A member of the Biden administration’s panel tasked with setting new dietary guidelines for Americans is receiving backlash for her comments on obesity.
dr Fatima Cody Stanford, physician of obesity medicine at Mass General Health in Boston, has been appointed to the 2025 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, which will develop new recommended eating habits for Americans in the years to come.
The appointment has drawn backlash as it comes just weeks after she downplayed the value of diet and exercise in weight loss in an interview with 60 Minutes earlier in the year.
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Department of Agriculture (USDA) develops these guidelines every five years. Earlier versions have been blamed for starting America’s obesity crisis.
dr Fatima Cody Stanford (pictured), Obesity Physician at Mass General Health, said during a 60-minute interview that obesity is more of a genetic condition than one caused by lifestyle factors
The USDA unveiled the food pyramid in 1991 and has since been partially blamed for the sharp rise in obesity in America. Critics say it has bad recommendations that aren’t backed by science, and its high recommended amounts of grains and starches have contributed to many people becoming obese
The appointment of Dr. Cody comes as the US remains one of the fattest countries in the world, according to a new report.
“The most common cause of obesity is genetics,” said Dr. cody
“That means if you’re born to parents with obesity, you have a 50 to 85 percent chance of getting the disease yourself. Even with optimal nutrition, exercise, sleep management, stress management.”
dr Shauna Levy, bariatric surgery expert at Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana, told , “I think Dr. Cody’s comment was an oversimplification of the cause of the disease.
“However, I also think that as a society we probably underestimate the role of genetics in causing obesity and overestimate the role that diet/exercise plays in managing this disease.”
dr Cody Stanford will serve on a panel of 20 nutrition, obesity and weight loss experts from across the country who are on the HHS and USDA boards.
The group will work to set new dietary guidelines in the US beginning in 2025. New government dietary guidelines are established every five years.
“The 2025 Committee will examine the relationship between diet and health at all stages of life and will use a health equity lens in its evidence review to ensure factors such as socioeconomic status, race, ethnicity and culture are described and considered to the fullest extent possible,” according to a press release from the USDA.
It goes on to say that the panel has “substantial” expertise in the field of health equity and that factor was taken into account in its selection.
This committee will use guidelines from schools, hospitals, and other organizations to establish meal plans.
Nutritionists and dieticians across America are also likely to make recommendations to parents based on the decisions of this panel.
However, these policies have come under fire in the past. In 1992, the USDA introduced the food pyramid.
It recommended 6 to 11 servings of starchy foods, such as rice and bread, 3 to 5 servings of vegetables, 2 to 4 servings of fruit, 2 to 3 servings of meat and dairy products each day, and sparing use of fats, oils and sweets.
Some have pointed to this pyramid as the catalyst for America’s crisis, where over 70 percent of the country is now overweight and nearly half is obese.
The pyramid has been widely criticized for focusing on portion sizes rather than helping a person control calorie content, and for recommending not to eat fatty foods — which could be part of a healthy diet.
“Well, this pyramid really doesn’t fit well with good scientific evidence, and it’s been really out of date since the day it was printed in 1991,” said Dr. Walter Willet, former chair of the Harvard School of Public Health, told PBS.
dr Mark Hyman, an American wellness expert, wrote in 2016, “Here’s the truth: Government recommendations released in 1980 promoted low-fat diets that have catapulted us into the worst obesity and diabetes epidemic in history.”
He points out the large number of carbohydrates recommended by the pyramid and says that the body converts these carbohydrates into sugar and fat in the body.
dr Hyman also warns that highly processed refined carbohydrates lead to inflammation in the body.
MyPlate has since replaced the pyramid and has received similar criticism.
Obesity is classified as having a body mass index score of 40 or higher. It is calculated by comparing a person’s height to their weight.
Scientists have long known that a person’s weight depends on how many calories a person is consuming versus what they are burning.
How many calories a person burns each day is primarily dependent on their metabolism, the process by which the body converts food into energy. A person with a high metabolism burns more calories when they rest throughout the day.
Eating a low-calorie diet and increasing the number of calories burned daily through exercise can help a person lose weight.
When a person consumes excess calories, they are stored as fat or muscle in the body, causing them to gain weight.
How fast a person’s metabolism works is influenced by their genetic profile, their age, the amount of physical activity they get each day, and their muscle-to-fat ratio.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says obesity is “rarely” caused by heredity patterns.
The most common gene associated with obesity, MC4R, is found in less than five percent of obese people, according to the CDC.
“No single genetic cause can be identified in most obese people,” the agency writes.
But dr Christopher McGowan, a North Carolina-based obesity specialist, told that genetic factors could make it harder for an overweight person to shed the pounds.
“In today’s increasingly obese environment, those with a genetic predisposition are more likely to gain weight,” he said.
“Losing gained weight becomes increasingly difficult due to the body’s innate weight-promoting systems. Ultimately, because of these underlying genetic factors, obesity is a disorder of energy regulation.’
He says these genetic factors can be overcome by adjusting a person’s lifestyle with diet and exercise.
Obesity has been linked to a variety of deadly health problems like diabetes, heart disease, Alzheimer’s, liver disease and more.