The guidelines also recommend that you eat more fruit, vegetables and whole wheat, and highlight that most Americans do not have a very healthy diet, and many are overweight and at an increased risk of heart disease and other illnesses.
Advertisement
For the first time, the government added recommended limits on sugar, but Professor Nestle said pressure from the food industry has watered down the guidelines.
For the first time the guidelines limit added sugar…to no more than 10 percent of daily calories. Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell said that it may seems to be a big task to change the way Americans eat, but it can be accomplished.
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. 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.
The guidelines also suggest cutting back on salt and saturated fat and increasing the amount of fruit, vegetables and whole grains in our diet. Many recommendations aren’t new, but some are, such as the one on added sugar. But after Congress intervened last month, the guidelines dropped “sustainability” language that encouraged all of us to consider a diet based more on plants because that would do less damage to the environment.
While 90 percent of Americans still eat too much salt, the 2015 guidelines back away from strict limits on daily salt intake.
In a related editorial released in JAMA, Karen B. DeSalvo, MD, MPH, MSc, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health, HHS and colleagues noted that health care professionals, communities, businesses and industries, organizations, governments and other segments of society play a vital part in supporting health eating patterns and physical activity goals.
The government says people should figure out what healthy eating style works for them while still hewing to the main recommendations.
Those aged 14 and younger were advised to consume less than 2,300 milligrams of sodium per day. According to the report, those make up about 13 percent of daily calories in the average American diet. Previous dietary guidelines have recommended limiting cholesterol consumption to 300 milligrams per day, or slightly less than the amount in two eggs.
Advertisement
The North American Meat Institute, an industry group that represents companies including Cargill Inc, Tyson Foods Inc and Kraft Heinz Co, said the recommendations were an “affirmation of meat and poultry nutrition”.
