Yes to red meat, no to sugar: Trump's new health guidelines / Photo: © AFP/File
Yes to red meat, no to sugar: Trump's new health guidelines
The Trump administration on Wednesday urged Americans to avoid highly processed foods along with added sugars while touting consumption of red meat and full-fat dairy, foods many nutritionists had previously discouraged.
The new federal nutritional guidelines emphasize protein more than previous recommendations, releasing a flipped-pyramid graphic that places meat, dairy and healthy fats on the same tier as vegetables and fruits, with fiber-rich whole grains like oats at the bottom tip.
Health chief Robert F. Kennedy Jr vowed that the new guidelines would "revolutionize" US eating habits and "make America healthy again" -- the catchphrase of the MAHA movement that's perhaps best-known for vaccine resistance.
Kennedy has long railed against the typical American diet and the food industry, saying the US is in a "health emergency" that has resulted in chronic disease including among children.
The new recommendations -- the federal government is required to release them every five years -- strongly discourage sugars, saying children should avoid added sweeteners until age 10, and that sugar-sweetened beverages are anathema to good health.
The guidelines also say to cut back on refined carbohydrates like white bread and flour tortillas.
Americans are encouraged to prioritize whole foods like vegetables and fruits over packaged or prepared meals that often include significant added sugar and salt.
When it comes to protein, the new guidelines are far less emphatic about avoiding fats than previous recommendations, but do encourage swapping out deep-fried cooking methods for alternatives like roasting or grilling.
While the most recent iteration of US guidelines endorsed "lean meats" along with a variety of other plant-based proteins, seafood, and eggs, the new document says to consume a variety of proteins from both animal and plant sources, including red meat.
Americans should eat 1.2 to 1.6 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight, according to the new guidelines. Previous recommendations had said around 0.8 grams per kilogram of body weight would suffice for most people.
- 'War' on saturated fats? -
But while Kennedy for months has emphasized he would end the "war" on saturated fats -- which in high amounts are known to increase risk of heart disease and stroke -- the administration did not change the previous recommendation that no more than 10 percent of daily calories should stem from those fats.
Yet alongside olive oil the recommendations says butter or beef tallow -- the latter has particular hold on MAHA influencers -- can serve as cooking lubricants.
Cooking with saturated fats and routinely consuming red meat could easily put many people over the 10 percent figure.
Brooke Rollins, the agriculture secretary, meanwhile said the new dietary guidelines would support farmers and ranchers who "grow and produce real food."
Federal data shows that ultra-processed foods -- including packaged sweetened baked goods, savory snacks and soda -- account for about 55 percent of calories in the average American diet.
(M.Travkina--DTZ)
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