Rejecting the advice of its scientific advisers, the federal government launched new dietary recommendations that sound like a familiar nutritional refrain, advising Americans to “make every bite count” while rejecting experts’ recommendations to drastically reduce the consumption of sugar and alcoholic beverages.
The “Dietary Guidelines for Americans” are updated every five years, and the last iteration came on Tuesday, 10 months after a pandemic that posed a historic threat to the health of Americans. Confined to their homes, even those who dodged the coronavirus itself are drinking more and gaining weight, a phenomenon often called “quarantine 15”.
Dietary guidelines have an impact on Americans’ eating habits, influencing food stamp policies and school lunch menus and indirectly affecting how food manufacturers formulate their products.
But the most recent guidelines do not address the current pandemic nor, say critics, a new scientific consensus on the need to adopt dietary standards that reduce food insecurity and chronic diseases. Climate change does not feature on the council, which does not deal with sustainability or greenhouse gas emissions, both closely linked to modern food production.
A report released by a scientific advisory committee last summer recommended that the guidelines encourage Americans to make drastic cuts in the consumption of sugars added to drinks and food for 6% of daily calories, from the 10% currently recommended.
High rates of overweight and obesity in the United States are related to serious chronic health conditions, such as heart disease and type 2 diabetes, the panel noted; the conditions also increase the risk of developing serious Covid-19 diseases.
The committee also called for limiting the daily consumption of alcohol to one drink per day for men, clearly stating that the consumption of greater amounts of alcohol is associated, on average, with a greater risk of death compared to the consumption of minors. quantities. But the current recommendation remains one drink a day for women and two for men.
Officials from the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Health and Human Services rejected sugar and alcohol caps.
Perhaps confusingly, the guidelines say that “the preponderance of evidence supports limiting the intake of added sugars and alcoholic beverages to promote health and prevent disease; however, the evidence reviewed since the 2015-2020 edition does not substantiate quantitative changes at this time. “
The new guidelines say for the first time that children under the age of 2 should avoid consuming added sugars, which are found in many grains and drinks.
The main sources of sugar added to the American diet are sweetened beverages – including soft drinks, as well as sweetened coffees and teas – desserts, snacks, sweets, breakfast cereals and bars. Most Americans even exceed the 10% benchmark; sugars represent 13% of daily calories, on average.
[Like the Science Times page on Facebook. | Sign up for the Science Times newsletter.]
Critics were disappointed that federal agencies ignored the recommendations of the scientific advisory committee. “I’m shocked by the whole thing,” said Marion Nestlé, professor emeritus of nutrition and food studies at New York University and author of several books on government dietary guidelines.
“Despite repeated claims that the guidelines are based on science, the Trump agencies ignored the recommendation of the scientific committee they appointed and instead returned to the recommendation of the previous guidelines,” she said.
The composition of the dietary advisory committees was controversial earlier this year, because many of the experts had connections with the beef and dairy industries. Still, scientists have gone further on their boards than previous committees, particularly with recommendations to limit sugar and alcohol, said Nestlé.
“These were big changes and they caught all the attention when the report was published last summer for good reasons – and were ignored in the final report,” said Nestlé.
“The report was presented as based on science – they used the word science many times and made a big argument about it,” she added. “But they ignored the scientific committee they appointed, which I found surprising.”
In other ways, the new guidelines are consistent with previously issued federal recommendations. Americans are encouraged to eat more healthy foods, such as vegetables, fruits, legumes, whole grains, nuts, seafood, low- or no-fat dairy products and lean meats and poultry.
The guidelines urge the nation to consume less sugar, saturated fat, sodium and alcohol and to limit calorie intake.
For the first time, the guidelines take a “lifelong approach”, trying to outline broad advice for pregnant women and breastfeeding adults and for children under 2 years old.
One of the recommendations for pregnant women, those who are about to become pregnant and those who are breastfeeding is to eat plenty of seafood and fish rich in omega-3 fatty acids, but with low methylmercury content, which can have harmful effects on the developing fetus . This eating pattern has been associated with healthier pregnancies and better cognitive development in children.
The new guidelines emphasize the health benefits of breastfeeding, which has been linked to lower risks of obesity, type 1 diabetes and asthma in children. Foods that are potential allergens, such as eggs and peanuts, should be introduced during the first year of life – after four months of age – to reduce the risk of developing allergies.