2010 Dietary Guidelines—Too Many Messages?

Recently, the Secretaries of the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture (Thomas Vilsack) and U.S. Dept. of Health & Human Services (Kathleen Sebelius) unveiled the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA). This much-anticipated 7th edition (revised every 5 years since 1980) focuses on obesity. Over the past 30 years, the rate of obesity in America has increased from 15% to more than 34% and from 4% to more than 20%, among adults and children, respectively. With this rapid rise in obesity comes an increase in diet-related chronic diseases. The Secretaries reminded us that good health is a prerequisite for a productive, competitive nation.

In order to combat obesity, the 2010 DGA challenges people to “balance calories in and out.” Americans consume a diet of excess, yet fall short in consuming required amounts of calcium, potassium, vitamin D, and fiber. The DGA urges Americans to choose nutrient-dense foods, eat more fruits, vegetables, nuts, beans, and seeds, choose fat-free or low-fat (1%) milk, and reduce intake of added sugars, fat, sodium, and total calories.

Previous dietary guidelines targeted “healthy” Americans age 2 and over. However, because the majority of Americans are afflicted with diet-related chronic diseases, the 2010 guidelines also apply to Americans who have risk factors for these diseases.

Getting Americans to follow the guidelines, however, has proved nearly impossible. The guidelines seem intimidating, and few venture to read them in their entirety. While the policy document is not intended for the general public, its successful implementation depends on health and nutrition professionals from education to industry. The most impressive new aspect of the 2010 DGA is the call to action for all sectors of society to become involved in ensuring that all Americans have access to nutritious foods and opportunities for physical activity and to facilitate individual behavior change through environmental strategies. The 2010 guidelines are not so different than the 2005 guidelines, but there is bigger promise for bringing visibility to these guidelines with the First Lady Michele Obama actively promoting her “Let’s Move” public campaign to eat healthy and be physically active.

The message to enjoy your food, but eat less, is straightforward, effective advice that everyone can understand. Messages such as “make half your plate fruits and vegetables” reinforce an emphasis on eating nutrient-dense foods and controlling obesity. The DGA list of increased-consumption foods—fruits, vegetables, whole grains, fat-free or low-fat dairy, seafood, lean meat, poultry, eggs, beans, and peas—are also consistent with this message. However, the list of things to reduce—sodium, solid fats, cholesterol, added sugars, and refined grains—are not foods, but components of foods, and are not easily recognized by consumers.

While all sectors of influence must work together for successful implantation, the food industry has the ability to control the variety of foods and types of products available to consumers. Past initiatives to reduce caloric value of foods include creating low-fat products, replacing sugar with nonnutritive sweeteners, and offering calorie-controlled portion sizes. These products are losing popularity because of the stigma that healthy food tastes bad, and the idea that larger portions are a better value.

Prioritizations of messages and action steps should be a charge to both the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee (DGAC) and Institute of Medicine (IOM) Committees. Too many messages can dilute priority needs. For example, with the April 2010 release of IOM’s report on reducing sodium in the U.S. food supply and the DGAC report in June 2010, industry shifted its focus to sodium reduction. Although reducing sodium may be helpful to decreasing risk of hypertension, it is unrelated to the main message of obesity prevention. Is the considerable effort industry is expending on reducing sodium more important than nutrient-dense foods? Making fruits, vegetables, and legumes more palatable and convenient without adding fat, sugar, and salt could do more for the health of the nation.

Ultimately, as the guidelines claim, individuals and families are responsible for what they eat. With 23 key recommendations for the healthy population and an additional 6 for special populations, determining priorities can be confusing. Taken together, the recommendations may seem overwhelming; and when at a loss for where to begin, Americans may choose to not even try.

The DGA provides us with three guiding principles: Access to healthy food and opportunity for physical activity; education of children to promote lifelong healthy eating, physical activity, and weight management; and behavior change through environmental strategies. But is it enough? All sectors of influence must work together to educate consumers on healthful eating, and create an environment where healthy choices are available, affordable, and appetizing.

Kara Egan ([email protected]) is a Graduate Student and Connie Weaver, Ph.D.,([email protected]) a Professional Member of IFT and IFT Fellow, is Distinguished Professor and Head, Dept. of Foods & Nutrition, Purdue University, W. Lafayette, IN 47907.