My name is Dr. Margaret Dayhoff-Brannigan and I am a senior fellow at the National Center for Health Research. Our research center scrutinizes scientific and medical data and provides objective health information to patients, providers and policy makers. We do not accept funding from any agricultural or food industries, and have no conflicts of interest.
We strongly agree with the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee’s report of a healthy diet as one that is:
- higher in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, low-fat dairy, seafood, legumes, and nuts;
- lower in red and processed meats
- low in sugar-sweetened foods and drinks; and
- lower in sodium.
We urge USDA and HHS to:
- To encourage all Americans to make half their plates fruits and vegetables at every meal;
- Promote policies that increase children’s access to fruits and vegetables in school meals;
- Promote policies that increase access to more fruits and vegetables in all federal nutrition programs.
We support the DGAC’s proposal to change the language regarding meat from “choose lean meat and poultry” to “limit red and processed meats.” This is an important change based on clear and consistent evidence of the link between consumption of red and processed meats and cancers such as colorectal cancer. This recommendation has a significant potential to improve the country’s health and is already supported by experts in the field.
We support the DGAC’s recommendations to reduce consumption of added sugars and create policies that address that over-consumption. There should be a line on added sugars on the Nutrition Facts label that includes a percentage of a Daily Value of added sugar and the total amount of sugar in both grams and teaspoons.
A recent study of over 11,000 people found higher risks of cardiovascular mortality with increasing consumption of added sugar. Those who consumed between 10 and 25 percent of their calories from added sugars had a 30 percent higher risk of dying of a heart attack or cardiovascular event. The risk was nearly three times higher for those who consumed more than 25 percent of their calories from added sugars.[end Yang, Q., Zhang, Z., Gregg, E. W., Flanders, W. D., Merritt, R., & Hu, F. B. (2014). Added sugar intake and cardiovascular diseases mortality among US adults. JAMA Internal Medicine, 174(4), 516-524. (We note that the findings were remarkably robust, as they were “largely consistent across age group, sex, race/ethnicity (except among non-Hispanic blacks), educational attainment, physical activity, health eating index, and body mass index.”)]
Added sugars should be reduced in the diet, not just replaced with low-calorie sweeteners. Instead, they should be replaced with healthy options, such as water in place of soda or juice.
We support reducing sodium intake to a target of 2,300 mg for the general population. Because nearly 80 percent of the sodium we eat comes from packaged and restaurants foods, Americans will continue to have difficulty reducing their sodium intake unless there are changes to the food available for purchase. HHS and USDA should work with the food and restaurant industry to lower the amount of sodium in food by modifying the establishing sodium limits for foods.
We support the recommendation that most Americans should rely on healthy diets, not vitamin or mineral supplements, to lower their risk of cancer, heart disease, and other illness. The majority of evidence does not suggest that individuals should take dietary supplements for prevention of cancer or cardiovascular disease.[end Fortmann, S. P., Burda, B. U., Senger, C. A., Lin, J. S., Beil, T. L., O’Connor, E., & Whitlock, E. P. (2013). Vitamin, mineral, and multivitamin supplements for the primary prevention of cardiovascular disease and cancer: A systematic evidence review for the US preventive services task force. Evidence Syntheses (108).]
These changes will be difficult to make and the government needs to make it easier by working with restaurants and food manufacturers to reduce salt and sugar and increase fruits and vegetables in frozen foods and other convenience foods that families rely on.
Thank you for your time.