Pat Hartman | Childhood Obesity News

Coronavirus Chronicles — You’re in a What? A Pod Guide

Pat Hartman November 12, 2020 No Comments

The subject is the pod (or, as some call it, the bubble) which is a purposely-constructed group with a common need, namely, to stay uninfected and sane during the pandemic. The benefits may be purely social, solely educational, or simply utilitarian (the need for trustworthy childcare), or a mixture. The authors of this comprehensive guide are working parents — three infectious disease epidemiologists, a pediatric epidemiologist, and a medical anthropologist — who practice what they preach.

Some pods are stricter than others, but the important thing is that everyone agrees beforehand on the rules. First, what are the criteria for belonging? If everyone is totally serious, joining will require testing for COVID-19 and two weeks of quarantine before the first meeting. This would apply to not only the children being socialized or educated, and the adults who will be physically present, but all the household members connected with these people, even if they never attend pod gatherings.

Learning is crucial

If the purpose is to keep the kids on track with their classwork for either remote learning or classic homeschooling, it probably makes more sense to include only children of a similar age. On the other hand, our pioneer forebears managed to make do with one-room schoolhouses that accommodated children from small to big. The instruction might be done by parents only, or they might bring in a professional teacher, who of course would have to be trusted to adhere to all the safety precautions.

Other decisions need to be made. The group will meet outside until the temperature goes down how far? When meeting inside, is everybody okay with having the windows open? Should the participants bring their own food and drinks? Will everyone agree to a thorough hand-washing on arrival, and at certain agreed time intervals if the session is likely to run long? If little children are to be on the scene for many hours, like during a parent’s entire workday, what will they bring to nap on?

Needless to say, it might take some very mature parents who are experts in communication, to make this work. Many parents have always been leery of leaving their children at other people’s homes even under the best of circumstances, and the environment we are dealing with now is far from optimal. The members might want to think about drawing up a written agreement that covers every possible contingency, including if someone absolutely must travel, or neglects to pick up their child on time.

How far is too far?

If the group is very tightly knit and totally reliable, the decision might be made to forego masking and relax the social distancing rules. But if someone (like a teacher) interacts with another group, even if they too are very conscientious in philosophy and practice, it is probably best to keep the masks on and observe the six-foot standard.

But creating the group is not the end of the decision-making. An agreement is needed on what happens if a pod member is exposed to someone who is potentially a carrier, or who is actually sick. No matter how beloved or useful, a member may need to be subjected to a two-week quarantine and a test before they are allowed back. Because people tend to take rejection personally, strict policing is a strain on relationships.

But it has to be done. The virus doesn’t care how emotionally close any humans might be. It doesn’t care that you are blood relatives who have always shared everything, or how many years you have been friends, or how delicate anyone’s feelings are. It doesn’t give you a pass just because your pod partner is an old high school friend who would never betray you. The virus is eager to do you wrong, and your kids, and your elderly parents, too. The virus is gunning for us all.

To get the full benefit from this examination of the pod concept, we really recommend absorbing every detail and nuance of the source article, because these authors have obviously made an effort to cover all the bases. Here is the bottom line:

Since Covid-19 will be part of our lives for the foreseeable future, it is essential that you pick strategies that your family can adhere to for months at a time.

Your responses and feedback are welcome!

Source: “The Essential Step-by-Step Guide to Forming a Pod During a Pandemic,” Medium.com, 08/21/20
Image by Sustainable Economies/CC BY-SA 2.0

Coronavirus Chronicles — Odious Obesity in League With Calamitous COVID-19

Pat Hartman November 11, 2020 1 Comment

Yes, once again we imagine two contemporary plagues as a couple of evildoers who have discovered that working together is of great mutual benefit. We have been tracking the ways in which COVID-19 and obesity do little favors for each other that pay big dividends to both of them.

In tune with the theme of criminal conspiracy, a recent study on pediatric obesity and food insecurity calls these evildoers “a double whammy” right up there in its title. The report summary says,

The COVID-19 pandemic exerts disproportionate burden on low-income children and families, magnifying their vulnerability to both food insecurity and pediatric obesity.

