WISHING WELL: Do the new U.S. Dietary Guidelines say go vegan?
One of the positives The US Dietary Guidelines for 2020-2025 is the inclusion of soy milk being cited as nutritionally equivalent to cow’s milk for the first time ever.
EMILY BAKER: The US Dietary Guidelines for 2020-2025 have finally been published – and reception has been mixed. The Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGAs) are updated and published every five years in a joint effort in what government services describe as an effort ‘between the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)’.
This year, the guidelines encouraged people to ensure their cholesterol consumption is as low as possible. The Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee (DGAC) made its position on cholesterol clear as far as mid-2020, suggesting that the guidelines should recommend that “individuals should eat as little dietary cholesterol as possible.”
That position was praised by plant-based health advocacy organization the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM). PCRM said: “The DGAC made the recommendation during a June 17 webcast previewing the draft of its scientific report, which is expected to be finalized by the end of June. The U.S. Department of Agriculture and Department of Health and Human Services will use the DGAC’s report to develop the 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans”…
But the guidelines have been criticized by some; among them highly-respected YouTuber Mic the Vegan who accused them of contradicting themselves. He also noted his belief that food industries – both animal and plant-based – had influenced the guidelines to some extent… One of the positives Mic pointed out the inclusion of soy milk being cited as nutritionally equivalent to cow’s milk for the first time ever… One of the positives Mic pointed out the inclusion of soy milk being cited as nutritionally equivalent to cow’s milk for the first time ever…
However, it was the Guide’s suggestions around cholesterol that Mic took issue with. “There’s something very, very important that they recommend limiting and it didn’t make it onto the simple-to-view bold list of things to avoid, and that is cholesterol. They say ‘The National Academies recommends that trans fat and dietary cholesterol consumption to be as low as possible without compromising the nutritional adequacy of the diet’.”
Of this comment, Mic said: “While I do not think it was their intention at all, the logical conclusion of this statement is to eat a vegan diet, to be avoiding all these animal products that contain cholesterol. If they built the guidelines around this statement, but it would basically be a ‘How to eat a balanced vegan book’, but obviously they didn’t.” SOURCE…
RELATED VIDEO: