USDA Dietary Guidelines 2010

The US Department of Agriculture released its Dietary Guidelines yesterday.  As expected, it recommended consumption of more fruits & vegetables, whole grains, oils, and fish/chicken/beans while limiting solid fats, added sugars, refined grains, and sodium.  In general, they recommend nutrient-dense foods compared to our current calorie-dense choices.

The USDA briefly reviewed various known diets, eg Okinawan (Asian), Mediterranean, DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension), and vegetarian.  While they pointed out the benefits of each and the commonalities in all, the USDA glossed over the one major selling point behind the Mediterranean diet over all the rest -- that of  lower all-cause mortality.  Yes, they're all associated w/lower rates of heart disease, some w/lower rates of hypertension, diabetes and/or stroke, but only the Mediterranean diet has been repeatedly associated w/lower all-cause mortality, cancer, and dementia, in addition to the aforementioned diseases.

Granted, the world would be a pretty dull place if we all ate the same thing over & over again w/o regard to ethnic, cultural or religious preferences and especially if we didn't indulge in the occasional dessert to celebrate a birthday or anniversary.  But unlike the quote that it's always 5 o'clock somewhere as the rationale to start drinking, while it's always someone's birthday and/or anniversary, we need to make better choices on a more regular basis and minimize our indulgences as best we can.