Modern wheat a "perfect, chronic poison," doctor says

[HiPointDem]

197. the pyramid (which is no longer a pyramid, btw) is published under the auspices of usda, but it's

not usda personnel who actually develop it. it's basically dietitian types, academics, food scientists.



There are grain lobbyists, beef and dairy lobbyists, sugar lobbyists, processed food lobbyists -- and yeah, even fruit and vegetable lobbyists. There's a lobbyist for everything you put in your mouth. Which is why narratives like "the grain lobbyists wrote the pyramid" are over-simplistic. Sure, politics has a role in development of the food guidelines -- big surprise. Politics has a role in every aspect of our lives, including the anti-tobacco guidelines. People think their own hobbyhorses are all ridden by good fairies while other folks' are ridden by the forces of mordor.

You think the beef/dairy lobby didn't bitch when the pyramid focused more on grains and advised reduced protein and fat consumption? Well, they did:

Upon release of the guidelines, the cattle, egg, and dairy industries went ballistic. Congress was telling people that animal products were bad for health! The intense pressure from these industries forced the committee into revising the report in late 1977. But the damage had been done, and American meat, egg and milk consumption continued to fall.

Because the goals of this document were so different, the USDA did not adopt them at first. In 1980, the USDA partnered with the Health and Human Services department to issue the first edition of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, which eventually became the USDA Food Pyramid.

During the 1980s, several other guidelines and reports were issued by various agencies. These included the Surgeon General’s Report on Nutrition and Health, and the National Research Council’s Diet and Health Report. Both reports were heavily influenced by the low fat proponents.

The USDA leaned heavily on these reports in the revision of its USDA Food Pyramid guidelines in the early 1990s. Interestingly, the actual graphic for the USDA food pyramid came from Sweden...(which had similar guidelines, btw -- international agencies also influence the dietary guidelines. There are lots of influences on the guidelines, not just food lobbyists).

http://www.healthy-eating-politics.com/usda-food-pyramid.html

Not to mention that grains grown for direct consumption by humans are a smaller fraction of the "grain" category than grains grown to feed animals. So the 'grain lobbyists' have kind of divided loyalties in this respect.