India Environment Portal Knowledge for change

It s up to the people

• 14/02/2005
• Down To Earth

the us government's D epartment of Agriculture and Department of Health and Human Services (dohhs) have come out with new guidelines on good eating. It is felt that though the guidelines are an improvement over existing rules, they still leave much space for improvement.

The guidelines emphasise good food and physical activity. Fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, such as whole wheat, oats or brown rice, should provide about 2,000 kilocalories in a person's diet every day. Fatty foods should provide 20 to 35 per cent of a day's total calorie intake. People have also been advised to have around three cups of low fat milk products daily. But no range for sugar consumption has been set. "The sugar lobby has won on the 10 per cent figure for sugar,' says Marion Nestle, professor of public health, New York University. Before the formulation of the guidelines, extensive scientific deliberations had taken place about recommending that sugar consumption should provide just 10 per cent of a person's daily calorie intake. But the premise did not find place in the final guidelines (see