New Dietary Guidelines May Cause Confusion

Sept. 6 -- A new set of dietary guidelines to promote healthy eating has many physicians wondering how well their patients will practice what is preached.

The guidelines, released Wednesday by a panel of experts at the National Academies' Institute of Medicine in Washington, D.C., expand the recommended daily intake ranges of carbohydrates and fat, but leave the previous protein intake unchanged. (See table below)

The guidelines also double the amount of exercise recommended daily to maintain a healthy weight from 30 minutes to one hour.

The aim is to help refocus dietary concerns on different priorities, explains panel member Dr. Benjamin Caballero, director of the Center for Human Nutrition at the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.

But if the new numbers read like Greek to you, you are probably not alone.

"People in my community are confused about what they hear in the news about nutrition recommendations and many lack understanding of the scientific method for evaluating the evidence presented," says Dr. Janice Gable, a physician in rural Konnarock, Va.

These confusing new percentages are impractical and may make a bad situation even worse, say some, as the battle between low-fat and low-carb diet gurus wages on and the American waistline continues to expand.

"The 'Diet of the Day' barrage our patients receive creates a lot of confusion. The rampant publication of dietary anecdotes, coupled with the huge industry of those making money from the dietary and exercise business, creates even more confusion ... These new guides will do nothing to help," says Dr. David M. West, program director of St. Mary's Family Practice Residency in Grand Junction, Colo.

"For years I have instructed my patients to eat a variety of foods, have small amounts of fats from animals, and exercise every day," he says. "Nothing I have ever read is better advice than this."

Individualized Nutrition