Theory
My theory based on the empirical evidence over the past 2 centuries presented by Gary Taubes and the basic theory of evolutionary diet is that people are currently taking a backwards approach to nutrition. Major fault lies in organizations like the Department of Agriculture and the American Medical Association for disseminating bad science like the cholesterol-heart hypothesis and the food pyramid as common knowledge and labeling Banting style diets as unhealthy fads. Through the spread of inaccurate assumptions, Americans have been lead to believe that people are obese because they eat too much, ignoring the human body's ability to regulate body fat that 10,000 years of evolution has developed. To solve the obesity epidemic, the American diet needs to change. As I will discuss in a later post, the evidence with which the current American diet is based off of is fundamentally wrong. If anything, the food pyramid is more similar to an unhealthy fad than the Banting diet. In order for America to see a decrease in obesity, first and foremost, accurate information needs to be spread. This includes preventative measures taken by doctors to ensure their patients know the implications of eating unhealthily and how to eat more sensibly. Second of all, since people acquire their eating habits as children, primary school lunches should not include anything unhealthy. Its obvious that given the choice, most little kids will eat chicken nuggets over a serving of vegetables and meat. Taking away the unhealthy option is the only way to teach kids how to eat responsibly. Lastly, The Department of Agriculture should remove its food pyramid. It is wrong for a non health organization whose sole purpose is to regulate the production and sale of food to tell Americans what they should be eating. Nutritional guidelines should be established by a more responsible organization whose revenue is not based off of citizen's consumption habits.
These three recommendations are hopefully a step in the right direction because they identify how to fix the problem and how to stop it at its source. If they were implemented they would help halt the obesity epidemic.
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History Part 2
This is where the research of one of my favorite nutritionists, Gary Taubes, comes into play. Gary Taubes wrote the book Good Calories, Bad Calories, which in my opinion is one of the best popular works that focuses on presenting the evidence for and against the recommended American diet. Its a compelling book that gave me the idea for this blog because a good section of the book is devoted to the development of nutrition from the mid 1800s onwards.
Because of the limited availability of processed carbohydrate snack foods there was not a health crisis in the 1800s like there is today, however there were still corpulent individuals. William Banting was one of them. Banting tried everything to lose weight including adequate exercise and cutting back on calories. Unfortunately this didn't help. He became stronger which increased his appetite and his reduced caloric intake left him exhausted. He even went as far as taking purgatives and diuretics but he kept gaining weight. William Harvey, an aural surgeon, recomended that "a purely animal diet, although widely diverse in its development; and that if a purely animal diet . . . with such vegetable diet as contained neither sugar nor starch, might serve to arrest the undue formation of fat." For Banting, this diet actually worked. He lost 50 pounds by 1664 and was quoted saying "I have not felt better in health than now for the last 26 years." If this diet sounds familiar, then you have most likely heard of the Atkins diet, Mediterranean diet, or any of the other diet promoting a small carbohydrate intake and large protein and fat intake.
Over time, Banting's diet gained popularity. Many medical textbooks recommended "Banting" for the treatment of obesity. Dr. Spock, the famous parental guide, promoted a diet without rich desserts and plain, starchy foods. "For over a century, this was common wisdom" wrote Gary Taubes. However, in 1973 the American Medical Association declared Banting style diets merely dangerous fads. A healthy diet had become a low fat diet because of the recently popularized diet-heart hypothesis. People began eating less meat, lard, whole milk, and butter but increased their consumption of margarine, vegetable shortening, and salad and cooking oils. This directly coincides with the heart-disease epidemic which was falsely blamed on saturated fats. The diet-heart hypothesis influenced people to blame it on cholesterol, the evil culprit of heart disease. Between 1960 and 1980, between 12 and 14 percent of the population were considered obese. After 1980 the rate of obesity increased to over 30 percent and in 2004 1 in 3 people were considered obese.
Now Americans have a major problem. Is it possible that the change in conventional wisdom regarding a healthy diet could be at the base of the problem? I will discuss this possibility in the next blog entry and introduce my theory to the table. For now I will leave it at this:
"In medicine, we are often confronted with poorly observed and indefinite facts which form actual obstacles to science, in that men always bring them up, saying: it is a fact, it must be accepted."
