It should be noted that there are no provisions for foods containing iodine or vitamin D in the food-group concept. To remedy this lack, I would suggest— instead of iodized salt and vitamin D— irradiated milk— sea vegetables, parsley, * and sunlight. In some form, the idea of food groups as guidelines is not such a bad idea. In the next chapter I will give my own version of the food groups, so that you can use the concept in both a broader and a more individualized manner. The well-established Recommended Dietary Allowances( R. D. A.) of the Food and Nutrition Board of the National Academy of Sciences, National Research Council, represent the quantities of nutrients suggested for optimum health. The figures vary according to age, sex, and conditions of pregnancy or lactation in females; they are also periodically revised upward or downward according to prevalent scientific opinion. As general guidelines, the R. D. A. may have a broad value, but for many of us they are difficult, if not impossible, to act upon. This is because, first, they are nonspecific to the individual; second, when we cook dinner, we don’ t boil protein, fry calcium, sauté riboflavin, or bake carbohydrates. Instead, we cook beans, fish, zucchini, barley. In its original, most reactionary form, the R. D. A. accepted the consumption of the necessary amounts of vitamins, minerals, proteins, fats, and carbohydrates regardless of the form or quality of the food in which they were found. That is, cake and brown rice, both“ carbohydrates,” were considered virtually interchangeable from a nutritional standpoint. No significant difference was admitted between whole wheat and bleached white flour or between fresh and canned vegetables. As late as 1971, Leo Lutwak, M. D., a physician, professor of clinical nutrition, biochemist, and nutrition consultant to NASA, was publicly quoted as saying,“ Nutritionally, it doesn’ t make any difference whether you eat white, brown, stone-ground, or any other kind of bread.” 5 Today, we know that such a position is erroneous. When the human system interacts with a foodstuff system, it does make a difference whether the carbohydrates come from a cookie, a banana, brown rice, or split pea soup. The R. D. A. has evolved accordingly. Probably the biggest influence in the evolution of the R. D. A. was the report on the“ Dietary Goals for the United States,” put out by the Select Committee on Nutrition and Human Needs of the U. S. Senate, in 1977. These are not only easier to understand and follow than the R. D. A. chart— especially if we act upon their suggested“ Changes in Food Selection and Preparation”— but they are nutritionally sounder, as they stress not only nutrient quantity but also quality, the type of food from which we get our nutrients. Their major suggested changes are as follows:
• Increase consumption of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains.
• Decrease consumption of meat and increase consumption of poultry and fish.
• Decrease consumption of foods high in fat and partially substitute polyunsaturated for saturated fat.
• Decrease consumption of butterfat, eggs, and other high-cholesterol sources.
• Decrease consumption of sugar and foods high in sugar content.
• Decrease consumption of salt and foods high in salt content. COMPARISON OF THE PERCENTAGES OF CALORIES OBTAINED FROM VARIOUS NUTRIENTS IN THE STANDARD AMERICAN DIET AND THE RECOMMENDED AMERICAN DIET †
Healthy People: The Surgeon General’ s Report on Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, published by the U. S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare, echoes the aforementioned recommendations when it