A meeting was held earlier this week for public comments on the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee’s report, published last month, hosted by the Departments of Health and Human Services and Agriculture. However, the NCBA was keen to promote the benefits of lean meat consumption in the diet, something it said had been omitted from the recommendations.
Shalene McNeill, nutrition scientist and registered dietician with the NCBA, said the exclusion of lean meat by the Advisory Committee was a historic move, which ignored decades of nutritional science, as well as all previous editions of the guidelines.
“Despite being charged with examining new evidence, the Committee based its conclusions on outdated, weak evidence from stereotypical dietary patterns,” commented McNeill.
“Advising people to cut back on their red meat intake has had harmful consequences. As red meat intake has declined, we are consuming more empty calories, and obesity rates have steadily increased. History has shown us that sweeping recommendations often get lost in translation and exacerbate obesity and nutrient shortfalls.”
Health and Human Services secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell and Department of Agriculture secretary Tom Vilsack, are now responsible for reviewing all the scientific evidence, alongside the recommendations before developing the guidelines.
However, a number of environmental and health groups have come out in support of the recommendations to eat less meat. Friends of the Earth came to the public meeting with a petition, signed by more than 120,000 individuals, supporting the panel’s view that more plant-based foods should feature in the diet.
The diet is being supported by a number of organisations, including: Center for Biological Diversity, Johns Hopkins Center for Livable Future, Healthy Food Action, Center for Food Safety, Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy and Slow Food USA.