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5
Public Sector: Strategies and
Actions for Implementation
WHO SHOULD implement the growing consensus on dietary
recommendations? Governments exist to provide for the common
good and the welfare of their citizens-and by extension the public's
nutritional health. Therefore, governments at all levels have special
obligations to implement dietary recommendations both by example
and by the unique actions that they can take.
Governments at all levels can promote implementation directly
through legislation and rule-making; provision of information and
education; awarding of research and demonstration grants; intramu-
ral research, education, and extension programs; food assistance and
farm programs; their own vast meal service functions; and through
acting as role models by providing examples of implementation in
government facilities, by government officials, and at government-
funded events. The public sector can also encourage this effort indi-
rectly by setting an agenda for the implementation of various strate-
gies, initiating dialogue with the private sector and voluntary
organizations, and coordinating implementation efforts. This array
of efforts must be pursued in the legislative and executive branches
at federal, state, and local levels.
The committee focuses here on the role of the federal government,
but it should be emphasized that many of the committee's recom-
mendations are applicable at state and local levels as well. Moreover,
it will be necessary for those who are intimately aware of the special
characteristics of each local situation to apply them. Involvement by
112
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113
state and local governments as well as other societal sectors discussed
in this report is essential if implementation is to become a reality.
GOVERNMENTS AS IMPLEMENTORS
Throughout this chapter, reference is made to government activi-
ties under way to encourage people to eat healthful diets. These activities
include provision of qualitative advice as found in Dietary Guidelines
for Americans (USDA/DHHS, 1980, 1985, 1990) (hereinafter referred
to as the Dietary Guidelines report) and quantitative recommendations
from the National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP, 1990) and
in the report Healthy People 2000: National Health Promotion and Dis-
ease Prevention Objectives (DHHS, 1990a). The U.S. Department of
Agriculture (USDA) issued suggestions to state school food service
directors on ways to implement the Dietary Guidelines in their school
lunch programs (see, for example, USDA, 1983~. In addition, studies
on human nutrition related to the Dietary Guidelines report have been
undertaken by USDA (1987) and the National Institutes of Health
(NIH) (NIH, 1989~.
But there are formidable barriers to implementing dietary recom-
mendations in the public sector, including politics, bureaucracy, and
costs. The political obstacles to change include pressures from food
producers, processors, distributors, retailers, and industry, and other
interest groups who believe they would be adversely affected eco-
nomically if dietary patterns were to change or if current food service
functions were required to offer options that they believe would be
less acceptable to consumers, although more desirable from the stand-
point of dietary recommendations. Government farm subsidies can
exacerbate the situation by encouraging the production of less desir-
able food alternatives. Cost is a major factor when nutritionally desirable
foods are more expensive than alternative products.
None of these barriers is easily overcome. First, the outside pres-
sures and the bureaucratic and economic barriers to change must be
acknowledged by governments at all levels. Second, current practices
and activities that could be modified to foster implementation need
to be identified, modified appropriately, and the benefits of such
change evaluated. Plans for achieving each of these steps should be
developed in cooperation with all those who are influenced by, or
have a special interest in, the outcomes. Development of these goals
and plans will require patience, political skills, and good will on the
part of public officials and others involved in the political process.
One example of such a successful effort was the preparation of the
report Healthy People 2000: National Health Promotion and Disease Pre
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IMPROVING AMERICA'S DIET AND HEALTH
vention Objectives (DHHS, 1990a). These national objectives were for-
mulated through a public process that involved federal, state, and
local governments as well as private and voluntary groups. The
objectives were also published in draft form for public comment (DHHS,
1989~. Such open and inclusive processes are needed in developing
nutrition policy to ensure support by all sectors.
PRINCIPLES THAT SERVE AS ~ BASIS
FOR IMPLEMENTATION
It is desirable that initiatives to implement dietary recommenda-
tions in the public sector adhere to a set of principles. These principles,
described below, were developed by the committee to help public
institutions make nutritionally desirable food choices available, iden-
tifiable, and acceptable. These principles have also been applied in
devising many of the committee's other recommendations described
in Chapters 6 through 8.
Provide Information and Education
Governments must initiate and participate in comprehensive pro-
grams to inform consumers about dietary recommendations and about
ways to integrate them into eating patterns. For example, government
cafeterias should provide information that identifies eating patterns
that conform to dietary recommendations. In addition, consumers
should be given advice on how to follow the principles of the recom-
mendations wherever they eat; and food producers, processors, dis-
tributors, and retailers should be advised on how to make the rec-
ommendations apply at, for example, farms, processing plants,
supermarkets, and eating facilities. Private- and voluntary-sector
participation in similar activities is essential.
