2010 Dietary Guidelines: Low Fat Business As Usual

You can almost hear some committee members saying, “Gee, this doesn't sound right – 25 percent of calories as sugar - but that's where the science is...” - because that's where the money is!

The proposed 2010 Dietary Guidelines, scheduled to be released in December 2010, do not discuss the unique ability of carbohydrates to elevate blood sugar and insulin levels! The proposed guidelines will not help us prevent and reverse obesity and type 2 diabetes, referred to by the CDC in Atlanta as “dangerous runaway trains.”

In the hundreds of pages of transcripts, the words “blood sugar” do not appear in any of the six DGAC meetings. As they have for 30 years, the DGAC report emphasizes carbohydrates – up to 65 percent of calories – and bashes fats, especially those newly defined “solid fats” accused of causing heart disease.

The guideline advice about fats in a nutshell: Saturated fats are bad! "Limit saturated fat to no more than 10 percent of calories – 7 percent if you already have diabetes or heart disease." Sound familiar? It should – these are the same “low fat” dietary recommendations now associated with record levels of obesity and diabetes.

The surge in obesity and diabetes occurred after 1980 – when Americans were told that dietary fat is dangerous and that carbohydrates are good for the heart and good for weight control. And despite recent scientific evidence finding no link between saturated fat and risk of developing heart disease (Dr. Ronald Krauss, meta-analysis, Am J Clin Nutr, January 13, 2010), the 30-year prohibition against saturated fat will continue.

Never mind that natural dietary fats provide satiety, put a brake on carb-induced elevated blood sugar, and provide important building blocks for hormones and cell membrane constituents.

Dietary Guidelines that do not mention “blood sugar” will not stop the runaway train. Instead, we are up against a medical and academic elite afraid to step on the toes of the giants in the food processing industry - companies like Cargill (high fructose corn syrup) and General Mills, maker of blood-sugar-raising dry boxed cereals. Ignoring recent scientific studies, the 13-member DGAC is supporting the "low fat" status quo.