NTR 306 Debate Summary 1 .  University of Texas NTR 306

Dietary Guidelines for Americans and Dietary Reference Intake are guidelines of which
exist to provide informational dietary and nutritional recommendations for Americans. Though
these systems sound upfront in their purpose, it is a lot more complex than that and it is these
complexities that have brought certain concerns to the foreground. These concerns question
the validity, importance, trustworthiness and/or accuracy of these recommendations. My
opinion regarding this discord is these recommendations are just that: recommendations. They
are good to base your approach to your diet upon as there are somewhat substantial evidence
that supports them, however what must be considered is that each consumer of these
guidelines is physically unique and just because one recommendation works for one body
doesn’t equate its effectiveness when applied to another person. That being said, it’s pertinent
that consumers treat these guidelines as a base but not as an absolute when following them (in
other words, there should be leeway since everyone’s body is different). Another reason to
follow this info only sparsely, is that consumers don’t know the politics behind these guidelines.
That is to say that they are unaware of who the behind-the-scenes producers of the guidelines
are. Therefore, without research there is no credibility to these recommendations nor incentive
to put blind trust into them. Both thoughts decrease the credibility and trustworthiness of the
guidelines. Considering that, I’d say my initial stance regarding them is to approach the
recommendations is with overall trust but a certain degree of hesitation.
Building upon that thought, I found that the point that most solidified my thinking is the
fact that the evidence that is provided either by or reviewed by the DGA committee and
especially the committee themselves can be influenced by the food industry, thereby creating
bias. Unless this was funded by an objective government without any influence from the
industry that most directly benefits from what type of information is pushed onto its
consumers, it will be quite difficult to put my full trust into this information. Learning this has
cemented my overall distrust of the guidelines. On the other hand, the evidence that most
convincingly disputes my argument is that DGAs go through a very extensive scientific process
in order to even be published. This process involves a multitude of capable individuals and
related entities colluding to review scientific data to analyze and conclude whether certain
parameters are significant/relevant in nutritional and dietary knowledge.