The new edition of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans should encourage people to eat more fruit, vegetables, dairy and whole grains and less sugar and refined grains, says a panel of experts advising the government. In its report, the panel says half of Americans have preventable, chronic diseases and two-thirds are overweight or obese. The persistent and high level of diet-related disease “raise the urgency for immediate attention and bold action,” says the panel.
The Departments of Health and Agriculture “will determine how it will use the information in the advisory report,” says a statement on the home page of the Dietary Guidelines. Public comments will be accepted until April 8. A public hearing on the guidelines is scheduled for March 24. The 2015 edition of the Guidelines will be issued later this year.
“The overall body of evidence … identifies that a healthy dietary pattern is higher in vegetables, fruits, whole grains, low- or non-fat dairy, seafood, legumes, and nuts; moderate in alcohol (among adults); lower in red and processed meat; and low in sugar-sweetened foods and drinks and refined grain,” says the advisory panel.
Livestock groups had worried the panel would delete meat from its description of a healthy diet. There also was concern among farm groups about the advisory panel’s interest in food sustainability. They said the panel’s expertise was nutrition and not agriculture or the environment.
The panel said access to a sufficient supply of nutritious and safe food was essential now and for the future. “The major findings regarding sustainable diets were that a diet higher in plant-based foods, such as vegetables, fruits, whole grains, legumes, nuts, and seeds, and lower in calories and animal-based foods is more health-promoting and is associated with less environmental impact than is the current U.S. diet,” it said.
“The committee has boldly stated that a sustainable diet, higher in plant-based foods and lower in animal-based foods, is better for both our health and the planet than the current American diet,” said Michael Jacobson of the consumer group Center for Science in the Public Interest. He said the recommendation to eat less meat “deserves to be in the final Dietary Guidelines for Americans—and not excised at the behest of the meat industry.”
The North American Meat Institute, a trade group, objected that lean meat was relegated “to a footnote” and the recommendation to eat less processed meat “is also nonsensical.”Politico said “the defenders of meat – among the most powerful lobbyists – are planning to attack the panel’s suggestions on multiple fronts.” The steps include lobbying Congress “to help influence” the final version of the guidelines and to ask for a longer comment period so they can look for flaws in the panel’s documentary record.
The advisory panel also encouraged physical activity as a component of a healthy life, and called for “stronger federal policies to help prevent households food insecurity and to help families cope with food insecurity if it develops.”