Ensure Freedom of Choice
Coercion in food choices is rarely acceptable, especially for people
who are institutionalized in government facilities or who are otherwise
dependent on the government for their basic economic support. Thus,
although information on dietary recommendations and menus conform-
ing to their principles should be offered, selection should be as much
as possible the responsibility of each individual. When government
agencies formulate eating patterns and develop menus to implement
dietary recommendations in food assistance and other programs, ev
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115
ery attempt must be made to ensure that the cost of the recommended
diet does not appreciably exceed the alternatives.
Foster Long-Term Commitment and Incremental Approaches
Experience with clinical dietetics, clinical trials, and community-
based intervention studies has shown that incremental change is the
most successful way to achieve long-term dietary adherence (see Chapter
3~. Thus, to fully implement dietary recommendations without major
disruptions to the food system or people's current eating preferences,
incremental changes will need to be encouraged over years or decades-
not weeks or months. Food producers, processors, marketers, and
caterers should be strongly encouraged to initiate incremental changes
conforming to the principles of dietary recommendations over a 5- to
10-year schedule. More rapid change is, of course, desirable and
should be attempted when feasible.
Facilitate Access to Health-Promoting Foods
The special obligation of governments to implement dietary rec-
ommendations extends beyond education and the provision and co-
ordination of information. It also involves ensuring that every U.S.
citizen has access to the foods that can be used to meet these recom-
mendations. In all government food-service operations and in dining
areas in all government-supported institutions, foods should be offered
that can be used to meet dietary recommendations, thereby providing
an example for the private sector. Consumers should be given menu
choices, but among those choices there should be at least one that is
identified as helping people to meet dietary recommendations. When
alternatives cannot be made available, the set menu should be one
that helps people meet dietary recommendations.
Present Healthful Eating in a Context of Total Health Promotion
Dietary changes are adjuncts to, not substitutes for, a comprehen-
sive system of health promotion, disease prevention, disease treatment,
nutrition support, and social welfare measures, including economic
and food assistance. Because governmental institutions have a special
obligation to provide access to the basic needs of daily life and health,
they should present good eating patterns as one of many life-style
factors, such as cessation of smoking, reducing blood pressure, achieving
ideal body weight, lowering serum cholesterol, and increasing physi-
cal activity, that can decrease chronic disease risk.
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IMPROVING AMERICA'S DIET AND HEALTH
Involve All Interested Parties
Public officials at all levels of governments should work with rep-
resentatives of interest groups in the public, private, and voluntary
sectors to implement dietary recommendations. Collaborative efforts
are likely to be most successful when many different people support
the change and believe that their efforts will turn out favorably for
them.
Ensure Palatability of Healthful Diets
Food plans designed to meet dietary recommendations must be
made appealing to consumers in order to be accepted. The committee
recognizes that the population's taste preferences may gradually shift
with increasing exposure to meals that help it to meet dietary recom-
mendations, but menu revisions must consider people's present food
preferences. In addition, the palatability and acceptability of menus
based on the principles of dietary recommendations should be tested
in target populations for prolonged periods (i.e., weeks or months,
not days). Health-promoting meals must be at least as appealing as
the meals they are replacing.
Encourage Convenience
Health-promoting meals should be relatively convenient in com-
parison with current offerings with regard to purchasing, preparation,
delivery, and consumption. Any proposed menus (especially least-cost
menus and food plans) based on the principles of dietary recommen-
dations should be tested in populations to ensure that they are acceptably
convenient and appealing before being disseminated. Planning, pre-
paring, and perhaps serving new menus may be less convenient at
first, but will become more routine over time.
Encourage the Incorporation of Health-Promoting Foods
in Food Programs
Foods rather than vitamin and mineral supplements should serve
as the sole sources of nutrients to meet dietary recommendations in
government food programs. It would not be acceptable to this com-
mittee were the government to suggest as a cost-cutting measure the
use of dietary supplements or their equivalent (highly fortified products)
instead of the planning of menus which meet, or come close to meeting,
the Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDAs) (see Chapter 4~.
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Implement the Recommendations with Minimal
Disruption of Food Preferences
117
In implementing dietary recommendations, menus and meal plans
that entail the fewest disruptions to current food preferences are preferable.
In addition, choices within food groups should be preserved when-
ever possible. Occasionally, however, consumers may need to make
major changes in food preferences. The key to success in these cases
is mapping out gradual changes and providing the needed transition
period.
STRATEGIES AND ACTIONS FOR THE PUBLIC SECTOR
The committee developed five strategies and associated actions to
assist governments at all levels in promoting the nutritional health
and welfare of the public.
STRATEGY 1: Improve federal efforts to implement
dietary recommendations.
