Americans need to make a healthy body weight a top priority as they decide what to eat and should make time for 30 to 90 minutes of daily physical activity, the government said yesterday in the first revision of its recommended dietary guidelines in five years. The U.S. Dietary Guidelines, jointly issued by the departments of Health and Human Services and Agriculture, provide a recipe for healthful eating for the nation. By law, they must be applied to menu planning for school lunches, to supplemental nutrition programs for the poor and to set health policy objectives for the nation.
The guidelines are updated every five years by congressional mandate. The latest set offers 41 recommendations that direct Americans to eat more fruit, vegetables, whole grains, beans and low-fat or nonfat dairy products. That advice is far afield from the Atkins and other very low-carbohydrate diet programs that many Americans have flocked to in recent years.
The guidelines say that to reduce the risk of chronic disease, adults need to engage in "at least 30 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity," above what they do at work or home, on most days of the week. To lose weight or avoid the added pounds that creep on every year for most adults takes even more work -- about 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous intensity activity on most days of the week, the guidelines conclude. Those trying to sustain weight loss will probably need at least 60 to 90 minutes of moderate activity daily, the document adds.
Some experts worried that the guidelines set the bar too high for a largely sedentary U.S. population.
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