More plant protein and vegetable oils: What the new dietary guidelines mean for Americans

Caryn Lipson

December 31, 2024

New Dietary Guidelines coming

Every five years, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) update the Dietary Guidelines for America (DGA) based on recommendations by the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee (DGAC). New 2025-2030 guidelines are currently being developed. Sheramy Tsai writing for the Epoch Times, explains how the guidelines are developed:

“The Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee reviews the science and makes recommendations,” Richard Mattes, a nutrition scientist and member of the 2020 DGAC panel, told The Epoch Times. Its report goes to the HHS and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), which finalize the guidelines.

Key recommendations

Children’s Health Defense (CHD) noted that this year’s key recommendations (which won’t be finalized until after Trump takes office and RFK Jr. is appointed to head the HHS) include:

     ◾ Reducing red and processed meats.
     ◾ Replacing poultry, meat, and eggs with peas, beans, and lentils as sources of protein.
     ◾ No limits on ultraprocessed foods, or UPFs.
     ◾ Continued caps on saturated fats, to be replaced by vegetable (seed) oils.

Should these recommendations be accepted? Are they based on the most up-to-date science? Not everyone thinks so.

Neglecting the science on animal protein

The Nutrition Coalition (an "educational organization that aims to ensure that the U.S. Dietary Guidelines for Americans are evidence-based, to reverse chronic diseases in America") reviewed the proposed 2025-2030 guidelines. The Coalition took issue with “the eroding of the protein groups” seen in recent years. The guidelines, which include substituting animal proteins with plant proteins will further diminish the amount of animal protein consumed by Americans.

Today’s 150-page guidelines are far more specific. They include three “healthy dietary patterns”: U.S.-Style (omnivorous), Vegetarian, and Mediterranean-Style (which reduces dairy in favor of extra seafood).

In all these patterns, the USDA-HHS have eroded the protein group in recent years, in three ways:

     ◾ by allowing plant-based proteins to replace animal-sourced proteins;
     ◾ by shrinking the serving-sizes for all proteins;
     ◾ by shrinking the serving sizes and serving numbers for plant-based proteins even more.

‍The Coalition provided the chart, below, showing how the guidelines began including more and more plant proteins in the protein food group.

The coalition believes this is not going in the right direction because plant proteins are less easily absorbed and of lesser quality than animal proteins.

Including more plant-based proteins reduces protein quality, since plant-based proteins are often incomplete, lacking in some of the nine essential amino acids that humans need to consume to generate proteins for the body’s growth, maintenance, and repair. In addition, proteins from plants are less bioavailable (meaning, less easily absorbed) than those from animal sources.

Additionally, the Epoch Times quoted nutritionist Nina Teicholz who wrote that replacing meat with vegetables will increase the carbohydrate load, particularly concerning for people who are combating diabetes or obesity.

Nina Teicholz, a nutrition expert and author, wrote on her Substack, Unsettled Science . . . that plant proteins often contain extra carbohydrates, which could complicate efforts to combat obesity and diabetes.

In fact, as The Gold Report has written, many people who removed animal proteins from their diet saw their health decline markedly only to rebound once they re-introduced meat into their diet.

This shift away from animal protein, combined with the continued cap on saturated fats, underscores a broader concern: the guidelines' reliance on outdated science and their potential to overlook critical evidence about the nutritional benefits of these foods.

Ignoring the science on saturated fat

When the previous guidelines were developed in 2020, the Nutrition Coalition highlighted that large bodies of science were ignored.

Despite calls for reform by more than 56 Members of Congress, hundreds of doctors and tens of thousands of individuals, the new iteration of the Guidelines continues to rely on outdated, weak science and exclude large bodies of scientific literature.

One area of the literature that it noted as being neglected was saturated fats. The recent literature, they wrote, did not show that saturated fat had any effect on heart disease mortality.

Science on saturated fats Ignored: Among the science that was excluded by the 2020 DGA process was the last decade of studies on saturated fats. These have, on the whole, concluded that these fats have no effect on heart disease mortality. A group of leading US scientists, including former members of the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee itself (and the Chair of the 2005 Committee) wrote letters to the Secretaries of USDA and HHS as well as members of Congress, discussing how this science evolved. . . .

The Nutrition Coalition reviewed a letter written by scientists to the Advisory Committee urging them to reconsider their stance due to insufficient evidence that limits on these fats are warranted.

“There is no strong scientific evidence that the current population-wide upper limits on commonly consumed saturated fats in the U.S. will prevent cardiovascular disease or reduce mortality. A continued limit on these fats is therefore not justified.”

Dr. Ronald M. Krauss, a co-chair of the two-day, DC-based workshop entitled “Saturated Fats: A Food or Nutrient Approach?” at which the letter to the advisory committee was written, explained that making sure the guidelines are based on the best science is important because of its broad effect on the diets of millions of Americans.

“The guidelines determine school lunches, hospital food, feeding programs for the elderly and military food. Indeed, they influence our entire food supply. It is therefore critical that these guidelines be based on the best-possible science, including the most up-to-date understanding on saturated fats and their effects on health.”

Health benefits of saturated fats

Not only does the science not support limiting saturated fats, according to these researchers, but there may be benefits to eating them. The Weston A. Price Foundation (WAPF) (which was founded "to disseminate the research of nutrition pioneer Dr. Weston Price, whose studies of isolated nonindustrialized peoples established the parameters of human health and determined the optimum characteristics of human diets") listed the following benefits:

‍     ◾ Saturated fatty acids constitute at least 50% of the cell membranes. They are what gives our cells necessary stiffness and integrity.
     ◾ They play a vital role in the health of our bones. For calcium to be effectively incorporated into the skeletal structure, at least 50% of the dietary fats should be saturated.
     ◾ They lower Lp(a), a substance in the blood that indicates proneness to heart disease.
     ◾ They protect the liver from alcohol and other toxins, such as Tylenol.
     ◾ They enhance the immune system.
     ◾ They are needed for the proper utilization of essential fatty acids.
     ◾ Elongated omega-3 fatty acids are better retained in the tissues when the diet is rich in saturated fats.
     ◾ Saturated 18-carbon stearic acid and 16-carbon palmitic acid are the preferred foods for the heart, which is why the fat around the heart muscle is highly saturated. The heart draws on this reserve of fat in times of stress.
     ◾ Short- and medium-chain saturated fatty acids have important antimicrobial properties.
     ◾ They protect us against harmful microorganisms in the digestive tract.

Head of the WAPF, Sally Fallon Morrell, discusses saturated fats and the issues with consuming processed vegetable oils on the WAPF podcast, below.

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The Trump administration will decide whether to accept the DGAC's recommendations.

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The information contained in this article is for educational and information purposes only and is not intended as health, medical, financial, or legal advice. Always consult a physician, lawyer, or other qualified professional regarding any questions you may have about a medical condition, health objectives, or legal or financial issues.

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