Lawsuit Says New USDA Dietary Guidelines Are Deceptive

[Guest guest]

A nonprofit physicians organization came out hard against updated dietary

guidelines <http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/736566> recently issued by

the US Department of Agriculture (UDSA), suing the government to force the

USDA to change its recommendations.

The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) alleges that the

USDA knowingly hides harmful foods behind obscure language in the report.

The guidelines are published jointly every 5 years by the USDA and the US

Department of Health and Human Services and are supposed to represent the

most current and sound scientific information available. The dietary

guidelines are the blueprint for all federal nutrition programs, including

school meals.

However, PCRM says in its lawsuit, rather than giving Americans nutritional

advice that would help them fight obesity, the government instead bowed to

conflicts of interest with agribusiness and blurred the message about foods

Americans should eat less of.

PCRM President Neal Barnard, MD, was clear in his criticism of the USDA.

" The dietary guidelines are the best they've ever been, but we're pushing to

make them better, " he said in an interview with *Medscape Medical News*.

" It's critically important yet fundamentally dishonest when they have an

explicit message of what foods to eat more of, but when it comes to foods to

eat less of, they hide behind biochemical codes, " he said. " It's

intentional. And it doesn't help the school nutritionist designing school

lunch menus or a food planner in a rural town. "

The physicians' committee, which says it represents more than 10,000

physicians and 100,000 other healthcare professionals, is a nonprofit public

health organization advocating preventive medicine through proper nutrition.

It took particular aim at the familiar food pyramid diagram.

The USDA's MyPyramid diagram is ineffective and confusing to the general

public, says the PCRM lawsuit. The physicians say it conveys abstract

messages that must be translated into concrete food choices with a computer

program that is not available to Americans who do not have access to a

computer.

Dr. Barnard explained his organization's opposition: " Last March we

petitioned them to scrap the food pyramid. In 2005 they took away food

groupings and just made it colored stripes, which is completely useless to

the population the food pyramid is designed to teach: disadvantaged

Americans who have no way of decoding the pyramid. It became totally

useless. "

The PCRM argues that " there is no scientific basis for including meat or

dairy groups in dietary guidance material " because people who avoid those

foods have lower rates of diabetes, cancer, and cardiovascular disease.

*Foods to Avoid Not Named*

The dietary guidelines specify foods to eat more often such as fruits and

vegetables, but when it comes to foods to eat less often, such as meat and

cheese, the guidelines use " biochemical terms unfamiliar to the general

public, " says the lawsuit. The PCRM finds it nonsensical that the guidelines

call for limiting cholesterol, saturated fats, and solid fats " without

clearly explaining that meat, dairy products and eggs are the only sources

of cholesterol in the diet. "

Within the lawsuit petition, the PCRM reports that at the press conference

for the release of the guidelines, n Burros, a journalist with

Politico, asked defendant Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, " Why do you

call it solid fat, instead of porterhouse steak? Or why do you call it solid

fat, and then...the guidelines on dairy include cheese? "

Vilsack's answer was vague, alleges the lawsuit: " Vilsack admitted that the

dietary guidelines 'essentially' have a 'way' of listing foods that one

should avoid, by 'suggesting other foods.' "

PCRM Nutrition Education Director Levin, MS, RD, addressed what the

organization feels is Vilsack's doublespeak: " Americans need straightforward

health advice, not bureaucratic mumbo jumbo designed to protect

agribusiness. "

Arthur Caplan, PhD, director of the Center for Bioethics at the University

of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, agrees with the intent of the lawsuit,

saying he does not know whether the USDA's confusing language is purposeful,

" but informed consent for consumers demands easy to understand, simple,

straightforward language — that is not what it should be in this set of

guidelines. The lawsuit seems to me, " he continued, " to be correct in

demanding clearer language and less technical and food insider talk. "

The USDA did not respond to the PCRM's written comments to the proposed

dietary guidelines, so when the final recommendations were published at the

end of January, Dr. Barnard felt his group had no choice but to file their

lawsuit.

" We filed the lawsuit as our way of saying, 'You will listen to us; the

court will make you listen,' " said Dr. Barnard. " Our lawsuit guarantees

that we will have their attention. We're finally saying, enough is enough. "

The PCRM's lawsuit also notches up its war against the USDA by alleging

conflicts of interest. The lawsuit argues that the dietary guidelines are

meant to be read by the general public, not scientists, yet it uses

" inconsistent language, ambiguous phrases and biochemical terminology to

avoid providing clear dietary information due to Defendants' conflicts of

interest. "

Those conflicts of interest include the Secretary of Agriculture's statutory

duty to foster " new or expanded markets " and to move " larger quantities of

agricultural products through the private marketing system to consumers. " In

addition, the lawsuit points to the fact that advisory committee members for

the dietary guidelines have ties to meat and dairy food product industries,

such as Dannon, Kraft Foods, and Mac's Corp, which creates direct

conflicts of interest.

" The Secretary of Agriculture has an impossible job when it comes to

health, " said Dr. Barnard, " because his job is simply to make agribusiness

richer. "

Dr. Caplan believes the USDA has a broader mandate, but that they are

focused on a narrow part of their statutory authority. " The mandate to

promote agriculture is the one that has dominated American government food

policy forever, and that mandate often trumps health worries, " he told

*Medscape

Medical News*.

The PCRM wants a trial court to send its lawsuit to a full jury trial to

declare that the defendants have violated the Administrative Procedure

section of the US Code by issuing dietary guidelines not based on the

preponderance of the medical knowledge, and to order defendants to withdraw

portions of the dietary guidelines. The group also wants the USDA to rewrite

and reissue the official dietary guidelines based on proper medical

knowledge. That medical knowledge, according the PCRM, would specifically

mention meat and dairy products as a major source of saturated fat in

Americans' diets.

It particularly galls the PCRM that although dairy products account for more

than 30% of the saturated fat in the American diet, the guidelines disguise

this fact by splitting dairy products into many categories, including cheese

(8.5%), butter (2.9%), whole milk (3.4%), reduced-fat milk (3.9%), dairy

desserts (5.6%), and pizza (5.9%), so that dairy products' contribution to

the diet is harder to see.

" Look, in 5 years, when the next dietary guidelines are written, " said Dr.

Barnard, " diabetes will be the worst it's ever been, obesity will be worse,

if that's even possible, and the government treats all this as if it doesn't

matter. In 2010, $128 billion was spent on diabetes treatment alone. Every

state is having budget troubles. Is that because they spent too much on

school buses? No, it's healthcare. As a doctor, I can't fathom why it isn't

taken seriously. "

When contacted by *Medscape Medical News*, a spokesman for the USDA,

Webster, replied: " Since this is now in litigation, we have no comment. "

Dr. Caplan thinks the USDA is ignoring its responsibility to the public by

refusing to comment. " I think the criticisms merit a serious response, " he

said.

www.medscape.com

--

Ortiz, MS, RD

*The FRUGAL Dietitian* <http://www.thefrugaldietitian.com>

Check out my blog: mixture of deals and nutrition

WalMart: Family Game Night Kit (4 games) $10 + .97 shipping to home or Free

shipping to store <http://thefrugaldietitian.com/?p=16323>Mini-Social: Mom

and Kids daily deal site <http://thefrugaldietitian.com/?p=16288> Made my

own " funny but real " movie: Me interviewing a " potential " Dietetic

student<

*Healthy Diet at any Age: We are NOT just looking

*

*at the years people have behind them but also the

*

*quality of the years ahead of them.*

[Guest guest]

My head is going to explode.

I have the Paleo diet people (meats, nuts, vegetables, fruit with no grains/no

soy/no dairy) pulling on one side with the PCRM yelling about a mostly

vegetarian diet on the other.  Everyone says THEY are the healthiest way of

eating and the US Govt has it all wrong.

