RFK Jr.’s new dietary guidelines end ‘the war on saturated fats’ : Shots

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced new dietary guidelines for Americans aimed at promoting whole foods, proteins and healthy fats.

At a news conference Wednesday, the administration unveiled the new food pyramid, which features red meat, cheese, vegetables and fruits at the top.

Kennedy described the guidelines as the most significant reset of nutrition policy in history, calling for an end to policies that promote highly refined foods that are harmful to health.

The guidelines will set limits on added sugars and encourage diets that include meat and dairy products.

“Protein and healthy fats are essential and have been wrongly rejected in previous dietary guidelines,” Kennedy said. “We're ending the war on saturated fat.”

As an introduction to new recommendationsKennedy and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins called for “dramatic reductions” in consumption of “highly processed foods containing refined carbohydrates, added sugars, excess sodium, unhealthy fats and chemical additives.”

“This approach has the potential to change the health trajectory of many Americans,” they wrote, noting that more than 70% of American adults are overweight or obese due to a diet that has “become dependent on highly processed foods combined with a sedentary lifestyle.”

For years, Americans have been advised to limit saturated fat, and the new pyramid has come under fire.

“I'm very disappointed with the new pyramid, which places red meat and sources of saturated fat at the very top, as if it's a priority. This flies in the face of decades and decades of facts and research,” says Christopher Gardnernutrition expert from Stanford University. He was a member Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committeein which all nutritional data were reviewed.

The guidelines also elevate cheese and other dairy products to the top of the pyramid, paving the way for opportunity whole milk and other dairy products in school meals. There is growing evidence based on nutritional science that dairy products may be beneficial.

“It's clear that milk, cheese and yoghurt can be part of a healthy diet,” says Dariush Mozaffariancardiologist, public health scientist and director of the Institute of Food and Medicine at Tufts University. “Both low-fat and full-fat dairy versions of milk, cheese and yogurt are associated with a lower risk of cardiovascular disease,” he says.

“What's quite interesting is that fat content doesn't seem to make a big difference,” Mozaffarian says.

Mozaffarian says he supports recommendations to reduce consumption of highly processed foods. “Highly processed foods are clearly harmful to a number of diseases, so getting the U.S. government to recommend eating less of a broad class of foods because of their processing is a big deal, and I think it's a very positive step for public health,” he says.

Although most Americans don't read dietary guidelines, they have a major influence on what is served in school lunches and on military bases and on what is included in federal food assistance for mothers and infants, as the guidelines set calorie and nutrient targets.