Because science has an incomplete understanding of how food affects the human body, Pollan argues, relying solely on information regarding individual nutrients has led people and policy makers to repeatedly make poor decisions relating to nutrition.
Ben Goldacre wrote that nutritionism, or its attribution to scientists, is the "bollocks du jour", and that it is "driven by a set of first year undergraduate errors in interpreting scientific data.
"[3] In his opinion, professional researchers and medical experts bear some blame for nutritionism because they at times created unrealistic expectations about the potential benefits of their research, but that the primary promoters of nutritionism are health food manufacturers, self-proclaimed "gurus" and journalists who have an incomplete understanding of science, along with a credulous public that is willing to believe whatever simplistic theories they are told in the mass media.
A pathbreaking 1968 Congressional report of the McGovern Committee, entitled "Dietary Goals," called on Americans to reduce consumption of red meat and dairy.
Thus, a federal government report in 1982 was tempered to advise the public to "Choose meats, poultry and fish that will reduce saturated-fat intake.