/gets on her little soap box

Every time I hear " the food pyramid & dietary guidelines are making Americans

fat " I have to point out that the majority of Americans DON'T follow that

advice. Would be lovely if we did eat 5-10 servings fruits (not juice) and

vegetables (not juice) every day.

Maybe we could get the public to stop drinking soda & juice, stop eating

packaged salty & sugar-filled snack foods (i.e. chips), and save those desserts

for special occasions. Maybe we could all eat real food and those who like meat

can eat meat, those who like grains can eat grains, and every one gets off the

couch to get some daily activity.  Then perhaps we can all just get along

without blaming each other on the obesity/diabetes/heart disease epidemic? 

Cause I can't put the blame for that on the US Govt nor the Dietary Guidelines

nor the Food Pyramid - cause those with the health problems AREN'T following it.

/steps off her soapbox & turns the rant off.

Holly

 ----------

Holly Lee Brewer, MS RD CDE

Pediatric Dietitian, Diabetes Educator

Medical Nutrition Therapist, Las Vegas, NV

Maj Holly Brewer, USAFR BSC http://hollyinbalad.blogspot.com

301st MDS, NAS JRB Fort Worth (Carswell), TX

Joint Base Balad, Iraq (Jan-Jul 2009)

Lawsuit Says New USDA Dietary Guidelines Are Deceptive

A nonprofit physicians organization came out hard against updated dietary

guidelines <http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/736566> recently issued by

the US Department of Agriculture (UDSA), suing the government to force the

USDA to change its recommendations.

The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) alleges that the

USDA knowingly hides harmful foods behind obscure language in the report.

The guidelines are published jointly every 5 years by the USDA and the US

Department of Health and Human Services and are supposed to represent the

most current and sound scientific information available. The dietary

guidelines are the blueprint for all federal nutrition programs, including

school meals.

However, PCRM says in its lawsuit, rather than giving Americans nutritional

advice that would help them fight obesity, the government instead bowed to

conflicts of interest with agribusiness and blurred the message about foods

Americans should eat less of.

PCRM President Neal Barnard, MD, was clear in his criticism of the USDA.

" The dietary guidelines are the best they've ever been, but we're pushing to

make them better, " he said in an interview with *Medscape Medical News*.

" It's critically important yet fundamentally dishonest when they have an

explicit message of what foods to eat more of, but when it comes to foods to

eat less of, they hide behind biochemical codes, " he said. " It's

intentional. And it doesn't help the school nutritionist designing school

lunch menus or a food planner in a rural town. "

The physicians' committee, which says it represents more than 10,000

physicians and 100,000 other healthcare professionals, is a nonprofit public

health organization advocating preventive medicine through proper nutrition.

It took particular aim at the familiar food pyramid diagram.

The USDA's MyPyramid diagram is ineffective and confusing to the general

public, says the PCRM lawsuit. The physicians say it conveys abstract

messages that must be translated into concrete food choices with a computer

program that is not available to Americans who do not have access to a

computer.

Dr. Barnard explained his organization's opposition: " Last March we

petitioned them to scrap the food pyramid. In 2005 they took away food

groupings and just made it colored stripes, which is completely useless to

the population the food pyramid is designed to teach: disadvantaged

Americans who have no way of decoding the pyramid. It became totally

useless. "

The PCRM argues that " there is no scientific basis for including meat or

dairy groups in dietary guidance material " because people who avoid those

foods have lower rates of diabetes, cancer, and cardiovascular disease.

*Foods to Avoid Not Named*

The dietary guidelines specify foods to eat more often such as fruits and

vegetables, but when it comes to foods to eat less often, such as meat and

cheese, the guidelines use " biochemical terms unfamiliar to the general

public, " says the lawsuit. The PCRM finds it nonsensical that the guidelines

call for limiting cholesterol, saturated fats, and solid fats " without

clearly explaining that meat, dairy products and eggs are the only sources

of cholesterol in the diet. "

Within the lawsuit petition, the PCRM reports that at the press conference

for the release of the guidelines, n Burros, a journalist with

Politico, asked defendant Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, " Why do you

call it solid fat, instead of porterhouse steak? Or why do you call it solid

fat, and then...the guidelines on dairy include cheese? "

Vilsack's answer was vague, alleges the lawsuit: " Vilsack admitted that the

dietary guidelines 'essentially' have a 'way' of listing foods that one

should avoid, by 'suggesting other foods.' "

PCRM Nutrition Education Director Levin, MS, RD, addressed what the

organization feels is Vilsack's doublespeak: " Americans need straightforward

health advice, not bureaucratic mumbo jumbo designed to protect

agribusiness. "

Arthur Caplan, PhD, director of the Center for Bioethics at the University

of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, agrees with the intent of the lawsuit,

saying he does not know whether the USDA's confusing language is purposeful,

" but informed consent for consumers demands easy to understand, simple,

straightforward language — that is not what it should be in this set of

guidelines. The lawsuit seems to me, " he continued, " to be correct in

demanding clearer language and less technical and food insider talk. "

The USDA did not respond to the PCRM's written comments to the proposed

dietary guidelines, so when the final recommendations were published at the

end of January, Dr. Barnard felt his group had no choice but to file their

lawsuit.

" We filed the lawsuit as our way of saying, 'You will listen to us; the

court will make you listen,' " said Dr. Barnard. " Our lawsuit guarantees

that we will have their attention. We're finally saying, enough is enough. "

The PCRM's lawsuit also notches up its war against the USDA by alleging

conflicts of interest. The lawsuit argues that the dietary guidelines are

meant to be read by the general public, not scientists, yet it uses

" inconsistent language, ambiguous phrases and biochemical terminology to

avoid providing clear dietary information due to Defendants' conflicts of

interest. "

Those conflicts of interest include the Secretary of Agriculture's statutory

duty to foster " new or expanded markets " and to move " larger quantities of

agricultural products through the private marketing system to consumers. " In

addition, the lawsuit points to the fact that advisory committee members for

the dietary guidelines have ties to meat and dairy food product industries,

such as Dannon, Kraft Foods, and Mac's Corp, which creates direct

conflicts of interest.

" The Secretary of Agriculture has an impossible job when it comes to

health, " said Dr. Barnard, " because his job is simply to make agribusiness

richer. "

Dr. Caplan believes the USDA has a broader mandate, but that they are

focused on a narrow part of their statutory authority. " The mandate to

promote agriculture is the one that has dominated American government food

policy forever, and that mandate often trumps health worries, " he told

*Medscape

Medical News*.

The PCRM wants a trial court to send its lawsuit to a full jury trial to

declare that the defendants have violated the Administrative Procedure

section of the US Code by issuing dietary guidelines not based on the

preponderance of the medical knowledge, and to order defendants to withdraw

portions of the dietary guidelines. The group also wants the USDA to rewrite

and reissue the official dietary guidelines based on proper medical

knowledge. That medical knowledge, according the PCRM, would specifically

mention meat and dairy products as a major source of saturated fat in

Americans' diets.

It particularly galls the PCRM that although dairy products account for more

than 30% of the saturated fat in the American diet, the guidelines disguise

this fact by splitting dairy products into many categories, including cheese

(8.5%), butter (2.9%), whole milk (3.4%), reduced-fat milk (3.9%), dairy

desserts (5.6%), and pizza (5.9%), so that dairy products' contribution to

the diet is harder to see.

" Look, in 5 years, when the next dietary guidelines are written, " said Dr.

