Dietary Guidelines in the 21st Century—a Time for Food
- Dariush Mozaffarian, MD, DrPH;
- David S. Ludwig, MD, PhD
- Author Affiliations: Division of Cardiovascular Medicine and Channing Laboratory, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School (Drs Mozaffarian and Ludwig), Departments of Epidemiology (Dr Mozaffarian) and Nutrition (Drs Mozaffarian and Ludwig), Harvard School of Public Health, and Optimal Weight for Life Program, Children's Hospital (Dr Ludwig), Boston, Massachusetts.
Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text.
- KEYWORDS:
- CHRONIC DISEASE
- DIET
- FOOD ANALYSIS
- FOOD HABITS
- GUIDELINES AS TOPIC
- NUTRITION POLICY
- NUTRITIONAL AND METABOLIC DISEASES
The discovery of specific dietary insufficiencies as the cause of human disease played a central role in the development of modern nutritional science. In 1753, one of the first clinical trials showed that citrus fruit could prevent scurvy in sailors, leading to the identification of vitamin C as essential for health. By the mid-20th century, protective effects of many nutrients for deficiency diseases had been shown, including thiamine (beriberi), niacin (pellagra), vitamin D (rickets), vitamin A (night blindness), iron (anemia), and iodine (goiter).
Early population-wide dietary guidelines therefore emphasized prevention of nutrient deficiencies. This emphasis assumed special urgency with the food shortages of the Great Depression and World War II, impelling the League of Nations, British Medical Association, and US Department of Agriculture to create new minimum requirements for calories, protein, calcium, phosphorus, iron, and various vitamins.1 Consequently, the first recommended dietary allowances (RDAs) were formulated in 1941, establishing …