This matters to politicians, advocates, voters, and hungry kids, because federal efforts like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) are a big part of the battle for good nutrition and food security. It matters to the clinician who, when assessing patients, needs to implement an ethical and tactful method of screening for food insecurity. Just like temperature, pulse rate, and blood pressure, some call hunger one of the vital signs.

In some quarters, asking parents whether they are able to succeed in feeding their children is considered disturbingly intrusive. The American Academy of Pediatrics handbook on the subject devotes a chapter to “Tips from Practitioners on How to Address Food Insecurity in a Sensitive Manner.” Privacy, of course, is paramount. It is even advised that the children be in a different room or distracted when parents are interviewed on this volatile topic.

Another rule is, don’t make assumptions. In many practices, it will not be a physician asking for information, so it is important that staff members are well-versed in tactful yet effective questioning. The food insecurity assessment can do four important things:

Help overcome the stigma of food insecurity.

Tailor clinical care to real patient needs.

Identify a vulnerable target population.

Connect food insecure individuals to resources.

The terrible twosome owns a different agenda. COVID-19 and obesity each seek opportunities to soften up potential victims for the other. They have been having their way too long. To make sure that people are sufficiently nourished is a public good, because here is the thing about household food insecurity: As its severity increases, total healthcare costs rise. In many cases, those costs are borne by the taxpayers, so there is an important consideration for the country’s financial stability.

Food insecurity can mask underlying health conditions, cause misdiagnosis, and affect medication adherence. It can also contribute to increased emergency room use, and prolong hospital stays — and now we’re talking about real money.

Even worse, many of the people affected, and that means mainly children, don’t get healthcare at all because of the affordability factor. To ignore these basic needs is to help obesity gain ground, because sick patients are unlikely to run around the local track, or even do situps on the living-room floor. What they are likely to do is remain immobile and eat an even less healthy diet than usual. To brush these basic needs under the rug is to help the virus, because it thrives on obese bodies. Much of our trouble is avoidable.

Your responses and feedback are welcome!

Source: “Food Insecurity and Pediatric Obesity: a Double Whammy in the Era of COVID-19,” Springer.com, 10/16/20
Source: “Addressing Food Insecurity: A Toolkit for Pediatricians,” FRAC.org, February 2017
Source: “Food insecurity screening,” NoHarm.org, undated
Image by Miss T. Moore and M./CC BY-ND 2.0

Coronavirus Chronicles — COVID-19 and Obesity, Fast Friends

Pat Hartman November 10, 2020 2 Comments

In their pandemic coverage, many reporters include facts like the ones mentioned by Amber Randall:

[E]arly studies on children’s eating habits have already indicated that the lockdowns meant to stop the spread of the virus are indeed leading to weight gain in children… During the pandemic, screen time for children increased by at least 50 percent, one study found… The odds of being overweight were 4.6 times higher for a child who watched five or more hours of television a day than for a child who watched fewer than two hours a day.

Remember the fairy tale where the witch kidnaps children and fattens them up, to be tasty and succulent when they emerge from the oven of her trusty wood stove? The virus does something similar. It keeps people cooped up, encourages them to eat worthless pseudo-foods, keeps them as immobile as possible, and makes them appreciate the value of a good nap.

It prepares them. Incited and enabled by this comradely gesture, obesity turns people into opulent homes for SARS-CoV-2 organisms who are shopping for real estate that consists largely of fat cells. What a great working relationship the two monsters enjoy!

Journalist Greg Sullivan looked into the exercise situation for kids, and found it to be as bad as the direst forecasts predicted:

Some schools are in full remote mode, others in hybrid (semi-remote) mode. High school and middle school athletics have taken a hit. Physical education classes taught remotely run the risk of low attendance and/or participation.