Barnard, " diabetes will be the worst it's ever been, obesity will be worse,

if that's even possible, and the government treats all this as if it doesn't

matter. In 2010, $128 billion was spent on diabetes treatment alone. Every

state is having budget troubles. Is that because they spent too much on

school buses? No, it's healthcare. As a doctor, I can't fathom why it isn't

taken seriously. "

When contacted by *Medscape Medical News*, a spokesman for the USDA,

Webster, replied: " Since this is now in litigation, we have no comment. "

Dr. Caplan thinks the USDA is ignoring its responsibility to the public by

refusing to comment. " I think the criticisms merit a serious response, " he

said.

www.medscape.com

--

Ortiz, MS, RD

*The FRUGAL Dietitian* <http://www.thefrugaldietitian.com>

Check out my blog: mixture of deals and nutrition

WalMart: Family Game Night Kit (4 games) $10 + .97 shipping to home or Free

shipping to store <http://thefrugaldietitian.com/?p=16323>Mini-Social: Mom

and Kids daily deal site <http://thefrugaldietitian.com/?p=16288> Made my

own " funny but real " movie: Me interviewing a " potential " Dietetic

student<

*Healthy Diet at any Age: We are NOT just looking

*

*at the years people have behind them but also the

*

*quality of the years ahead of them.*

[Guest guest]

The interesting part is that most members are NOT Physicians...

>

>

> My head is going to explode.

>

> I have the Paleo diet people (meats, nuts, vegetables, fruit with no

> grains/no

> soy/no dairy) pulling on one side with the PCRM yelling about a mostly

> vegetarian diet on the other. Everyone says THEY are the healthiest way of

>

> eating and the US Govt has it all wrong.

>

> /gets on her little soap box

>

> Every time I hear " the food pyramid & dietary guidelines are

> making Americans

> fat " I have to point out that the majority of Americans DON'T follow that

> advice. Would be lovely if we did eat 5-10 servings fruits (not juice) and

> vegetables (not juice) every day.

>

> Maybe we could get the public to stop drinking soda & juice, stop eating

> packaged salty & sugar-filled snack foods (i.e. chips), and save those

> desserts

> for special occasions. Maybe we could all eat real food and those who like

> meat

> can eat meat, those who like grains can eat grains, and every one gets off

> the

> couch to get some daily activity. Then perhaps we can all just get along

> without blaming each other on the obesity/diabetes/heart disease epidemic?

>

> Cause I can't put the blame for that on the US Govt nor the Dietary

> Guidelines

> nor the Food Pyramid - cause those with the health problems AREN'T

> following it.

>

> /steps off her soapbox & turns the rant off.

>

> Holly

>

> ----------

> Holly Lee Brewer, MS RD CDE

> Pediatric Dietitian, Diabetes Educator

> Medical Nutrition Therapist, Las Vegas, NV

>

> Maj Holly Brewer, USAFR BSC http://hollyinbalad.blogspot.com

> 301st MDS, NAS JRB Fort Worth (Carswell), TX

> Joint Base Balad, Iraq (Jan-Jul 2009)

>

> Lawsuit Says New USDA Dietary Guidelines Are Deceptive

>

> A nonprofit physicians organization came out hard against updated dietary

> guidelines <http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/736566> recently issued by

> the US Department of Agriculture (UDSA), suing the government to force the

> USDA to change its recommendations.

>

> The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) alleges that the

> USDA knowingly hides harmful foods behind obscure language in the report.

>

> The guidelines are published jointly every 5 years by the USDA and the US

> Department of Health and Human Services and are supposed to represent the

> most current and sound scientific information available. The dietary

> guidelines are the blueprint for all federal nutrition programs, including

> school meals.

>

> However, PCRM says in its lawsuit, rather than giving Americans nutritional

> advice that would help them fight obesity, the government instead bowed to

> conflicts of interest with agribusiness and blurred the message about foods

> Americans should eat less of.

>

> PCRM President Neal Barnard, MD, was clear in his criticism of the USDA.

> " The dietary guidelines are the best they've ever been, but we're pushing

> to

> make them better, " he said in an interview with *Medscape Medical News*.

>

> " It's critically important yet fundamentally dishonest when they have an

> explicit message of what foods to eat more of, but when it comes to foods

> to

> eat less of, they hide behind biochemical codes, " he said. " It's

> intentional. And it doesn't help the school nutritionist designing school

> lunch menus or a food planner in a rural town. "

>

> The physicians' committee, which says it represents more than 10,000

> physicians and 100,000 other healthcare professionals, is a nonprofit

> public

> health organization advocating preventive medicine through proper

> nutrition.

> It took particular aim at the familiar food pyramid diagram.

>

> The USDA's MyPyramid diagram is ineffective and confusing to the general

> public, says the PCRM lawsuit. The physicians say it conveys abstract

> messages that must be translated into concrete food choices with a computer

> program that is not available to Americans who do not have access to a

> computer.

>

> Dr. Barnard explained his organization's opposition: " Last March we

> petitioned them to scrap the food pyramid. In 2005 they took away food

> groupings and just made it colored stripes, which is completely useless to

> the population the food pyramid is designed to teach: disadvantaged

> Americans who have no way of decoding the pyramid. It became totally

> useless. "

>

> The PCRM argues that " there is no scientific basis for including meat or

> dairy groups in dietary guidance material " because people who avoid those

> foods have lower rates of diabetes, cancer, and cardiovascular disease.

>

> *Foods to Avoid Not Named*

>

> The dietary guidelines specify foods to eat more often such as fruits and

> vegetables, but when it comes to foods to eat less often, such as meat and

> cheese, the guidelines use " biochemical terms unfamiliar to the general

> public, " says the lawsuit. The PCRM finds it nonsensical that the

> guidelines

> call for limiting cholesterol, saturated fats, and solid fats " without

> clearly explaining that meat, dairy products and eggs are the only sources

> of cholesterol in the diet. "

>

> Within the lawsuit petition, the PCRM reports that at the press conference

> for the release of the guidelines, n Burros, a journalist with

> Politico, asked defendant Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, " Why do you

> call it solid fat, instead of porterhouse steak? Or why do you call it

> solid

> fat, and then...the guidelines on dairy include cheese? "

>

> Vilsack's answer was vague, alleges the lawsuit: " Vilsack admitted that the

> dietary guidelines 'essentially' have a 'way' of listing foods that one

> should avoid, by 'suggesting other foods.' "

>

> PCRM Nutrition Education Director Levin, MS, RD, addressed what the

> organization feels is Vilsack's doublespeak: " Americans need

> straightforward

> health advice, not bureaucratic mumbo jumbo designed to protect

> agribusiness. "

>

> Arthur Caplan, PhD, director of the Center for Bioethics at the University

> of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, agrees with the intent of the lawsuit,

> saying he does not know whether the USDA's confusing language is

> purposeful,

> " but informed consent for consumers demands easy to understand, simple,

> straightforward language — that is not what it should be in this set of

> guidelines. The lawsuit seems to me, " he continued, " to be correct in

> demanding clearer language and less technical and food insider talk. "

>

> The USDA did not respond to the PCRM's written comments to the proposed

> dietary guidelines, so when the final recommendations were published at the

> end of January, Dr. Barnard felt his group had no choice but to file their

> lawsuit.

>

> " We filed the lawsuit as our way of saying, 'You will listen to us; the

> court will make you listen,' " said Dr. Barnard. " Our lawsuit guarantees

> that we will have their attention. We're finally saying, enough is enough. "

>

> The PCRM's lawsuit also notches up its war against the USDA by alleging

> conflicts of interest. The lawsuit argues that the dietary guidelines are

> meant to be read by the general public, not scientists, yet it uses

> " inconsistent language, ambiguous phrases and biochemical terminology to

> avoid providing clear dietary information due to Defendants' conflicts of

> interest. "

>

> Those conflicts of interest include the Secretary of Agriculture's

> statutory

> duty to foster " new or expanded markets " and to move " larger quantities of

> agricultural products through the private marketing system to consumers. "

> In

> addition, the lawsuit points to the fact that advisory committee members

> for

> the dietary guidelines have ties to meat and dairy food product industries,

> such as Dannon, Kraft Foods, and Mac's Corp, which creates direct

> conflicts of interest.

