If Our Bodies Could Talk by James Hamblin

Author:James Hamblin
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Published: 2016-12-26T16:00:00+00:00

These outspoken congresspeople came, predictably, from states where the dairy industry was an important part of the economy (and a powerful lobbying interest). So dairy consumption remained a key element of the 2015–2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. They recommend that all adults consume three cups of dairy every single day.

These guidelines are much more than rules of thumb. They determine how tax money will be devoted to promote nutrition campaigns. (Like “Got Milk?,” which is funded by MilkPEP and the federal government. Did you know you were paying to see those ads?) Even more important, the nutrition guidelines direct the billions of dollars that go to the poorest Americans, through programs like the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), and to fund school lunch programs. This is why cow’s milk is prominently featured in every cafeteria in the country.

Frank Hu, a professor of nutrition and epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health who also served on the advisory committee, wears his exasperation on both sleeves. He was asked to lead the committee in its rigorous review, only to be accused of bias by the Department of Agriculture. It’s especially frustrating for Hu, whose own research supports the recommendation away from milk (and who makes a priority of remaining free of conflicts of interest). When he compared the health effects of dairy fats to those of fats from other animal products, he found they weren’t much different. When people replaced dairy fats with vegetable fats, though, they saw a significant reduction in cardiovascular disease. (Which is, again, the leading cause of death.)

Yet, ostensibly in the interest of our health, the federal government gives enormous support to the dairy industry and almost none to the production of fruits and vegetables. Which is not to say it’s wrong to base your diet on what is best for the nation’s existing politico-agricultural infrastructure. But it’s not a diet fad that I hear a lot of people adopting consciously.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.