WASHINGTON (May 31, 2013)—The Sugar Association extends its congratulations to the recently appointed members of the 2015 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee.

The Committee—made up of experts within the scientific and public health communities—is charged with updating the guidelines over the course of the next two years, and is aided in its evaluation of the body of evidence, by the input of health experts and public comments. 

In a recent New York Times Well Blog post, Jane Brody added an insightful chapter to the ever-growing dialogue about what caused America’s obesity epidemic and what we can do to fix it.

Ms. Brody—a veteran health and wellness reporter—urged readers to take a look at obesity from a historic perspective and understand that multiple factors contributed to its meteoric rise.

We have a tendency to want to blame one factor (like sugar) for weight gain, but it’s much more complicated than that, says Ms. Brody: “a closer look at what and how Americans eat suggests that simply focusing on sugar will do little to quell the rising epidemic of obesity. This is a multifaceted problem with deep historical roots, and we are doing too little about many of its causes.”