A week after the government issued the new edition of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, “nutritionists, public health specialists and experts in preventive health are vying to critique the government document, fill in its gaps and ‘spin’ the guidelines to support their interests,” says the Los Angeles Times. Cardiologist Steven Nissen said, in the Annals of Internal Medicine, that the guidelines present contradictory advice on cholesterol. “In an interview, Nissen said the government should stop making dietary recommendations until it has its scientific act together,” the newspaper reported.
“Nutrition scientists fired back at Nissen, saying the guidelines were tainted by politics, not hampered by poor science,” according to the Times. “Tufts University nutrition specialist Miriam Nelson said that political influence was nowhere more evident than in the Dietary Guidelines’ recommendations on sources of protein.” Nelson was part of the panel of experts who advised the USDA and HHS on the guidelines. She says the beef industry “mounted a highly orchestrated campaign to discredit” the advisory committee’s recommendation for Americans to eat less red and processed meat.