The full potential benefits of implementing dietary recommendations
can be approached by a federally coordinated effort, collaboration
with state and local governments, and participation of the private
sector, professional and voluntary organizations, and consumer advocacy
and community groups. The committee recognizes that the federal
government has done much to encourage Americans to eat well; many
of these activities are mentioned in this report. For example, it has
prepared and distributed many reports and consumer information
materials on diet and health (see, for example, NCI/NHLBI, 1988,
and USDA, 1981, 1984, 1986b,c, 1988a, 1989a). In addition, government-
wide interagency committees were formed to coordinate activities
related to nutrition monitoring and human nutrition research. Within
USDA and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS),
subcommittees serve as departmental focal points for coordinating
the preparation and dissemination of information and publications
and for providing technical assistance on dietary guidance. To date,
however, there is no governmentwide nutrition policy that provides
a coherent blueprint for fostering healthful dietary patterns.
ACTION 1: The executive branch should establish a coordi-
nating mechanism that would promote the implementation of
d ietary recommendations.
The executive branch has taken steps to coordinate many of its
nutrition-related activities by establishing specific inter-and intra-agency
groups. The Interagency Committee on Human Nutrition Research,
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IMPROVING AMERICA'S DIET AND HEALTH
which coordinates government-sponsored nutrition research, is co-
chaired by an assistant secretary from both USDA and DHHS; it in-
cludes representatives from USDA, DHHS, Department of Commerce,
Department of Defense, Agency for International Development (AID),
National Aeronautics and Space Administration, National Science
Foundation, Office of Science and Technology Policy, and the De-
partment of Veterans Affairs (DNIA). The Interagency Committee on
Nutrition Monitoring, which works to enhance the effectiveness and
productivity of federal nutrition monitoring efforts, is also cochaired
by an assistant secretary from both USDA and DHHS. It consists of
representatives of USDA, DHHS, AID, DOD, DVA, Bureau of the
Census, and the Department of Labor.
Because most nutrition-related activities of the federal government
take place in USDA and DHHS, both departments have established
administrative structures to ensure that food and nutrition information
emanating from their various agencies are consistent with the Dietary
Guidelines report (U.S. Congress, House, 1989b). The Dietary Guid-
ance Working Group at USDA, established in 1986, is composed of
representatives of at least eight USDA agencies (e.g., the Cooperative
Extension Service, the Human Nutrition Information Service, and the
National Agricultural Library) (USDA, 1986a). Similarly, the Nutrition
Policy Board Subcommittee on Dietary Guidance in DHHS, established
in 1987, consists of representatives from the NIH, the Food and Drug
Administration (FDA), and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC)
(DHHS, 1990b; U.S. Congress, House, 1989b). Each group has a liaison
representative from the other agency to promote consistent and
complementary messages on dietary guidance.
In two important respects, however, the federal government's efforts
to implement dietary recommendations are insufficient. First, the charters
of the interagency coordinating committees restrict them to narrow
areas. The four administrative structures described above are not
empowered to assume responsibility for implementing dietary rec-
ommendations, an effort that involves much more than providing
information on diet and health, conducting nutrition research, and
monitoring the nutritional status of the food supply and U.S. population.
Secondly, these four groups are frequently criticized for failing to
fulfill their narrowly-defined missions. For example, there is still no
comprehensive nutrition surveillance system in place to adequately
monitor trends in dietary intake, determine the nutritional status and
knowledge of the population (particularly among high-risk minority
groups and the disadvantaged and homeless), and report results in a
timely fashion (Nestle, 1990~. Government publications on diet and
health too often are not available in ample quantities at the community
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119
level or may be too expensive for many people to purchase. In addi-
tion, little priority may be given to the dissemination of these materials
by the local agencies that sponsor implementation activities.
The lack of a coordinating mechanism at the federal level to imple-
ment dietary recommendations has had unfortunate consequences.
In some cases, nutrition policy decisions are made in a fragmented
manner that can result in policies that are inconsistent from a public
health perspective. Federal policies on alcohol, farm subsidies for
some commodities, and means of grading and payment for certain
commodities (e.g., by fat content) are examples.
The heads of the agencies with responsibilities in food and nutrition
need to establish a suitable mechanism to ensure that all their policies
and programs directly or indirectly related to these areas are compatible
with the principles of dietary recommendations. The mechanism will
need to (1) coordinate government efforts to implement dietary rec-
ommendations, (2) maximize each agency's independent ability to
promote these recommendations, (3) establish consistent food and
nutrition policies across government agencies, and (4) initiate and
encourage collaborative efforts between government and outside agencies
(including the states, the private sector, and voluntary groups).
The committee suggests that the executive branch consider establishing
a single, high-level entity to coordinate and direct government nutrition
activities. This was proposed as early as 1969 at the White House
Conference on Food, Nutrition, and Health (White House, 1970~. As
an example, a committee could be established for this purpose, com-
posed of a very senior-level person from each of the eight relevant
cabinet-level departments (Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Educa-
tion, Health and Human Services, Interior, State, and Veterans Affairs).
The representatives would have a small professional and support
staff and major responsibilities in their departments for some aspect
of the food system or for feeding people.
