• by Karlene Lukovitz  @KLmarketdaily, January 7, 2016

The latest Dietary Guidelines for Americans—released every five years, but in this case somewhat delayed by controversial issues—are finally out.

In the end, in what appears to be the result of a careful balancing act, they turn out to follow some, but not all, of the recommendations made in February 2015 by the government's Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee. 

Notably, they recommend a specific limit on consumption of added sugars for the first time, but no direct recommendation to cut back on red meat. At the same time, they recommend that adult men and teenage boys address over-consumption of protein by replacing some meat, poultry and eggs with other food groups.

The previous guidelines included a general recommendation that people limit calories from sugars that are added to foods and beverages. The new 2015-20 guidelines recommend that added sugars account for no more than 10% of total daily calories. That's about 50 grams or 12 teaspoons per day (4 grams equal about one teaspoon). A 2014 study found that Americans on average consume 22 teaspoons per day. That is among a growing number of studies that have linked high sugar consumption to increased risk of cardiovascular disease, stroke and Type 2 diabetes.

This recommendation lends support to the Food and Drug Administration's still-pending proposal that added sugar content be broken out as part of new food and beverage labeling requirements. 

However, the officials from the U.S. departments of Agriculture and Health and Human Services who revised the guidelines chose not to include the advisory committee's recommendation that people be advised to limit their consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages.

They also opted not to adopt the panel's recommendation that people be straightforwardly advised to eat less red and processed meats—a recommendation that set off a barrage of criticism and lobbying by the meat industry. 

Instead, the guidelines recommend keeping intake of saturated fats to under 10% of daily calories by replacing them with unsaturated fats. In practical terms, that would limit intake of red and processed meats, along with other foods high in saturated fats.

The careful wording notes that "strong evidence" has shown that "eating patterns (their italics) that include lower intake of meats as well as processed meats and processed poultry are associated with reduced risk" of cardio-vascular disease in adults, and that "moderate" evidence indicates that these eating patterns are associated with reduced risk of obesity, Type 2 diabetes and some types of cancer in adults.

The guidelines continue to recommend that meats, poultry and eggs may constitute up to 26 one-ounce equivalents per week, but suggest a "shift" toward other proteins, like nuts, legumes and seafood. 

Most surprisingly, they also note that teen boys and adult men on average over-consume these foods, and should reduce protein intake in favor of more vegetables, fruits and whole grains, which are under-consumed not only by these demographic groups, but by most Americans.

The guidance about meat indicates that the USDA and HHS "partially resisted" political pressures, observed Michael F. Jacobson, president of the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), in a statement. Speaking to The New York Times, he added that the advice regarding protein consumption for men and teenage boys is "a big deal," given that those groups constitute "almost half the population."

As was already a given, the guidelines do not address the advisory panel's recommendation that Americans be encouraged to consume more plant-based foods and eat less meat for environmental reasons. As The Times notes, in December, after intense lobbying by the meat and food industries, Congress nipped that concept in the bud by passing a provision within a spending bill that limited the scope of the guidelines to addressing nutrition.

The guidelines recommend that sodium intake not exceed 2,300 mg daily (versus the average American's consumption of 3,400 mg per day) for most people, and urge those with hypertension and pre-hypertension to consume less than 1,500 mg a day.

In addition, they follow the advisory committee's much-reported-on recommendation to drop the former "key" guideline that cholesterol intake be limited to 300 mg per day. The reasons: The evidence now indicates that eating foods that contain cholesterol has little direct impact on blood cholesterol levels, and most people already eat less than 300 mg per day.

While this is considered a victory by the egg and shellfish industries, the guidelines stress that dropping the 300 mg limit "does not suggest that dietary cholesterol is no longer important to consider when building healthy eating patterns...individuals should eat as little dietary cholesterol as possible while consuming a healthy eating pattern." They continue: "In general, foods that are higher in dietary cholesterol, such as fatty meats and high-fat dairy products, are also higher in saturated fats...A few foods, notably egg yolks and some shellfish, are higher in dietary cholesterol but not saturated fats. Eggs and shellfish can be consumed along with a variety of other choices within and across the subgroup recommendations of the protein foods group." The guidelines conclude that "more research is needed regarding the dose-response relationship between dietary cholesterol and blood cholesterol levels." 

Some health and nutrition experts and consumer groups are charging that the guidelines do not go far enough, and that government officials caved to industry pressures, missing important opportunities to accelerate healthy changes. 

Still, even critics see some positives. Speaking to The Verge, Christopher Gardner, a nutrition scientist at Stanford University, said: "A lot of the advisory committee's recommendations didn't make it into the guidelines and the health professional community is disappointed. However, we realize that dietary guidelines are hugely political issues and making huge changes is honestly not realistic—so there are silver linings."

CSPI's Jacobson, though expressing disappointment with some aspects of the guidelines—including their "downplay[ing] of the importance of consuming less dietary cholesterol, especially from eggs"—characterized them as a whole as "sound, sensible, and science-based." 

Indeed, the core advice of eating more fruits, vegetables and whole grains and limiting consumption of added sugars, saturated and trans fats and sodium hasn't changed in decades. But as the high rates of heart disease, obesity and diabetes have demonstrated, most Americans don't consistently eat diets that adhere to the guidelines' "healthy eating patterns" recommendations.

Jacobsen asserts that "the most important thing now" is for federal, state and local governments "to adopt policies and programs that would make it easier for Americans to eat according to the guidelines." 

But it's clear that proposals he mentions—such as regulating levels of sodium in packaged and restaurant foods and taxing beverages with added sugar—will continue to be heated battlegrounds for the foreseeable future.