86Thousand400: 1977 US Dietary Guidelines #past30years

- These novel guidelines driven by powerful commercial and political forces to ensure the growth of US farming through the industrialisation of corn and soy production, were based entirely on Keys' unproven and subsequently disproven diet-heart hypothesis

- New guidelines, to restrict their intake of saturated fats and cholesterol (in eggs) and instead to base their diets on at least eight to 12 servings of grains and cereals per day. These grains and cereals, foreign to all humans as recently as 12,000 years ago, would replace the high-protein and fat foods like butter, lard, milk, cream, cheese, eggs and meat that until then had been the American staples. Relegated to the third tier of the soon to become ubiquitous Food Pyramid that has dominated the teaching of human nutrition ever since

- The 1977 USDGA guidelines, compiled by the vegetarian Nick Mottern who had no formal training in nutrition science

- Questioned by experts (Dr Philip Handler) the judgement was, 'The dilemma so posed is not a scientific question; it is a question of ethics, morals, politics. Those who argue either position strongly are expressing their values; they are not making scientific judgements'

- The food pyramid and these untested guidelines were soon promoted and supported by a range of other US Government agencies, not least the National Institute of Health (NIH), which began to focus increasing amounts of its research budget to provide the definitive "proof" that persons who followed the 1977 USDGA would become immune especially to heart disease, diabetes and obesity

- Three major research projects funded by the NIH over past 40 years all failed spectacularly to "prove" that this dietary change produced significant health benefits

- Had the NIH scientists understood the archaeological record, they could have saved $700 million

- Conclusion after 8.1 years of study was that: "...A reduced total fat intake and increased intake of vegetables, fruits, and grains did not significantly reduce the risk of coronary heart disease (CHD), stroke or CVD in postmenopausal women and achieved only modest effects on CVD risk factors"

- 26% of post menopausal women had a 26% increased risk of developing heart disease during the trial if they dotted the "healthy" low-fat diet compared to women who continued to eat the traditional unhealthy diet with a higher fat content

- Women were more likely to gain weight during the trial if they ate the low fat diet

- The healthiest women were more likely to develop diabetes if they reduced the fat in their diet

- Within 5 years of the widespread adoption of these new dietary guidelines, global rates of diabetes and obesity increased explosively, especially in the United States. The damage caused by the adoption of the 1977 USDGA began to appear quickly. By 1994 American men had increased their daily energy intakes by 22% and American women by 6%. Beginning after 1980 there was also an immediate (8% in men and 9% in women) increase in the rates of obesity in the USA within the same 14 years, perfectly matching this increased intake of calories, especially from carbohydrate

- Any increased intake of carbohydrates by those with Insulin Resistance would be more than enough to explain the simultaneous rise in global obesity and diabetes rates. This tight linkage by both time and plausible biological mechanism between the increased carbohydrate intake promoted by the 1977 USDGA and the rising incidence of obesity and diabetes after 1980 is the final evidence we need to prove that these dietary guidelines have had a catastrophic effect on global health

Genetically Modified Foods

- Modern Carbohydrate food sources differ substantially from those though fibrous Cape Floral bulbs on which the pioneering humans survived at Pinnacle Point 200,000 years ago

- Modern fruit and vegetables cause a steep rise in blood glucose concentrations, setting off a steep increase in blood insulin concentrations

- Modern cereals and grains have undergone substantial genetic modification, not to improve our health, but to increase company's profitability

- By raising our blood glucose and insulin concentrations so rapidly and repeatedly, modern bread is killing us just as surely as the cereals and grains favoured by the Ancient Egyptians

- German Physician, Dr Wilhelm Ebstein recommends all starchy foods should be reduced to a minimum and sugar should be entirely prohibited

- The very first diet books ever published assumed it self-evident that carbohydrates cause obesity and that carbohydrate restriction is the only treatment for obesity

- Atkins (1972) diet is just one of the most recent examples in this 150 year lineage of low carbohydrate eating. There are probably close to 100 books that have been written about Banting, with most appearing in the past five to seven years