Public comments are being accepted on the Report of the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee on the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2005. They are due by 5 pm EST Monday, September 27, 2004. You cannot use the e-mail address to send in your submissions. You must either mail it in or submit it through their Internet address, http://www.health.gov/dietaryguidelines/ It would be too late to mail in your submission. If your comments are over 5 pages, please provide a one page summary.
The full Dietary Guidelines Report (250 pages) is available athttp://www.health.gov/dietaryguidelines/dga2005/report/ The executive summary is available at http://www.health.gov/dietaryguidelines/dga2005/report/HTML/A_ExecSummary.htm .
We urge you to submit comments stressing the following topics:
No restrictions on saturated fats and cholesterol;
Consumption of whole dairy products, not reduced fat;
Abandon food pyramid, have our 4 food groups; and
Stress how children need animal fats for optimal development.
Presented below is the oral testimony Sally Fallon provided to the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee on September 21, 2004. This can be used as a guideline for your comments. Please do not just copy this; use your own words.
“I want to take this opportunity to thank the 2005 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee for conducting this public hearing on its Report to the Secretaries of Agriculture and Health and Human Services. We particularly thank you for stressing improved access to nutrient-rich foods, which conforms to the vision of the Foundation.
Unfortunately, your report recommends that saturated fats, along with trans fatty acids and cholesterol, should be kept very low, with saturated fats providing less than 10 percent of calories. We fully agree with your conclusions on trans fats as Dr. Mary Enig, our vice president, was one of the pioneers in exposing the detrimental effects of trans fats back in the late 1970’s.
However, we very much disagree with your conclusions on saturated fats and cholesterol. The scientific evidence does not support the assertion that “artery-clogging” saturated fats cause heart disease. Actually, evaluation of the fat in artery clogs reveals that only about 26% is saturated. The rest is unsaturated, of which more than half is polyunsaturated. Furthermore, the consumption of saturated fat in this country has decreased as rates of cancer, heart disease and other diseases have increased. Children put on lowfat, low-cholesterol diets actually develop markers indicative of increased risk of heart disease.
The denunciation of saturated fats is the result of politics, not science, the result of behind-the-scenes manipulation of the vegetable oil industry’s efforts to demonize its competition. Saturated fatty acids actually play many important roles in the body chemistry-they enhance the immune system, are necessary for healthy bones, provide energy and structural integrity to the cells, protect the liver and enhance the body’s use of essential fatty acids. Stearic acid, found in beef fat and butter, has cholesterol-lowering properties and is a preferred food for the heart. As saturated fats are stable, they do not become rancid easily, do not call upon the body’s reserves of antioxidants, do not initiate cancer, do not irritate the artery walls.
In addition, mostly saturated animal fats carry important vitamins that contribute to optimal growth and development, a healthy nervous system, immune system function and many other processes in the body. Children who are deprived of animal fats often suffer from failure to thrive, asthma, learning disabilities and-surprisingly-overweight. This is because the nutrients found uniquely in animal fats support thyroid health and adrenal function. You cannot fatten pigs by giving them whole milk, but skim milk puts weight on pigs very quickly.
For this reason, we urge you to reconsider your recommendation that Americans increase their daily consumption of nonfat or low-fat milk and milk products. Children, in particular, need the nutrients found in butterfat and whole milk. Nature puts butterfat in milk for very good reasons.
In our opinion, the concept of the food pyramid should be dropped as it results in inappropriate pejorative value judgments of many healthy foods. Instead, we recommend guidelines that encourage the inclusion the following four food groups in the daily diet: animal foods including whole milk and eggs; whole grains and legumes; fruits and vegetables; and beneficial fats and oils such as butter, lard, beef fat, coconut oil, palm oil and small amounts of olive oil. The emphasis should be on food quality, not on contrived macronutrient ratios, with warnings to avoid refined foods such as sugar, high fructose corn syrup, white flour, industrially processed vegetable oils, trans fats and artificial flavorings.”
Thank you.
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