"US Diet Guidelines Sidestep Scientific Advice to Cut Sugar and Alcohol"

"The government’s new nutritional recommendations arrive amid a pandemic that has taken a huge toll on American health."

"Rejecting the advice of its scientific advisers, the federal government has released new dietary recommendations that sound a familiar nutritional refrain, advising Americans to “make every bite count” but dismissing experts’ specific recommendations to set new low targets for consumption of sugar and alcoholic beverages.

The “Dietary Guidelines for Americans” are updated every five years, and the latest iteration arrived on Tuesday, 10 months into a pandemic that has posed a historic health threat to Americans. Confined to their homes, even many of those who have dodged the coronavirus itself are drinking more and gaining weight, a phenomenon often called “quarantine 15.”

The dietary guidelines have an impact on Americans’ eating habits, influencing food stamp policies and school lunch menus and indirectly affecting how food manufacturers formulate their products."

Roni Caryn Rabin reports for the New York Times December 29, 2020.

SEE ALSO:

"Dietary Guidelines for Americans" (USDA/HHS)

Source: NYTimes, 01/04/2021