let people know that it's been released for comment, since I don't see any other posts about it yet.
http://www.health.gov/dietaryguidelines/

The changes seem to include that sodium and saturated are the only two nutrients viewed as posing public health problems due to overconsumption (no more warnings about cholesterol). On the underconsumption side, calcium, vitamin D, fiber, and potassium (and iron for adolescent and premenopausal adult females) are listed as concerns due to being linked to adverse health outcomes. So I guess we're no longer advised to worry about vitamin A and C.

Just a few quick clips:

"In comparison to recommended amounts in the USDA Food Patterns, the majority of the U.S. population has low intakes of key food groups that are important sources of the shortfall nutrients, including vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and dairy. Furthermore, population intake is too high for refined grains and added sugars."

Also

"The major findings regarding sustainable diets were that a diet higher in plant-based foods, such as vegetables, fruits, whole grains, legumes, nuts, and seeds, and lower in calories and animal-based foods is more health promoting and is associated with less environmental impact than is the current U.S. diet."

One thing that caught my was a recommendation for a "maximum of 10 percent of total calories from added sugars per day," which seems like a lot more than I generally hear quoted for added sugar -- at one point I think MFP was telling me to limit total sugar (not just added sugar) to something like 25 grams, which would have been less than 7 percent of my total calories.

There's also advice about not substituting low-calorie sweeteners for sugar ("added sugars should be reduced in the diet and not replaced with low-calorie sweeteners") but there's no hint, at least in the part I read, of any reason or scientific basis for that.

Not a whole lot that I could see about CICO or trying to achieve an energy deficit as the bottom line on fighting the public health threat of obesity.