Americans advised to eat Real Bread

While the new Dietary Guidelines for Americans don't advise US citizens to kick additive-laden, industrial dough products (or other ultra-processed foods) altogether, they do steer people away from them and towards eating Real Bread, especially wholegrain.

This post is not intended as an in-depth analysis of the guidance, scrutiny of influence that industry lobbying might have had on it, or commentary on the current US administration or its food and health policy more generally. It is simply a first reaction from a Real Bread Campaign perspective.

Get real!

It seems that the US Government might be catching up with what the Real Bread Campaign (and others in the Sustain alliance and wider, good food movement) have been saying for many years: real food is best. A US Department of Health and Social Services 'fact sheet' admitted: ‘For decades, the U.S. government has recommended and incentivized low quality, highly processed foods and drug interventions instead of prevention.’ 

A US Department of Agriculture press release launching the new guidelines claimed they ‘deliver a clear, common-sense message to the American people: eat real food.’ The recommendations that closely align or resonate with the Campaign’s messaging include:

• Limit intake of artificial preservatives and other additives.
• Eat more whole grains: two to four ‘servings’ per day.
• Significantly reduce consumption of highly-processed, refined carbohydrates.

The last point includes anything made with white flour – even if it’s sourdough Real Bread. While we don’t have an issue with white bread*, we continue to turn the volume up on the assertion that, for most people, wholemeal bread is better.

*By which we mean white bread, not white industrial dough product.

Whole grains

Unhelpfully, the new guidelines don’t state what a ‘serving’ of whole grain is. A bit of scratching around, however, leads to Daily Servings By Calorie Level on the US Government’s Real Food website. This document defines ‘Whole Grains’ as ‘all whole-grain foods and products made with whole grains as ingredients’ and gives one slice of bread and one tortilla as examples of a portion. It also notes that foods on the list ‘are assumed to be nutrient-dense, with no or limited added sugars, refined carbohydrates, or chemical additives.’

Questions remain. For example, to qualify as a whole grain ‘serving’, does that slice or tortilla have to be made from 100% wholemeal flour, or just contain some? How much does it have to weigh? Does it have to be free from additives, refined flour and added sugar, or can it contain a ‘limited’ quantity. Why isn’t the amount of fibre (sorry – fiber)* mentioned anywhere? Why not use the whole grain definitions established for the Child and Adult Care Program? Sorry, I’m disappearing down a rabbit hole here…

*The USDA offers Americans a DRI calculator to work out how much they should be consuming, and more info about fiber.

Sourdough, microbiome and more

The FAQ section of the Real Food website states: ‘Grains can be part of a real food diet when eaten in whole or traditionally prepared forms. Foods like oats, rice, and true sourdough are preferred,’ then re-emphasises: ‘refined and packaged grain products should be limited.’

The guidelines highlight that ‘your gut contains trillions of bacteria and other microorganisms called the microbiome.  A healthy diet supports a well-balanced microbiome and healthy digestion. Highly processed foods can disrupt this balance…’ By contrast, its notes that fermented foods and high-fibre foods ‘support a diverse microbiome, which may be beneficial for health.’

They also say that, generally, US adults should consume less than 2,300mg of sodium a day, though don’t translate this into the equivalent amount of salt. The section on protein misses the opportunity to note that Real Bread can be a source of it.

What can other policy makers learn from this?

We do not suggest that the UK (or its devolved nations) exactly replicates the policies or official guidance of any other state. What we do call for, however, is our government to take inspiration from the US focus on whole, real foods, and stance against UPFs. We continue to lobby for a legal defintion of sourdough, and would also like to see the gut microbiome getting official recognition over here.

Again, this (evidently) is not an in-depth analysis of the new US guidelines, and only time will tell how effective they will be – or reveal any unintended consequences of implementing them.