From Fall River, MA, where she is a health and physical education director for the public school system, Michele Sharpe reported great concern and listed the usual suspects:

More computer screen time, lack of routines, stress, anxiety, boredom, lack of physical activity, decline in energy expenditure and a desire for all kinds of unhealthy foods… having increases in childhood obesity rates may create life and death circumstances for our children.

PE teachers are getting used to having their opinions solicited about topics other than the wins and losses of sports teams. Sullivan spoke with a director of athletics in Westport, MA, named Jason Pacheco, who…

[…] said he is encouraged to see his children’s phys-ed teachers, through Google Meet, encouraging students to get active, and to see the junior and high school phys-ed teachers demonstrating workouts in an otherwise empty gym with students mirroring them at home.

Pacheco alerted the reporter to the Herculean efforts of Fall River’s Mike Fernandes, who owns a fitness center and fights the pandemic by holding free outdoor strength and conditioning sessions at his old high school. About 20 kids show up, (a summer group often brought out 80), and Pacheco zeroes in on two benefits that are gained by group exercise.

First, when in each other’s socially-distanced presence, each individual finds inspiration to grow better, stronger, faster, more resilient. The personal rivalry may not be a particularly enlightened motive for self-improvement, but it is a reliably enduring one. Second, kids invite others who, at home on their own, might not have gotten any kind of workout at all. Sometimes, the scary specter of “peer pressure” works for the good. Monsters do not hold the monopoly on willingness to help each other.

Your responses and feedback are welcome!

Source: “Bad habits during the pandemic may be leading to dangerous weight gain in children,” Sun-Sentinel.com, 10/16/20
Source: “‘It is really important that students find a way to stay active’: Phys-Ed teachers, coaches trying to keep kids from sliding into obesity,” HeraldNews.com, 10/21/20
Images by Stuart Richards and Kaitee Silzer/CC BY-ND 2.0

Coronavirus Chronicles — Obesity and COVID-19, Good at Helping Each Other Be Bad

Pat Hartman November 9, 2020 No Comments

The affinity between COVID-19 and obesity is no joke, and the existing and potential problems resulting from this alliance cannot be emphasized enough. Pretend for a moment that efforts to control childhood obesity had been successful 10 years ago, or 20 years ago. Millions of Americans who are either infected or at risk would be in the clear today. The obvious corollary is that if we can end childhood obesity in this generation, millions can be spared the devastation caused by any disease that thrives on finding obese hosts.

“Okay, we. know. We get it.” But here’s the thing. There is more to know every day. Facts keep rolling in and racking up all kinds of statistics. Here is a list, from a Centers for Disease Control web page, of several recent discoveries about how obesity worsens outcomes. Just in case any of these findings might strike a chord, all the sources are conscientiously noted in the references section:

Having obesity increases the risk of severe illness from COVID-19.
Having obesity may triple the risk of hospitalization due to a COVID-19 infection.
Obesity is linked to impaired immune function.
Obesity decreases lung capacity and reserve and can make ventilation more difficult.
As BMI increases, the risk of death from COVID-19 increases.
Studies have demonstrated that obesity may be linked to lower vaccine responses for numerous diseases (influenza, Hepatitis B, tetanus).

In 12 states, the obesity rate is over 35%, and Kentucky is one of them. Here is an example of how topsy-turvy everything has become since the pandemic, and this is one of those cases where the headline pretty much tells the whole story: “COVID-19 has some Kentuckians supporting government action to reduce obesity.” Kentucky is not known for welcoming governmental intervention. Kentucky is known for having a decidedly negative attitude about such things. Yet, a hefty one-third of adults who were asked, agreed that “the government should make more of an effort to combat obesity in the state.”

The younger the better

As Childhood Obesity News has emphasized so often, the earlier in life that obesity gets a foothold in a young body, the more difficult it is to dislodge. This isn’t something we can worry about next week. It is a Today Problem. If we are capable at all of learning, one of the lessons we should be learning from the pandemic is that childhood obesity is an accessory to murder, and we can’t let it slide.

Not convinced? Even though young people (at least for the initial onslaught) got off easier, when they do catch COVID-19 they sometimes get it really, really bad. There is a monstrous level of inflammation in the body, and obesity and inflammation are also closely aligned.

