Today the nation's dietitians published a groundbreaking revelation: Eating is pleasurable. This statement may sound like common sense. But for many of the country's notorious food bullies -- who the American Dietetic Association (ADA) calls "pseudo-experts" -- this proclamation, along with many of the other positions listed in the ADA's position statement, is tantamount to health cop heresy.

In this month's Journal of the American Dietetic Association, the nation's 67,000 Registered Dietitians write that "the total diet or overall pattern of food eaten is the most important focus of a healthful eating style."  Echoing the Center for Consumer Freedom's long-standing approach, the association bolsters the position that all foods should be part of a complete diet. And the anti-meat, anti-soda, and anti-anything-that-tastes-good groups who say otherwise foster an unhealthy "good-food vs. bad-food" environment that "elicits negative feelings such as guilt, worry, helplessness, anger, fear, and inaction."

For instance, the recent vilification of margarine -- one product made from the trans fats that scaremongers were labeling as "rat poison" -- did not help Americans think intelligently about food decisions. Instead, outright food bans (like the one in New York which went into effect this past weekend) are prime examples of the fear-induced consumer confusion criticized by the ADA:

With over 45,000 food items in the average supermarket and an infinite array of recipe combinations, the futility of attempting to sort all food items into dichotomous categories becomes evident, leading to confusion and frustration. 

The research compiled by the ADA touches on a number of current political hot topics like food marketing and menu labeling. But the organization's arguments against various food cop campaigns boil down to one key point: "[N]o single food or type of food ensures good health, just as no single food or type of food is necessarily detrimental to health."

Source: "Position of the American Dietetic Association: Total Diet Approach to Communicating Food and Nutrition Information." Journal of the American Dietetic Association 2007; 107; 1224-1232.