Can we really trust the ADA?
Published: June 21, 2009
Many news outlets and reporters look to the American Dietetics Association for trustworthy and accurate information on diet and nutrition.
I would have done the same until I learned that the ADA favors industrially processed ingredients over organic food, even though its own Hunger and Environmental Nutrition Dietetic Practice Group has repeatedly found that plants cultivated in organic systems contain higher levels of nutrients and an organic diet avoids the many serious health risks associated with pesticide exposure.
The ADA refuses to endorse organic, but it has given its stamp of approval to aspartame and genetic engineering. Could this be because it receives industry funding from companies like ARAMARK, Coca-Cola, Colgate Palmolive, Corowise, Ecolab, Ensure, General Mills, GlaxoSmithKline, Kellogg, Kraft, Mars, Pepsi and Unilever, as well as the industrial dairy and beef industries?
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I guess I put it badly. While I prefer OG as well, it is more expensive when you look at the overall bill. And yes, Rice, beans, etc, are very healthy alternatives. What point I was attempting to make is at least the ADA is focusing on a nutritious diet, high in fiber, low in sodium, whoever might be “buying them off.“
A harried parent wheeling through the grocery store is liable to be more tempted, in fact, by those frozen dinners that have tempting pictues of meat, vegetables, etc, and are on sale 5 for 10 dollars. Many don’t realize how loaded with sodium they are. So I weigh this “5 for 10 dollars” or look at red grapes which for a couple of pounds could be around 6-8 bucks. That looks expensive to a nonsavvy consumer, is my point. I think that’s why fast food joints do so well in harder times as well. It “sounds” cheap to some.
Just looking briefly at the ADA website I think they are not saying that OG is bad for you as much as they are questioning the increased price that most OG foods carry.
While I prefer OG foods, I also carefully consider price. Buying OG takes a certain amount of faith as the evidence that it is safer is not always clear. And by how much is even more difficult to quantify.
But another factor is that many buyers of OG are interested in promoting agriculture that is less chemical intensive.
It is hard to know for sure if the ADA’s discouragement of OG has anything to do with their association with the conventional food industry. That wouldn’t be surprising.
But what I’m mostly like to dispute is that eating healthy has to be expensive. True OG potatoes may cost $1/lb or more. But potato chips cost $5/lb. Dried beans, rice, and other staples are healthy and still very low cost. As expensive as fresh fruits and vegetables are, they are almost always less expensive than processed foods such as frozen dinners.
One final thought. You can ruin a food a lot more AFTER it is picked than before.
Without debating whether the ADA does not support organics, they do endorse a healthy, low sodium, low fat diet high in fiber with lots of fresh fruits and vegetables.
Organic may be “healthier” but have you compared prices to “non organic” lately? To eat lots of fresh fruits and vegetables is really costly in itself. It’s hard to eat healthy foods when you are trying to make mortgage payments. Unless you are lucky enough to have a garden, which I do.
So how does the ADA “favor” these other products over organic foods?
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