Here is a really serious indication of a wicked collusion between the two monstrous plagues. The virus has prevented thousands of well-baby visits, routine vaccinations, and other interactions with healthcare providers, including weight monitoring and obesity checks. Any benefits that American children might have accrued during the past several months from seeing clinicians have been stolen.

Your responses and feedback are welcome!

Source: “Obesity, Race/Ethnicity, and COVID-19,” undated
Source: “Updated: COVID-19 has some Kentuckians supporting government action to reduce obesity,” Kentucky.com, 09/30/20
Source: “Bad habits during the pandemic may be leading to dangerous weight gain in children,” Sun-Sentinel.com, 10/16/20
Images by Thomas Altfather Good and Hypnotica Studios Infinite/CC BY 2.0

Coronavirus Chronicles — COVID-19 and Obesity Both Keep Bad Company

Pat Hartman November 6, 2020 No Comments

Yes, we’re still talking about the ways in which, like a couple of hostile juvenile delinquents, obesity and COVID-19 are partners in crime against humanity. As we know, the Centers for Disease Control have identified obesity as “one of several underlying conditions that increases risk of severe illness from COVID-19 among people of any age.”

It also became clear early on, that Black, Hispanic and Indigenous people have higher rates of infection and higher death rates, partly attributable to obesity being widespread among those populations. This is just one of the many ways in which the two crises intersect and influence each other for the worse.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation notes,

To date, emergency relief measures in response to COVID-19 have increased support for nutrition assistance programs and allowed more flexibility to help prevent hunger and extend resources to those in need. But there is much more work to be done.

The Foundation has suggestions, most of which concern the SNAP program: raise the benefit level, remove the three-month limit for adults, stop the planned changes the would remove four million people from the program.

In places online where Americans meet to discuss their current problems, many people mention the appeal of low-quality, highly-processed foods when staying at home is about the only thing a person can do. The threat of catching the virus keeps sensible people sheltering in place, which is the perfect setting for junk-food orgies. Sadly, much of this pseudo-food is “affordable.”

It’s false economizing, of course, because the end result of a careless diet is physical malfunction, and obesity definitely comes under that heading. Even more dangerous, the emotions are involved, and when that happens, all bets are off. This, of course, is not new. In remembering her impoverished childhood, Shannon Ashley wrote,

Clearly, a lot of junk food is cheap! So for us, food was more of a love language than fuel, a coping mechanism even…

How much more true is this now, in a time when unemployed parents, stuck with their kids at home all the time, do not have much to give them besides a bag of chips or a package of cookies?

In a piece called “The Dangerous Link Between Coronavirus and Obesity,” Dr. Rami Bailony emphasized how, all around the world, in numerous studies, “obesity has been found to be a leading risk factor for mortality and morbidity from Covid-19.” He wrote:

Our world is facing two pandemics right now. The acute one, Covid-19, is swift and relentless — and it’s disproportionately preying upon people affected by an even larger, more-enduring pandemic: obesity. Obesity is a leading risk factor in mortality and morbidity from Covid-19… This speaks to a much larger deficiency within our society and our health care system today: the stubborn refusal to recognize and treat obesity as the chronic, deadly disease that it is.

Your responses and feedback are welcome!

Source: “State of Childhood Obesity — Prioritizing Children’s Health During the Pandemic,” StateOfObesity.org, October 2020
Source: “How The F**k Does A Person Get To Be 400 Pounds?,” Medium.com, 02/27/19
Source: “The Dangerous Link Between Coronavirus and Obesity,” Medium.com, 04/28/20
Images by Shan Jeniah Burton and Smabs Sputzer/CC BY 2.0

Coronavirus Chronicles — Twin Terrors — COVID-19 and Obesity

Pat Hartman November 5, 2020 1 Comment

Halloween is over, but the twin terrors of COVID-19 and obesity are still very much with us. Like two supervillains who decide to set aside their rivalry and join forces, they are in league. Each one does things to help the other.

