News Update
February 20, 2015
2015 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee Submits Report
The 2015 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, a group of prestigious outside experts, submitted its recommendations to Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Sylvia Burwell and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, to inform the 2015 edition of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Feb. 19, 2015, the secretaries have released the advisory committee’s recommendations report online, making it available for public review and comment. The U.S. Departments of HHS and Agriculture (USDA) will consider this report, along with input from other federal agencies and comments from the public as they develop the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, to be released later this year.
“For decades, the Dietary Guidelines for Americans have been at the core of our efforts to promote the health and well-being of American families,” said Secretaries Burwell and Vilsack in a joint statement. “Now that the advisory committee has completed its recommendations, HHS and USDA will review this advisory report, along with comments from the public — including other experts — and input from other federal agencies as we begin the process of updating the guidelines.”
The public is encouraged to view the independent advisory group’s report and provide written comments at www.DietaryGuidelines.gov for a period of 45 days after publication in the Federal Register. The public will also have an opportunity to offer oral comments at a public meeting in Bethesda, Md., on March 24, 2015. Those interested in providing oral comments at the March 24, 2015, public meeting can register at www.DietaryGuidelines.gov. Capacity is limited, so participants will be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis.
The 14 outside experts who made up the 2015 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee are nationally recognized in the fields of nutrition, medicine and public health. The committee held seven public meetings during the past two years. The recommendations of the 2015 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee are non-binding and advisory to HHS and USDA as they draft the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2015.
The HHS Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion has the administrative lead for the Guidelines, which it carries out in close partnership with the USDA Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion and with support from USDA’s Agricultural Research Service.
For more information, please view the full release here.
NCBA Says Dietary Guidelines Recommendations are Misleading
Feb. 19, the HHS and the USDA released the 2015 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee’s report. This report is a recommendation to the secretaries as they develop the 2015 Dietary Guidelines for Americans that will be released later this year.
Unfortunately, the report is inconsistent and, if adopted, will lead to conflicting dietary advice. On one hand, the committee has endorsed the Mediterranean style diet, which has higher red-meat levels than currently consumed in the United States; and, on the other hand, they have left lean meat out of what they consider to be a healthy dietary pattern.
Shalene McNeill, registered dietitian and nutrition scientist with the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA), said the recommendation that a healthy dietary pattern should be lower in red meat is not consistent with scientific evidence and would be unsound dietary advice.
“Lean meat is red meat. Today’s beef supply is leaner than ever before with more than 30 cuts of beef recognized as lean by government standards,” said McNeill. “The protein foods category, which includes meat, is the only category currently consumed within the current guidelines, and it is misleading to conclude that a healthy dietary pattern should be lower in red meat.”
According to the report, “dietary patterns with positive health benefits are described as high in vegetables, fruit, whole grains, seafood, legumes and nuts; moderate in low- and non-fat dairy products; lower in red and processed meat; and low in sugar-sweetened foods and beverages and refined grains.”
Unfortunately, the statement disregards the positive role of lean meat. Lean beef is one of the most nutrient-rich foods, providing high levels of essential nutrients such as zinc, iron and protein, as opposed to empty calories. Richard Thorpe, Texas medical doctor and cattle producer, said the key to a healthy lifestyle is building a balanced diet around the healthy foods you enjoy eating, coupled with physical activity.
“It is absurd for the advisory committee to suggest that Americans should eat less red meat and focus so heavily on plant-based diets,” said Thorpe. “The American diet is already 70% plant based and to further emphasize plant-based diets will continue to have unintended consequences. The advisory committee got it wrong in the ’80s advising a diet high in carbs, and look at what that got us — an obesity problem. My colleagues and I commonly encourage people to include lean beef more often for their health, not less.”
Thorpe added, “We are disappointed the advisory committee would go outside the purview and expertise of nutrition/health research to bring in topics such as sustainability. We urge the secretaries to reject the advisory committee’s recommendations on topics outside of diet and health.”
For more information, please view the full release here.
Dietary Panel: Cut Meat; Alcohol Okay
The National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) Feb. 19, criticized recommendations related to meat in the diet from an advisory committee informing the creation of federal guidelines for healthy eating.
In a report for the 2015 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, an Obama administration-appointed advisory committee of health and nutrition professionals recommended that people consume less red and processed meat, and it omitted lean meat from its recommended dietary pattern. (It did maintain the Recommended Daily Allowance of 5.5 ounces of “protein foods.”) The panel recommended moderate amounts of alcohol.
Additionally, the advisory committee concluded that a diet higher in plant-based and lower in animal-based foods would be more environmentally sustainable.
The report was sent to the secretaries of agriculture and of HHS, who will use it to develop the 2015 Guidelines. Due out later this year, the guidelines affect all federal food-purchasing programs, including the school lunch program.
“We think the advisory committee has taken the wrong approach,” said NPPC President Howard Hill, a veterinarian and pork producer from Cambridge, Iowa. “Science recognizes that meat is, and should be, a part of a healthful diet, and NPPC urges the USDA and HHS secretaries to keep meat in the center of America’s plate.
“It appears the advisory committee was more interested in addressing what’s trendy among foodies than providing science-based advice for the average American’s diet,” Hill said. “Have we really come to the point where alcohol is okay and meat isn’t?”
NPPC pointed out in comments on the 2015 guidelines that animal proteins are considered complete proteins, containing all the essential amino acids, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A number of critical vitamins and minerals, including B12, Heme iron and potassium — often lacking in many American diets — are found primarily in meat, and lean, nutrient-rich meat is versatile, affordable and accessible, making it easy to incorporate into the diet.
For school children, eating meat promotes satiety and preserves lean muscle mass, said NPPC. Additionally, including lean meat in their diets can help adults prevent or manage chronic illnesses such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease and hypertension. Research even shows that, for those dealing with obesity, many cuts of meat can improve long-term weight maintenance.
As for sustainability, said Hill, “Pork producers today are much more environmentally friendly than even 25 years ago. In fact, a U.N. report (starting on page 278) on greenhouse gases cited intensive agricultural production, such as the modern U.S. meat production system, as a way to address those gases.”
According to North Carolina research firm Camco, compared with 50 years ago, U.S. pork producers today are using 78% less land and 45% less water to produce a pound of pork and have a 35% smaller carbon footprint.
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