Group petitions for recall of dietary guidelines

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Group petitions for recall of dietary guidelines

 

June 1, 2000

Web posted at: 3:23 p.m. EDT (1923 GMT)

http://cnn.com/2000/HEALTH/diet.fitness/06/01/dietary.lawsuit/index.html

 

From staff and wire reports

 

(CNN) -- More fruits, vegetables, legumes and grains; less red meat and dairy.

That’s the way toward a healthier citizenry, according to the Physicians

Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM), which filed a petition to recall the

U.S. Dietary Guidelines issued Saturday.

 

In his radio address at the end of last week, President Bill Clinton announced

the release of the fifth edition of " Nutrition and Your Health: Dietary

Guidelines for Americans, " a joint publication of the U.S. Department of

Agriculture and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

 

For the first time, the guidelines underscored the significance of exercise and

recommended that Americans consume less sugar, fat, salt and cholesterol.

 

" The government's guidelines are much too weak, " said Dr. Neal Barnard, PCRM

president. " Americans are in the worst shape they've ever been, with obesity at

an all-time high. The government should be pushing for a diet built from grains,

vegetables, fruits, and legumes, and keep meat and dairy products no more than

mere options. "

 

The group filed suit in Washington asking for the guidelines to be withdrawn and

rewritten. The group had already tried to block the guidelines once. In January,

PCRM asked for a restraining order against the proposals after seeing a draft

version. New guidelines are issued every five years.

 

PCRM objects to the familiar " food pyramid " that urges a person to eat 2 to 3

servings a day from the dairy group and similar servings from the meat group,

which includes beans. Barnard said for most Americans, this was a license to

stuff themselves with cheese, hamburgers and other fatty foods.

 

PCRM said its petition is based on the National Nutrition Monitoring and Related

Research Act, which requires the guidelines to be based on the preponderance of

scientific knowledge available when they're prepared.

 

Officials of PCRM insist the guidlines should discuss the benefits of vegetarian

diets in reducing the risk of some chronic diseases. The new guidelines

shortened references to the vegetarian diet.

 

Barnard said industry influence played a role in keeping the new guidelines

similar to the previous ones.

 

" Rather than encouraging Americans to eat right, our public officials continue

catering to the meat and dairy industries, " said Barnard. " Unbelievably, the new

guidelines did not even cut back on recommended servings of meat, cheese, and

other fatty foods. "

 

According to the National Center for Health Statistics, 54 percent of American

adults were overweight in 1997. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

estimated in 1998 that 17.9 percent of Americans were obese -- more than 30

percent over their ideal weight.

 

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