“Equity” will be among the top priorities for the government agency tasked with establishing the dietary choices of hundreds of millions of school children, hospital patients, and countless others—raising concerns that politics could trump science in determining American nutrition.
The Dietary Guidelines Advisory panel—a group of 20 people who establish national nutrition programs, standards, and education on what constitutes a healthy diet— has declared it will use a “health equity lens throughout its evidence review to ensure factors such as socioeconomic status, race, ethnicity, and culture are described and considered to the greatest extent possible based on the information provided in the scientific literature and data,” according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) website.