ACTION 2: Encourage members of the U.S. Congress and state
legislative bodies to play active roles in the implementation of
dietary recommendations.
Legislative bodies have special opportunities and responsibilities
to devote some of their attention, interest, insights, and expertise on
matters that affect the diet and health of their constituents. Many
members of the U.S. Congress are becoming more cognizant of the
key role that dietary patterns play in the general well-being of the
public. Bills introduced in Congress pertaining to food and nutrition
cover a broad range of activities and include legislation to reauthorize
food assistance programs and legislation related to food labeling,
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IMPROVING AMERICA'S DIET AND HEALTH
nutrition monitoring, nutrition research, commodity food distribu-
tion programs, health promotion and disease prevention programs,
and education and training programs.
Members of the U.S. Congress can assist in efforts to implement
dietary recommendations in the various agencies through oversight
hearings, authorizations and appropriations, conference report language,
and other legislative actions. Support from the legislative branch
will encourage high-level administrators in the executive branch de-
partments to give priority and resources to dietary recommendations
in policy guidelines, technical assistance programs, education and
information initiatives, and other activities addressing the food, nutrition,
and health needs of consumers.
The farm bill, which comes before Congress every 4 to 5 years,
should be reviewed and revised with dietary recommendations in
mind. Nutrition educators, registered dietitians, physicians, and other
health-care professionals, working through their associations, should
advise Congress during these periodic reviews. The 1990 farm bill is
a landmark piece of legislation that mandates policies and programs
governing many areas relevant to dietary recommendations: (1) extending
and revising agricultural price support and related programs (e.g.,
for milk and sugar); (2) providing for agricultural export, resource
conservation, farm credit, agricultural research, and related programs
(e.g., human nutrition research, extension service, and land-grant in-
stitutions); (3) continuing certain food assistance programs to low-
income people (e.g., food stamps and commodity distribution programs);
and (4) ensuring consumers an abundance of food at reasonable prices
(e.g., through commodity promotion, research, and information) (U.S.
Congress, House, 1990; U.S. Congress, Senate, 1990~.
State legislatures have many opportunities to promote the imple-
mentation of dietary recommendations. In September 1989, for example,
California enacted legislation (Assembly Bill No. 2109) mandating its
State Department of Education to "develop and maintain nutrition
guidelines for school lunches and breakfasts, and for all food and
beverages sold on public school campuses" (California Legislature,
1989, p. 3~. These "guidelines shall include guidelines for fat, saturated
fat, and cholesterol, and shall specify that where comparable food
products of equal nutritional value are available the food product
lower in fat, or saturated fat, or cholesterol shall be used" (p. 3~.
STRATEGY 2: Alter federal programs that directly influence
what Americans eat so as to encourage rather than impede
the implementation of dietary recommendations. This
effort should affect food assistance, food safety, and nutrition
programs, as well as farm subsidy, tariff, and trade programs.
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121
The primary federal food assistance programs are administered by
USDA and DHHS together with state governments and local agencies.
Two nutrition services for older Americans (congregate meals and
home-delivered meals) are administered at the federal level by DHHS;
others (e.g., the Food Stamp Program, School Lunch and Breakfast
programs, the Child Care Food and Summer Food Service programs,
and the Special Supplemental Food Program for Women, Infants, and
Children tWIC]) fall under the jurisdiction of USDA. State departments
of education usually have responsibility for food programs serving
children in schools, child-care centers, and summer recreation centers.
State departments of health, welfare, and agriculture usually have
responsibility for programs providing food stamps or supplemental
foods to families or individuals. The meals programs for elderly
people are administered by state and area agencies on aging.
The potential for reaching vast numbers of the country's citizens
who receive benefits through these programs is tremendous. For
example, the School Lunch Program serves lunch to 24 million children
each day, about half of them from low-income families (U.S. Congress,
House, 1989a). At present, the nutritional standard for meals served
under this program is limited to the requirement that they meet one-
quarter to one-third of the RDAs (NRC, 1989b) over time through the
choice of foods within a prescribed meal pattern.
The committee recommends that nutrition guidelines for this and
all other food assistance programs be tied to dietary recommenda-
tions in a practical fashion. Participants in these programs should be
able, if they desire, to eat diets that meet dietary recommendations in
the normal course of their day-to-day living and not only by extraordinary
effort. They should be able to receive appealing and easy-to-understand
educational materials (of appropriate levels of comprehension and
cultural sensitivity) about dietary recommendations and how to improve
their eating habits with the help of the foods supplied by various
assistance programs.
ACTION 1: Revise current USDA regulations governing the
child and family nutrition programs to comply with dietary rec-
ommendations and train federal, regional, state, and local personnel
administering the programs to implement the recommendations.