>

> " The Secretary of Agriculture has an impossible job when it comes to

> health, " said Dr. Barnard, " because his job is simply to make agribusiness

> richer. "

>

> Dr. Caplan believes the USDA has a broader mandate, but that they are

> focused on a narrow part of their statutory authority. " The mandate to

> promote agriculture is the one that has dominated American government food

> policy forever, and that mandate often trumps health worries, " he told

> *Medscape

> Medical News*.

>

> The PCRM wants a trial court to send its lawsuit to a full jury trial to

> declare that the defendants have violated the Administrative Procedure

> section of the US Code by issuing dietary guidelines not based on the

> preponderance of the medical knowledge, and to order defendants to withdraw

> portions of the dietary guidelines. The group also wants the USDA to

> rewrite

> and reissue the official dietary guidelines based on proper medical

> knowledge. That medical knowledge, according the PCRM, would specifically

> mention meat and dairy products as a major source of saturated fat in

> Americans' diets.

>

> It particularly galls the PCRM that although dairy products account for

> more

> than 30% of the saturated fat in the American diet, the guidelines disguise

> this fact by splitting dairy products into many categories, including

> cheese

> (8.5%), butter (2.9%), whole milk (3.4%), reduced-fat milk (3.9%), dairy

> desserts (5.6%), and pizza (5.9%), so that dairy products' contribution to

> the diet is harder to see.

>

> " Look, in 5 years, when the next dietary guidelines are written, " said Dr.

> Barnard, " diabetes will be the worst it's ever been, obesity will be worse,

> if that's even possible, and the government treats all this as if it

> doesn't

> matter. In 2010, $128 billion was spent on diabetes treatment alone. Every

> state is having budget troubles. Is that because they spent too much on

> school buses? No, it's healthcare. As a doctor, I can't fathom why it isn't

> taken seriously. "

>

> When contacted by *Medscape Medical News*, a spokesman for the USDA,

> Webster, replied: " Since this is now in litigation, we have no comment. "

>

> Dr. Caplan thinks the USDA is ignoring its responsibility to the public by

> refusing to comment. " I think the criticisms merit a serious response, " he

> said.

> www.medscape.com

>

> --

> Ortiz, MS, RD

> *The FRUGAL Dietitian* <http://www.thefrugaldietitian.com>

>

> Check out my blog: mixture of deals and nutrition

> WalMart: Family Game Night Kit (4 games) $10 + .97 shipping to home or Free

> shipping to store <http://thefrugaldietitian.com/?p=16323>Mini-Social: Mom

> and Kids daily deal site <http://thefrugaldietitian.com/?p=16288> Made my

>

> own " funny but real " movie: Me interviewing a " potential " Dietetic

> student<

>

> *Healthy Diet at any Age: We are NOT just looking

>

> *

>

> *at the years people have behind them but also the

> *

>

> *quality of the years ahead of them.*

>

>

[Guest guest]

But, it was a very good rant...lol:)

Sent from my iPhone

> My head is going to explode.

>

> I have the Paleo diet people (meats, nuts, vegetables, fruit with no

> grains/no

> soy/no dairy) pulling on one side with the PCRM yelling about a mostly

> vegetarian diet on the other. Everyone says THEY are the healthiest

> way of

> eating and the US Govt has it all wrong.

>

> /gets on her little soap box

>

> Every time I hear " the food pyramid & dietary guidelines are making

> Americans

> fat " I have to point out that the majority of Americans DON'T follow

> that

> advice. Would be lovely if we did eat 5-10 servings fruits (not

> juice) and

> vegetables (not juice) every day.

>

> Maybe we could get the public to stop drinking soda & juice, stop

> eating

> packaged salty & sugar-filled snack foods (i.e. chips), and save

> those desserts

> for special occasions. Maybe we could all eat real food and those

> who like meat

> can eat meat, those who like grains can eat grains, and every one

> gets off the

> couch to get some daily activity. Then perhaps we can all just get

> along

> without blaming each other on the obesity/diabetes/heart disease

> epidemic?

> Cause I can't put the blame for that on the US Govt nor the Dietary

> Guidelines

> nor the Food Pyramid - cause those with the health problems AREN'T

> following it.

>

> /steps off her soapbox & turns the rant off.

>

> Holly

>

> ----------

> Holly Lee Brewer, MS RD CDE

> Pediatric Dietitian, Diabetes Educator

> Medical Nutrition Therapist, Las Vegas, NV

>

> Maj Holly Brewer, USAFR BSC http://hollyinbalad.blogspot.com

> 301st MDS, NAS JRB Fort Worth (Carswell), TX

> Joint Base Balad, Iraq (Jan-Jul 2009)

>

> Lawsuit Says New USDA Dietary Guidelines Are

> Deceptive

>

> A nonprofit physicians organization came out hard against updated

> dietary

> guidelines <http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/736566> recently

> issued by

> the US Department of Agriculture (UDSA), suing the government to

> force the

> USDA to change its recommendations.

>

> The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) alleges

> that the

> USDA knowingly hides harmful foods behind obscure language in the

> report.

>

> The guidelines are published jointly every 5 years by the USDA and

> the US

> Department of Health and Human Services and are supposed to

> represent the

> most current and sound scientific information available. The dietary

> guidelines are the blueprint for all federal nutrition programs,

> including

> school meals.

>

> However, PCRM says in its lawsuit, rather than giving Americans

> nutritional

> advice that would help them fight obesity, the government instead

> bowed to

> conflicts of interest with agribusiness and blurred the message

> about foods

> Americans should eat less of.

>

> PCRM President Neal Barnard, MD, was clear in his criticism of the

> USDA.

> " The dietary guidelines are the best they've ever been, but we're

> pushing to

> make them better, " he said in an interview with *Medscape Medical

> News*.

>

> " It's critically important yet fundamentally dishonest when they

> have an

> explicit message of what foods to eat more of, but when it comes to

> foods to

> eat less of, they hide behind biochemical codes, " he said. " It's

> intentional. And it doesn't help the school nutritionist designing

> school

> lunch menus or a food planner in a rural town. "

>

> The physicians' committee, which says it represents more than 10,000

> physicians and 100,000 other healthcare professionals, is a

> nonprofit public

> health organization advocating preventive medicine through proper

> nutrition.

> It took particular aim at the familiar food pyramid diagram.

>

> The USDA's MyPyramid diagram is ineffective and confusing to the

> general

> public, says the PCRM lawsuit. The physicians say it conveys abstract

> messages that must be translated into concrete food choices with a

> computer

> program that is not available to Americans who do not have access to a

> computer.

>

> Dr. Barnard explained his organization's opposition: " Last March we

> petitioned them to scrap the food pyramid. In 2005 they took away food

> groupings and just made it colored stripes, which is completely

> useless to

> the population the food pyramid is designed to teach: disadvantaged

> Americans who have no way of decoding the pyramid. It became totally

> useless. "

>

> The PCRM argues that " there is no scientific basis for including

> meat or

> dairy groups in dietary guidance material " because people who avoid

> those

> foods have lower rates of diabetes, cancer, and cardiovascular

> disease.

