It’s a perfect straw man argument. To make the case that dietary guidelines with the personal stamp of RFK Jr. are revolutionary, HHS has resurrected the long-defunct food pyramid and turned it upside down. It perfectly satisfies the impulse to tell the nutrition establishment that they’re wrong about everything.

But folks who know a thing are two about nutrition and health are not buying it. The American College of Cardiology certainly isn’t.

An Appealing Story

The straw man argument starts with a food pyramid that no one much liked when it surfaced 34 years ago. It was retired in 2005 and replaced by MyPlate in 2011. No one is really interested in defending it. So it makes a good straw man.

Then it weaves an appealing story about how “for decades we’ve been misled by guidance that prioritized highly processed food.” That’s the cause for us “now facing rates of unprecedented chronic disease.” And the answer is simple: “Eat real food.”

This sounds a lot like Michael Pollan’s famous advice. But it omits the part that says “mostly plants.”

Ultimately Just a Jumble of Confusion

And therein lies most of the problem people are having with this misguided guidance. The American College of Cardiology last week published an expert analysis that rejects the inverted pyramid:

“The graphic published with the 2025-2030 DGA, although meant to be a symmetric triangle, can also be misinterpreted as an inverted food pyramid with steak, meat, ground meat, whole milk, and cheese, along with fruits and vegetables, at the top, visually shifting the recommended diet to animal protein–predominant foods.”

Most notably, the analysis concludes that “plant-forward eating patterns remain the most consistent dietary strategy for reducing cardiovascular risk.”

So shouting that “BEEF IS BACK!” is not likely to help with the burden of chronic diseases that Americans face. Especially when it comes to heart disease.

Click here for the expert analysis and here for further perspective.

Men Carrying Straw, photograph by Ferdinand Reus, licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0