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"If we just ate sugar from natural foods, we wouldn' t
get more than 5 or 6 percent of our calories from
sugar. But it's very easy to get sugar from refined foods."
fluent diet thrives only where in–
comes range far above subsistence
levels- hence the term "affi uent
diet." People with an affiuent diet
consume large amounts of animal
proteins and fats in the form of fried
foods, meats. and dairy products;
they substilute highly refined flour
and sugar for bulky carbohydrales
like whole grains. potatoes. fruils,
and vegetables; and, increasi ngly,
lhey choos.e commercially processed
and fabricated "junk foods" over
fresh, unprocessed products. Never
before in all hislory have mil–
lions of people maintained such a
die t.
"The affiuenl diet is something
lhat is characterislic of every part of
the world thal has the Western sta n–
dard of living," states Dr. Kenneth
Carpenter, professor of experimen–
tal nutrition at the University of
California, Berkeley. " Tn Australia,
New Zealand , Western Europe,
United States, Canada and an in–
creasing number of other countries,
people are eating a Iot of refined
foods. a lot of meat, sugar, and salt.
In many ways this seems like a good
diet. We see children growing up
typically quite healthy. They don'l
have many infections. They get
to be
21 ,
tall , and in excellent
24
condition. Th e problems only
see~
to come in middle age."
Tru·e, by the tradilional measures
of good nutrition, 1he affiuent diet
should be a healthy one. Protein
supplies are generous, energy intake
is adequate (lhough sometimes ex–
cessive), and key vi tamin and min–
eral requiremenls are usually met.
Viewed against 1he backdrop of hu–
manity's long history of nutrienl–
deficiency diseases such as scurvy
and pellagra, and of widespread
present-day undernutrition. the af–
fluent diet Iooks healthy indeed.
But nutritional appearances can
deceive, and nutritionists and doc–
tors are now saying we may have to
take a new approach 10 whal consti–
tutes "good nutrition."
Empty Calories
Dr. George Briggs. professor of nu–
trition at the Universi ty of Califor–
nia, Berkeley, is deeply concerned
that Americans are eating too many
calories and too many nutritionally
worthless foods. " If we look at the
average American diet," Briggs told
The Plain Truth.
"we find that about
45 percenl of our calories come
from fats. Now aboul
17
percent of
our calories come from isolated
fats- fats that are added back to
foods, as in the frying of doughnuts
and the making of candies and pas–
tries. Another
17
percent of our cal–
ories are in the form of sugar, so
we're aétually getting sorne 34 per–
cent of our calories from foods with
virtually no vitamins or minerals.
Then we get another
16
percent from
heavily milled refined white flour,
which is lacking in a number ofvalu–
able nutrients 1hat are removed dur–
ing processing. So we have 10 ask 1he
question : How can we get all the
necessary vi tamins and minerals if 50
percent of the calories we consume
are derived from fat, sugar and pro–
cessed foods from which 1he vi tamins
and minerals are removed?" Indeed.
it may come as a shock to most people
that fats oflen account for 45 to 50
percenl of the calories in a Norlh
American's diet. In many Western
countries. lhe nalional average is over
40
percent. In contrast. fals comprise
less than a fourth of 1he food energy
consumed in mosl poor counlries.
Bu1 high fat is nol the only cha r–
acteristic of 1he affiuenl diet. lt's
also Iow in whole grai ns. Moreover.
rnost of the fiber, or roughage. in the
outer layers of grain has also been
removed-since in rich nations
wheat is usually milled inlo refined
white fl our.
Aclua lly. the milling process
lhrows away aboul
70
to
80
percenl
of mos1 of 1he vi tal nulrients in
wheat. " lt is possible tha l die1s
which have heavy reliance on re–
fined flour could be associated with
cerlain kinds of nutritional defi–
ciencies," warns Dr. Fredric Hil l,
professor of nutrition and associate
dean for research at the Universi1y
of California. Davis campus. "In 1he
milling process lhere is a subslantial
loss of vi tamin and minera l values.
only part of which are restored by
lhe enrichmenl processes 1ha1 are
now used by the food induslry un–
der federal and slate laws."
How Sweet lt ls
Starch in1ake has also dropped pre–
cipitously in the affiuent diet, only
to be replaced by refined sugar. In
fact. globa l per-capita sugar con–
sumplion has grown by half jusl
since 1950, and the average person
in the world now consumes 44
pounds of sugar a year. Americans.
Australians, and Israelis down over
The
PLAIN TRUTH August 1978