>

> *Foods to Avoid Not Named*

>

> The dietary guidelines specify foods to eat more often such as

> fruits and

> vegetables, but when it comes to foods to eat less often, such as

> meat and

> cheese, the guidelines use " biochemical terms unfamiliar to the

> general

> public, " says the lawsuit. The PCRM finds it nonsensical that the

> guidelines

> call for limiting cholesterol, saturated fats, and solid fats " without

> clearly explaining that meat, dairy products and eggs are the only

> sources

> of cholesterol in the diet. "

>

> Within the lawsuit petition, the PCRM reports that at the press

> conference

> for the release of the guidelines, n Burros, a journalist with

> Politico, asked defendant Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, " Why

> do you

> call it solid fat, instead of porterhouse steak? Or why do you call

> it solid

> fat, and then...the guidelines on dairy include cheese? "

>

> Vilsack's answer was vague, alleges the lawsuit: " Vilsack admitted

> that the

> dietary guidelines 'essentially' have a 'way' of listing foods that

> one

> should avoid, by 'suggesting other foods.' "

>

> PCRM Nutrition Education Director Levin, MS, RD, addressed

> what the

> organization feels is Vilsack's doublespeak: " Americans need

> straightforward

> health advice, not bureaucratic mumbo jumbo designed to protect

> agribusiness. "

>

> Arthur Caplan, PhD, director of the Center for Bioethics at the

> University

> of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, agrees with the intent of the

> lawsuit,

> saying he does not know whether the USDA's confusing language is

> purposeful,

> " but informed consent for consumers demands easy to understand,

> simple,

> straightforward language — that is not what it should be in this set

> of

> guidelines. The lawsuit seems to me, " he continued, " to be correct in

> demanding clearer language and less technical and food insider talk. "

>

> The USDA did not respond to the PCRM's written comments to the

> proposed

> dietary guidelines, so when the final recommendations were published

> at the

> end of January, Dr. Barnard felt his group had no choice but to file

> their

> lawsuit.

>

> " We filed the lawsuit as our way of saying, 'You will listen to us;

> the

> court will make you listen,' " said Dr. Barnard. " Our lawsuit

> guarantees

> that we will have their attention. We're finally saying, enough is

> enough. "

>

> The PCRM's lawsuit also notches up its war against the USDA by

> alleging

> conflicts of interest. The lawsuit argues that the dietary

> guidelines are

> meant to be read by the general public, not scientists, yet it uses

> " inconsistent language, ambiguous phrases and biochemical

> terminology to

> avoid providing clear dietary information due to Defendants'

> conflicts of

> interest. "

>

> Those conflicts of interest include the Secretary of Agriculture's

> statutory

> duty to foster " new or expanded markets " and to move " larger

> quantities of

> agricultural products through the private marketing system to

> consumers. " In

> addition, the lawsuit points to the fact that advisory committee

> members for

> the dietary guidelines have ties to meat and dairy food product

> industries,

> such as Dannon, Kraft Foods, and Mac's Corp, which creates

> direct

> conflicts of interest.

>

> " The Secretary of Agriculture has an impossible job when it comes to

> health, " said Dr. Barnard, " because his job is simply to make

> agribusiness

> richer. "

>

> Dr. Caplan believes the USDA has a broader mandate, but that they are

> focused on a narrow part of their statutory authority. " The mandate to

> promote agriculture is the one that has dominated American

> government food

> policy forever, and that mandate often trumps health worries, " he told

> *Medscape

> Medical News*.

>

> The PCRM wants a trial court to send its lawsuit to a full jury

> trial to

> declare that the defendants have violated the Administrative Procedure

> section of the US Code by issuing dietary guidelines not based on the

> preponderance of the medical knowledge, and to order defendants to

> withdraw

> portions of the dietary guidelines. The group also wants the USDA to

> rewrite

> and reissue the official dietary guidelines based on proper medical

> knowledge. That medical knowledge, according the PCRM, would

> specifically

> mention meat and dairy products as a major source of saturated fat in

> Americans' diets.

>

> It particularly galls the PCRM that although dairy products account

> for more

> than 30% of the saturated fat in the American diet, the guidelines

> disguise

> this fact by splitting dairy products into many categories,

> including cheese

> (8.5%), butter (2.9%), whole milk (3.4%), reduced-fat milk (3.9%),

> dairy

> desserts (5.6%), and pizza (5.9%), so that dairy products'

> contribution to

> the diet is harder to see.

>

> " Look, in 5 years, when the next dietary guidelines are written, "

> said Dr.

> Barnard, " diabetes will be the worst it's ever been, obesity will be

> worse,

> if that's even possible, and the government treats all this as if it

> doesn't

> matter. In 2010, $128 billion was spent on diabetes treatment alone.

> Every

> state is having budget troubles. Is that because they spent too much

> on

> school buses? No, it's healthcare. As a doctor, I can't fathom why

> it isn't

> taken seriously. "

>

> When contacted by *Medscape Medical News*, a spokesman for the USDA,

>

> Webster, replied: " Since this is now in litigation, we have no

> comment. "

>

> Dr. Caplan thinks the USDA is ignoring its responsibility to the

> public by

> refusing to comment. " I think the criticisms merit a serious

> response, " he

> said.

> www.medscape.com

>

> --

> Ortiz, MS, RD

> *The FRUGAL Dietitian* <http://www.thefrugaldietitian.com>

> Check out my blog: mixture of deals and nutrition

> WalMart: Family Game Night Kit (4 games) $10 + .97 shipping to home

> or Free

> shipping to store <http://thefrugaldietitian.com/?p=16323>Mini-

> Social: Mom

> and Kids daily deal site <http://thefrugaldietitian.com/?p=16288>

> Made my

> own " funny but real " movie: Me interviewing a " potential " Dietetic

> student<

>

> *Healthy Diet at any Age: We are NOT just looking

> *

>

> *at the years people have behind them but also the

> *

>

> *quality of the years ahead of them.*

>

>

[Guest guest]

Sub-populations are discussed in the Nutrient Guideline reports but individual

recommendations aren't moved from the research to the recommendation. A basic

plan for everybody is never going to work for everybody. Tweaking the

recommendations based on population statistics instead of human physiology risks

making a nutrient balance that won't nourish the person who is trying to follow

the recommendations or who is being fed exclusively that ratio in a tube feeding

or controlled diet.

My issue with bad recommendations is not that I expect everybody to follow them

but that some people are following them and are being hurt. The vagueness of the

Dietary Guidelines at least protects them from being as dangerous. One of my

earliest prenatal high risk clients was pre-eclamptic and was following her

doctor's recommendation to limit salt. She was buying the heart smart super low

salt products and was getting sicker. The kidneys can waste sodium in some

conditions and prenatal clients need extra anyway for expanded fluid volume.

Reduced salt for pre-eclampsia was already an old school recommendation then

-fifteen years ago.

Are bananas constipating? I had many parents not use bananas because their

doctor said they are constipating. I never could figure out where that came

from. (Either BRAT diet taken backward ie reverse logic trail if bananas reduce

diarrhea then they must be constipating or not enough water I suspect, a dinky

kid plus a huge banana = a lot of fruit density/solute load ? I was clueless and

just tried to encourage portion control and use of bananas occ in balanced diet)

Messages stick and can be hard to un-teach.

BTW - I may get a chance to work on promoting " better adherence to the Dietary

Guidelines " (vague or not) - my application was accepted for review after all! I

got snail mail notification instead of email. (Arkansas still sounds hot and

sunny though)

R Vajda, R.D.

www.GingerJens.com

________________________________

To: " rd-usa " <rd-usa >

Sent: Fri, March 11, 2011 12:00:01 AM

Subject: Re: Lawsuit Says New USDA Dietary Guidelines Are Deceptive

But, it was a very good rant...lol:)

Sent from my iPhone

> My head is going to explode.

