Public Health Nutrtion: Policy

Policy Efforts for Optimizing the Nutritional Health of the Population

What are the major tools for communicating "good nutrition" to the public?

The federal government takes an active role in formulating guidance on "good nutrition" for the public. Federal agencies, assisted by other organizations such as the American Academy of Sciences, develop and regularly update nutrition guidelines and recommendations for the public.

Three tools with reinforcing content form the bases for nutrition guidance for Americans. They were designed to give consistent population-based messages about good dietary practices and to be used by individuals in making daily food choices.

The Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion in the U.S. Department of Agriculture oversees the development and use of dietary guidance tools as well as other nutrition education initiatives.

Dietary Guidelines for Americans

Dietary Guidelines for Americans are food-based recommendations that translate science into sound, practical advice for healthy Americans age two years and over.

The focus of the seven guidelines is health promotion and disease prevention.

They are widely used for consumer education. Federally funded nutrition programs including school lunch and elderly meals programs must follow the guidelines.

Food Guide Pyramid

The Food Guide Pyramid serves as a guide to daily food choices. It promotes dietary variety, balance and moderation.

The pyramid gives a recommended number of servings for each of five food groups

Food Facts Nutrition Label

Federal law defines the content of food labels and a standard format is required for the Nutrition Facts portion of the label.

Nutrition Facts must list the serving size and the amount of several nutrients.

The listed nutrients correspond to those linked to preventable chronic diseases (e.g., fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, sodium, fiber, vitamin A, vitamin C, calcium and iron) and receiving attention in Dietary Guidelines and the Food Guide Pyramid.

National Objectives and Reference Standards

Recommended Dietary Allowances and Dietary Reference Intakes

Nutrition policy for the United States is also reflected in Recommended Dietary Allowances and Dietary Reference Intakes (RDA/DRI).

The Food and Nutrition Board and the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences periodically convene committees to review existing science and research and establish or update reference values for safe and adequate intake of nutrients.

These reference values for age and gender subgroups are used for planning and assessing the diets of population groups.

For example, school lunch programs and congregate meal programs for seniors must serve meals that average one-third of the RDA.

Nutrition Objectives for the Population

Federal and state health agencies, along with numerous partner organizations, strive to improve the health status of the population and reduce the occurrence of preventable health problems.

Nutrition-related goals, objectives and strategies for the population are outlined for each decade by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

The current objectives, Healthy People 2010, include over 120 objectives specific to nutrition, including weight and activity objectives for children, and a breastfeeding and newborn screening objective.

For examples, see the Table of Contents at the following URL:

http://www.health.gov/healthypeople/Document/tableofcontents.htm#mat

Nutrition Policy in the US: Translating Science into Practice

The tools described above are a foundation for nutrition-related policy and regulatory actions of government agencies at the federal, state and local levels.

For example federally funded nutrition programs such as USDA’s School Breakfast Program and the US Administration on Aging’s Elderly Nutrition Programs must follow the Dietary Guidelines for Americans and offer 1/3 of the Recommended Dietary Allowances.

Government agencies, as well voluntary health, education and social service agencies, routinely update their educational messages to incorporate the latest versions of Dietary Guidelines for Americans.

Advancing science and updated Dietary Guidelines for Americans and the RDA/DRI also affect food products. An example of this is a new requirement to include folic acid as a nutrient added to bread and grain products.

Government agencies take a lead in a number of policy areas that affect the nutritional well-being of Americans.

Nutrition policy areas include:

• Providing an adequate food supply at a reasonable cost (through farm policy and price supports)
  
  
• Ensuring a safe and wholesome food supply (through food inspection and enrichment and fortification regulations)
  
  
• Providing food access and availability regardless of income (through food assistance programs such as Food Stamps, Child Nutrition Programs, and Food Distribution Programs)
  
  
• Providing research-based information and educational programs to encourage informed food choices (through nutrition education and dietary guidance)
  
  
• Providing for an adequate science and research base in food and nutrition (through nutrition monitoring; and through agriculture, food and human nutrition research conducted by government agencies such as USDA or NIH or external grants to universities and research institutes)
  
  
• Supporting nutrition services as part of the health system (through training of health professionals). In addition some state governments also support nutrition as a part of the health system through licensure of nutrition professionals and payment for nutrition services.