Americans will soon receive new dietary guidance from the government that could recommend eating more meat and saturated fats while minimizing intake of ultraprocessed foods – aligning closer with Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s “Make America Healthy Again” agenda.
In the coming days, the Departments of Health and Human Services and Agriculture are going to release a new version of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, a detailed document released every five years that relies on science and nutrition experts to make food and drink recommendations.
The new version is expected to be shorter than previous reports and could contain several changes that reject previous scientific findings from a committee of experts – such as adopting Kennedy’s recommendation that Americans eat more saturated fats.
Calling the new version “common sense,” Kennedy asserted in July that it would “stress the need to eat saturated fats, dairy, good meat, fresh meat and vegetables.”
Some may conflate the dietary guidelines with the food pyramid, a visual representation of recommended servings based on food groups (the food pyramid graphic was replaced with “MyPlate” in 2011). However, the guidelines are an important matter of policy.
They play a crucial role in shaping food policy in schools, public health advice, military bases and federal assistance programs, such as SNAP and Women, Infants, and Children, by translating scientific findings into adoptable policies.
But Kennedy has criticized the lengthiness of the guidelines.
Kyle Diamantas, the deputy commissioner for human foods at the FDA, told Fox & Friends at the end of December the new version would “be small” and “streamlined.”
However, Kevin Klatt, a nutrition research scientist at the University of California, Berkeley, told NPR in October that shortening the document could confuse policy-shapers.
"Replacing that with a four-page, consumer-oriented document telling people to eat 'whole foods' and 'unprocessed foods,' none of which has a real definition – There's no way that that can hold any policy weight,” Klatt said.
Some health officials have also raised concerns about potential recommendations that Kennedy has touted – such as increasing recommendations for saturated fats, which experts have consistently advised people to limit because it’s linked to cardiovascular disease.
Kennedy and other MAHA officials have also told the public to limit intake of ultraprocessed foods, which many health experts agree with. But the government has yet to define “ultra-processed,” which makes it difficult to understand what people should eliminate from their diets.
The current dietary guidelines, which were issued in 2020, recommend consuming fruits, vegetables, lean meat, legumes and whole grains while avoiding added sugar, refined carbohydrates and limiting saturated fats.
The Independent has asked the Department of Health and Human Services for comment.
Every five years, a committee of experts reviews the guidelines, issues new potential recommendations, receives public comments and then publishes the new set of guidelines. But after the committee issued its new potential recommendation in December 2024, Kennedy heavily criticized them.
The HHS secretary has insinuated that the recommendations were made to serve “special groups” within the food industry, rather than the public. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins also accused the guidelines of promoting “leftist ideologies” rather than science-based evidence.
The Center for Science in the Public Interest, a non-profit and watchdog group, urged Rollins and Kennedy to adhere to the December 2024 recommendations if they intended to commit to science-based evidence.
“The Secretaries have pledged that the DGA will be “based on sound science, not political science.” If that’s true, then the 2025 DGAC’s report, released in December, should be their guiding document,” the group said in May.
“The Committee’s recommendations reflect the most rigorous and transparent scientific consensus available. If the MAHA movement and the Secretaries are serious about improving nutrition and public health, the path forward is clear: The Dietary Guidelines are not the enemy—they’re one of our strongest allies. Let’s use them.”
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