New dietary guidelines crack down on sugar

It also suggests Americans to consume no more than 10 percent of calories per day from foods and beverages with added sugars and those that have trans fat and saturated fat like butter and whole milk. To put that in perspective, one serving of root beer already has about ten teaspoons of sugar in it. After that, drink you’re already creeping on your max for the day.

She says the dietary guidelines, released every five years by the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Health and Human Services, can serve as an independent voice in helping Americans making eating choices.

The guidelines also notably dropped dietary cholesterol limits and draft recommendations that had suggested Americans adopt more environmentally-sustainable eating habits by cutting back on meat.

“USDA and HHS did not include explicit recommendations about the risks of red meat and the benefits of plant-based diets, ignoring clear scientific evidence from their own advisory committee”, said Andrew A. Rosenberg, director of the Center for Science and Democracy at the Union of Concerned Scientists. Sugar should make up no more than 10 percent of your daily calories.

“In fact, the dietary guidelines promote consumption of red meat as long as it is lean, which is not what the science supports”.

The guidelines also recommend no more than one glass of alcohol per day for women, and two for men.

That’s the equivalent of one teaspoon of salt.

“People do not need to obtain cholesterol through diet and should eat as little as possible”, commented Dr. Kim Allan Williams who now heads the medical organization as quoted saying by Los Angeles Times.

The latest guidelines are encouraging the nation’s nutritional policy towards a traditional Mediterranean diet, which focuses more on consumption of fruits and vegetables, nuts and legumes in the taste of olive, nut, canola and soybean oils.

On Thursday, the United States Department of Health and Human Services announced the new, highly-anticipated Dietary Guidelines (for 2015-2020).

These saturated fats, sodium and sugars have been linked to unhealthy conditions and diseases such as obesity, high blood pressure and heart disease.

Sodium intake should also be watched, people should not get more than 2,300 grams each day.

While not part of the guidelines themselves, Creager pointed out that if consumers were better informed about what was in their food, it could encourage them to eat better. For example, the new guidelines remove a daily limit on dietary cholesterol.