(09-03-07) Is Science Ruining the American Diet?

By Darya Pino
Contributing Writer

For any individual who has chosen medicine or health science as a career, the above question seems absurd. However, in his article ?Unhappy Meals: Thirty years of nutritional science has made Americans sicker, fatter and less well nourished. A plea for a return to plain old food,? Michael Pollan, a contributing writer to the New York Times and UC Berkeley professor argues that this is exactly what has happened in our country over the past three decades.
On January 28, ?The Age of Nutritionism: How scientists have ruined the way we eat? was the feature headline on the cover of The New York Times Magazine. Inside, Pollan gives an in-depth, 12-page analysis of the trends in American eating habits and health policy.
The story begins in 1977 when the Senate Select Committee on Nutrition issued the ?Dietary Goals for the United States,? recommending decreased consumption of red meat and dairy products, which had recently been linked to increased rates of heart disease. This simple document caused an outcry from the nation?s meat and dairy industries, which promptly led to the re-writing of the committee?s document to instead recommend choosing meat products that will ?reduce saturated-fat? consumption. Pollan argues that this simple rephrasing helped shift our focus from food to nutrients, a more abstract and intangible concept. The presence or absence of a ?nutrient? can easily be evaluated by prominent writing on a cardboard box (?Low-carb? anyone?), and words like ?fresh? and ?green? are no longer applicable.
Subsequently, Americans began making food selections based on what the packaging claimed to offer and micronutrients overtook fresh fruits and vegetables as ?health food.? This formula was, of course, gladly embraced by the food industry since it became easier and easier to add or subtract a single element from food, deem it healthy and make a profit.
The tragedy here is that despite claims made on boxes, the American diet is the polar opposite to what is almost universally recommended by health experts and nutritionists: lots of fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, fish and healthy oils, red meats in moderation and fewer calories overall. Consequently, Americans find themselves with alarming rates of obesity, diabetes, heart disease and stroke, with these epidemics occurring at younger and younger ages. For the first time in history it appears that, as a nation, we are moving backwards in our health.
So is Pollan right? Is the science of ?nutritionism? to blame for America?s misguided diet?
Though his argument is compelling and offers some much needed advice on how to choose foods wisely, I contend that it may not be in the best interest of the American public to denounce science as the source of our ailing health. While it is true that the food industry has been successful in exploiting the best efforts of scientists to find the most and least beneficial elements in food, vast progress has been made in evaluating the culprits in our diet that promote obesity and disease. For example, it is now known that the quality, not the quantity of fat in an individual?s diet is a better predictor of health, and similar findings are now being reported for carbohydrates. Moreover, it is the science of nutrition itself that drives Pollan?s argument supporting whole foods over refined foods.
While I agree with Pollan?s recommendations, I think that in a nation where NIH funding is not keeping up with inflation and a presidential veto on stem cell research lives in recent memory, it seems unwise to further undermine the scientists who work hard to prevent disease, find cures and improve global health. Rather than point fingers and find blame, our best course of action is to educate ourselves in health and nutrition and begin making changes in the way we eat and think about food.

Fonte. Synapse

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