The health secretary said the guidelines will likely be released before August.
Dietary guidelines that are set to be issued by the federal government later this year will recommend Americans eat “whole food,” Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said on May 14.
The Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) are working on a new set of guidelines that will be in place through 2030.
“We are about to reissue the dietary guidelines, and we’re going to do it very quickly. We have until January, but … I think we’ll have it done even before August,” Kennedy said in Washington while testifying to a House of Representatives committee.
The current dietary guidelines, published in December 2020, run 164 pages. They say that people should eat a healthy diet and limit sugary foods and drinks.
Health and agriculture officials in late 2024 received a draft of updated guidelines from an advisory committee that spans 421 pages and proposed instructing Americans to eat less meat, avoid full-fat dairy products, and ingest more plant-based proteins such as lentils.
Kennedy said on Wednesday that the 2024 update was “clearly written by industry” and driven by the “kind of carnal impulses that put Froot Loops at the top of the food pyramid.” In the past, some members of the advisory committee have been found to have links to corporations, including Kellogg.
Kennedy told lawmakers: “We are changing that. So we’re going to have four-page dietary guidelines that tell people essentially, ‘eat whole food, eat the food that’s good for you.’”
The purpose of the guidelines is to outline what Americans should eat and drink to get enough nutrients, stay healthy, and prevent disease, according to the government. The guidelines are updated every four years and are “written for a professional audience, including policymakers, healthcare providers, nutrition educators, and Federal nutrition program operators.”
The guidelines influence nutrition standards for federal programs, including the school lunch program.
