Today and Monday I tuned into the 5th annual Food Revolution Summit (http://foodrevolutionsummit.org/) organized and moderated by John and Ocean Robbins (John Robbins is the founder of Baskin Robbins back in the day). I tuned into this event for the first time last year and decided to tune in again to some of those speaking about food and nutrition. I managed to catch the interview with Dr. Joel Fuhrman, M.D. titled How to Eat to Live; Dr. Neal Barnard, M.D. titled How to Kickstart Your Health; Dr. Mark Hyman, M.D. titled Foods that Harm and Foods that Heal. I also listed to interviews with Dr. David Katz, M.D. titled The Optimal Diet for Human Beings and Dr. Marion Nestle, Ph.D titled Taking on Big Soda (And Winning!).

I must admit I’ve been a bit skeptical about this summit and some of their speakers. As a registered dietitian we are taught to base our recommendations on evidence based research and look to reputable sources of information – such as the USDA, FDA, DHHS and the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Dr. Katz addressed this point in his interview – that the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and the RD’s that they support provide nutrition education and counseling based on the recommendations of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Dr. Katz feels that these guidelines are a national embarrassment due to the heavy hand that congress has in finalizing them. He suggests that they should be called  something along the lines of a balance between public dietary guidance and corporate profit. This point hits on one of the main challenges I find as a trained dietitian. I believe the DGA’s do have some good recommendations but also strongly believe they are incomplete. Like Dr. Katz, I believe the DGA scientific report that is generated by the advisory committee and sent to USDA and DHHS to guide the DGA’s is more accurate and all encompassing and much less influenced by the meat industry and major food lobbying groups. Striking this balance can be very challenging as I need to be up on the DGA’s as well as the scientific report (over 200 pages long) and current and evolving research related to food and nutrition. I don’t feel I can take the DGA’s or other gov’t nutrition publications just at face value but need to do my own due diligence to dig into the research and keep abreast of relevant research.