Last week, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA)released the “Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2025–2030,” setting out the following priorities: “Prioritize protein at every meal … Consume full-fat dairy with no added sugars … Eat vegetables and fruits throughout the day, focusing on whole forms … Incorporate healthy fats from whole foods such as meats, seafood, eggs, nuts, seeds, olives, and avocados … Focus on whole grains, while sharply reducing refined carbohydrates … Limit highly processed foods, added sugars, and artificial additives … Eat the right amount for you, based on age, sex, size, and activity level … Choose water and unsweetened beverages to support hydration … Limit alcohol consumption for better overall health.”
In commenting on the new guidelines, I wrote, in part:
What’s not recommended in the new guidelines is that many people who add all that meat and full-fat dairy to their diets will also have to invest in prescriptions for Lipitor or Crestor.
While I think almost everyone would agree that the national health profile would be better if people ate more whole foods and fewer processed foods, and cut down on sugars and additives, there are some problems with getting both industry and customers to adopt these new guidelines to any significant degree.
And:
While some folks would like to eat more steak and hamburger and less fish because now RFK Jr. has told them it is okay, fewer and fewer people in this country actually can afford steak and hamburger because of inflation. And one of the reasons people buy processed foods is because they tend to be fast and convenient, which is necessary because so many households have both parents working, struggling to make ends meet. They have to spend money not just on food, but on housing, healthcare, clothing, education, etc … Public policies that result in these kinds of recommendations need to be contextual – they have to be supported by other public policies. None of these things can work in a vacuum.
In addition, I also was mildly critical of the statement released by FMI-The Food Industry Association:
It really doesn’t say anything about the new guidelines, except that people generally want to eat healthier and retailers want to help them. But there is no reaction to some of the specifics of the recommendations, which put into question a significant percentage of the products its retailers sell and that make up a lot of their profits. I understand that – associations in general feel they have to be careful about getting sideways with the administration.
FMI pointed me to a “deeper dissection” of the new guidelines that had been posted online by Krystal Register, FMI’s vice president of health & well-being< which it believes addresses some of the points I was making.
And so, in fairness, here is that statement:
“The updated DGAs are intended to provide science-based advice and daily recommendations on food groups and nutrients to encourage and those to limit – all in an effort to support healthy and balanced eating patterns. Historically, the DGAs have included advice on what to eat and drink for better health, and specific messaging has evolved to reflect advances in food and nutrition science over the years.
The overall goal, as this new rendition of the DGAs states up front in the preface, is to ‘provide clear, actionable, transparent, evidence-based guidance empowering Americans to select foods that support health and reduce chronic disease.’ With a focus on ‘minimally processed, naturally nutrient-dense foods… such as vegetables, fruits, meats, eggs, nuts, seeds, dairy, whole grains, beans and seafood as the foundation for healthful diets,’ the grocery store is well poised, offering a world of choice, as an accessible destination for today’s consumer seeking to align with these new recommendations.
“FMI research has found that consumers are prioritizing healthy eating choices, though most believe there is room for improvement. The food industry will continue to support consumers with their personalized health goals by offering a wide variety of nutritious options coupled with credible information about food, nutrition and health.
“More consumers are seeking health solutions at the grocery store, and retailers are responding with an emphasis on personalized strategies to support individual health goals. The Dietary Guidelines present an opportunity to meet consumers where they are and lean into the expertise and guidance of registered dietitians across the industry. If we go back to the overall goal as stated in the preface, the key is to provide actionable guidance and to empower consumers. It is also vital to emphasize the foundation of an overall healthy eating pattern – this allows for personalization and flexibility, but also warrants some fine-tuning and perhaps expert guidance.
“This is where we see our FMI members delivering not only food and products for health, but also actionable solutions, inspiration, guidance, support, navigation, information, expert advice, engagement, meal planning assistance and technology support. These efforts lead to simple swaps, behavior change, improved health, motivation, repeat behavior and trust in a primary food store that helps support their personal health journey. Consumers view their primary food store as a partner in this effort, with 80% of shoppers saying their grocery stores do at least a good job supporting their health and well-being.
