The Trump administration is urging Americans to embrace full-fat dairy products, cook with beef tallow and eat more protein in a new set of directives shaped by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Make America Healthy Again campaign.
The Dietary Guidelines for Americans released Wednesday mesh MAHA-influenced changes with longer-standing advice for people to cut sugar consumption while eating more whole grains and colorful vegetables and avoiding “highly processed” foods.
The federal nutrition recommendations, which are updated every five years, give Kennedy a high-profile opportunity to make his mark on how Americans eat. While the guidelines aren’t broadly followed by consumers, they shape federal food procurement for schools and the military as well as the dietary advice that physicians give their patients.
“We’re going to be working very hard to ensure government procurement programs go to whole foods, and we’re going to ensure Americans have transparency about what they’re eating,” a senior administration official said in an interview ahead of the release.
The new guidance largely makes good on Trump officials’ promises to recommend slashing intake of added sugar, which Kennedy has called “poison” — and increasing consumption of protein and whole foods.
The guidelines recommend “ending the war on healthy fats,” specifically suggesting consumption of “the bulk of fat from whole food sources” such as animal proteins, seeds, avocados and full-fat dairy products.