It seems like until recently, obesity was a joke in many minds. Sure, being fat is a bummer, but as serious problems go, it was pretty laughable. With the arrival of the novel coronavirus, obesity gained some gravitas. Obesity is, after all, one of the human conditions that greatly favor the virus. People who are chronically obese are likely to be affected much acutely than average-weight people. Thanks to its good friend COVID-19, obesity might be said to have finally gained some respect.

Just last month, the venerable Robert Wood Johnson Foundation published a metastudy, a summary of a handful of the major federal surveys concerning childhood obesity, especially in the context of the pandemic. Senior program officer Jamie Bussel told the press,

The newest data show that about 15 percent of children between the ages of 10 and 17 have obesity… [W]e continue to see stark and deep disparities, with higher rates of obesity among kids of color and kids from families with low income. We also see these disparities with the COVID-19 epidemic.

The foundation’s president and CEO, Dr. Richard Besser, added,

[W]hile obesity hits every racial and ethnic group and every income group, it doesn’t hit each group equally. And that’s what we’re seeing with COVID-19. When you think about why that is, there are a number of different factors. Some have to do with exposure, but so much has to do with opportunities to make healthy choices. Who has opportunities for healthy eating, and for healthy activities, and for the types of behaviors that will reduce the risk for obesity?

The report’s Overview section says,

Early research shows a strong connection between obesity and COVID-19… People with obesity tend to become sicker, are more likely to be hospitalized, and are even more likely to die when COVID-19 strikes.

Cause for alarm

Dr. Mason Gomberg has explained to many parents how the changed landscape of lockdown, quarantine, sheltering in place, and other degrees of separation can affect kids. For numerous reasons, they are apt to gain weight. As the pediatrician told journalist Dave Zucker, pre-diabetes in children is going up, up, up. Diabetes brings eye, skin, and kidney complications into the lives of teenagers, that in the past might not have shown up for another few decades.

Children and teenagers are producing abnormal liver function tests and being diagnosed with fatty liver disease. As other problems that are caused or exacerbated by obesity in young people, the doctor names hypertension, heart problems, cirrhosis, sleep apnea, and depression.

Indirect benefit adds up

Lack of exercise can have a devastating effect. Even if it’s not clear exactly how the whole energy balance process works in terms of weight control, the plain fact is that exercise affects the mental state. If a morning run makes somebody feel so good they decide to spend an hour practicing guitar instead of sitting in front of the TV eating sugary cereal, there is a net gain of self-realization in the creativity and confidence that come from mastering a skill, and a net loss of the calories that would have been consumed on that particular occasion.

Childhood Obesity News will have more to say about these twin terrors and partners in crime.

Your responses and feedback are welcome!

Source: “State of Childhood Obesity — Prioritizing Children’s Health During the Pandemic,” StateOfObesity.org, October 2020
Source: “COVID-19 and Childhood Obesity: What Parents Can Do According to a Local Pediatrician,” WestchesterMagazine.com, 08/18/20
Images by Feltkamp/CC BY 2.0 and annabellaphoto/CC BY-ND 2.0

Coronavirus Chronicles — The Unholy Alliance: Obesity and COVID-19

Pat Hartman November 4, 2020 1 Comment

There are all kinds of eating disorders, and some of them make people obese. Dr. Jessica Gold, an expert in treating patients with eating disorders, says,

When the world feels out of control, people want to have control over something. Often, it’s what you put in your mouth.

What, at this moment in time, is the number one factor that destroys any semblance of control? The novel coronavirus. Aside from sickening and killing individuals, it throws our society into chaos. It cancels cherished plans and important events. It ruins careers and separates families. Because of it, people are broke, unschooled, and homeless.

Funny as a heart attack

The virus seems almost consciously determined to sow confusion and discord. Look at how long it convinced most of America that children can’t contract it or spread it. It tricked us into believing that it only kills old people and those who were already sick. It convinced many people — even the most well-intentioned public servants — that opening schools was safe. It persuaded us that a normal body temperature indicates the absence of infection. It had us fooled into thinking that it only attacks the lungs, when actually it finds any organ a worthy target of its malevolence. What the next revelation might be is anyone’s guess.