>

> I have the Paleo diet people (meats, nuts, vegetables, fruit with no

> grains/no

> soy/no dairy) pulling on one side with the PCRM yelling about a mostly

> vegetarian diet on the other. Everyone says THEY are the healthiest

> way of

> eating and the US Govt has it all wrong.

>

> /gets on her little soap box

>

> Every time I hear " the food pyramid & dietary guidelines are making

> Americans

> fat " I have to point out that the majority of Americans DON'T follow

> that

> advice. Would be lovely if we did eat 5-10 servings fruits (not

> juice) and

> vegetables (not juice) every day.

>

> Maybe we could get the public to stop drinking soda & juice, stop

> eating

> packaged salty & sugar-filled snack foods (i.e. chips), and save

> those desserts

> for special occasions. Maybe we could all eat real food and those

> who like meat

> can eat meat, those who like grains can eat grains, and every one

> gets off the

> couch to get some daily activity. Then perhaps we can all just get

> along

> without blaming each other on the obesity/diabetes/heart disease

> epidemic?

> Cause I can't put the blame for that on the US Govt nor the Dietary

> Guidelines

> nor the Food Pyramid - cause those with the health problems AREN'T

> following it.

>

> /steps off her soapbox & turns the rant off.

>

> Holly

>

> ----------

> Holly Lee Brewer, MS RD CDE

> Pediatric Dietitian, Diabetes Educator

> Medical Nutrition Therapist, Las Vegas, NV

>

> Maj Holly Brewer, USAFR BSC http://hollyinbalad.blogspot.com

> 301st MDS, NAS JRB Fort Worth (Carswell), TX

> Joint Base Balad, Iraq (Jan-Jul 2009)

>

> Lawsuit Says New USDA Dietary Guidelines Are

> Deceptive

>

> A nonprofit physicians organization came out hard against updated

> dietary

> guidelines <http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/736566> recently

> issued by

> the US Department of Agriculture (UDSA), suing the government to

> force the

> USDA to change its recommendations.

>

> The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) alleges

> that the

> USDA knowingly hides harmful foods behind obscure language in the

> report.

>

> The guidelines are published jointly every 5 years by the USDA and

> the US

> Department of Health and Human Services and are supposed to

> represent the

> most current and sound scientific information available. The dietary

> guidelines are the blueprint for all federal nutrition programs,

> including

> school meals.

>

> However, PCRM says in its lawsuit, rather than giving Americans

> nutritional

> advice that would help them fight obesity, the government instead

> bowed to

> conflicts of interest with agribusiness and blurred the message

> about foods

> Americans should eat less of.

>

> PCRM President Neal Barnard, MD, was clear in his criticism of the

> USDA.

> " The dietary guidelines are the best they've ever been, but we're

> pushing to

> make them better, " he said in an interview with *Medscape Medical

> News*.

>

> " It's critically important yet fundamentally dishonest when they

> have an

> explicit message of what foods to eat more of, but when it comes to

> foods to

> eat less of, they hide behind biochemical codes, " he said. " It's

> intentional. And it doesn't help the school nutritionist designing

> school

> lunch menus or a food planner in a rural town. "

>

> The physicians' committee, which says it represents more than 10,000

> physicians and 100,000 other healthcare professionals, is a

> nonprofit public

> health organization advocating preventive medicine through proper

> nutrition.

> It took particular aim at the familiar food pyramid diagram.

>

> The USDA's MyPyramid diagram is ineffective and confusing to the

> general

> public, says the PCRM lawsuit. The physicians say it conveys abstract

> messages that must be translated into concrete food choices with a

> computer

> program that is not available to Americans who do not have access to a

> computer.

>

> Dr. Barnard explained his organization's opposition: " Last March we

> petitioned them to scrap the food pyramid. In 2005 they took away food

> groupings and just made it colored stripes, which is completely

> useless to

> the population the food pyramid is designed to teach: disadvantaged

> Americans who have no way of decoding the pyramid. It became totally

> useless. "

>

> The PCRM argues that " there is no scientific basis for including

> meat or

> dairy groups in dietary guidance material " because people who avoid

> those

> foods have lower rates of diabetes, cancer, and cardiovascular

> disease.

>

> *Foods to Avoid Not Named*

>

> The dietary guidelines specify foods to eat more often such as

> fruits and

> vegetables, but when it comes to foods to eat less often, such as

> meat and

> cheese, the guidelines use " biochemical terms unfamiliar to the

> general

> public, " says the lawsuit. The PCRM finds it nonsensical that the

> guidelines

> call for limiting cholesterol, saturated fats, and solid fats " without

> clearly explaining that meat, dairy products and eggs are the only

> sources

> of cholesterol in the diet. "

>

> Within the lawsuit petition, the PCRM reports that at the press

> conference

> for the release of the guidelines, n Burros, a journalist with

> Politico, asked defendant Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, " Why

> do you

> call it solid fat, instead of porterhouse steak? Or why do you call

> it solid

> fat, and then...the guidelines on dairy include cheese? "

>

> Vilsack's answer was vague, alleges the lawsuit: " Vilsack admitted

> that the

> dietary guidelines 'essentially' have a 'way' of listing foods that

> one

> should avoid, by 'suggesting other foods.' "

>

> PCRM Nutrition Education Director Levin, MS, RD, addressed

> what the

> organization feels is Vilsack's doublespeak: " Americans need

> straightforward

> health advice, not bureaucratic mumbo jumbo designed to protect

> agribusiness. "

>

> Arthur Caplan, PhD, director of the Center for Bioethics at the

> University

> of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, agrees with the intent of the

> lawsuit,

> saying he does not know whether the USDA's confusing language is

> purposeful,

> " but informed consent for consumers demands easy to understand,

> simple,

> straightforward language — that is not what it should be in this set

> of

> guidelines. The lawsuit seems to me, " he continued, " to be correct in

> demanding clearer language and less technical and food insider talk. "

>

> The USDA did not respond to the PCRM's written comments to the

> proposed

> dietary guidelines, so when the final recommendations were published

> at the

> end of January, Dr. Barnard felt his group had no choice but to file

> their

> lawsuit.

>

> " We filed the lawsuit as our way of saying, 'You will listen to us;

> the

> court will make you listen,' " said Dr. Barnard. " Our lawsuit

> guarantees

> that we will have their attention. We're finally saying, enough is

> enough. "

>

> The PCRM's lawsuit also notches up its war against the USDA by

> alleging

> conflicts of interest. The lawsuit argues that the dietary

> guidelines are

> meant to be read by the general public, not scientists, yet it uses

> " inconsistent language, ambiguous phrases and biochemical

> terminology to

> avoid providing clear dietary information due to Defendants'

> conflicts of

> interest. "

>

> Those conflicts of interest include the Secretary of Agriculture's

> statutory

> duty to foster " new or expanded markets " and to move " larger

> quantities of

> agricultural products through the private marketing system to

> consumers. " In

> addition, the lawsuit points to the fact that advisory committee

> members for

> the dietary guidelines have ties to meat and dairy food product

> industries,

> such as Dannon, Kraft Foods, and Mac's Corp, which creates

> direct

> conflicts of interest.

>

> " The Secretary of Agriculture has an impossible job when it comes to

> health, " said Dr. Barnard, " because his job is simply to make

> agribusiness

> richer. "

>

> Dr. Caplan believes the USDA has a broader mandate, but that they are

> focused on a narrow part of their statutory authority. " The mandate to

> promote agriculture is the one that has dominated American

> government food

> policy forever, and that mandate often trumps health worries, " he told

> *Medscape

> Medical News*.

