Do The Dietary Guidelines Improve Nutrition?

The dietary guidelines started in 1980, when we weren’t nearly as obese, heart diseased, and diabetic as we are now. 


Has it helped?  
Linda Van Horn, the Chair of the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee and editor of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association insists on the Guidelines’ relevance by stating that Americans HAVE made dietary changes as a result of these recommendations. 


But what have we done? 
The average American intake of total fat and saturated fat have decreased to 33.6 percent and 11.4 percent  – compared to 42 and 14 percent before the first guidelines were published. 


So. Wait. When we were thinner, our diets were different than they are now? In the Mediterranean region, their %fat content is closer to 40% … like ours was when we were thinner and healthier. 


The answer is only partially true: 
Our dietary guidelines have certainly CHANGED nutrition, but has that been a positive change? It’s hard to see how, or to see the justification for pushing us in this direction while our weight and health problems get worse year by year.