- Claude Bernard
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Links
Here are some links that I found especially useful when researching my topic.
http://www.beyondveg.com - This site provides a wealth of information about evolutionary diet which is important when considering optimal diet. It has some very compelling evidence and goes a long way in debunking the so called health benefits of vegetarian diets. I haven't come across an article on this website that is not supported by quality evidence.
http://dinakhader.blogs.com/ - This is a great blog about eating right and advances in nutrition research. There is a guide for college students on how to eat right and even a post about the gap in nutrition between Great Britain and the United States. I highly suggest reading this blog.
http://www.thincs.org/ - Cholesterol levels are the basis of the diet established by the Department of Agriculture. This site offers some insight into the cholesterol-heart disease myth established in the mid 1900s. It is important to know the science behind the food we eat. Understanding cholesterol.
http://health.howstuffworks.com/fat-cell2.htm - An unbiased source that details how the body stores fat and which hormones are responsible for it. I love hostuffworks.com and was happy to find an article that I could apply to my blog.
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/07/21/gary-taubes-on-the-latest-diet-study/ - An article with an interview of my favorite nutritionist Gary Taubes. If you haven't heard of him yet, you will in my next couple of posts. He is a pretty amazing nutritionists, at least in my opinion. I have read his book "Good Calories, Bad Calories" and found the evidence presented in his book quite compelling.
Update: I added a little more detail to my descriptions.
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A Lesson in History: Part 1
To cultivate a better understanding of American Nutrition I am going start out by giving a brief history of our diet beginning in the 19th century. The early 1800s were a time of frontiersmen, merchants, and farmers. Industrialization had yet to occur on a large scale and fast food was a foreign term (1). On the frontier people only had access to indigenous plants and animals, however they stocked supplies including flour, beans, and sugar at regular intervals. They would eat on average three meals a day comprised of foods like corn bread, hot cakes, boiled eggs, sausage, stew and calves' head (2). Farmers and merchants had access to a greater variety of foods including larger quantities of fruits and vegetables and a significantly larger amount of animal products as compared to the frontiersmen. According to Alex Soyer's "Modern Housewife" a farmer or merchant's diet in the 1800s would consist of coffee, butter, eggs, meat, bread, soup, and cheese. The 1850s brought the California gold rush and a plethora of new recipes to America influenced by the Chinese, Spanish, and Mexican immigrants. Westerners dined at cheap eateries and ate similar to the farmers and merchants back east. The mid to late 1800s also are responsible for the advent of soft drinks and cereal. In 1865 C.W. Post developed his first cereal called Postum (3), Coca-Cola was invented by Dr. John S. Pemberton in 1886, and in 1898 Pepsi-Cola was invented by Caleb Bradham (4).
The 19th century diet was transitional. In the beginning foods were largely unprocessed. Soda Pop and Cereal were the first heavily processed goods introduced in America. In Part 2 of A Lesson in History I will continue the transition into the 20th and 21st century.
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American Nutritional Analysis
There is a general consensus among Americans that we as a nation are overweight. How to fix the problem is where opinions diverge among nutritionists. The United States Department of Agriculture suggests 2 cups of fruit, an ambiguous amount of vegetables, 3 cups of low fat milk, 3 ounces of grain, and a vague amount of lean meats along with regular exercise to maintain a healthy weight. This type of diet is high in carbohydrates and low in fat and is largely based on the cholesterol-heart disease myth. It is also happens to be the mainstream diet promoted by the United States Government. It is important to note that the United States Department of Agriculture is not a health organization. The United States Department of Agriculture ". . . aims to meeth the needs of farmers and ranchers, promote agricultural trade and production, work to assure food safety, protect natrual resources, foster rural communities and end hunger in the United States and abroad" (wikipedia). In other words, it is an organization looking out for the best interests of the food industry. The diet they have established works in the best interested of food manufacturers and harbors outdated nutritional information.
As the rate of obesity, heart disease, and diabetes increases in the United States, people still cling to the notion that this type of diet is actually healthy. In reality, a diet like the one prescribed by the Department of Agriculture will promote obesity. Any diet low in fat content will promote the storage of unwanted body fat. In addition, a diet high in carbohydrates will further promote the storage of fat by triggering key hormones in the body. Not to say that fast food and frozen dinners do not play their part in the obesity epidemic, but a critical look needs to be taken at the foundation of American health which is largely based off of the corrupt food pyramid.
