Lean meat OK, cut the added sugars

The good news is unfortunately brief: Officials from the Departments of Agriculture and Health and Human Services say Americans can safely drink up to five cups of coffee per day.

The 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, released on January 7, offer new recommendations for sugar, coffee and cholesterol consumption, and place even stronger emphasis on vegetables, fruits and whole grains. Research shows most people consume twice that much.

“These changes are not at odds with previous versions of the guidelines”, noted Ali Berg, a UGA Cooperative Extension nutrition and health specialist and faculty member in the College of Family and Consumer Sciences.

The United States Department of Health and Human Services released a press release Thursday about the updated nutritional guidelines to improve the eating habits of every American. According to the issued guidelines, less than 10% of daily calories intake should be derived from added sugars and less than 10% should come from saturated fats.

The new guidelines recommend that Americans limit their intake of saturated fats, often found in butter, whole milk and some meats and oils, to less than 10 percent of their total daily calories, which echoes suggestions from previous years.

The guidelines shift the focus more from individual food groups to “healthy eating patterns” to integrate that healthy eating into everyday life. However, new evidence suggests dietary cholesterol does not raise blood cholesterol levels.

Lean meat, the subject of intense industry lobbying, is recommended as part of a healthy diet in the latest guidelines, but the biggest surprise is the conclusion that teenage boys and men are generally consuming too much protein. That’s nearly an entire day’s recommended sugar intake. While the final recommendations drop the long-standing numerical limit, they still urge people “to eat as little dietary cholesterol as possible”.

Cutting back isn’t going to be easy, as sugar is ubiquitous in the American diet, particularly in processed foods.

So the fact that the new guidelines call on Americans to limit added sugars is not all that controversial.

“This is the first time that the dietary guidelines have recognized that and have limited them appropriately”, UCSF Pediatric Endocrinologist Robert Lustig, M.D. said.

Those aged 14 and younger were advised to consume less than 2,300 milligrams of sodium per day. But the meat industry objected, so instead there is more general encouragement to eat other protein such as seafood and nuts.

The government says people should figure out what healthy eating style works for them while still hewing to the main recommendations.