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- Draft dietary guidelines propose reducing red meat consumption, promoting plant-based diets.
- The meat industry opposes, citing nutrient benefits and criticizing the recommendations.
- Final guidelines are expected in 2025, with public comments invited beforehand.
NEW YORK — The Wall Street Journal is reporting that draft recommendations for an upcoming dietary guidelines reboot will tell Americans to cut back on red meat.
The Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, made up of 20 nutrition experts, promotes the health benefits of a more plant-based diet in the draft, which is expected to be finalized by the end of the year. New guidelines aren't expected, however, until late 2025. They are revised twice a decade.
"Get ready for a big debate over the amount of red meat on your plate," the Journal article warns, noting the draft has "drawn an immediate outcry from the meat industry, setting up a potential fight over the final guidelines."
The article quoted Shalene McNeill, executive director of nutrition science at the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, which represents cattle farmers and ranchers. "It's baffling that we are trying to get Americans to cut out red meat when the evidence indicates nutrient deficiencies and chronic disease are increasing as red meat consumption declines," McNeill, a registered dietitian, told the Journal, noting red meat contains "important nutrients including potassium, iron and choline."
After the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee met this week, the association's vice president of government affairs, Ethan Lane, said the meeting "stands out as one of the most out-of-touch, impractical and elitist conversations in the history of this process," according to Beefcentral.com.
Lane scoffed at the notion that beans, peas and lentils can replace red meat and provide adequate nutrition, calling it a "dangerous and deceptive idea."
Studies warn of risks
Studies have implicated excessive red meat consumption in several health issues, including diabetes, dementia risk and colorectal cancer. Saturated fat in red meat is often described as creating risks and consumers have been urged to reduce the amount they consume. The American Heart Association's website notes that "eating too much saturated fat can raise the level of LDL (bad) cholesterol in your blood. A high level of LDL cholesterol in your blood increases your risk of heart disease and stroke."
Not everyone agrees, though. Newsweek a few days ago quoted Florida-based heart surgeon Dr. Philip Ovadia, who calls that a "misconception." He said, "The majority of what I eat, the basic framework that I construct what I'm eating around, is things from the animal world, mostly animal protein. That's meats of all sorts, seafood as well, and then eggs and dairy products."
Ovadia said that excessive carbohydrates including processed foods in the Western diet are to blame for health risks. "A whole real food, low carbohydrate dietary approach is the best way to deal with insulin resistance and inflammation, which are the true root causes of heart disease," he said.
When the draft is finalized, it will be sent to both the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which will post the report online and initiate a 60-day comment period. The dietary guidelines will come in 2025.
As the Journal reported, "The government doesn't always follow the recommendations of its scientific advisory committee. The advisory committee for the 2020 guidelines recommended making significant cuts to limits for added sugars and alcohol consumption. The government rejected the cuts."
