This audio is generated automatically. Please let me know if you have any comments.
There’s a big fight brewing over how much red meat Americans should consume, which is putting the beef industry at a loss.
The United States is preparing to update next year’s Dietary Guidelines for Americans, an influential set of recommendations that inform nutrition labels, food served in schools and hospitals, and advice health care professionals give to patients.
The draft recommendations are set to call for increased intake of plant-based foods while limiting intake of beef and starchy vegetables such as potatoes. The committee of scientists behind the recommendations also proposed moving “meat, poultry and eggs” to the last group in the protein foods category, and adding beans, peas and lentils as options.
The draft guidance comes as nutrition data shows that most Americans are eating more meat than recommended at all stages of life, which is leading them to consume more protein than seafood, nuts, seeds and soy products.
“Despite who we are in the United States, how old we are, and our other characteristics, we all have poor eating habits,” said committee member Heather Eicher-Miller, professor of nutritional sciences at Purdue University. “he said. He said this while presenting the nutritional results at a public hearing earlier this month.
Meat groups were quick to condemn the proposal, with the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association calling the recommendations “invalid.” Red meat consumption has decreased, while nutritional deficiencies and chronic diseases have increased, the group says.
“The suggestion that beans, peas and lentils will replace lean meat and fill all the nutritional gaps facing Americans would be laughed at if it weren’t such a dangerous and deceptive idea,” said NCBA Vice President Ethan Lane. He said. Government Affairs said in a statement.
Potential changes to dietary guidelines are aimed at persuading consumers to eat more plant-based foods as the country struggles with high levels of diet-related disease. Recommendations to eat more plant-based proteins would increase the number of calories Americans consume, scientists acknowledged, and the committee proposed offsetting this increase by recommending fewer potatoes and starchy vegetables.
Groups representing potato growers expressed concerns similar to those of the meat industry, noting that overall vegetable intake remains inadequate for most Americans, leading to recommendations to eat fewer vegetables high in starch.
“The Advisory Council acknowledges the overwhelming and clear evidence that Americans are not eating enough vegetables, but the panel’s report reduces recommendations for consumption of starchy vegetables,” Kam Quarles, CEO of the National Potato Council, said in a statement. He said. “These conclusions are not supported by nutritional science and will confuse consumers.”
The committee’s recommendations still must be finalized and sent to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, at which point the public will have 60 days to comment. The department will consider the recommendations and issue new dietary guidelines before the end of 2025.
Nutritionists’ recommendations may be rejected. In 2020, the department rejected a proposal calling for reduced consumption of alcohol and added sugars.