In order for Americans to rectify their diet they need to take a look that takes into consideration both human evolution and recent findings in nutritional studies. A diet that includes a moderate intake of carbohydrates, protein, and fat from the correct sources will promote a lean, healthy body void of the disease of civilization such as type 2 diabetes and heart disease. Unfortunately since the mid 1900s diets that include any amount of fat have been scoffed at. By taking a look at how human beings have eaten for 99% of their existence and combining that with recent nutritional research, a clear diet can be established that would benefit Americans, drastically lowering the amount of disease related to excess weight.
Cholesterol information:
http://www.thincs.org/links.htm
The Food Pyramid:
http://www.rense.com/general12/wrong.htm
http://bekk.blogspot.com/2007/05/grains-bad-for-us-bad-for-planet.html
http://thewhimofamadman.com/blog/2008/12/why-you-cant-trust-the-food-pyramid/
http://www.rense.com/general26/truth.htm
http://www2.potsdam.edu/hansondj/IntheNews/Etc/1093629527.html
Evolution and Nutrition:
http://www.beyondveg.com/cordain-l/grains-leg/grains-legumes-1a.shtml
http://www.beyondveg.com/nicholson-w/hb/hb-interview1a.shtml
American Nutrition needs an Overhaul:
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/NewYearNewYou/story?id=3654291&page=1&page=1
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/07/12/60II/main628877.shtml
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/mark_bittman_on_what_s_wrong_with_what_we_eat.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/21/AR2006012100180.html
http://www.ted.com/speakers/ann_cooper.html
Obesity:
http://www.who.int/dietphysicalactivity/publications/facts/obesity/en/
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How do Americans Eat?
The average american consumes 3770 calories a day, nearly 1000 calories over the global average. In addition to our astounding caloric intake, Americans also take in 4500 mg of sodium a day and 142 pounds of sugar every year. this link provides a visual representation of how Americans are eating compared to the rest of the world. Looking at the pictures, healthy portions of vegetables can be seen at nearly all of the countries' tables. However, the Americans table is filled with Lays potato chips, pizza, and burger king. From this picture it is easy to see how one third of American children and between 20 percent and 30 percent of adult Americans are considered obese. It does not take a stretch of the imagination to realize that eating junk food can be detrimental to overall health. Obesity is associated with multiple diseases including type 2 diabetes, cancer, stroke, and osteoarthritis. As obesity rates continue to rise, so will the rates of these medical maladies. It is clear that our current eating trends cannot support a healthy population. Recognizing the problem is the first step to coming up with a solution. What comes next is identifying where the problem began.
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Human Diet
For the majority of humanity's time here on Earth, people have had an eclectic diet. Archaeological evidence as well as the eating patterns of modern day hunter gatherers and chimpanzees provide ample proof that people most likely ate anything they could digest including any land animals, fish, leaves, fruit, honey, mushrooms, birds, nuts, and seeds; in other words, anything they could get their hands on. In the last 12,000 years, people began drastically changing their eating habits by adding grains, soy beans, peanuts, and other foods that require processing into their diets. Not until recently have these foods become a staple of the American diet. The early 1900s brought about the large scale production of cereals, sweets, and breads that have become a large portion of the American diet. Further advances in food science and agriculture have made unhealthy foods such as peanuts, soybeans, and homogenized and pasteurized milk readily available. Because of this, the food industry has had a heavy hand in American government organizations that tell citizens how they should eat in order to stay healthy. For example, the food pyramid developed by the United States Department of Agriculture has followed American trends in food production and now suggests that the majority of calories consumed should come from grains and that the consumption of meat and fats should be kept to a bare minimum. This is contrary to human evolution and detrimental to human health which will be discussed in detail during a later post. To better understand why Americans eat like they do, the flaws in the way we eat, and what should be done, I will discuss in this blog how the American diet has changed over time and how the United States Department of Agriculture's "recommended" diet was developed and how it is adding to the dietary troubles we already face.
Update: Revised for Grammar
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