We Have a Chronic Disease Epidemic Because Government Has Fattened Us Up

Every five years since 1980, the government has published its Dietary Guidelines for Americans, advising people to get 52 percent to 56 percent of their calories from grains and other Carbohydrate-rich foods, while largely avoiding the natural Saturated Fats found in Whole Milk, Butter, and Meat.

Grain mixed with Skim Milk is a well-known formula for fattening pigs — and it turns out that it fattens humans, too. In 23 states, the adult obesity rate now meets or exceeds 35 percent.

It's not just our collective waistlines that have expanded. Rates of nearly every chronic disease have soared in recent decades. More than half of adults have Diabetes or Prediabetes. Up to 10 percent of kids suffer from Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease.

Americans aren't growing fatter and sicker in spite of the government's dietary guidelines but because of them. Now is the time to reverse this trajectory.

For more than a decade now, the most reputable scientific studies have shown that the government's dietary advice does not prevent or reduce Obesity, Cancer or other diseases. People who eat diets lower in Carbohydrates consistently achieve greater weight loss and have better overall heart health than people on the Lower-Fat Diet that the government recommends.

Ultra-Low-Carb or "Ketogenic" Diets have even been shown to completely reverse Type 2 Diabetes without costly medications or patented meal replacement formulas. A large clinical trial found that nearly 56 percent of people with Type 2 Diabetes who adopted a Ketogenic Diet saw a reversal of the disease within 10 weeks while decreasing their medications.

Despite the evidence, the government's dietary guidelines are stuck in 1980, having barely changed since the old "food pyramid."

Remember that big bottom slab of the pyramid, telling us to eat a staggering six servings of grains daily, including three servings of refined grains? People took that advice to heart. Today, they're consuming far fewer Whole-Fat Foods and more Carbohydrate-laden items like Bread, Cereal, and Pasta than previous generations.

Their reward for following the official advice? Americans are sicker than ever. The current guidelines have likely spawned a chronic disease crisis that has caused millions of premature deaths and accounts for the vast majority of America's $4.5 Trillion annual healthcare spending.

As president, Trump should order the U.S. Department of Agriculture to implement recommendations made in a 2017 National Academies of Sciences report. This report warned that the guidelines process used a methodology that "lacks rigor" and listed 11 concrete steps to increase transparency and upgrade the scientific rigor of the guidelines process.

Every word of the guidelines should be backed by randomized, controlled clinical trial results. During the last revision of the guidelines, the committee ignored about 20 review papers concluding that there is little or no reliable evidence for advising people to limit their saturated fat intake. The guidelines must also add an option for the roughly two-thirds of Americans with at least one chronic disease.

Powerful special interests will resist. Decades of misinformation will need to be untangled. But with new leadership and momentum to "Make America Healthy Again," this is within reach.

Nina Teicholz is a Science Journalist and Author with a Ph.D. in nutrition. This piece originally ran in The Hill.