>

> The PCRM wants a trial court to send its lawsuit to a full jury

> trial to

> declare that the defendants have violated the Administrative Procedure

> section of the US Code by issuing dietary guidelines not based on the

> preponderance of the medical knowledge, and to order defendants to

> withdraw

> portions of the dietary guidelines. The group also wants the USDA to

> rewrite

> and reissue the official dietary guidelines based on proper medical

> knowledge. That medical knowledge, according the PCRM, would

> specifically

> mention meat and dairy products as a major source of saturated fat in

> Americans' diets.

>

> It particularly galls the PCRM that although dairy products account

> for more

> than 30% of the saturated fat in the American diet, the guidelines

> disguise

> this fact by splitting dairy products into many categories,

> including cheese

> (8.5%), butter (2.9%), whole milk (3.4%), reduced-fat milk (3.9%),

> dairy

> desserts (5.6%), and pizza (5.9%), so that dairy products'

> contribution to

> the diet is harder to see.

>

> " Look, in 5 years, when the next dietary guidelines are written, "

> said Dr.

> Barnard, " diabetes will be the worst it's ever been, obesity will be

> worse,

> if that's even possible, and the government treats all this as if it

> doesn't

> matter. In 2010, $128 billion was spent on diabetes treatment alone.

> Every

> state is having budget troubles. Is that because they spent too much

> on

> school buses? No, it's healthcare. As a doctor, I can't fathom why

> it isn't

> taken seriously. "

>

> When contacted by *Medscape Medical News*, a spokesman for the USDA,

>

> Webster, replied: " Since this is now in litigation, we have no

> comment. "

>

> Dr. Caplan thinks the USDA is ignoring its responsibility to the

> public by

> refusing to comment. " I think the criticisms merit a serious

> response, " he

> said.

> www.medscape.com

>

> --

> Ortiz, MS, RD

> *The FRUGAL Dietitian* <http://www.thefrugaldietitian.com>

> Check out my blog: mixture of deals and nutrition

> WalMart: Family Game Night Kit (4 games) $10 + .97 shipping to home

> or Free

> shipping to store <http://thefrugaldietitian.com/?p=16323>Mini-

> Social: Mom

> and Kids daily deal site <http://thefrugaldietitian.com/?p=16288>

> Made my

> own " funny but real " movie: Me interviewing a " potential " Dietetic

> student<

>

> *Healthy Diet at any Age: We are NOT just looking

> *

>

> *at the years people have behind them but also the

> *

>

> *quality of the years ahead of them.*

>

>

[Guest guest]

I'm a fan of PCRM for a number of reasons I won't list here, and I think Dr.

Barnard makes some excellent points. Criticism is not necessarily a bad

thing; it opens up discussion on how to improve the existing guidelines and

make the message more accessible to the public.

And about the paleo diet: I would have more faith in it if you were required

to hunt and gather your food

Shelby MS, RD, LD

On Fri, Mar 11, 2011 at 3:55 PM, Vajda wrote:

>

>

> Sub-populations are discussed in the Nutrient Guideline reports but

> individual

> recommendations aren't moved from the research to the recommendation. A

> basic

> plan for everybody is never going to work for everybody. Tweaking the

> recommendations based on population statistics instead of human physiology

> risks

> making a nutrient balance that won't nourish the person who is trying to

> follow

> the recommendations or who is being fed exclusively that ratio in a tube

> feeding

> or controlled diet.

>

> My issue with bad recommendations is not that I expect everybody to follow

> them

> but that some people are following them and are being hurt. The vagueness

> of the

> Dietary Guidelines at least protects them from being as dangerous. One of

> my

> earliest prenatal high risk clients was pre-eclamptic and was following her

>

> doctor's recommendation to limit salt. She was buying the heart smart super

> low

> salt products and was getting sicker. The kidneys can waste sodium in some

> conditions and prenatal clients need extra anyway for expanded fluid

> volume.

> Reduced salt for pre-eclampsia was already an old school recommendation

> then

> -fifteen years ago.

>

> Are bananas constipating? I had many parents not use bananas because their

> doctor said they are constipating. I never could figure out where that came

>

> from. (Either BRAT diet taken backward ie reverse logic trail if bananas

> reduce

> diarrhea then they must be constipating or not enough water I suspect, a

> dinky

> kid plus a huge banana = a lot of fruit density/solute load ? I was

> clueless and

> just tried to encourage portion control and use of bananas occ in balanced

> diet)

> Messages stick and can be hard to un-teach.

>

> BTW - I may get a chance to work on promoting " better adherence to the

> Dietary

> Guidelines " (vague or not) - my application was accepted for review after

> all! I

> got snail mail notification instead of email. (Arkansas still sounds hot

> and

> sunny though)

>

> R Vajda, R.D.

> www.GingerJens.com

>

> ________________________________

>

> To: " rd-usa " <rd-usa >

> Sent: Fri, March 11, 2011 12:00:01 AM

> Subject: Re: Lawsuit Says New USDA Dietary Guidelines Are

> Deceptive

>

>

> But, it was a very good rant...lol:)

>

> Sent from my iPhone

>

>

>

> > My head is going to explode.

> >

> > I have the Paleo diet people (meats, nuts, vegetables, fruit with no

> > grains/no

> > soy/no dairy) pulling on one side with the PCRM yelling about a mostly

> > vegetarian diet on the other. Everyone says THEY are the healthiest

> > way of

> > eating and the US Govt has it all wrong.

> >

> > /gets on her little soap box

> >

> > Every time I hear " the food pyramid & dietary guidelines are making

> > Americans

> > fat " I have to point out that the majority of Americans DON'T follow

> > that

> > advice. Would be lovely if we did eat 5-10 servings fruits (not

> > juice) and

> > vegetables (not juice) every day.

> >

> > Maybe we could get the public to stop drinking soda & juice, stop

> > eating

> > packaged salty & sugar-filled snack foods (i.e. chips), and save

> > those desserts

> > for special occasions. Maybe we could all eat real food and those

> > who like meat

> > can eat meat, those who like grains can eat grains, and every one

> > gets off the

> > couch to get some daily activity. Then perhaps we can all just get

> > along

> > without blaming each other on the obesity/diabetes/heart disease

> > epidemic?

> > Cause I can't put the blame for that on the US Govt nor the Dietary

> > Guidelines

> > nor the Food Pyramid - cause those with the health problems AREN'T

> > following it.

> >

> > /steps off her soapbox & turns the rant off.

> >

> > Holly

> >

> > ----------

> > Holly Lee Brewer, MS RD CDE

> > Pediatric Dietitian, Diabetes Educator

> > Medical Nutrition Therapist, Las Vegas, NV

> >

> > Maj Holly Brewer, USAFR BSC http://hollyinbalad.blogspot.com

> > 301st MDS, NAS JRB Fort Worth (Carswell), TX

> > Joint Base Balad, Iraq (Jan-Jul 2009)

> >

> > Lawsuit Says New USDA Dietary Guidelines Are

> > Deceptive

> >

> > A nonprofit physicians organization came out hard against updated

> > dietary

> > guidelines <http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/736566> recently

> > issued by

> > the US Department of Agriculture (UDSA), suing the government to

> > force the

> > USDA to change its recommendations.

> >

> > The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) alleges

> > that the

> > USDA knowingly hides harmful foods behind obscure language in the

> > report.

> >

> > The guidelines are published jointly every 5 years by the USDA and

> > the US

> > Department of Health and Human Services and are supposed to

> > represent the

> > most current and sound scientific information available. The dietary

> > guidelines are the blueprint for all federal nutrition programs,

> > including

> > school meals.

