New food pyramid is a recipe for disasters

The meat industry's celebration of the Trump administration's Dietary Guidelines for Americans should be a clear sign that these new guidelines aren't for the people.

- Gene Baur, Tribune News Service

It's true that “the United States is amid a health emergency,” as Secretaries Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Brooke Rollins state. However, in claiming to be an answer to the diet-related diseases plaguing our nation, their guidelines are an alarming dismissal of actual science. They not only flip the food pyramid on its head, encouraging us to consume more full-fat dairy products, but they even promote red meat. The truth hasn't changed: Consuming more red meat and dairy leads to more chronic disease, not less.

Eating red meat — even unprocessed varieties — has been found by Oxford researchers to increase the risk of heart disease. And according to the World Health Organization, some studies show processed red meat to be a carcinogen, potentially leading to colorectal cancer. Protein consumption “at every meal” is emphasised in the latest guidelines, and although protein intake is indeed a crucial part of any diet, experts widely believe that it’s been overemphasised in this country. Most Americans already consume far more protein than they need. Furthermore, plant foods such as edamame, lentils, peas, nuts, seeds and legumes offer a healthy source of protein that's free from the cholesterol found only in animal products.