Self-anointed nutritionists and “children’s health advocates” have lambasted the Trump administration for giving local schools greater latitude and flexibility in the choice of food that they offer students.
In a separate post, I explain why these critics have it wrong. They adhere to bad and dated nutritional science that says fat and sodium are bad, but fruit and whole-grains are an unalloyed good.
In this post, I report in greater detail what the best and most recent science actually says about fat, carbohydrates, sodium, fruits, and vegetables. In truth, much of what we think we know about nutrition simply ain’t so.
Fat. Take, for instance, the longstanding proscription on fatty foods. Fat, we are told, is bad. However, there is absolutely no scientific evidence for this proscription. To the contrary: fat is highly beneficial and a much-needed macronutrient.
Fat is “a major source of energy,” notes the Harvard Medical School:
It helps you absorb some vitamins and minerals. Fat is needed to build cell membranes, the vital exterior of each cell, and the sheaths surrounding nerves. It is essential for blood clotting, muscle movement, and inflammation.
It is true that not all fats are created equal. Monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats are found naturally in nuts, cheese, olive oil, eggs, and fish. These are the healthiest types of fats.
Artificial fats, otherwise known as industrial-made trans fats, are found in sugar-laden snacks and processed foods and are unhealthy. Saturated fats, meanwhile, are found in meat and cheese and “fall somewhere in the middle” of the health continuum, notes Harvard.
Fat consumed, moreover, does not ipso facto become fat on our body. That is not at all how human biochemistry works. Excess calories consumed become fat. And, for most people, excess calories come not from consuming too much fat, but from consuming too many carbohydrates.
“The reality is that fat doesn’t make you fat or diabetic. Scientific investigations going back to the 1950s suggest that actually, carbs do,” writes Nina Teicholz, author of The Big Fast Surprise: Why Butter, Meat and Cheese Belong in a Healthy Diet.
Carbohydrates. Unfortunately, it is all too easy to consume too many carbohydrates. They dominate our food choices and need to be strictly limited. Yet, critics complain that Trump’s regulatory rollback will allow schools to offer more pizza, burgers and other fatty foods.
But pizza and burgers are high in protein and fat, which are not the cause of poor healthy and obesity. Just about all of us, in fact—our children included—would benefit from more protein, more fat and fewer carbs.
These same critics also complain that, because schools have greater flexibility in choosing food, students will consume less whole-grain bread and cereal, and starchy foods like potatoes [will] replace green vegetables.” But as Teicholz points out,
according to the best science to date, people put themselves at higher risk for these conditions [Type 2 diabetes and heart disease] no matter what kind of carbohydrates they eat.
Yes, even unrefined carbs. Too much whole-grain oatmeal for breakfast and whole-grain pasta for dinner, with fruit snacks in between, add up to a less healthy diet than one of eggs and bacon, followed by fish.
Sodium. Likewise with sodium: The critics complain that greater flexibility will result in more more high-sodium foods, even as the Trump administration rolls back regulatory limits on the amount of sodium allowed in school meals.
But it is far from clear that sodium is a real problem, especially for our youth. (High blood becomes more prevalent as people age and is less common in children.) “Dietary guidelines often change, but ‘restrict your salt intake’ has resisted the advances of science,” write Drs. Michael H. Alderman and David A. McCarron. “Adequate sodium,” they note,
is crucial for biological processes including nerve conduction, muscle contraction, and sustaining the fluid balance necessary to assure blood flow and deliver nutrients and oxygen to every cell in the body.
As recently reviewed in the New England Journal of Medicine, human physiology has evolved a complex process, mediated by the brain, to maintain sodium balance precisely.
If we consume too little sodium, our kidneys will go to extremes to conserve it. If we consume too much, it is eliminated through our skin, intestines, and kidneys.
You’re far likelier to die from failure to maintain this precise control than from the modest impact salt may have on your blood pressure.
Fruits and Vegetables. What about fruits and vegetables? The critics say that, because of the Trump regulatory rollback, students will consume fewer fruits and vegetables, which are a great source of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. Again: untrue.
While the benefits of fruits and vegetables are undeniable, they are not an unalloyed good, and too much of anything can be a bad thing.
The problem with fruit is that has lots of sugar (fructose), “which causes the liver to generate triglycerides and other lipids in the blood that are altogether bad news,” Teicholz writes.
Vegetables don’t have any such complicating factor. They absolutely are nutritious and should be an integral part of every person’s diet. Still, they are incapable of satiating a person’s appetite and cannot fulfill our natural, innate need for fat, protein, and basic food variety.
In truth, by giving local schools greater latitude and flexibility in the choice of food that they offer students, the Trump administration is acting upon the basis of the best and most recent science.
The administration’s critics, by contrast, are relying on antiquated and discredited ideas that serious nutritionists and health experts increasingly reject, and for good reason.