Many implementation efforts can be achieved without legislative
or regulatory changes, while others require changes in laws and
regulations. The committee's recommendation to ensure that nutrition
programs adhere to dietary recommendations is one that requires
statutory and regulatory change. For example, while only the School
Lunch Program must offer students whole milk and at least one of the
following: low-fat milk, skim milk, or buttermilk, the other child nu
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IMPROVING AMERICA 'S DIET AND HEALTH
trition programs (e.g., the Special Milk, School Breakfast, Summer
Food Service, and Child Care Food programs) require only that milk
be fluid and pasteurized and that it meet state and local standards. It
may be unflavored or flavored whole milk, low-fat milk, skim milk,
or cultured buttermilk. The committee supports requirements that
options be made available, with the caveat that low-fat and skim
milk not be served to infants and children under age 2 without direction
by a pediatrician (see Chapter 4~.
To ensure that government nutrition programs adhere to dietary
recommendations, it will also be necessary to provide training and
other forms of technical assistance to those who administer the programs.
Designers of training programs must recognize that the United States
has a very decentralized, heterogeneous, multiethnic, multicultural
system, which makes implementation difficult. Managers and cooks
in all child and family food assistance programs should be trained in
all critical aspects of food preparation and services. At a minimum,
they should be taught menu planning, food purchasing, food prepa-
ration, and service techniques that support dietary recommendations.
Governments must encourage private-sector contributions to such training
programs.
The WIC food packages for women and children from age 2 and
older should be reviewed for conformance with the principles of dietary
recommendations. Fruits, vegetables, whole-grain products, and le-
gumes should be included whenever possible. The committee recog-
nizes that uniformity and cost issues must be addressed in modifying
the WIC package. Relevant government agencies working with WIC
nutritionists should prepare information and educational materials
for WIC recipients on healthful ways of feeding their families to meet
dietary recommendations. These materials should include caveats
concerning the applicability of these recommendations to infants and
children under age 2 and should address special issues (e.g., alcohol
consumption) related to the health of pregnant and lactating women.
Food Stamp Program allotments are based on the cost of the Thrifty
Food Plan, a nutritionally adequate set of food allowances developed
by USDA for people of very limited financial means (Cleveland and
Kerr, 1988~. However, the committee believes that many low-income
families lack the money (owing to other high fixed costs like shelter
and transportation); food planning, purchasing, and preparation skills;
and knowledge of food and nutrition to follow the Thrifty Food Plan
so as to ensure the consumption of nutritionally adequate diets that
meet dietary recommendations. The committee believes that dietary
change in healthful directions would probably be fostered among
low-income families if food stamp allotments were to be based on a
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A. Review standards of identity, changing or discontinuing them as
appropriate. These standards should be consistent with and promote the
principles of dietary recommendations.
With the intent to prevent economic fraud, the Federal Food, Drug,
and Cosmetic (FD&C) Act requires FDA to establish standards of
identity that define the composition of certain foods. Under current
provisions of the FD&C Act, it is very difficult to change a standard
once it has been adopted (IOM, 1990~. Therefore, some standards
have not kept up to date with advances in food technology and nutrition.
For example, fat was considered to be a valuable component of food
at the time that most standards were adopted, so standards of identity
for cheese are based largely on its fat content. A cheese product with
lower fat than required by the standard must be named something
other than cheese (although it need not be labeled "imitation" if it is
not nutritionally inferior to the standardized food). Consumers may
be less willing to try products that do not have standardized names,
even though some of them may fit more easily into diets meeting
dietary recommendations. FDA has sought comments on possible
approaches to addressing problems with current food standards and
will address this area under its current food labeling initiatives (Food
Chemical News, 1990~.
B. Review price supports for milk and examine the implications of in-
creasing the dollar value of the nonfat portion and reducing the dollar value
of the butterfat portion while keeping milk price constant.
Dairy products are a major food item in the U.S. diet, and there
has been a gradual increase in the purchase of low-fat milk. If the
population is to lower its fat intake to 30% or less of total caloric
intake, more low-fat dairy products need to be made available. At
present, however, the price for milk paid to producers is based on
the butterfat content. As an initial step toward decreasing the butterfat
content of milk, the committee recommends that USDA study the
economic implications to consumers and the dairy industry of increasing
the dollar value of the milk solids component and decreasing the
dollar value of the fat component. Adjustments in the milk pricing
system should provide an impetus to dairy producers to start breed-
ing, feeding, and managing their herds for decreased fat production
(NDC, 1989~.
C. Review and, if necessary, change quality grades of meat and develop
uniform nomenclaturefor ground beef to make these products more compat-
ible with dietary recommendations.
