An "Unhinged" Set of Dietary Guidelines?

“Unhinged” is a fun, descriptive word, but also a little unsettling when used as an adjective by beef producers to describe new dietary guidelines from the U.S. government. Here’s the story:

The United States is preparing next year to update its Dietary Guidelines for Americans, an influential set of recommendations that inform nutrition labels, what food is served in schools and hospitals and the advice that healthcare professionals give patients.

Alongside the potential changes, a major battle is brewing over how much red meat Americans should consume — and it has the beef industry seeing red.

Drafted recommendations are set to call for greater intake of plant-based foods while limiting consumption of beef and starchy vegetables like potatoes.

Beef groups are slamming the recommendations, calling the proposal “unhinged.”

The committee of scientists behind the recommendations also proposed moving “meats, poultry, eggs” to the last group listed in the protein-foods category while adding beans, peas and lentils as options.

Something to keep an eye on as we approach those changes in 2025. The current guidelines came out in 2020 and are the 9th set of such recommendations.