Dietary advice can be confusing. Is it OK to eat meat and eggs? Is fat in or out? What about grains? How much salt?
An advisory committee’s recommendations for the nation’s dietary patterns are due soon, and some advice may be changing. The committee is expected to downplay the importance of lowering cholesterol intake and may put less emphasis on eating lean meats. The panel could also tweak its recommendations on exactly how much salt is too much and put limits on sugar consumption for the first time.
Still, despite some revisions, the main advice never changes: eat more fruits and vegetables and whole grains, and eat less saturated fats, salt and sugar.
The Agriculture and Health and Human Services Departments will use the advisory committee’s report to write the final version of the 2015 dietary guidelines, due by the end of this year.
A look at the upcoming dietary guidelines, and what they mean for consumers:
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The “My Plate” isn’t expected to change much — the guidelines issued at the end of the year will most certainly recommend putting fruits, vegetables, whole grains and lean proteins on your plate, accompanied by low-fat dairy.
In its draft recommendations, the panel said the problem it is trying to solve is high rates of “preventable chronic disease” and obesity.
The panel said the gap is an American diet too high in sodium, saturated fat, refined grains, added sugars and calories, and too low in vegetables, fruit and whole grains.
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