Suchergebnisse

The place of sugars in the U.S. diet is vigorously debated with much attention on added sugars, those added during processing or preparation of foodstuffs, particularly as they relate to obesity. Federal government agencies have different responsibilities related to the food supply including research, food safety, nutrition assistance, and labeling; therefore, the interpretation of evidence differs depending on the role of the agency. Some common references for government agency positions are the dietary reference intakes and the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, which together form the foundation for much of federal nutrition policy. Sugar consumption has increased in proportion to intake of other nutrients since 1980, when obesity began to increase substantially. Median intake of added sugars is ∼12% of energy, whereas total sugar intake is ∼22% of energy. Although there are differences in the way in which individual monosaccharides are metabolized, they are rarely consumed alone. A key issue related to obesity is likely the increased number of eating occasions and portion size for many indulgent foods; grain-based snacks have become the largest source of energy in the U.S. diet. There are currently insufficient data to justify a decision on regulation or taxation of sugar-containing foods and the like because the approach must be weighed against personal freedoms; the list of foods associated with obesity includes many commonly eaten items, and it is not likely that they are all causally related. Government should consider the totality of the evidence including the strength of the relationship of sugar intake with various health outcomes.

Recent Institute of Medicine (IOM) reviews of the process for deriving Dietary Reference Intakes (DRIs) suggest that determining the need for a new nutrient review should be evaluated against criteria set a priori. After selecting the criterion of significant new and relevant research, a working group of US and Canadian government scientists used results from a systematic review and 2 conferences on vitamin D and health to evaluate whether significant new and relevant scientific evidence had become available since the 1997 IOM publication of the DRIs for vitamin D. This working group concluded that there appears to be new research meeting the criteria for 4 key DRI questions. The new research is of larger quantity and quality for the elderly than for other groups, but overall 1) adds to the bone-related and status evidence available to the 1997 DRI Committee for several of the life-stage groups, 2) identifies new outcomes with respect to risk of falls and performance measures in the elderly and potential adverse effects, and 3) provides additional information on dose-response relations between intakes and circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentrations and between 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentrations and several health outcomes (ie, bone-related outcomes for all ages and risk of falls and performance measures in older adults). Members of the working group concluded that significant new and relevant research was available for reviewing the existing DRIs for vitamin D while leaving the decision of whether the new research will result in changes to the current DRIs to a future IOM-convened DRI committee.