A New Expert Committee for New Dietary Guidelines
We have an interesting climb ahead. Yesterday the USDA announced members of the 2020 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee. Clearly some groups are very happy. Unhappy campers – we know you’re out there – haven’t spoken up yet.
Happy Bakers
Among the happy campers was America’s Baking industry. The American Bakers Association celebrated with a press release. Presumably this is because Richard Mattes, a member of the Grain Foods Foundation Scientific Advisory Board, is a member of the new committee. Grains have been getting a lot of grief lately from fanboys and fangirls in the Wheatbelly, gluten-free, and low carb camps. So we understand the joy of the bakers.
Also happy was the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Fully half of the members on this committee are members. Score ten for the RDNs.
Finally, we have pretty good representation on this committee for the Obesity Society. Five TOS members are in, notably including the current president, Steven Heymsfield.
Thanks for Serving
These folks deserve our thanks and our prayers. This cycle for developing new guidelines promises to be contentious. Mix a polarized political climate with strong, diverging opinions about food policy and that’s what you get. We hope this committee will focus its energies on a passion for objectivity. Fingers crossed.
Here’s the full list:
● Jamy Ard, M.D., of Wake Forest University
● Regan Bailey, Ph.D., of Purdue University
● Lydia Bazzano, M.D., Ph.D., of Tulane University
● Carol Boushey, Ph.D., of the University of Hawaii
● Teresa Davis, Ph.D., of Baylor College of Medicine
● Kathryn Dewey, Ph.D., of the University of California – Davis
● Sharon Donovan, Ph.D., of the University of Illinois
● Steven Heymsfield, M.D., of Louisiana State University
● Ronald Kleinman, M.D., of Harvard University
● Heather Leidy, Ph.D., of the University of Texas
● Richard Mattes, Ph.D., of Purdue University
● Elizabeth Mayer-Davis, Ph.D., of the University of North Carolina
● Timothy Naimi, M.D., of Boston University
● Rachel Novotny, Ph.D., of the University of Hawaii
● Joan Sabaté, M.D., of Loma Linda University
● Barbara Schneeman, Ph.D., of the University of California – Davis
● Linda Snetselaar, Ph.D., of the University of Iowa
● Jamie Stang, Ph.D., of the University of Minnesota, School of Public Health
● Elsie Taveras, M.D., of Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard University
● Linda Van Horn, Ph.D., of Northwestern University
Click here and here for more of the scoop on this new committee.
Climbing MyPyramid and Filling MyPlate, illustrations by USDA
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February 23, 2019