> >

> > However, PCRM says in its lawsuit, rather than giving Americans

> > nutritional

> > advice that would help them fight obesity, the government instead

> > bowed to

> > conflicts of interest with agribusiness and blurred the message

> > about foods

> > Americans should eat less of.

> >

> > PCRM President Neal Barnard, MD, was clear in his criticism of the

> > USDA.

> > " The dietary guidelines are the best they've ever been, but we're

> > pushing to

> > make them better, " he said in an interview with *Medscape Medical

> > News*.

> >

> > " It's critically important yet fundamentally dishonest when they

> > have an

> > explicit message of what foods to eat more of, but when it comes to

> > foods to

> > eat less of, they hide behind biochemical codes, " he said. " It's

> > intentional. And it doesn't help the school nutritionist designing

> > school

> > lunch menus or a food planner in a rural town. "

> >

> > The physicians' committee, which says it represents more than 10,000

> > physicians and 100,000 other healthcare professionals, is a

> > nonprofit public

> > health organization advocating preventive medicine through proper

> > nutrition.

> > It took particular aim at the familiar food pyramid diagram.

> >

> > The USDA's MyPyramid diagram is ineffective and confusing to the

> > general

> > public, says the PCRM lawsuit. The physicians say it conveys abstract

> > messages that must be translated into concrete food choices with a

> > computer

> > program that is not available to Americans who do not have access to a

> > computer.

> >

> > Dr. Barnard explained his organization's opposition: " Last March we

> > petitioned them to scrap the food pyramid. In 2005 they took away food

> > groupings and just made it colored stripes, which is completely

> > useless to

> > the population the food pyramid is designed to teach: disadvantaged

> > Americans who have no way of decoding the pyramid. It became totally

> > useless. "

> >

> > The PCRM argues that " there is no scientific basis for including

> > meat or

> > dairy groups in dietary guidance material " because people who avoid

> > those

> > foods have lower rates of diabetes, cancer, and cardiovascular

> > disease.

> >

> > *Foods to Avoid Not Named*

> >

> > The dietary guidelines specify foods to eat more often such as

> > fruits and

> > vegetables, but when it comes to foods to eat less often, such as

> > meat and

> > cheese, the guidelines use " biochemical terms unfamiliar to the

> > general

> > public, " says the lawsuit. The PCRM finds it nonsensical that the

> > guidelines

> > call for limiting cholesterol, saturated fats, and solid fats " without

> > clearly explaining that meat, dairy products and eggs are the only

> > sources

> > of cholesterol in the diet. "

> >

> > Within the lawsuit petition, the PCRM reports that at the press

> > conference

> > for the release of the guidelines, n Burros, a journalist with

> > Politico, asked defendant Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, " Why

> > do you

> > call it solid fat, instead of porterhouse steak? Or why do you call

> > it solid

> > fat, and then...the guidelines on dairy include cheese? "

> >

> > Vilsack's answer was vague, alleges the lawsuit: " Vilsack admitted

> > that the

> > dietary guidelines 'essentially' have a 'way' of listing foods that

> > one

> > should avoid, by 'suggesting other foods.' "

> >

> > PCRM Nutrition Education Director Levin, MS, RD, addressed

> > what the

> > organization feels is Vilsack's doublespeak: " Americans need

> > straightforward

> > health advice, not bureaucratic mumbo jumbo designed to protect

> > agribusiness. "

> >

> > Arthur Caplan, PhD, director of the Center for Bioethics at the

> > University

> > of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, agrees with the intent of the

> > lawsuit,

> > saying he does not know whether the USDA's confusing language is

> > purposeful,

> > " but informed consent for consumers demands easy to understand,

> > simple,

> > straightforward language — that is not what it should be in this set

> > of

> > guidelines. The lawsuit seems to me, " he continued, " to be correct in

> > demanding clearer language and less technical and food insider talk. "

> >

> > The USDA did not respond to the PCRM's written comments to the

> > proposed

> > dietary guidelines, so when the final recommendations were published

> > at the

> > end of January, Dr. Barnard felt his group had no choice but to file

> > their

> > lawsuit.

> >

> > " We filed the lawsuit as our way of saying, 'You will listen to us;

> > the

> > court will make you listen,' " said Dr. Barnard. " Our lawsuit

> > guarantees

> > that we will have their attention. We're finally saying, enough is

> > enough. "

> >

> > The PCRM's lawsuit also notches up its war against the USDA by

> > alleging

> > conflicts of interest. The lawsuit argues that the dietary

> > guidelines are

> > meant to be read by the general public, not scientists, yet it uses

> > " inconsistent language, ambiguous phrases and biochemical

> > terminology to

> > avoid providing clear dietary information due to Defendants'

> > conflicts of

> > interest. "

> >

> > Those conflicts of interest include the Secretary of Agriculture's

> > statutory

> > duty to foster " new or expanded markets " and to move " larger

> > quantities of

> > agricultural products through the private marketing system to

> > consumers. " In

> > addition, the lawsuit points to the fact that advisory committee

> > members for

> > the dietary guidelines have ties to meat and dairy food product

> > industries,

> > such as Dannon, Kraft Foods, and Mac's Corp, which creates

> > direct

> > conflicts of interest.

> >

> > " The Secretary of Agriculture has an impossible job when it comes to

> > health, " said Dr. Barnard, " because his job is simply to make

> > agribusiness

> > richer. "

> >

> > Dr. Caplan believes the USDA has a broader mandate, but that they are

> > focused on a narrow part of their statutory authority. " The mandate to

> > promote agriculture is the one that has dominated American

> > government food

> > policy forever, and that mandate often trumps health worries, " he told

> > *Medscape

> > Medical News*.

> >

> > The PCRM wants a trial court to send its lawsuit to a full jury

> > trial to

> > declare that the defendants have violated the Administrative Procedure

> > section of the US Code by issuing dietary guidelines not based on the

> > preponderance of the medical knowledge, and to order defendants to

> > withdraw

> > portions of the dietary guidelines. The group also wants the USDA to

> > rewrite

> > and reissue the official dietary guidelines based on proper medical

> > knowledge. That medical knowledge, according the PCRM, would

> > specifically

> > mention meat and dairy products as a major source of saturated fat in

> > Americans' diets.

> >

> > It particularly galls the PCRM that although dairy products account

> > for more

> > than 30% of the saturated fat in the American diet, the guidelines

> > disguise

> > this fact by splitting dairy products into many categories,

> > including cheese

> > (8.5%), butter (2.9%), whole milk (3.4%), reduced-fat milk (3.9%),

> > dairy

> > desserts (5.6%), and pizza (5.9%), so that dairy products'

> > contribution to

> > the diet is harder to see.

> >

> > " Look, in 5 years, when the next dietary guidelines are written, "

> > said Dr.

> > Barnard, " diabetes will be the worst it's ever been, obesity will be

> > worse,

> > if that's even possible, and the government treats all this as if it

> > doesn't

> > matter. In 2010, $128 billion was spent on diabetes treatment alone.

> > Every

> > state is having budget troubles. Is that because they spent too much

> > on

> > school buses? No, it's healthcare. As a doctor, I can't fathom why

> > it isn't

> > taken seriously. "

> >

> > When contacted by *Medscape Medical News*, a spokesman for the USDA,

> >

> > Webster, replied: " Since this is now in litigation, we have no

> > comment. "

> >

> > Dr. Caplan thinks the USDA is ignoring its responsibility to the

> > public by

> > refusing to comment. " I think the criticisms merit a serious

> > response, " he

> > said.

> > www.medscape.com

> >

> > --

> > Ortiz, MS, RD

> > *The FRUGAL Dietitian* <http://www.thefrugaldietitian.com>

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> >

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> > *

> >

> > *at the years people have behind them but also the

> > *

> >

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> >

> >