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Biden Appoints Health ‘Expert’ Who Believes That Obesity Can’t Be Treated Because It’s Genetic

A member of the Biden Administration’s panel set to determine new dietary guidelines for Americans is receiving backlash for her comments on obesity.

Dr Fatima Cody Stanford, an obesity medicine physician at Mass General Health in Boston, was appointed to the 2025 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, which will develop new recommended eating habits for Americans over the coming years.

The appointment has received backlash as it comes only weeks after she downplayed the value of diet and exercise in weight loss in an interview with 60 Minutes at the start of the year.

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Agriculture (USDA) develop these guidelines every five years. Previous versions have been blamed for jumpstarting America’s obesity crisis.

Dr Cody’s appointment comes as the US remains one of the fattest countries in the world, according to a new report.

‘The number one cause of obesity is genetics,’ Dr Cody said.

‘That means if you are born to parents that have obesity, you have a 50 to 85percent likelihood of having the disease yourself. Even with optimal diet, exercise, sleep management, stress management.’

Dr Shauna Levy, a bariatric surgery expert at Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana, told DailyMail.com: ‘I think Dr Cody’s comment was an oversimplification of the cause of disease.

‘However, I also think that as a society we likely underestimate the role of genetics in causing obesity and over estimate the role diet/exercise plays in treating this disease.’

Dr Cody Stanford will be on a panel of 20 nutrition, obesity and weight loss experts from across the country included on the HHS and USDA panel.

The group will work on setting new dietary guidelines in the US starting in 2025. Every five years, new government nutrition guidelines are laid out.

‘The 2025 Committee will examine the relationship between diet and health across all life stages, and will use a health equity lens across its evidence review to ensure factors such as socioeconomic status, race, ethnicity, and culture are described and considered to the greatest extent possible,’ a USDA press release reads.

It continues that the panel has ‘substantial’ expertise in health equity, and that factor was considered when they were chosen.

This committee will use the guidelines by schools, hospitals and other facilities to set diet plans.

Nutritionists and dieticians around America are also likely to make recommendations to parents based on the decisions made by this panel.

These guidelines have come under fire in the past, though. In 1992, the USDA introduced the food pyramid.

It recommended six to 11 servings of starchy foods such as rice and bread each day, three to five servings of vegetables, two to four of fruit, two to three of meat and dairy and sparing use of fats, oils and sweets.

Some have pointed to this pyramid as the trigger point for America’s crisis, which now sees over 70 percent of the country overweight, and nearly half obese.

The pyramid has been widely panned for its focus on serving sizes instead of helping a person manage calorie levels, and for its recommendation against eating foods with fat – which could be a part of a healthy diet.

‘Well, this pyramid is really not compatible with good scientific evidence, and it was really out of date from the day it was printed in 1991,’ Dr Walter Willet, former chair of Harvard’s School of Public Health told PBS.

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