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ACS Dietary Guidelines
26 Nov 2020
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American Cancer Society was founded in 1910; it was originally called the American Society for the Control of Cancer (ASCC). In 1945, the ASCC was reorganized as the American Cancer Society. What are their dietary guidelines? And to what degree do they overlap with Whole Food Plant-Based guidelines?
(2020) Dietary Guidelines

In 2020, ACS published American Cancer Society Guideline for Diet and Physical Activity for Cancer Prevention. Table 1 says:

  1. Achieve and maintain a healthy body weight throughout life.

    • Keep body weight within the healthy range and avoid weight gain in adult life.
  2. Be physically active.

    • Adults should engage in 150-300 min of moderate-intensity physical activity per wk, or 75-150 min of vigorous-intensity physical activity, or an equivalent combination; achieving or exceeding the upper limit of 300 min is optimal.
    • Children and adolescents should engage in at least 1 hr of moderate- or vigorous-intensity activity each day.
    • Limit sedentary behavior, such as sitting, lying down, and watching television, and other forms of screen-based entertainment.
  3. Follow a healthy eating pattern at all ages.

    • A healthy eating pattern includes:
      • Foods that are high in nutrients in amounts that help achieve and maintain a healthy body weight;
      • A variety of vegetables — dark green, red, and orange, fiber-rich legumes (beans and peas), and others;
      • Fruits, especially whole fruits with a variety of colors; and
      • Whole grains.
    • A healthy eating pattern limits or does not include:

      • Red and processed meats;
      • Sugar-sweetened beverages; or
      • Highly processed foods and refined grain products.
  4. It is best not to drink alcohol.

    • People who do choose to drink alcohol should limit their consumption to no more than 1 drink per day for women and 2 drinks per day for men.

(2020) Dietary Infographic

ACS has published an infographic PDF with this pic:

Summary

I couldn't help but notice the overlap of ACS Dietary Guidelines with Whole Food Plant-Based (WFPB) guidelines which encourage us to (a) eat {whole grains, beans & legumes, fruits, vegetables, nuts n seeds, herbs n spices}, (b) avoid animal products altogether, and (c) avoid {sugars, oils} and minimize salt.

ACS Guidelines are in harmony with WFPB guidelines. Starting with ACS guidelines as baseline, we reach WFPB if we make them stricter by (i) Dialing up plant-food intake to 100% of calories (or as close to 100% as possible), (ii) Dialing down processed food intake to 0% (or as close to 0% as possible), (iii) Dialing down intake of oils and refined sugars to 0% (or as close to 0% as possible) and lowering added salt.

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