The Trump administration released updated U.S. dietary guidelines Wednesday, encouraging Americans to eat more protein and full-fat dairy, while cutting back on ultra-processed foods and added sugars.
The guidelines — which are updated every five years by the Agriculture and Health and Human Services departments — largely align with Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s “Make America Healthy Again” movement, but stop short of the sweeping changes some nutrition experts had expected.
Gone is the MyPlate visual guide for what foods to eat — which recommended filling your plate with roughly equal parts grains, vegetables, protein and fruit with a small portion of dairy.
Instead, an updated version of the food pyramid is back, this time inverted and slightly jumbled. Protein, dairy and healthy fats, along with vegetables and fruits, dominate; whole grains are de-emphasized.
The new guidance emphasizes protein at every meal and encourages people to eat as much as twice the recommended daily allowance of 0.8 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight, instead recommending 1.2 to 1.6 grams per kilogram of body weight.
The guidelines also tout full-fat dairy, a departure from earlier versions that recommended low-fat or fat-free versions to limit saturated fat intake. Kennedy has called the previous guidelines “antiquated” because of those recommendations.
Guidance on saturated fat has not changed. The latest recommendations still cap intake at less than 10% of total daily calories.
Kennedy, however, has often highlighted his personal taste for saturated fat.
That includes a public stop at a Florida Steak ‘n Shake in March after the chain ditched vegetable oil for beef tallow. In July, he told governors that the updated dietary guidelines would push for what he called “commonsense” foods, including more saturated fats and meat.
The American Medical Association applauded the new guidance for spotlighting ultra-processed foods, added sugars and sodium, which it says fuel chronic diseases, including heart disease, diabetes and obesity.
”The Guidelines affirm that food is medicine and offer clear direction patients and physicians can use to improve health,” Dr. Bobby Mukkamala, president of the AMA, said in a statement.
Marion Nestle, professor emerita of nutrition, food studies and public health at New York University, said the advice to limit highly-processed foods is a major improvement, but “everything else is weaker or has no scientific justification.”
The focus on protein, for example, “makes no sense (Americans eat plenty) other than as an excuse to advise more meat and dairy, full fat, which will make it impossible to keep saturated fat to 10% of calories or less,” Nestle wrote in an email.
The American Heart Association recommends a lower intake of saturated fat, aiming for less than 6% of total daily calories. The group says limiting saturated fat can reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke, and decrease levels of LDL cholesterol, often called bad cholesterol, which leads to plaque buildup in arteries.
Ultra-processed foods and added sugar
A White House spokesperson said the new guidance is based on “scientific consensus” and “common sense.”
The dietary guidelines shape what’s in school lunches, military meals and federal food assistance programs, including the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and the Child Nutrition Programs. The White House spokesperson said the new guidance will be phased into schools and federal food programs over the next two years.
Some of the guidance does reflect advice nutrition experts had been calling for.
The recommendations call for avoiding ultra-processed foods, added sugars and refined carbohydrates. It singles out prepackaged snacks such as chips, cookies and candy in favor of “nutrient-dense foods” and home-prepared meals.
Added sugars should be limited to 10 grams per meal. To help people identify added sugar, the guidance advises checking the ingredient list for terms that include “sugar,” “syrup” or ingredients that end in “-ose.”
Fruits and vegetables should be consumed “in their original form,” although frozen, dried or canned fruits and vegetables can be a good option if they include no or very limited added sugars.
On sodium, the guidelines are unchanged: Most people ages 14 and up should consume less than 2,300 milligrams per day. Recommendation limits are lower for children, ranging from less than 1,200 mg per day to 1,800 mg per day.
The new guidelines appear to remove specific daily limits on alcohol, which were previously set at no more than one drink per day for women and two for men.
Instead, it advises Americans to drink “less alcohol for better overall health.”