Remarks as Delivered at the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee Meeting

Thank you very much, Secretary Schafer, members of the committee. I would like to first begin by noting that we are convening on the day before Halloween. I do not think there’s any irony lost on us about the Dietary Guidelines.

Ed mentioned his grandson. My daughter called me last night to report that, while she was bathing her 3-year-old son, they were having a discussion about what he should be for Halloween. He had originally planned to be a dinosaur, but his mother was proposing that he be a pumpkin. As he dried off, he grabbed his cowboy hat and said, “I want to be a naked cowboy.”

I think he’s changed his mind since.

You know, Ed and I both have grandchildren. Ed, I had a friend of mine describe for me why it is that grandparents have such a close relationship with their grandchildren. And it’s because they have a common enemy. (Think about that….)

The Dietary Guidelines are not about keeping Americans from enjoying Halloween — or Thanksgiving, for that matter. But they are a very important cornerstone in our federal nutrition policy. And I would like to suggest that it’s more than just nutrition policy. This is a volley for health-care reform.

Compared to 25 years ago, as the Secretary mentioned, there are roughly now three-times as many overweight children. There’s something particularly troubling about so many young Americans being overweight. But the problem is by no means limited to children.

There’s an amazing statistic on obesity in American adults:

In 1997, only three states had obesity levels that were over 20%. In 2007, just ten years later, 49 states now have obesity-rates over 20%. So in 1997, there were only three states which had 20% of their population that was obese. And in 2007, there was only one state that didn’t have a population that was over 20% obese.

I would like to claim North Dakota or Utah as being among those. But, unfortunately, both fall under the category of over 20%. The only holdout, I might add, is the state of Colorado, which neighbors both of us.

We’ve got to start getting states across the line the other way. And I think that’s in large measure what this is about.

I want to emphasize that, that statistic that I just gave you is not the result of some kind of radical reclassification that’s been made. In fact, in you look at the CDC website, you’ll see a color-coded map, and it actually is timed by year. It looks like election night, as they go from one color to the next. The only problem is, here this is a clear victory for obesity.

And we’ve got to change that. It’s becoming a serious chronic health problem, and it’s leading to a lot of chronic diseases. The types of foods that we eat, as well as the amount that we eat, is having a profound impact on the health of this country. More and more Americans are suffering from chronic conditions, such as coronary heart disease, strokes, high blood pressure, and type-2 diabetes.

The cost of treating chronic care is enormous. It makes up 75% of the $2 trillion that we spend as a country.

I had a startling statistic presented to me yesterday. Among our Medicare population, which makes up more than 40 million Americans who are seniors or disabled, we have found that there are 23% of that population that have multiple chronic diseases — more than five. Of that amount, they make up 67% of the total expenditures. So we have 23% making up 67%.

I might add that these people have 37 doctor appointments every year, on average, and they have as many as 50 prescriptions a year. This is right at the heart of our health-care reform issues. As I say, this is a volley in health-care reform that we are launching today.

To bring it down to a more personal level, it means that the average American is spending about $10,000 a year — whether directly or through taxes — to treat chronic diseases.

So the work of this committee and others that will be done in the development of these guidelines is very important work. And there are changes in American lifestyles in the past 25 years that have resulted in this overweight trend, and the change in diets, and we need to identify them. Eating well and being active is very important — not just to eat well, but we need to be physically fit.

Earlier this month at HHS, through the good work of Penny Royall, who is part of this group, we announced the 2008 Physical Activity Guidelines. We encourage Americans to find something active they can do, something that they’re willing to do, and then just to do it.

The guidelines’ central message is, “Be active in your own way.” Pick an activity that’s easy, that’s in your lifestyle, and do at least ten minutes a day, or ten minutes at a time. More is better, but some is certainly better than none.

The Dietary Guidelines will be complementary to the Physical Activity Guidelines, and they’ll incorporate aspects of both of them.

Nearly five years ago, when Agriculture and HHS last released the Dietary Guidelines, we made three changes to previous versions: we included more comprehensive physical-activity recommendations; we focused on making Dietary Guidelines more evidence-based; and we developed more consumer-friendly ways to communicate the recommendations.

Those were clear steps in the right direction. Now these Physical Activity Guidelines go hand-in-hand with a good diet. And the more we can ultimately communicate both of then to the public, the more useful they will be.

Those of you who are serving on the committee are well aware of how challenging it is to get people to change the way they eat. And with that in mind, I’d like to make a specific suggestion to you.

If you can, I think it would be very useful if you could identify the two or three dietary changes that Americans can make immediately that would likely have the greatest benefit to their health. If you could help identify the two or three — those two or three things could make the most difference, and that’ll be very helpful.

And now, I’d like to perform my official task here today, which is to make a formal charge to each of you as committee members:

[Charge to the 2010 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee]

The Dietary Guidelines for Americans provide science-based advice for Americans, ages 2 and older, in order to promote health and to reduce the risk for major chronic diseases through diet and physical activity.

The Dietary Guidelines for Americans form the basis of Federal nutrition policy, nutrition standards, nutrition programs, and nutrition education for the general public and are published jointly by USDA and HHS every five years.

The Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee (DGAC) shall advise the Secretaries of USDA and HHS if revisions to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2005, are warranted based on the preponderance of the scientific and medical knowledge currently available.

The Committee, whose duties are time-limited and solely advisory in nature, will:

• Inform the Secretaries of both Departments if no changes to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2005, are warranted. This action will disband the DGAC.
• Inform the Secretaries of both Departments if changes are warranted, based on the preponderance of the most current scientific and medical knowledge, and determine what issues for change need to be addressed.
• Place their primary focus on the review of scientific evidence published since the last DGAC deliberations.
• Place their primary emphasis on the development of food-based recommendations.
• Prepare and submit a report of technical recommendations with rationales to the Secretaries. DGAC responsibilities do not include translating the recommendations into a policy or communications document.
• (And, if you’re wondering when you’re released, you may) Disband upon the submittal of the Committee’s recommendations via the Report of the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee on the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2010.

That concludes your official charge.

And with that, we wish for your very best work, we express our appreciation for your service, and look forward to a collaboration that will produce better health for all Americans.

Thank you.

Last revised: January 12, 2009