As much as the legendary tricksters Iktomi and Loki (pictured on this page), coronavirus loves to lead us down the garden path of some comforting belief, and then pull the rug out from under us. Sure, that’s a mixed metaphor, because that is the trickster’s game — to sow confusion. To destroy any illusion of stability, sanity, or control. By the same token, obesity never stops trying to convince people that it is absolutely benign. It cloaks itself in phrases like “body positivity.”

Meanwhile, millions of American families are trying, with varying degrees of success, to keep the virus away. Some have plenty of food, some have enough, and some wonder where their next meal is coming from. We see pictures of empty grocery shelves and panic. Transportation is iffy, and retail establishments have a habit of closing without warning.

We don’t get to see enough of those we want to see, and we see too much of those we would rather have a break from. Eating in public, or with other people, used to keep some of our worst food-related impulses in check, but behind closed doors, anything goes. People are mentally unbalanced and emotionally devastated. Having interviewed Dr. Gold, The New York Times reporter Emma Goldberg wrote,

In March and April, the National Eating Disorders Association, or NEDA, saw a 78 percent increase in people messaging its help line compared with the same period last year. Crisis Text Line, a nonprofit organization that provides mental health support by text, saw a 75 percent increase in conversations about eating disorders in the two months since March 16, to around 700 conversations from around 400 conversations weekly. A vast majority of those texters — 83 percent — were women, and more than half were under the age of 17.

In other words, more than half were children. Conditions are perfect for an obesity epidemic that will leave all other obesity epidemics in the dust. And these two epidemics are both beasts. Each can be deadly by itself, but when they get together, watch out! Well, they are very much together, giving each other a helping hand at every turn. If regular people could manage to be as nice to each other as these two creeps, what a bright world this would be!

Your responses and feedback are welcome!

Source: “Disordered Eating in a Disordered Time,” NYTimes.com, 06/05/20
Images by Public.Resource.Org and Hannaford/CC BY-SA 2.0

Coronavirus Chronicles — Food Insecurity and Other Demons

Pat Hartman November 3, 2020 1 Comment

Part of the battle against childhood obesity involves assuring that children are able to access nutritious food, in hope that they will be less inclined to go for processed foods that are empty of useful nutrients. It is also well-established that actual hunger can set the scene for a lifelong risk of developing eating disorders. Yet, governmental actions and inactions often seem designed to guarantee that people-feeding programs are constantly on the chopping block. That tendency has become even more dangerous since so many schools are closed to prevent the spread of the virus.

Since COVID-19 struck, and as Childhood Obesity News has mentioned frequently, one of the most prominent features of the virus is its increased risk factor among obese humans. So with seemingly conscious and malignant intent, the virus does all it can to create more obesity, keeping people indoors and sedentary and often deprived of fresh whole food, if not actually infected. Obesity returns the favor by providing plenty of fat cells and other physical conditions favorable to the virus.

But do we listen?

The bidirectional association between these two miscreants is more apparent every day, and more difficult to overlook. Nevertheless, Congress has been arguing for years about the nutrition standards for school meals which are, wrote journalist Evie Blad, “necessary to combat concerns like childhood obesity.” Recently, a blow was struck on behalf of hungry children when a federal court ruled that the current administration had violated the Administrative Procedures Act and must leave the school meals nutrition standards alone.

In September, the House of Representatives really stepped up and voted to extend the school meal program waivers through the end of the current school year. Not only can schools continue to offer free meals, but…

The waivers also permit schools to continue allowing parents to collect multiple days worth of grab-and-go meals at curbside pick-up locations, so distance learners can safely and conveniently access meals for the week.

On the international scene, however, America is not performing like a champion. In the spring, the U.S. government announced that it would stop funding a World Health Organization program that addresses both forms of malnutrition, the kind that causes stunted growth and the kind that paradoxically leads to ever-rising levels of child obesity.

