On the whole I'm not as disturbed by the new guidelines as I was initially. Clearly it's an attempt to bolster US animal ag, but beyond that there are some good underlying themes. For example, protein - while focused on meat - also encourages eating plant-sourced protein such as "beans, peas, lentils, legumes, nuts, seeds, and soy". There is a strong focus on fruit and veg, while the broader urging is to move away from highly processed foods and refined carbs, all good advice. The grains section, while seeming to take the focus off them, actually encourages 2-4 serves per day of fiber rich whole grains. And to top it all off the exact same recommendation to limit saturated fat to 10% of calories or less remains. It's almost like the panel still managed to keep closer to where appropriate evidence-based guidelines should be except RFK drew the pyramid.
That said, the focus on meat is annoying and frustrating but realistically that's not so different when you read the guidelines themselves and the inclusion of dairy perhaps reflects recent research that suggests milk and fermented products such as yogurt etc are actually net positive for good health.
The main disappointment is that at face value, the guidelines seem to be encouraging people not to worry about saturated fat and chow down on as much meat as they like, even though that is not the actual message. This seems to give the OK to some unhealthy eating patterns because most folk are not gonna read the actual guidelines themselves and just listen to RFK approving eating tons of meat.
Mic the Vegan has a good video out pointing to the panel make-up as being loaded by industry influence, which is sad. One commenter suggested the lesser focus on foods like oats may reflect that the USA imports oats rather than producing much themselves so that aligns with President Trump's preferences to protect American industry.