The grading system for beef and lamb has rewarded fatty meat
with appealing grade names that encourages producers to fatten ani
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IMPROVING AMERICA'S DIET AND HEALTH
mats and deters them from producing lean meat. The grades are a
vestige of the time when well-marbled meat meant better meat to
consumers. The grading system needs to be reviewed in light of
modern knowledge of diet and disease relationships. In 1987, a positive
change in the U.S. grading system was the renaming of U.S. Good
grade to U.S. Select (Clarke and Wise, 1988~. By establishing a more
positive grade name, the meat industry was given an opportunity to
improve marketing of beef with less marbling than that in the Prime
or Choice grade. A similar beneficial change is the action by the
USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service to alter the Institutional Meat
Purchase Specifications (IMPS) for fresh beef (USDA, 1988b). IMPS
are voluntary guidelines for cut definitions and trimming practices
used by the meat industry to help standardize quality control proce-
dures. The IMPS now call for more fat to be trimmed from various
cuts of beef than was designated in the past. The external fat on cuts
of beef such as steak was reduced from one-half to one-quarter inch,
and for the first time, the term practically free offal was quantified as
meaning that at least 75% of lean meat is exposed on the surface of
the cut.
A national standard for grading and labeling lean ground beef
should be adopted. Currently, individual states and supermarkets
set their own standard for lean, very lean, and other terms to describe
ground beef, and the actual fat content can vary considerably. This
confuses consumers who are trying to decrease the fat in their diets.
National uniform standards for the fat content in ground beef should
be developed.
ACTION 3: Improve the nutritional attributes of animal
products.
In 1988, a committee of the National Research Council's Board on
Agriculture released its report Designing Foods (NRC, 19881. Many of
the policy and research recommendations to improve the nutritional
attributes of animal foods are supportive of dietary recommendations
(see Chapter 6~. This committee therefore suggests that governments
review the report and adopt those recommendations that have a direct
impact on the implementation of dietary recommendations.
STRATEGY 4: Enable government feeding facilities to
serve as models to private food services and help people
meet dietary recommendations.
In their roles as major food-service providers, governments (espe-
cially the federal government) have responsibilities to set a good ex-
ample by offering meals that help people to meet dietary recommen-
dations. In addition to developing implementation and demonstration
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projects, governments can exercise their leadership and educational
roles by serving as models for the voluntary, private, and public
sectors. Such projects can be instructive to key institutions in the
country, including corporations, colleges and universities, correctional
facilities, and hospitals. Through the efforts of the secretary of DHHS,
several federal government facilities might serve as model programs.
The NIH Clinical Center, a "showcase" hospital, could make changes
in all nontherapeutic diets. The cafeteria in Building 31 on the NIH
campus in Bethesda, Maryland, serves the visiting biomedical community
and hospital and would be an excellent locus for a model program
that implements dietary recommendations. It is unrealistic to expect
others to change when government agencies (and private institutions
that depend largely on federal funding) do not do so themselves.
The cafeteria in the Hubert H. Humphrey Building in downtown
Washington, D.C., which serves high-ranking federal and other health-
care personnel, and the cafeterias of USDA have recently implemented
changes that are in accord with dietary recommendations and might
serve as models to other government-managed eating places.
Several issues associated with the implementation of dietary rec-
ommendations require further study. It is crucial to have informa-
tion on technical problems that might be experienced in demonstra-
tion projects (e.g., in private-, voluntary-, and public-sector settings)
in order to develop more effective implementation strategies.
In the committee's judgment, two barriers confront the implemen-
tation of Strategy 4. Perhaps the most fundamental barrier is the lack
of political will. In the case of smoking, governments acknowledged
the scientific evidence linking the habit to heart disease, lung cancer,
and other diseases and took actions to restrict or eliminate smoking
in their facilities. The committee hopes that as governments become
more convinced of the connections between diet and health, they will
become more active in implementing the principles of dietary recom-
mendations in their own feeding facilities. The second barrier to
implementation is the possibility that the civil liberties of the less
fortunate are being infringed, e.g., by limiting the choice of foods
available to those who are dependent on governments for subsistence,
such as patients in hospitals, the very poor, and prisoners. Ways of
protecting the rights of these people while encouraging them to adopt
healthful dietary practices must be found. One way to avoid even
the appearance of taking advantage of the less fortunate is to start
implementation programs among independent groups rather than the
indigent and dependent. For example, employee dining rooms in
government facilities should be tackled before attempts to implement
dietary recommendations are made with the hospitalized or the poor.
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IMPROVING AMERICA'S DIET AND HEALTH
ACTION 1: The Office of the Secretary of the U.S. Department
of Veterans Affairs ĒDVA) should direct its health-care personnel
to follow dietary recommendations in all of its food and health
care systems.
During fiscal year 1988, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
(formerly the Veterans Administration) maintained a total of 172 medical
centers (hospitals), 119 nursing homes, and 26 domiciles for veterans
and treated more than 1 million patients in these facilities (DVA,
1989~. The DVA should incorporate dietary recommendations into
all aspects of their food operations menu planning, food purchasing,
preparation, and service. The present clinical nutrition and dietetic
personnel should be retained in the DVA system to provide the technical
assistance needed to implement dietary recommendations.
