The McGovern Report

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George McGovern, who died last year, age 90, was best known for his 1972 Presidential defeat to Richard Nixon. But, he also chaired a committee that released the first Dietary Guidelines in the United States, in January 1977. “The simple fact is,” quoting from the press conference, “that our diets have changed radically within the last 50 years, with great and often very harmful effects on our health. These dietary changes represent as great a threat to public health as smoking…The diet of the American people has become increasingly rich–rich in meat, [and] other sources of saturated fat and cholesterol, and in sugar…Most all of the health problems underlying the leading causes of death in the United States could be modified by improvements in diet…Ischemic heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and hypertension are the diseases that kill us. They are epidemic in our population. We cannot afford to temporize….The public wants some guidance, wants to know the truth, and hopefully today we can lay the cornerstone for the building of better health for all Americans, through better nutrition.”

As Dr. Hegsted later recounted in an interview (a founding member of Harvard’s Nutrition Department, that spoke at the press conference): “The meat, milk and egg producers were very upset.”  And, they weren’t the only ones.

The president and chair of the International Sugar Research Foundation called the report “unfortunate and ill-advised”—all part of the “emotional, anti-sucrose, anti-table sugar tidal wave” conspiracy, evidently. From the official record of the Committee hearings: “Simply stated, people like sweet things, and apparently the McGovern Committee believes that people should be deprived of what they like. There is a puritanical streak in certain Americans that leads them to become ‘do-gooders.’”

The president of the Salt Institute felt “that there is definitely no need for a dietary goal that calls for the reduction of salt consumption.” In fact, the assertion from the report that “improved nutrition may cut the Nation’s health bill by one third” was challenged.

See, what the Committee didn’t understand is that “healthcare expenditures increase if the lifespan is prolonged.” See, if people live longer, because they eat healthier, it could be more expensive. As some researcher pointed out, “…if tobacco were banned…the increase in the expected lifespan would simultaneously increase the cost of care of old people, which comes under the category of healthcare expenditures.” If people eat healthier, the Salt Institute warned, we might have more old people to take care of!

The National Dairy Council likewise recommended the dietary goals be withdrawn, and reformulated to have the endorsement of the food industry. You know, as soon as Häagen-Dazs says they’re okay, then go for it.

The two industries that went most ballistic, though, were the meat and egg producers, who demanded additional hearings were held. Egg Councils requested the distribution of the Dietary Goals be immediately stopped. “The frightening development as far as the egg industry [was] concerned is that the advocates of a modified, low-cholesterol diet now have the credibility and…prestige of the U.S. Senate…”

The president of the American National Cattlemen’s Association described why the meat industry “reacted rather violently,” complaining that “meat is never mentioned in a positive way” in the guidelines. “The only mention of meat are those associating meat consumption with various degenerative diseases. If these ‘Dietary Goals’ are moved forward and promoted in the present form…entire sectors of the food industry (meat, dairy, egg, sugar, and others) may be so severely damaged that when it is realized that the ‘Dietary Goals’ are ill-advised, as surely [they] will be, production recovery may be out of reach.”

“Thus guided by [my] conscience,” said the president of the National Live Stock and Meat Board, “I am certain that actions of the animal industries to [ensure] Americans are properly fed with abundant meat and other animal foods is an honorable and morally correct diet course.”

The meat industry recommended the Committee withdraw the dietary guidelines and “issue a corrected report.” They especially didn’t like guideline number two—to decrease meat consumption to lower saturated fat intake. Senator Dole (Kansas Senator Dole) offered to have that amended from “decrease meat consumption” to instead “increase consumption of lean meat.” “Would that taste better to you?” he asked the president of the Cattlemen’s Association, who replied, “Decrease is a bad word, Senator.”

So, what happened? By the end of the year, a revised version was released, indeed. The guideline two was changed from “decrease meat consumption” to “choose meats, poultry, and fish which will reduce saturated fat intake.”

That wasn’t enough for the meat industry, though. They wanted the whole Committee on Nutrition eliminated completely, and its functions turned over to the Agriculture Committee. The New York Times, noting that “[T]he Agriculture Committee looks after the producers of food,” editorialized that folding the Nutrition Committee into the Agriculture Committee would be like “sending the chickens off to live with the foxes.” And, that’s what happened.

The Senate Committee on Nutrition and Human Needs got disbanded, and placed within the Senate committee on Agriculture. George McGovern fought until the bitter end, though. When an interviewer confronted him with the Serenity Prayer’s “grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,” McGovern rejected the notion, saying: “I keep trying to change them.”

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• Money Talks. East-West Journal, vol. 7, no 11 (November 1977)
• United States. Congress. Senate. Select Committee on Nutrition and Human Needs. Dietary goals for the United States. First Session. Washington : U.S. Govt. Print. Off., 1977.
• United States. Congress. Senate. Select Committee on Nutrition and Human Needs. Dietary goals for the United States - Supplemental Views. Washington : U.S. Govt. Print. Off., 1977.

Images thanks to Tilden76 via Wikimedia Commons

• animal fat
• animal products
• beef
• blood pressure
• cancer
• cardiovascular disease
• cheese
• cholesterol
• dairy
• diabetes
• dietary guidelines
• eggs
• elderly
• fat
• fish
• Harvard
• heart disease
• high blood pressure
• hypertension
• industry influence
• lifespan
• longevity
• meat
• milk
• mortality
• Plant-Based Diets
• pork
• salt
• saturated fat
• seafood
• smoking
• sugar
• vegans
• vegetarians