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OCR for page 158
Assessment of Diet Quality and
the U.S. Department of Agriculture's
Nutntion Policy and Research
BETTY B. PETERKIN
Several facts about diets in Me United States are basic to nutrition policy,
research, and programs:
~ The American food supply is plentiful and varied.
· Most Americans have enough to eat—some too much.
· Diets of Americans differ widely.
· Factors affecting American diets are numerous—many of them un-
known or not quantified.
· What, when, and where Americans eat change over time.
· Many Americans might benefit from dietary modification. Precisely
what modifications will produce specific benefits await further research.
POLICY
The food and nutrition policy of the U.S. Department of Agriculture
has the following mission: to ensure that all Americans have access to
(1) an adequate, safe, and nutritious diet and (2) the information needed
to make informed food choices (Block, 1983; USDA, 19841. The de-
partment carries out its nutrition mission through research, information,
education, regulations, and food assistance programs.
158
OCR for page 159
DIET QUME ASSESSMENT ED USDA'S NUTRITION POLICY ED RESEARCH 159
RESEARCH
To help Americans improve their diets, continued research on what and
why Americans eat is necessary (Peterkin and Rizek, 19841. USDA's new
Continuing Survey of Food Intakes by Individuals initiated in early 1985
will provide continuous data on diets of a core group of the population
(Rizek and Posati, 19851. By means of a major decennial survey planned
for 1987, the USDA will obtain information on household food use and
costs and 3-day intakes of household members. Several studies (Peterkin
and Rizek, 1984), some just completed and others planned, have been
designed to improve the reliability of dietary data and speed up the re-
porting process.
Translation of food intake data to nutrient intake data requires reliable
inflation on food composition. Considerable research progress has been
made in recent years, both in the development of methods for nutrient
analysis and He availability of nutrient data on increasing numbers of
foods. Because of these advances, diets reported in the 1985 survey can
be assessed for almost twice the number of nutrients as were used in the
1977-1978 national survey (USDA, 1980~.
The success of the USDA food and nutrition mission depends on re-
searchers' ability to define diets Hat promote optimum health and prevent
disease. The definition of such diets is complicated by researchers' un-
certainties about human nutritional requirements, about availability and
interaction of nutrients in the body, and about the relationship of diets to
He prevention of disease. Even if those' concepts were 'understood, nu-
~ition education approaches to translate this understanding into improved
eating behavior would be needed.
PROGRAMS
Nutrition and Your Health: Dietary Guidelinesfor Americans, published
jointly by the USDA and the U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services (USDA and DHHS, 1980), presents current dietary guidance
policy; these guidelines are the basis for nutrition education programs and
for the nutritional standards of He food assistance programs. The seven
dietary guidelines are now under review by the Dietary Guidelines Ad-
visory Committee (Wolf and Peterkin, 19841. Histoncally, USDA has
interpreted "Eat a variety of foods," currently guideline no. 1, to mean
that people should eat foods that together provide the Recommended
Dietary Allowances (RDAs) (ARC, 19801. USDA has identified die RDAs
defined by He National Research Council as "adequate to meet the known
nutritional needs of practically all healthy persons" as the appropriate
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160 PERSPECTIVES ON NUTRITION PROMS, POLICY, AD RESEARCH
standard for guidance. Few Americans, especially American women, con-
sume diets that meet RDAs for all nutrients (Pao and Mickle, 1981), and
U.S. food supplies are not sufficient to provide the population with RDAs
of some nutrients (Welsh and Marston, 19821. Furthermore, to achieve
RDAs while meeting guideline no. 2, '`Maintain ideal weight," requires
extreme dietary change for some sex-age categories (Cleveland et al.,
19831.
Thus, even without considering the other five guidelines relating to fat,
cholesterol, sugar, sodium, alcohol, carbohydrate, and fiber, there is a
major nutrition program dilemma. Should USDA's nutrition education
and food assistance program objectives call for the major disruption of
food consumption patterns necessary to achieve RDAs for nutrients
especially nutrients for which no apparent public health problem exists?
We do not know the risk associated with failing to achieve RDAs. Perhaps
the RDA-committee was unduly cautious in establishing RDAs where
nutrient requirements are uncertain. Nutrition educators and food program
planners must be aware of this uncertainty if they are to help the public
make wise food choices. If the RDAs are not appropn ate standards for
dietary guidance and food programs, such standards must be developed.
Eating patterns of Americans differ widely and are always changing in
response to a myriad of factors. One factor that concerns many nutritionists
is dietary guidance itself, and several questions need continuing research.
· Are the nutrition guidelines that are prepared for the public by the
federal government, the nutrition community, health professionals, self-
proclaimed nutrition experts, and others the best that can be formulated
on the basis of current knowledge?
· Are nutritionists too cautious in recommending dietary change, or
are they recommending change without sufficient research basis?
· Do particular foods threaten the American diet to such an extent that
federal guidance and regulations should deviate from their historical ap-
proach and treat them as "bad" foods? If so, how should these foods be
identified?
· What nutrition messages does the public receive?
· Are these nutrition messages so conflicting that the credibility of the
message senders is threatened and public interest in nutrition is lost?
REFERENCES
Block, J. R. 1983. USDA's commitment to nutrition in the 80's. Nutr. Today 18(6):6-12.
Cleveland, L. E., B. B. Peterkin, A. J. Blum, and S. J. Becker. 1983. Recommended dietary
allowances as standards for family food plans. J. Nutr. Educ. 15:~-14.
NRC (National Research Council). 1980. Recommended Dietary Allowances, 9th ed. A report
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DIET EQUALITY ASSESSMENT AND USDA'S NUTRITION POLICY AND RESEARCH 161
of the Food and Nutrition Board, Assembly of Life Sciences. National Academy of Sciences,
Washington, D.C.
Pao, E. M., and S. J. Mickle. 1981. Problem nutrients in the United States. Food Technol.
35(9):58-69.
Peterkin, B. B., and R. L. Rizek. 1984. National nutrition monitoring system. U.S. Department
of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. Fam. Econ. Rev. 84(4):15-19.
Rizek, R. L., and L. P. Posati. 1985. Continuing survey of food intakes by individuals. U.S.
Department of Agnculture, Agricultural Research Service. Fam. Econ. Rev. 85(1):16-17.
USDA (U.S. Department of Agriculture). 1980. Food and Nutrient Intakes of Individuals in 1
Day in the United States, Spring 1977. Nationwide Food Consumption Survey 1977-78.
Preliminary Report No. 2. U S. Department of Agriculture, Washington, D.C. 121 pp.
USDA (U.S. Department of Agnculture). 1984. Directory: Human Nutrition Activities. U.S.
Department of Agnculture, Washington, D.C. 21 pp.
USDA and DHHS (U.S. Department of Agriculture and U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services). 1980. Nutrition and Your Health: Dietary Guidelines for Americans. HO 232. U.S.
Government Printing Office, Washington D.C. 20 pp.
Welsh, S. O., and R. M. Marston. 1982. Zinc levels in U.S. food supply 1909-1980. Food
Technol. 36:70-76.
Wolf, J. D., and B. B. Peterkin. 1984. Dietary guidelines: The USDA perspective. Food Technol.
38(7):80-86.
Representative terms from entire chapter:
nutrition policy
