Government Dietary Guidelines and diabetes

 The Government Dietary Guidelines are skewed toward carbohydrates, a position that exacerbates the rise in Type 2 diabetes in this country. I’d guess that most of us don’t pay much attention to these guidelines (I never have), but the guidelines directly influence food policy across federal agencies, state and local government, food manufacture, labelling, food programs within schools and hospitals, and recommendations by doctors and dieticians. The current guidelines include 10 percent of calories as sugar and three servings of refined grains daily.

A third of Americans 65 and over have diabetes. The number of diabetic people under the age of 20 grew by 95 percent from 2001 to 2017.  Diabetes means having excess glucose (sugar) in your blood. Carbs raise blood sugar levels. As blood sugar levels increase, the insulin-producing cells in the pancreas release more insulin. Eventually these cells become impaired and can't make enough insulin to meet the body's demands. The result: diabetes.

A double-blind clinical trial compared the government’s diet against a typical American diet. For the experiment, the typical diet had lots of refined grains, saturated fat, and sugar, while the government diet contained more fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. Half the trial participants followed the government diet for eight weeks and half followed a traditional diet, which included 3-1/2 additional servings of refined grains per day, including cake and candy. At the end of the trial, markers for diabetes and heart disease showed no difference in both groups. (A seven-year trial came to the same conclusion.)

Here's the thing: 95 percent of the U.S. Dietary Guidelines Committee have conflicts or interest with the food or pharmaceutical industries. A total of more than 700 conflicts of interest were found on the 2020 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee and more than 50 percent of the committee members were connected to 30 industry actors or more. Kellogg, Abbot, Kraft, Mead Johnson, General Mills, and Dannon had the most frequent connections. While you can ignore the guidelines, federal programs are required by law to follow them.

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