Jane E. Brody, Personal Health columnist for The New York Times, wrote,

Given how bad youthful nutrition was before Covid-19, I fear that the pandemic could further undermine it, especially for children from low-income families, who may be missing meals at schools that are closed or whose parents are now not getting paid at all.

In its seemingly conscious effort to create as much havoc as possible, the virus complicated the U. S. government’s process of completing the latest edition of its Dietary Guidelines. Even though the compilation process for the Guidelines has ostensibly been going on for five years, the pandemic managed to affect it and cause “disruptions to the advisory committee’s work.” Many organizations petitioned to have the submissions deadline extended, but the government turned down that request and ended up with a document that many interested parties will be grumbling about until the next one comes around.

Your responses and feedback are welcome!

Source: “School Meals: Court Strikes Down Trump Rollback of Nutrition Standards,” EdWeek.org, 04/14/20
Source: “Free School Meals Extended Through SY 2020-21,” SchoolNutrition.org, 10/09/20
Source: “Suffer the Children! Trump’s decision to halt WHO funding will hurt the most vulnerable in developing countries,” Meaww.com, 04/15/20
Source: “Using Shelter-in-Place Time to Foster Better Family Food Habits,” NYTimes.com, 04/06/20
Images by Stewart Black/CC BY 2.0 and Pascal/Public Domain

Coronavirus Chronicles — COVID-19 and the Dietary Guidelines

Pat Hartman November 2, 2020 No Comments

The previous post did not even finish listing all the groups that are upset by the newest version of the Department of Agriculture’s Dietary Guidelines. Among them is the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, which represents well over 100,000 dietitians. The gigantic Guidelines recommend what Americans should eat, and mandates those suggestions for about one-fourth of us, if we are fed by schools, carceral institutions, nursing homes, or the military.

Motherhood still an American value

Other demographic groups affected by the Guidelines are babies and mothers enrolled in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC). In officialese, a “flexibility” is a temporary waiver, and WIC recently extended “more than a dozen” flexibilities, to help its beneficiaries get through the pandemic. Applicants can be approved without being physically present at a government office. Better arrangements are being made for food package pickups.

Other viewpoints

The Heritage Foundation’s objections have a different emphasis. They are not on board with any environmental concerns, and do not like how the report recommends even less sugar than before. These issues, they say, have not been examined scientifically, nor has the suggestion that a man should consume only one alcoholic drink per day, rather than the two that were endorsed in the last edition.

Critics claim that, when either encouraging or disparaging various kinds of food, the Guidelines do not take obesity prevention into consideration. The Low-Carb Action Network wanted a “true low-carb diet” to be included in the quinquennial document. Journalist Jessica Wharton says the group made public its…

[…] extreme disappointment and concern over the final report by the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee which excludes all low-carbohydrate studies, all trials on weight-loss, and failed to address numerous process and methodological concerns.

Despite the fact that the country’s Black and Hispanic communities are both particularly hard hit by the two plagues, obesity, and the novel coronavirus, their representation on the nutrition panel was disproportionately low.

The group Food4Health Alliance, among others, officially notified government bureaus of their unhappiness because the Guidelines ignore the needs of people in ethnic minorities who suffer from diet-related illnesses, whether genetic or acquired.

Pediatrician and obesity specialist Dr. Yolandra Hancock of George Washington University says,

My concern is that these guidelines, heavily influenced by the food and beverage industry, will dictate what kinds of food are offered at schools and set the eating habits of children, particularly black and brown children, for the rest of their lives.

Your responses and feedback are welcome!

Source: “Chorus of Voices Challenge Lack of Science in Dietary Guideline,” LowCarbAction.org, 09/22/20
Source: “USDA Extends WIC COVID-19 Flexibilities for Duration of the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency,” ASDA.gov, 09/21/20
Source: “Scientific Panel on New Dietary Guidelines Draws Criticism From Health Advocates,” NYTimes.com. 06/17/20
Image by Harry Wood/CC BY-SA 2.0

Coronavirus Chronicles — More on the Dietary Guidelines

Pat Hartman October 30, 2020 1 Comment

So, we were talking about the Dietary Guidelines that are issued by the Department of Agriculture every five years, leading up to an examination of how those guidelines and the pandemic relate to one another.

