The Trump administration has committed to releasing the final Dietary Guidelines for Americans ahead of the statutory deadline of Dec. 31.
Ag Secretary Brooke Rollins and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said Tuesday their departments are doing a line-by-line review of the scientific report released last year by the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee convened by the Biden administration.
The DGAC engaged in a 22-month process where members reviewed available scientific evidence to inform their recommendations to USDA and HHS. The two departments are ultimately responsible for writing the final guidelines, which influence federal nutrition programs like school meals and SNAP.
The recommendations included a shift to more plant-based foods, and limited consumption of red or processed meats and refined grains. For the first time, the DGAC was asked to study the impact of ultraprocessed food consumption on health. However, the committee ultimately did not issue any recommendations due to a lack of research.
Kennedy and others in the MAHA movement have been critical of ultraprocessed foods, as well as what they call conflicts of interest on the committee.
Following the first meeting of the Make America Healthy Again Commission on Tuesday, the two secretaries said agencies are also looking at ways to make “holistic process improvements” to increase transparency and minimize conflicts of interest.
“We are going to make sure the dietary guidelines will reflect the public interest and serve public health, rather than special interests,” Kennedy said in a release. “This is a giant step in making America the healthiest country in the world.”
While the agencies did not provide a timeline for next steps, they did commit to completing the guidelines before Dec. 31. These guidelines will apply from 2025-2030.
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Recently, Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., a founder of the MAHA Caucus, suggested the entire 2025 DGA process should be restarted.
“I think they need to fire probably all the advisory committee and start over,” Marshall told Agri-Pulse last month following Kennedy’s confirmation.
Ahead of Kennedy’s confirmation as HHS Secretary, consumer and nutrition groups pointed to the dietary guidelines as a key place he could implement the MAHA agenda. But while groups argue the DGA process is fairly transparent throughout the committee’s work, the work becomes more private at the agency level.
In the announcement, Rollins said she and Kennedy have “complementary” roles in promoting healthy choices, starting with updating the guidelines. She said
“We will make certain the 2025-2030 Guidelines are based on sound science, not political science,” Rollins said. “Gone are the days where leftist ideologies guide public policy.”
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