THE NEW YORK TIMES – Under Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s leadership, the Trump administration has made many public health changes that have medical experts concerned (just this week: changes to the childhood vaccine schedule).
However, the new nutrition advice is, dare I say it, overall very sensible.
It emphasizes fruits and vegetables, prioritizes whole foods and is clear that people’s food choices should depend on individual characteristics like age and activity. This doesn’t, however, mean that everything in here makes sense for everyone.
In brief: Here’s the good, the fine, and the weird parts of the new nutrition guidelines.
The Good
Emphasis on whole foods: The guidelines advise people to eat “whole foods” or “real food.”
This is, broadly, very good. Virtually all nutrition experts agree that eating foods in which the ingredients are limited, recognizable and not highly processed is a good thing. Heavily processed foods can increase caloric consumption and thus contribute to obesity.
The Totally Fine
Full-fat dairy: The new guidelines push for consuming full-fat dairy. For years, there has been an emphasis on reduced-fat dairy, especially for children, because it has fewer calories and less saturated fat.
The Complex
Protein: Perhaps the biggest change in the new guidelines is recommended protein intake. The previous recommended dietary allowance for protein was 0.8 grams per kilogram of body weight per day.
The average American adult weighs about 180 pounds, so this amounts to about 70 grams of protein per day. Most Americans already eat this much protein, or a bit more.
The Weird
Beef tallow: Why do we keep mentioning this? Who is using this for cooking? Where would I even buy it? Mr. Kennedy seems to love beef tallow as a healthy fat, but it’s also very high in saturated fat, and these guidelines set limits on that …
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OFFICIAL RELEASE:
US DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Fact Sheet: Trump Administration Resets U.S. Nutrition Policy, Puts Real Food Back at the Center of Health
Restoring Science and Common Sense
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.
Under the leadership of President Trump, the government is now going to tell Americans the truth. Today, the White House released the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2025–2030, the most significant reset of federal nutrition policy in decades.
Under President Trump’s leadership common sense, scientific integrity, and accountability have been restored to federal food and health policy. For decades, the Dietary Guidelines favored corporate interests over common sense, science-driven advice to improve the health of Americans.
That ends today. 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.
Implementation of the Dietary Guidelines
The Dietary Guidelines are the foundation to dozens of federal feeding programs, and today marks the first step in making sure school meals, military and veteran meals, and other child and adult nutrition programs promote affordable, whole, healthy, nutrient-dense foods.
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. The guidance provides possibilities across all recommendations.
For example, in proteins, options such as chicken, pork, beans, and legumes; a larger variety of dairy products, at all price points, including whole milk and full-fat dairy products; fresh, frozen, dried, and canned fruits and vegetables, from beets to strawberries, carrots to apples; and whole grains.
Paired with a reduction in highly processed foods laden with refined carbohydrates, added sugars, excess sodium, unhealthy fats, and chemical additives, this approach can change the health trajectory of America.
READ THE FULL STATEMENT HERE.
