ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the emergence of the distinction between good and bad nutrients that framed much of the scientific research and dietary advice of this era, and how it was disseminated through the diet-heart hypothesis, the Dietary Goals for the United States , the Dietary Guidelines for Americans , and the Food Guide Pyramid. In the good-and-bad era, the overwhelming emphasis of dietary guidelines and nutritional discourses shifted to the need for people to avoid, reduce, or eat sparingly the more harmful nutrients, particularly fat, saturated fat, and cholesterol. The era of good-and-bad nutritionism was partly precipitated by changing disease patterns during the twentieth century in the United States and in other highly industrialized countries. The diet-heart hypothesis has for more than fifty years been central to nutrition research and dietary guidance. The Dietary Goals promoted the idea that the average American diet was inherently unhealthy and that public health had deteriorated over the course of the twentieth century.
