MAHA New Food Guide Pyramid – Over Emphasis On Meat, Dairy In New Guidelines Won’t Help Americans Lose Weight Or Prevent Cancer, Heart Disease

The new MAHA guidelines were released earlier this year, and many organizations, including the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, have argued that the guidelines read like a wish list from the meat and dairy industries who, as it turns out, have their fingerprints all over the recommendations. Not to mention the scientists that these groups of companies and councils fund are the authors of the study.

With Noah Praamsma, a nutritionist from Vermont familiar with the health benefits of a plant-based diet, we discussed how these new guidelines go against most of the science of the past few decades. Research that has shown definitively that cancer (along with heart disease, diabetes, and other chronic diseases) are a result of poor lifestyle choices rather than just being random or unexpected. If you eat bacon, spam, and deli meats every day, you’ve just raised your risk of colorectal cancer by a significant amount. Eliminate these things and your risk drops. It turns out that cancer is a disease of choice and opportunity (your choice its opportunity). And in that same vein, you can choose to eat healthier and lower your risk.

The new guidelines go against this, insisting that it is only processed foods, whether meat or dairy based, that cause chronic disease. Meat and dairy are not only healthful but also essential. We discuss these developments and their possible health outcomes on the American public.

Interestingly, the new pyramid shaped food graphic (upside down pyramid actually) provides no guidance as far as quantities, servings, or importance relative to one another. Everything is kind of thrown together, and people are advised to eat beef tallow and meat in large quantities. They’ve also increased the dietary allowance for protein per meal, even though almost no Americans are actually deficient in protein.

We also spoke with PCRM’s public policy expert on some of the legal and school based issues and ramifications for this new guide. It will most deeply affect kids in school and what they are able to obtain on their lunch tray. While adults may look at this guide and shrug, it will affect what their kids will eat in school.

Unfortunately, it will likely make it harder, not easier, for kids to get access to plant based meals. In addition, it is not presently the law in most states – including New York – that children with dietary restrictions are accommodated. So if a child in an NYC school is Muslim or Jewish, and they eat only halal or kosher meats, those kids will not find something suitable most days of the week. Meaning that their parents must send a meal with them, taking time to prepare and package it for their kids each day.

It should be pointed out that the addition of plant based meals at every school would, in one fell swoop, take care of all our nearly all religious dietary restrictions. This is because fully plant based meals – with no honey, eggs, insect shells, or any other animal derivatives – are automatically kosher and halal. They would also suit Hindus, Jainists, Buddhists, Sikhs, Seventh Day Adventists, and other vegetarian observing religions. So with just one change – adding a requirement for all schools to offer at least one plant based entree every day – they would be accommodating every religious restriction out there.

Of course, this would not come without a monetary cost – but interestingly, most plant based options are cheaper, since vegetables and even mock meats are usually cheaper than meat. Real meat is generally the most expensive item on the menu.

One bright point in this discussion is the recent passage of the Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act. This bill, while increasing access to whole milk in schools nationwide, also removes the requirement for a doctor’s prescription in order to obtain plant based milk substitutes. Now they only need a parent’s note, which will make it much easier for children in school to exercise this option.

Learn more about these important issues related to the new Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) Dietary Guidelines in the conversation in the video above.

Banner Image: MAHA Pyramid graphic. Image Credit – USDA