Kennedy's death - the untold irony

Ted Kennedy died of cancer. Cancers are most common in modern westernized countries and less common in the remaining un-westernized reaches of the planet. Historic records of doctors and others show that incidences of "diseases of civilization" including heart disease, cancer and diabetes were much less common prior to arrival of the foodstuffs of the European and other westerners. These foodstuffs include sugar and highly processed flour.

Beginning in the 1950's the medical establishment was becoming convinced that fats may be the root of the evil causing among other things heart disease and cancers. Investigations of the hypothesis however, failed to reliably confirm their belief.

Flash forward to the mid and late 1970's. Senator George McGovern chaired the Senate Select Committee that drafted guidelines that led to a change in the American diet that still holds in effect today. The USDA food pyramid reflects the "expert" testimonies heard by this committee and the resulting guidance. Ted Kennedy was a member of this committee.

The recommendations were for increased consumption of carbohydrates and decreased consumption of fats (bottom of the food pyramid for carbs - hence, most calories, and top of the food pyramid for fats and oils with "use sparingly" noted)....the very diet that undid the health of other populations.

So, in a very real sense, they guided the population of the US to a diet that had already proven itself to be the bane of native populations that switched from their historic local foods (generaly higher in fat and protein) to the western diet rich in processed carbs - being high sugar and flour consumption.

I do not have a clue as to how Ted Kennedy ate...maybe he ate a healthy diet. But, maybe the guidelines that he helped implement led his dining patterns since the 1970's and led to the development of the cancer that ultimately consumed him. Food for thought.