The new edition of Dietary Guidelines for Americans, the government’s tips for a healthy diet, will not advocate soda taxes as a way to fight obesity, two Obama cabinet members told lawmakers, despite a suggestion that it should from the panel of experts that is helping to update the guidelines.
Health Secretary Sylvia Burwell and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said soda taxes fall outside the province of the guidelines so they will not be considered. They cited the same reason on Tuesday in excluding sustainability of food supplies as an element in recommendations for the American diet. By law, the guidelines focus on diet and nutrition, they said.
“I think that is a question of scope and that is an issue we would not address,” Burwell said at a House Agriculture Committee hearing when chairman Michael Conaway asked about tax policy and diet recommendations. Vilsack said, “That’s not in the scope. It’s not diet. It’s not nutrition. It belongs somewhere else.”
Burwell added, “Both [are] important issues and should have consideration. But not in this document.”
The advisory committee said economic approaches, such as incentives and disincentives, “should be explored to promote the purchase of healthier foods and beverages. For example, higher sugar-sweetened beverage taxes may encourage consumers to reduce sugar-sweetened beverage consumption. Using the revenues from the higher sugar-sweetened beverage taxes for nutrition health promotion efforts or to subsidize fruits and vegetables could have public health benefits.”
Berkeley, California, is the only city with a soda tax, approved by a 2014 referendum.
American adults get about 13 percent of their daily calories from “added” sugar that is an ingredient in making food and beverages, says the CDC. For youth, the figure average is 16 percent.
“Regular sodas are the leading food source of added sugars, at least for adults 18-54,” the CDC said in 2013. Sodas supplied one-third of added sugar for adults and 40 percent for children and adolescents – the leading source among foods.
The World Health Organization recommends limiting added sugar to no more than 10 percent of daily calories.
The 2015 edition of the guidelines probably will be completed in December, said Burwell. HHS and USDA are responsible for writing the guidelines. An advisory committee, selected by the government, spent more than a year producing a massive report with its suggestions and scientific backing for them. The report, made public in February, has been criticized by ranchers as being unfair to lean meat.
At the House hearing, lawmakers questioned the report’s conclusions on meat, sugar and low-calorie sweeteners. Some were skeptical of the scientific rigor of the advisory committee. Vilsack said 4,000 studies and 300 manuscripts were reviewed by the advisory committee.
When Rep. Mike Rogers of Alabama asked about language in the report that suggested lower consumption of red and processed meats, Vilsack said it was in the context of the overall diet. “It’s clear the lean meat is, and should be, part of a healthy diet,” he said.
The Democratic leader on the committee, Collin Peterson of Minnesota, said dietary advice has shifted over the years and eroded public confidence in the guidelines. “Maybe we should reconsider why we’re doing this,” he said.