The US administration has unveiled new dietary guidelines that focus on the promotion of whole foods, proteins and healthy fats, calling for an end to “the war on saturated fats”, NPR wrote.
In the early 1990s, a food pyramid was introduced which was narrow at the top and wide at the bottom. Grains were at the bottom – a signal to eat plenty of them, and oils and fats were at the top, a signal to eat them sparingly.
The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) withdrew the entire pyramid concept in June 2011, replacing it with the simpler ‘MyPlate’ visual, introduced by First Lady Michelle Obama.
The new guidelines, announced on 7 January by US Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr, were now based around an inverted food pyramid with red meat, cheese, vegetables and fruits pictured at the top, the 8 January report said.
Kennedy described the guidelines as the most significant reset on nutrition policy in history, calling for an end to policies that promoted highly refined foods that were harmful to health, NPR wrote.
The guidelines would set limits on added sugar and promote diets that included meat and dairy, the report said.
“Protein and healthy fats are essential and were wrongly discouraged in prior dietary guidelines,” Kennedy was quoted as saying. “We are ending the war on saturated fats.”
The new guidelines called for a “dramatic reduction” in the consumption of “highly processed foods laden with refined carbohydrates, added sugars, excess sodium, unhealthy fats and chemical additives”.
In an introduction to the new guidelines, Kennedy and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins were quoted as saying “we are reclaiming the food pyramid and returning it to its true purpose of educating and nourishing all Americans”.
Kennedy and Rollins pointed out that more than 70% of American adults were overweight or obese due to a diet that had “become reliant on highly processed foods and coupled with a sedentary lifestyle”.
However, for years, Americans have been advised to limit saturated fat, and the new pyramid was facing criticism, according to the report.
“I’m very disappointed in the new pyramid that features red meat and saturated fat sources at the very top, as if that’s something to prioritise. It does go against decades and decades of evidence and research,” Christopher Gardner, a nutrition expert at Stanford University, was quoted as saying.
Gardner, a member of the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, which had reviewed all the nutrition evidence, was in favour of increasing plant-based sources of protein, such as beans, rather than emphasising animal protein, NPR wrote.
The new guidelines include a long-held recommendation to limit saturated fat to 10% of daily calories, and both the American Heart Association and the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics pointed to evidence that excess saturated fat was linked to heart disease.
The guidelines also elevated cheese and other dairy products to the top of the pyramid, paving the way for the option of full-fat milk and other dairy products in school meals, the report said.
“It’s pretty clear that overall milk and cheese and yoghurt can be part of a healthy diet,” Dariush Mozaffarian, a cardiologist, public health scientist and the director of the Food is Medicine Institute at Tufts University, was quoted as saying.
“Both low-fat and whole-fat dairy versions of milk, cheese and yogurt have been linked to lower cardiovascular risk.”
While whole grains were pictured at the smallest point at the base of the new pyramid, the guidelines instructed Americans to "prioritise fibre-rich whole grains,” the report said.
Although the dietary guidelines are not read by most Americans, they are influential in determining food served in school meals and on military bases, as well as what is included in federal food aid for mothers and infants, as the guidelines set targets for calories and nutrients, according to the report.
“The USA is amid a health emergency. Nearly 90% of health care spending goes to treating people who have chronic diseases. Many of these illnesses are not genetic destiny; they are the predictable result of the standard American diet,” Kennedy and Rollins wrote.
The dietary guidelines are updated every five years by the USDA and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
