Exhibit 590

Statement of Dr. D. M. Hegsted, Professor of Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health (press conference, 14 January 1977)

Exhibit 590 · Congressional statement

Statement of Dr. D. M. Hegsted, Professor of Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health (press conference, 14 January 1977)

The question to be asked, therefore, is not why should we change our diet but why not?

Hegsted's published statement on the diet of Americans, rich in 'meat, other sources of saturated fat and cholesterol, and in sugar'. Describes the diseases as having 'a complex etiology'. Contains the 'why not' passage on changing the diet, listing less saturated fat, less cholesterol and less sugar.

Source: D. Mark Hegsted, in Dietary Goals for the United States (first edition)
Date: 14 January 1977
Quoted from: Statement of Dr. D. M. Hegsted, p. 3
Grade: Primary record
Document: https://archive.org/details/CAT10527234
Accessed: 2026-11-09
Cited by: Findings citing this exhibit
Note: Same physical document as senate-1977-dietary-goals-first-edition; registered separately because it is Hegsted's own statement.

Cited by

Finding AGR-2.6: Primary record In the first edition of Dietary Goals (February 1977), prepared with D. Mark Hegsted as a consultant, the Senate Select Committee on Nutrition and Human Needs recommended cutting sugar consumption by about 40 percent to about 15 percent of energy. The second edition (late 1977) kept a sugar goal and set it at refined and processed sugars, down about 45 percent to about 10 percent of energy.