Are National Dietary Guidelines Doing More Harm Than Good?

National guidelines about diet may actually be doing more harm than good. That’s the conclusion of researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Yeshiva University.
Dietary guidelines were first introduced in the 1970’s. According to Dr. Paul Marantz, MD, MPH, their population-based approach was believed to be low risk. “However,” according to Dr. Marantz, “the message delivered by these guidelines might actually have had a negative impact on health, including our current obesity epidemic.”
Marantz and his colleagues cite how in 2000, The Dietary Guideline Advisory Committee themselves raised doubts about their 1995 recommendation that people lower fat in their diet. They suggested it may have been ‘ill-advised” and actually caused some harm by leading people to believe that as long as they cut the fat they would be eating healthy. The committee wrote, “This belief could engender an over-consumption in total calories in the form of carbohydrates. It also noted, “An increasing prevalence of obesity in the United States has corresponded roughly with an absolute increase in carbohydrate consumption.”
While Marantz and his colleagues have data that supports these trends they warn that does not prove the ‘low-fat’ advice is the cause of the current obesity problem. “It raises the possibility of a net harmful effect of seemingly innocuous dietary advice. These dietary recommendations did not necessarily cause harm, but there is a realistic possibility that they may have,” continues Marantz. “As doctors, our first call is to do no harm. That’s why we recommend that guidelines be generous in providing information but more cautious in giving direction.”

SOURCE: American Journal of Preventive Medicine, Jan. 2008