“Taking a closer look at how the food industry is supporting the consumer experience and truly personalizing the health journey, product suppliers are investing in innovation and reformulation to align with consumer preferences while retailers provide general nutrition information and one-on-one counseling through food retail registered dietitians.
“Many recommendations in the new guidelines align with longstanding nutrition science, such as the emphasis on encouraging nutrient-dense foods like fruits, vegetables and whole grains along with recommendations to limit saturated fat, sodium and added sugars. Specific notations around quality protein, increased fiber and attention to gut microbiome are positive and all reflective of timely nutrition topics of focus.
“Recommendations to avoid highly processed packaged, prepared and ready-to-eat foods align with recommendations to limit added sugars and sodium. New recommendations also include limiting foods and beverages that include artificial flavors, synthetic dyes, artificial preservatives and non-nutritive sweeteners, though evidence to date indicates they are generally considered safe within acceptable intake limits.
“Some elements, particularly as they are spotlighted in the media, are raising concerns within the nutrition science community. It is important to remember that even with guidance in the new DGAs to include full-fat dairy, red meat and butter, the suggested limit on saturated fat of no more than 10% of total daily calories remains, along with limits for sodium and recommendations to reduce added sugars, all quite similar to past recommendations.
“A full-fat dairy recommendation opens the door for whole milk products (equivalent to ~3% milk when compared to other dairy options) without too much additional saturated fat and welcomes other essential nutrients (protein, calcium, Vitamin D, etc.). Flexibility with the fat content allows for the consumption of full-fat dairy within the suggested saturated fat limits, though the new guidelines do not mention appropriate soy-based substitutions for those who cannot or choose not to include dairy.
“Not as easy to include within the suggested saturated fat limits are full-fat cuts of meat in large portions, beef tallow or butter without regard to serving size and moderation. Trust me, as a dietitian, I know the magic a little butter can play when combined with vegetables, or as the finishing touch on a pan-seared piece of seafood. And there is room for that, in moderation. All foods can fit, but not without some thoughtful planning.
“Bottomline, when you couple the recommendation for full-fat dairy with the continuation of a recommendation of 10% of total calories from saturated fat, there is an inherent need to seek lean cuts of meat, poultry, seafood and plant-based proteins like nuts, seeds and beans to achieve an overall healthy pattern of eating.
“At the end of the day, a balanced diet is all about navigating the grocery store to include protein, dairy, fruits, vegetables, whole grains and healthy fats as you plan your meals and snacks. Grocery stores offer the expert advice, guidance, inspiration and support through registered dietitians to help shoppers make nutritious choices as they shop, prep, cook and eat to meet their own personal needs.”
The degree to which the new guidelines are generating different reactions became clear over the weekend in the New York Times, which offered two very different views of them.
Dr. Emily Oster, founder and CEO of ParentData and a professor of economics at Brown University, did a piece in which she wrote, in part:
“The goal is to give Americans guidance about what makes a healthy diet. As promised, the new guidelines are much shorter than in the past — 10 pages versus 100 or more — and written to be widely accessible. Many people will read these and (possibly) take the advice.
“Under Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the Trump administration has made many public health changes that have medical experts concerned (just this week: changes to the childhood vaccine schedule). However, the new nutrition advice is — dare I say it? — overall very sensible. It emphasizes fruits and vegetables, prioritizes whole foods and is clear that people’s food choices should depend on individual characteristics like age and activity. This doesn’t, however, mean that everything in here makes sense for everyone.”
Some other points made by Oster:
• “The guidelines advise people to eat ‘whole foods’ or ‘real food.’ This is, broadly, very good. Virtually all nutrition experts agree that eating foods in which the ingredients are limited, recognizable and not highly processed is a good thing. Heavily processed foods can increase caloric consumption and thus contribute to obesity … The new guidelines push for consuming full-fat dairy. For years, there has been an emphasis on reduced-fat dairy, especially for children, because it has fewer calories and less saturated fat. But in the data, there is no consistent association between reduced-fat dairy and weight, and if anything, full-fat dairy is associated with lower obesity rates. However, if you prefer reduced or nonfat dairy, there isn’t any evidence-based reason not to consume it. All dairy is fine.”
