Heath Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., again promised on Monday that The Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2025-2030, will be released to the public in December.
If available by Christmas, many a holiday dinner table will likely feature a debate about saturated fat. That’s because it’s all but sure that the new dietary guidelines will break from the past when less saturated fat intake was recommended in favor of what RFK Jr. calls a “common sense” approach, stressing the need to consume “saturated fats, dairy, good meat, and fresh meat and vegetables.”
The reason this might be the subject of Christmas dinner debates is that, for the past 45 years, the dietary guidelines issued every five years have recommended that Americans eat less saturated fat because it is known to contribute to heart attacks, strokes and cardiovascular disease.
The dietary guidelines are a joint production of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the USDA. An expert advisory committee has been empaneled to review the latest science and issue a report with recommendations.
The Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2020-2025, contains a key recommendation to limit saturated fat intake to less than 10 percent of calories per day starting at age 2 years. In its nearly year-old report, the current advisory committee finds that less than 20 percent of U.S. individuals currently meet the recommendation.
The expert panel, nonetheless, wants the recommendation kept in place in the new guidelines, limiting saturated fat intake to 10 percent of daily calories, starting at age 2, and replacing it with unsaturated fat, particularly polyunsaturated fat, preferably from plant-based sources.
Kennedy has called limits on saturated fats “antiquated.” He promises the new guidelines coming out in December will “change the food culture in this country.” Kennedy said the new guidelines will help reduce the nation’s chronic disease crisis, including obesity, diabetes and heart disease.
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