Animal fats, more protein and no alcohol limits: see RFK Jr.

Americans should eat more whole foods and protein, fewer highly processed foods and less added sugar, according to the latest edition of the federal nutrition advice released Wednesday by the Trump administration.

Secretary of Health Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins released the Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2025-2030, providing updated recommendations for a healthy diet and laying the foundation for federal nutrition programs and policies. They come as Kennedy has for months emphasized overhauling America’s food supply as part of his Making America Healthy Again agenda.

“My message is clear: Eat real food,” Kennedy said at a White House briefing.

The guidelines emphasize the consumption of fresh vegetables, whole grains and dairy products, long recommended as part of a healthy eating plan. Officials released a new graphic showing an inverted version of the long-abandoned food pyramid, with protein, dairy, healthy fats and fruits and vegetables at the top and whole grains at the bottom.

But they also take a new stance on “highly processed” foods and refined carbohydrates, urging consumers to avoid “packaged, prepared, ready-to-eat foods or other foods that are salty or sweet, such as chips, cookies and candy.” That’s a different term for ultra-processed foods, the tasty, energy-dense products that make up more than half of the calories in the American diet and have been linked to chronic diseases like diabetes and obesity.

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The new guidance stops short of reversing long-standing advice to limit saturated fats, despite signals from Kennedy and Food and Drug Commissioner Marty Makary that the administration would push for greater consumption of animal fats to end the “war” on saturated fats.

Instead, the paper suggests that Americans should choose whole food sources with saturated fat, such as meat, full-fat dairy or avocados, while continuing to limit saturated fat consumption to no more than 10% of daily calories. The guide says that “other options may include butter or beef tallow,” despite previous recommendations to avoid those fats.

The guidelines needed to be updated

The dietary guidelines, which by law must be updated every five years, provide a blueprint for a healthy diet. But in a country where more than half of adults suffer from a chronic diet-related disease, few Americans actually follow the recommendations, research shows.

The new recommendations received praise from some leading medical and nutrition experts.

“There should be broad agreement that eating more whole foods and reducing highly processed carbohydrates is an important advance in the way we approach diet and health,” said Dr. David Kessler, a former FDA commissioner who has written books on diet and nutrition and has petitioned the FDA to remove key ingredients in ultra-processed foods.

“The guidelines affirm that foods are medicines and provide clear instructions that patients and doctors can use to improve health,” said Dr. Bobby Mukkamala, president of the American Medical Association.

Other experts were relieved that the guidelines did not go against decades of nutritional evidence linking saturated fats to heart disease, but criticized the guidelines’ focus on meat and dairy as primary sources of protein rather than plant-based sources.

“In general, if people eat as recommended, they will consume more calories, not fewer,” said Marion Nestle, a nutritionist and food policy expert who advised on previous editions of the guide.

The new document is only 10 pages long and confirms Kennedy’s promise to create a simple and understandable guideline. Previous editions of the dietary guidelines have grown over the years, from a 19-page booklet in 1980 to the 164-page document published in 2020, which included a four-page executive summary.

The guidance will have the most profound effect on the federally funded National School Lunch Program, which must follow guidelines to feed nearly 30 million American children on a typical school day.

The Agriculture Department will have to translate the recommendations into specific requirements for school meals, a process that can take years, said Diane Pratt-Heavner, spokeswoman for the School Nutrition Association. The latest school nutrition standards were proposed in 2023, but will not be fully implemented until 2027, he noted.

AP Photo/Evan Vucci via News

Scientific advisors did not make recommendations on ultra-processed foods

The new guidelines largely rejected the advice of a panel of 20 nutrition experts convened by the Biden administration, who met for nearly two years to review the latest scientific evidence on diet and health. Kennedy criticized the panel members’ experience and suggested they had ties to the food industry that influenced their advice.

Instead, the new guidance was based on a new group of experts revealed Wednesday in supporting documents. Of the 10 experts who led the new scientific review under Kennedy, five reported financial ties to the beef, pork or dairy industries or to manufacturers of infant formula or supplements.

The new group rejected more than half of the previous panel’s recommendations, documents show.

That previous panel made no recommendations on ultra-processed foods. Although a number of studies have shown links between ultra-processed foods and poor health outcomes, nutrition experts were concerned about the quality of the research and the certainty that those foods, and not other factors, were causing the problems.

Recommendations about highly processed foods elicited cautiously positive reactions. The FDA and the Department of Agriculture are already working on a definition of ultra-processed foods, but it is expected to take time.

Not all highly processed foods are unhealthy, said Dr. David Ludwig, an endocrinologist and researcher at Boston Children’s Hospital.

“I think the focus should be on highly processed carbohydrates,” he said, noting that processing proteins or fats can be benign or even helpful.

More protein is recommended

The guidelines made some other notable changes, including a call to potentially double protein consumption.

The previously recommended dietary allowance called for 0.8 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight, about 54 grams daily for a 150-pound person. The new recommendation is 1.2 to 1.6 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight. The average American man consumes about 100 grams of protein per day, or about double the previously recommended limit.

Makary said the new advice replaces protein guidance that was based on the “bare minimum” required for health.

Ludwig also noted that the previous recommendation was the minimum amount needed to prevent protein deficiency and said higher amounts of protein could be beneficial.

“A moderate increase in protein makes sense to help displace processed carbohydrates,” he said.

However, American Heart Association officials called for more research on protein consumption and the best sources for optimal health.

“Pending that research, we encourage consumers to prioritize plant-based proteins, seafood and lean meats and to limit high-fat animal products, including red meat, butter, lard and tallow, which are linked to increased cardiovascular risk,” the group said in a statement.

Avoid added sugars

The guidelines advise avoiding or drastically limiting added sugars or non-nutritive sweeteners, saying that “no amount” is considered part of a healthy diet.

No food should contain more than 10 grams of added sugars, or about 2 teaspoons, according to the new guidelines.

Previous federal guidelines recommended limiting added sugars to less than 10% of daily calories for people over 2 years old, but aiming for less. That’s about 12 teaspoons a day on a 2,000-calorie daily diet. Children under two years old should not consume any added sugar, according to the guidance above.

Overall, most Americans consume about 17 teaspoons of added sugars a day, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Alcohol limits removed

The new guidelines roll back previous recommendations to limit alcohol to one drink or less per day for women and two drinks or less per day for men.

Instead, the guide advises Americans to “consume less alcohol for better health.” They also say that pregnant women, people recovering from an alcohol use disorder, and those who cannot control how much they drink should avoid alcohol.

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