• “Previous guidelines suggested no added sugar in food for children under 2; the new guidelines extend this to age 10. On the one hand, some of our most compelling data on diet suggests that excess sugar in early childhood leads to more health problems, even much later in life. This may be because early sugar exposure can affect children’s long-term taste preferences. American children currently consume a lot of added sugar.
“On the other hand, avoiding added sugar until the age of 10 is unrealistic for nearly everyone. The nutrition guidelines — which suggest no cookies or birthday cake until a child is 11 — are likely to scare parents without changing behavior. It’s also not well supported by the science.”
• “Beef tallow: Why do we keep mentioning this? Who is using this for cooking? Where would I even buy it? Mr. Kennedy seems to love beef tallow as a healthy fat, but it’s also very high in saturated fat, and these guidelines set limits on that.”
• “If there is one thing to strongly object to about these guidelines, it’s that they are likely to be hard for many people to follow. Eating more vegetables, lean protein and whole foods is a laudable goal but also difficult to achieve, especially with limited financial resources, limited grocery options and the fact that high-sugar, high-fat foods are addictive and habit forming. These guidelines are a very good start for telling people where to go; now the job should be helping them get there.”
The Times also featured an op-ed piece by Matt Prescott, author of “Food Is the Solution: What to Eat to Save the World,” which took issue with some of the recommendations, though for different reasons. Some excerpts:
• “Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the secretary of health and human services, has spent much of his public life warning Americans about environmental damage hidden in plain sight. He’s sued polluters. He’s denounced the ways powerful companies use their influence to shape laws, regulations and institutions. And he’s spoken passionately about ecological collapse — including at the hands of the meat industry.
“So when the Trump administration released its new dietary guidelines for Americans on Wednesday, with an emphasis on animal-based proteins and fats and a food pyramid featuring images of a roasted bird, juicy steak, ground beef and cheese at the top, it felt a bit like a magic trick: Now you see an environmental crisis, now you don’t … Eating less meat remains one of the fastest, easiest and cheapest ways to cut emissions. It requires no new technology, no congressional approval, no subsidies or tax credits. And right now it’s especially important, as many other climate solutions become more expensive, politically fraught or simply unavailable amid a federal retreat from environmental regulation and support for clean energy … And the environmental arithmetic isn’t subtle. According to the World Resources Institute, poultry converts only around 11 percent of the energy contained in livestock feed into human food. Beef converts only 1 percent of feed energy into human food.”
• “If Americans increased their protein intake by just 25 percent in response to the administration’s new recommendations, maintaining their current ratio of animal to plant protein, it would require about 100 million acres of additional agricultural land each year — an area larger than Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania combined — and increase annual emissions by hundreds of millions of tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, according to the World Resources Institute.
“Mr. Kennedy himself once articulated the meat industry’s heavy toll with striking clarity. In a blurb for a 2004 book, ‘The Meat You Eat: How Corporate Farming Has Endangered America’s Food Supply,’ he wrote, ‘The factory meat industry has polluted thousands of miles of America’s rivers, killed billions of fish, pushed tens of thousands of family farmers off their land, sickened and killed thousands of U.S. citizens, and treated millions of farm animals with unspeakable and unnecessary cruelty.’ In this country, 99 percent of livestock are raised on factory farms.”
• “The new guidance didn’t emerge from the longstanding Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, made up of scientists. Instead, the Trump administration handpicked a new review panel — the existence of which wasn’t even reported until Wednesday — to ‘correct deficiencies,’ it said, in earlier recommendations … According to disclosures buried in a 70-page U.S. Department of Agriculture report published alongside the guidelines, two-thirds of the reviewers had financial or other ties to the beef, dairy or pork industries, including research funding, consulting fees and leadership roles with industry groups like the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, the National Dairy Council and the National Pork Board. The panel even included an adviser to the company that owns the meat-focused Atkins diet brand. All of which feels hypocritical, given Mr. Kennedy’s claims that prior guidelines were driven by industry interests.”
KC’s View:
I’m not sure that any of this is clarifying to the general public. People have to decide who and what to trust. At the same time, for many people all the recommendations and debate and disagreement won’t matter – they have to figure out on a day-to-day basis how to feed their families. Unfortunately, cheap prices and convenience may play a larger role than nutrition – and I continue to argue that the food industry has done a generally lousy job of helping people distinguish between price and value.
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