Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, May 29, 1990 TAG: 9005290093
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
After holding what amounted to a "food summit" last year, 10 health agencies - five private and five public - have now come up with a list of jointly recommended dietary guidelines.
They call it "The Healthy American Diet," with six general diet principles for everyone over the age of 2:
Eat a nutritionally adequate diet consisting of a variety of foods.
Reduce consumption of fat, especially saturated fat and cholesterol.
Achieve and maintain a reasonable body weight.
Increase consumption of complex carbohydrates and fiber.
Reduce intake of sodium.
Consume alcohol in moderation, if at all. Children, adolescents and pregnant women should abstain.
The health organizations, ranging from the American Academy of Pediatrics to the U. S. Department of Agriculture, also recommended that some segments of the population, mostly women and the young, take additional measures.
To avoid dental cavities, especially for children, the groups recommended fluoride in drinking water and limited between-meal snacks containing sugar. Adolescents and young women should eat more high-calcium foods, such as low-fat dairy products.
Children, adolescents and women of childbearing age also should include iron-rich foods, such as red meat, fish and cereals, in their diets in order to avoid anemia.
Many of the groups, such as the American Heart Association, already had recommended diets. But the experts' diets often differed slightly from organization to organization. Dr. Alan Chait of the University of Washington in Seattle thought it was possible people didn't know which to follow.
by CNB