Of course, everybody comes at this from a different direction, with each bureaucracy and each interest group having its own priorities. Writers Jessica Fu and H. Claire Brown listed what they consider the “five key takeaways” of the latest iteration of the Guidelines. Men should drink less. People should snack less, although nobody has come to a satisfactory definition of the difference between a meal and a snack. Everyone consumes too much sugar, especially children. Nothing new there.

Parents are advised to expose and accustom children early to potentially allergenic foods. And even though the hunger for flesh is killing the earth, and there are plenty of legitimate reasons to be suspicious of milk, in America no government body will ever speak out against meat or milk. Members of the Union of Concerned Scientists wish that the greenhouse gases and water usage that producing meat and milk incur would be taken into consideration. Their protests have turned out to be in vain so far.

Numerous objections

The latest Childhood Obesity News post mentioned some of the many complaints, and there are more. According to many experts, including Nutrition Coalition executive director Nina Teicholz, saturated fats are not as big a villain as previously supposed. But the Dietary Guidelines do not reflect recent research in this area. Because people are still being warned against dietary fats, they are consuming far too much from the grains and other carbohydrates section of the plate.

For The New York Times, Andrew Jacobs reported:

More than half the advisory panel members this year have ties to the International Life Sciences Institute, an industry group largely supported by agribusiness, food and pharmaceutical companies. The group, created by a Coca-Cola executive four decades ago, has long been accused by the World Health Organization and others of trying to undermine public health recommendations to advance the interests of its corporate members.

In a report issued in April, Corporate Accountability noted that the two newly created subcommittees considering dietary issues for pregnant and lactating women and children under 24 months were led by scientists who have worked for Danone, Gerber and other makers of toddler food products.

The Dietary Guidelines run to 835 pages, and still, a number of parties are ticked off over what they consider to be crucial omissions. They are upset about what writer Jessica Wharton characterizes as “the startling amount of scientific literature that has been excluded by the expert committee reviewing the science.” Worst of all, at a time when nearly 43% of Americans are said to exist in varying degrees of obesity, the committee did not consider obesity prevention to come under its purview.

Your responses and feedback are welcome!

Source: “Five key takeaways from the USDA’s 2020 Dietary Guidelines advisory report,” TheCounter.org, 07/16/20
Source: “Scientific Panel on New Dietary Guidelines Draws Criticism From Health Advocates,” NYTimes.com. 06/17/20
Source: “Chorus of Voices Challenge Lack of Science in Dietary Guidelines,” LowCarbAction.org, 09/22/20
Image by Obi Onyeador on Unsplash

Coronavirus Chronicles — You’re in a What? A Pod Guide

Learning is crucial

How far is too far?

Coronavirus Chronicles — Odious Obesity in League With Calamitous COVID-19

Coronavirus Chronicles — COVID-19 and Obesity, Fast Friends

Coronavirus Chronicles — Obesity and COVID-19, Good at Helping Each Other Be Bad

The younger the better

Coronavirus Chronicles — COVID-19 and Obesity Both Keep Bad Company

Coronavirus Chronicles — Twin Terrors — COVID-19 and Obesity

Cause for alarm

Indirect benefit adds up

Coronavirus Chronicles — The Unholy Alliance: Obesity and COVID-19

Funny as a heart attack

Coronavirus Chronicles — Food Insecurity and Other Demons

But do we listen?

Coronavirus Chronicles — COVID-19 and the Dietary Guidelines

Motherhood still an American value

Other viewpoints

Coronavirus Chronicles — More on the Dietary Guidelines

Numerous objections

Profiles: Kids Struggling with Weight

The Book

About Dr. Robert A. Pretlow

Presentations

Food & Health Resources