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If you find nutrition information confusing, you are not alone. Just over 50 years ago, there was a significant shift in public health nutrition messages. Early messages focused on helping individuals consume adequate essential nutrients. Then in 1977, the Senate Select Committee on Nutrition and Human Health ignored the critical importance of essential nutrients and focused their messages on eliminating foods considered to be risk factors for chronic disease.
This shift in priorities spearheaded by the committee downplayed the importance of nutrients in maintaining the thousands of biochemical and physiological functions necessary for health throughout a person’s lifetime. This shift also indicates a lack of understanding of the potential short- and long-term health consequences of demonizing a single food or food group.
In a few days, a second White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition and Health will convene. This conference aims to end hunger, prevent childhood obesity and manage chronic disease. Along with promoting less-processed foods and more plant-based options, there will again be warnings about the evils of salt, sugar and saturated fat.
While the apparent aim of the conference is to promote more natural, plant-based diets and strongly discourage highly processed (termed “ultraprocessed”) foods, once again, essential nutrients will not likely be part of upcoming public health messages.
Question: What is a healthy diet?
Answer: A healthy diet minimally provides adequate amounts of more than 40 essential nutrients. Health is eventually compromised when an individual’s diet is inadequate in even one essential nutrient. Furthermore, the greater the inadequacy, the greater the potential health issues.
Most individual foods provide a few nutrients in significant amounts and other nutrients in limited quantities or not at all. Therefore, meeting a person’s nutrient requirements within the amount of calories needed requires a diet with a wide variety of foods.
Q: What is the best way to ensure a healthy diet?
A: Here are five things to keep in mind:
>> Consuming all essential nutrients is the first step to good nutrition and maintaining optimal health.
>> All foods can contribute to a healthy diet, but the amount of food that is beneficial will vary.
>> Don’t be swayed by media reports that demonize specific foods or promote superfoods as the panacea to health.
>> Consider taking a moderate-dose multivitamin- mineral supplement as an inexpensive insurance policy to meet nutrient needs. The need for this supplement can be particularly beneficial for those who are consuming lower- calorie diets. In addition, various essential nutrient requirements are higher in individuals taking certain medications or consuming a diet that limits any single food group.
>> Staying active can increase your calorie needs and allow you to consume more food and, therefore, more nutrients.
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Joannie Dobbs, Ph.D., C.N.S. and Alan Titchenal, Ph.D., C.N.S. are retired nutrition faculty from the Department of Human Nutrition, Food and Animal Sciences, College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources, University of Hawaii at Manoa.
Joannie Dobbs, Ph.D., C.N.S. and Alan Titchenal, Ph.D., C.N.S. are retired nutrition faculty from the Department of Human Nutrition, Food and Animal Sciences, College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources, University of Hawaii at Manoa.
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