Nutrition: Major Government Fail?

Chris EdwardsAmericans are getting used to failures by government experts. Government economists have a  dismal forecasting record. Government actions and advice during the pandemic were often misguided. And dozens of former government intelligence experts got the Hunter Biden laptop storywrong.A less recognized but also important failure may be in nutrition. Federal experts appear to have issued faulty advice for decades, even as American obesityexploded from 15 percent in the 1970s to 42 percent today. Federal guidance on nutrition has a  large influence on health practice across society. Some researchers argue that Americans have generallyresponded to the guidance, yet obesity has nonetheless soared.A clue to shortcomings in federal nutrition guidance comes from calorie data. A  new U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)study shows that average daily calorie intake increased 21 percent from 1977 –78 to 2003-04, and then started trending down. By 2017–18, calories were up 15 percent from the 1970s, but as thestudy notes, “the rise in obesity rate outpaced the increase in calorie intake.”In a  2022 article, Professor of Nutrition Dariush Mozaffarian noted that “over the last 20 [years] we are not eating more calories, nor exercising less, but are still becoming more obese.” As average calories have dipped, the obesity raterose from 31 percent in 2001 –2002 to 42 percent today.How can that be? Obesity is caused not just by the amount we eat but also what we e...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - Category: American Health Authors: Source Type: blogs