Federal agencies, such as NIH through its National Cancer Institute
or National Institute on Aging, should collaborate with the DVA medi-
cal system to develop grant mechanisms to establish demonstration pro-
jects for implementing dietary recommendations and other activities
directed toward achieving the national health promotion and disease
prevention objectives of DHHS by the year 2000 (DHHS, 1990a). Likewise,
DVA and private hospitals should work cooperatively as often as possible
to develop and coordinate research and training initiatives to accomplish
this particular action. More recommendations about the training of health-
care professionals are discussed in Chapter 7.
Several specific steps can be taken to further strengthen the use of
diet and health principles in the DVA system. The first priority should
be implementation of dietary recommendations in the food environment
for the well patients and visitors in the DVA system; sufficient choice
of foods should be available so that those who want to eat in a man-
ner consonant with dietary recommendations are able to do so. Changes
in the diets of sick patients need to be made on a case-by-case basis,
since other therapeutic considerations may take precedence. In addition,
the following actions should be considered:
· Provide more central direction and support for clinical nutrition
within the DVA system. Take more action to implement dietary rec-
ommendations in canteens within the DVA. Baseline surveys should
be conducted to assess current implementation efforts in canteens
and elsewhere in the DVA.
· Develop policies and guidelines for implementing dietary rec-
ommendations. Implementation plans must then be put into effect at
local levels. Without the support of medical and nursing staffs, little
is likely to be accomplished. The dietetic services have no direct
responsibility over the cafeterias and canteens in the DVA system.
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133
· Encourage grant proposals for research and demonstration grants
that enhance implementation of dietary recommendations.
ACTION 2: The surgeons general of the Army, Navy, and Air
Force within the Department of Defense (DODJ should develop
a plan for implementing dietary recommendations in all aspects
of the DOD food and health-care systems.
The DOD feeds thousands of people each day. It offers meals in
dining halls, in other eating facilities, and in the hospitals and clinics
it operates around the world. Because of these huge feeding operations,
DOD purchases immense quantities of food and thus has a large
influence on the country's food supply. The DOD assistant secretar-
ies for health and the surgeon general of each service are charged
with maintaining the health and fitness of enlisted personnel and
their families. Thus, DOD has many opportunities to provide good
examples of implementing dietary recommendations. The committee
commends the DOD for making substantial advances in addressing
nutritional concerns of military personnel over the past two decades.
Since 1985, there has been an evaluation of the systems of feeding
military populations to determine the nutritional adequacy of the
diets consumed (DHHS,l989~. Results of this assessment serve as
the basis for modifying menus, standardizing recipes, designing cook
training programs, and developing specifications for the purchase of
food and combat rations. In a recent assessment of basic Army train-
ees at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, mean dietary fat intakes by both
the men and women for 7 days were less than 35% of total calories.
The "absence of a short-order line and limitation on high-fat, high-
calorie bakery items (donuts, pastries, etc.) may have assisted in the
attainment of this goal" (U.S. Army, 1989~. This assessment represents
a single evaluation in a highly controlled environment. More attention
needs to be paid to continuing evaluation, surveillance, and imple-
mentation of all aspects of dietary recommendations rather than on
fat consumption alone.
Nutrition-related regulations for the nation's active and reserve
military services have been in existence for decades. These regulations
have three major purposes: (1) to establish dietary allowances for
military feeding, (2) to prescribe nutrient standards for packaged ra-
tions, and (3) to provide basic guidelines for nutrition education.
They were last revised in 1985 and will be reviewed again now that
the 3rd edition of the federal government's Dietary Guidelines for
Americans report (USDA/DHHS, 1990) has been released. Because
these regulations are used by cooks in the military as well as by the
vendors who supply packaged rations, the committee recommends
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IMPROVING AMERICA'S DIET AND HEALTH
that the manual of regulations provide more emphasis on practical
ways to meet dietary recommendations. Special efforts must be made
to motivate cooks and vendors to alter their products and make them
more compatible with the principles of dietary recommendations.
ACTION 3: The DOD'sfood and beverage services and practices
should be revised to conform to dietary recommendations.
Mess halls, officers' clubs, clubs for enlisted personnel, and other
private food services on military facilities should be encouraged to
serve at least one identified meal choice, among the several offered,
that conforms to the principles of dietary recommendations. The
committee believes that the DOD should also develop a plan to implement
dietary recommendations in its food and health services, including
canteens and officers' clubs. The emphasis should not be placed
upon changing combat rations or other special feeding situations.
The enormous complexity of the implementation process within the
DOD is recognized. Yet at the very least, efforts in DOD facilities
should match those of other federal facilities.
