Whether it's about politics, religion or food - it's tough to get nine people to reach a mutual decision.

Yet nine major voluntary and government health agencies have achieved the seemingly impossible: They've agreed on dietary concepts for the American public.In a special report titled "The Healthy American Diet," all nine agencies are calling for Americans to improve their health by eating a balanced diet with less total fat and saturated fat - and by maintaining a reasonable weight.

The report states that most U.S. dietary problems are related to excesses and imbalances of food intake rather than the nutritional deficiencies that affected past generations.

The recommendations, to be officially released later this month, are based on discussions during a conference of agencies hosted by the American Heart Association in Washington, D.C., a year ago.

"The Heart Association for years has been emphasizing a healthy, low-fat and reasonable diet that people can live up to. We have a lot of classes where we are teaching weight-loss through proper diet," said Jack W. Major, executive director of the American Heart Association, Utah Affiliate.

In fact, more than 1,600 people annually attend the reasonably priced classes.

"They are a popular thing. There are so many diets on the market that people get confused, and they trust that the Heart Association will give them good information without trying to sell something. So they flock to our courses," Major said.

Like the Heart Association, several other organizations also have been promoting healthy dietary recommendations. Thus, the D.C. meeting was called to "benefit society through a common message" from at least nine organizations working together.

The participating organizations include: the American Heart Association; American Academy of Pediatrics; American Cancer Society; American Diabetes Association; American Dietetic Association; Centers for Disease Control; National Cancer Institute; National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute; and U.S. departments of Agriculture and Health and Human Services.

Their "Healthy American Diet" report takes into account total nutritional needs as well as control of risk factors for cancer, diabetes, heart and blood vessel disease, and stroke.

Although most of the organizations are releasing the guidelines in slightly different language, representatives of these organizations agreed on general concepts for all healthy Americas over the age of 2:

- Eat a nutritional, adequate diet consisting of a variety of foods.

- Reduce consumption of fat, especially saturated fat and cholesterol.

- Achieve and maintain a reasonable weight.

- Increase consumption of complex carbohydrates and fiber.

- Reduce intake of sodium.

- Consume alcohol in moderation, if at all. (Children, adolescents and pregnant women should abstain).

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Additional recommendations are directed to certain segments of the population to reduce the risk for three other health problems:

- Dental cavities: access to fluoride and moderate between-meal use of foods containing sugar (especially children).

- Osteoporosis: increased consumption of foods high in calcium, particularly low-fat dairy products (especially adolescents and young women).

- Iron deficiency anemia: consumption of good sources of iron such as lean red meat, fish and iron-enriched cereals (especially children, adolescents and women of childbearing age).

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