The 2025 dietary guidelines have just been published and they include a bigger focus on including red meat and fat in the foods Americans eat.
The guidelines, which will be in place through 2030, are primarily the brainchild of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The HHS jointly publishes the guidelines with the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Kennedy has said that previous versions of the guidelines were too complicated and did not have the best interests of Americans in mind.
In an attempt to simplify the guidelines, Kennedy’s department has created a high tech presentation that includes animated graphics and very little text. The document can be found here.
In announcing the new guidelines, HHS said a new approach to healthy eating is necessary to decrease illnesses and reduce health care costs.
“Every American deserves to be healthy – but too many Americans are sick and don’t know why. That is because their government has been unwilling to tell them the truth. For decades, the U.S. government has recommended and incentivized low quality, highly processed foods and drug interventions instead of prevention,” the HHS announcement states.
“The new dietary guidelines call for prioritizing high-quality protein, healthy fats, fruits, vegetables and whole grains – and avoiding highly processed foods and refined carbohydrates.”
Since they were first published in 1980, the dietary guidelines have said that the consumption of fruits, vegetables, whole grains and lean meats is the best way to remain healthy. The guidelines have historically recommended limiting fats and processed foods.
In his new guidelines, Kennedy promotes the consumption of red meat, eggs, whole dairy, butter and beef tallow all of which the American Heart Association and other medical groups have long said contributed to heart disease and other health problems.
In its announcement of the new guidelines, HHS said it is “evangelizing real food.”
“The Dietary Guidelines are a whole food framework intended to be customized to individuals and families, and their needs, preferences, and financial status,” according to HHS.
Specific guidance includes:
- Prioritizing Protein: This includes a variety of animal sources, including eggs, poultry, seafood, and red meat, in addition to plant-sourced protein foods such as beans, peas, lentils, legumes, nuts, seeds, and soy.
- Avoiding highly processed foods: The guidance calls to “avoid highly processed packaged, prepared, ready-to-eat, or other foods that are salty or sweet” and “avoid sugar-sweetened beverages, such as soda, fruit drinks, and energy drinks.”
- Avoiding added sugars: The guidance says, “no amount of added sugars or non-nutritive sweeteners is recommended or considered part of a healthy or nutritious diet” and calls on parents to completely avoid added sugar for children aged four and younger.
- Ending the war on healthy fats: The guidance calls for receiving the bulk of fat from whole food sources, such as meats, poultry, eggs, omega 3–rich seafood, nuts, seeds, full-fat dairy, olives, and avocados. When cooking with or adding fats to meals, the guidelines call for using the most nutrient-dense natural options with essential fatty acids, such as olive oil.
- Heralding whole grains and avoiding refined carbohydrates: This guidance takes a firm stand to “prioritize fiber-rich whole grains” and “significantly reduce the consumption of highly processed, refined carbohydrates, such as white bread, ready-to-eat or packaged breakfast options, flour tortillas, and crackers.”
- Including diets lower in carbohydrates to manage chronic disease: The guidance makes the science-based and common-sense recommendation that individuals with certain chronic diseases may experience improved health outcomes when following a lower carbohydrate diet.
The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) had mixed reactions to the new guidelines. The consumer advocacy group said it is good news that the guidelines continue past incarnations that maintained longstanding limits on saturated fat and sodium and emphasizing fruits, vegetables, whole foods, and water, and limiting added sugar.
However, the CSPI said the new guidelines’ promotion of sources of saturated fat such as butter and beef tallow for cooking, red meat and other animal proteins, and full-fat dairy is bad for human and environmental health. The group also said it is bad news that the new guidelines omit key science-based recommendations from the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, like prioritizing plant-based proteins, and emphasizing the need to reduce sodium in our diets and the food supply
“While the meat and dairy industries may be excited about these changes, consumers should not be. One thing remains clear: these new Dietary Guidelines should have been based on high-quality scientific evidence, not trends, industry interests, or shifting cultural ‘wellness’ narratives,” said the CSPI.
