Health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. yesterday announced muddled new Dietary Guidelines for Americans in which everyone can find plenty to love or hate – or both. These are the perfect guidelines for our era. TikTok nutrition influencers can spin them any way they want. RFK can tell everyone that he’s owning the so-called nutrition experts. The dairy and meat industry can do a happy dance because suddenly they a perched atop a food pyramid turned upside down.

It is the perfect guidance for this health secretary to issue because it will surely do very little to enhance the health of Americans.

Something for Everyone

Surely the biggest winner in this edition are the dairy and beef industries. The admonition to “prioritize protein foods at every meal” includes a callout to consume “red meat, as well as a variety
of plant-sourced protein foods.”

But at the same time, the guidance says “saturated fat consumption should not exceed 10% of total daily calories.” Yes, with these guidelines, we can have it both ways. Promote red meat and dairy, but warn about eating too much saturated fat.

Another thing that nutrition influencers are loving is the call to “limit highly processed foods, added sugars, and refined carbohydrates.” Said Kennedy as he rolled out the guidance, “My message is clear. Eat real food.”

Muddled Advice

But no, the messaging is not so clear. These guidelines both promote red meat and warn about eating too much saturated fat. They tell us to “consume less alcohol” and at the same time, eliminate a recommendation that people have no more than one or two drinks per day. They say to “flavor with salt” while recommending that people “consume less than 2,300 mg per day of sodium.” The advice is muddled.

One bit of messaging is nonetheless clear: Highly processed foods are bad. Avoid them and all other dietary problems will melt away.

People See What They Want to See and Disregard the Rest

So great is the popular roar of condemnation for processed foods that Kennedy’s messaging about whole foods has won some surprising endorsements for these new, muddled guidelines. Perhaps the most surprising endorsement came from the American Medical Association. AMA president Bobby Mukkamala said:

“The American Medical Association (AMA) applauds the Administration’s new Dietary Guidelines for spotlighting the highly processed foods, sugar-sweetened beverages, and excess sodium that fuel heart disease, diabetes, obesity, and other chronic illnesses. The Guidelines affirm that food is medicine and offer clear direction patients and physicians can use to improve health.”

Well actually, the guidelines say absolutely nothing about “food is medicine,” but that demonstrates why we say this guidance is so muddled. People can see whatever they like in it.

Click here for the 2025 Dietary Guidelines document, here, here, and here for more about these new guidelines.

Trophy of the Hunt, painting by William Michael Harnett