ACTION 4: Urge the director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons
to examine the feasibility of providing diets in line with dietary
recommendations, recognizing the complexity of the correctional
system and the special role offood in correctionalfacilities.
The Federal Bureau of Prisons is responsible for ensuring the ad-
equacy and healthfulness of diets served in the large network of federal
correctional facilities under its jurisdiction. The social milieu of cor-
rectional institutions is complex, and changes in prison life are diffi-
cult to administer. Food has a great deal of symbolism in correctional
institutions, and the mess hall is a place where violence occurs. Oc-
casionally, correctional officials have instituted diets limiting sugary
and sweet foods in the hope that they will prevent or treat violent
and disruptive behavior, but this has been to no avail (Gray, 1986~.
The American Correctional Association, which reviews correctional
facilities, suggests that menus meet the RDAs. These menus should
also help prisoners to meet dietary recommendations. Groups including
registered dietitians, nutrition educators, health educators, correctional
officials, and inmates should convene to discuss and take action on
designing acceptable prison diets that meet dietary recommendations.
ACTION 5: The General Services Administration (GSA) should
ensure that food contracts and monitoring systems are made to
conform to the principles of dietary recommendations.
Those who work in or visit government offices often dine in fed-
eral facilities. Others attend catered functions sponsored by govern
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135
ment agencies. Many government cafeterias are operated by the GSA,
which in turn contracts with providers of food, catering, and vending
services. Technical assistance to food producers and preparers should
be provided or built into GSA contracts so that these people will be
able to provide appealing products and menus that help employees
and other consumers meet dietary recommendations. Voluntary, short-
term technical assistance will not be sufficient. Rather, long-term
innovations in service, education, and surveillance are likely to be
required. Quality assurance programs for foods purchased by gov-
ernments should be adapted whenever possible to include standards
consistent with the principles of dietary recommendations.
,_ , ~ ~
ACTION 6: Department secretaries should encourage government
employees to consume diets that meet dietary recommendations.
Department secretaries have initiated programs to promote fitness
and discourage smoking in their departments. It is entirely fitting
that similar programs encouraging employees to eat in accord with
dietary recommendations be initiated together with educational pro-
grams to assist them in learning how to accomplish this goal.
ACTION 7: The U.S. government personnel ultimately responsible
for funding official meal functions should offer meals that are
consistent with the principles of dietary recommendations.
This recommendation is applicable to all branches of governments
(executive, legislative, and judicial) at all levels (federal, state, and
local).
STRATEGY 5: Develop a comprehensive research, moni-
toring, and evaluation plan to achieve a better understanding
of the factors that motivate people to modify their eating
habits and to monitor the progress toward implementation
of dietary recommendations.
ACTION 1: The secretaries of USDA and DHHS should man-
date increased amounts of intramural research that relate to
implementation of dietary recommendations and give high priority
to thefunding of extramural research in this area.
Governments as well as the private sector, foundations, and vol-
untary organizations can perform or fund research that will expedite
the implementation of dietary recommendations and surveys that will
monitor the progress of implementation and evaluate its impact. Such
research would include intervention studies to further understand-
ing of the potential for chronic disease reduction (DHHS, 1988a; NRC,
1989a), social and behavioral studies to elucidate factors that moti-
vate people to modify their food habits over the long term, and tech
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IMPROVING AMERICA'S DIET AND HEALTH
niques to enhance the availability of foods that help people to meet
dietary recommendations. A discussion of directions for future research
is provided in Chapter 9.
ACTION 2: Improve the National Nutrition Monitoring System
and provide it with adequate resources.
The National Nutrition Monitoring System consists of a diverse set
of surveys and surveillance activities conducted by 12 agencies within
six federal departments DHHS, USDA, DVA, DOD, Commerce, and
Labor (DHHS/USDA, 1986, 1989~. It provides data on the per-capita
availability of foods and nutrients; household and individual food
intakes; prevalence of under- and overnutrition using anthropometric,
biochemical, and hematological Indicators of nutritional status; prevalence
of chronic diseases and risk factors for those diseases; and mortality.
However, different program obligations and logistical requirements
have led to differences in the methods used to collect and present the
information (DHHS/USDA, 1989~. Budget constraints have led to
delays in the start of some surveys and to cuts in the sample sizes.
Some groups are frequently excluded from surveys of the civilian
noninstitutionalized population, including active-duty military, Native
Americans, and people without fixed addresses (including the home-
less and migrant families who might have limited access to food
iNestle, 19903~. Other groups, such as racial minorities, are not included
in sufficient numbers to permit valid estimates of their nutritional
status or health (DHHS/USDA, 1986, 1989~. Little information is
collected about the population's knowledge of and attitudes toward
food and its relationship to health. Better information on the status
of the population with respect to recommended dietary patterns will
help to plan and target interventions, thus maximizing the budget
that will be allocated.
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Representative terms from entire chapter:
meet dietary
