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Weekend
December 30/31, 2000
Government
Testing For Diets
Americans
spend more than 40 billion dollars each year on diets
and diet products. But the average American is more overweight
than ever. Now a new proposal for government testing of
diets offers hope to those fighting the battle of the
bulge.
There's the Subway® diet, the Divine diet, even the
magnet diet. Bookshelves offer a dizzying array of diet
bibles. Right now five of them sprinkled across the
New York Times Bestseller list. But some say the diet
gurus should simply eat their words.
Thirty-five-year old Maria Marco has run the diet gamut
over the past 20 years, losing a total of 200 pounds on
many diets. But after every loss she says she gained it
all back and more! Worse, Maria's weight loss rollercoaster
left her exhausted, worried about her health, and overwhelmed
emotionally.
Harvard nutritionist Dr. George Blackburn sympathizers
with people like Maria. He says that despite the diet
deluge we are getting fatter every year.
 "Americans
are gaining a pound year and obese people are gaining
three pounds a year." Says Blackburn.
Concerned about the serious health effects of bouncing
up and down on the weight scale, Blackburn and others
are calling for the government to step in to determine
how effective diets are and how dangerous.
"What
we're proposing is scientific trials be done on diet
books and diet products." Explains Blackburn.
And guess what? Several prominent diet authors are backing
him. Among them, the authors of "Sugar Busters" and
"Dr Atkin's New Diet Revolution." In fact the government
is already pushing for better nutrition.
An official website invites you to enter what you eat
each day to see if it's good for your health. Combined
with more reliable information about what diets offer,
monitoring your meals in a way that could help keep
you thinner and happier. Check out www.usda.gov/cnpp.
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Center
for Nutrition Policy Promotion