Dietary Guidelines Committee Releases 2025 Report to USDA and HHS

The Scientific Report of the 2025 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee (Scientific Report) has been submitted to the Secretaries of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and is now available online. The departments have opened a 60-day comment period to collect input from the public on the Scientific Report. The comments received will be used to inform the development of the next edition of the Dietary Guidelines. Additional information on submitting public comments can be found by clicking here.

Livestock producers and their trade groups are very upset about the push for less red meat and more lentils and other beans. In the Executive Summary- the Committee makes this statement which seems to form the basis for their push in that direction: “Evidence indicates that when reducing butter, processed and unprocessed red meat, and dairy, substitution or replacement with a wide range of plant-based food sources, including plant-based protein foods (e.g., beans, peas, and lentils), whole grains, vegetables, or monounsaturated fatty acid (MUFA)- and PUFA-rich vegetable oils and spreads, is associated with cardiovascular disease risk reduction.”

The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association is urging the Trump administration to rethink these recommendations:

“Most Americans today already eat beef within the Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA) recommended levels for a healthy diet. This reduction is a solution in search of a problem,” said NCBA President and Wyoming rancher Mark Eisele. “Public health advice should be based on the totality of scientific evidence. The Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee ignored robust and rigorous scientific evidence about beef’s essential nutrients and the foundational, positive role it plays in health as a preferred protein food in a variety of healthy diets for all Americans.”

Obesity and chronic disease are critical health issues in our nation and eating beef is a solution. With a single, 3-ounce serving of lean beef, Americans receive half of their daily protein needs, as well as 10 essential nutrients like iron and B vitamins—all in less than 170 calories. NCBA will continue working hard to ensure the wealth of evidence in support of beef’s positive role in health is available to the future secretaries and considered in the final guidelines over the coming months. 

“Cutting back on beef isn’t going to Make America Healthy Again. There’s irrefutable evidence about the valuable role of beef and its nutrients in promoting health,” said NCBA Executive Director of Nutrition Science and Registered Dietitian Dr. Shalene McNeill. “We’ve had 40 years of Dietary Guidelines, and during that time, beef consumption has decreased, yet Americans suffer more from obesity and chronic disease than ever before. Advising Americans to cut back on beef takes us even further in the wrong direction, putting our most vulnerable populations like women, children, teens and the aging at risk. This advice detracts from the real and most basic challenges we face with eating healthfully. Nutrition guidance should encourage Americans to have the flexibility to choose nutrient dense foods and dietary patterns they enjoy within calorie goals.”

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Meanwhile- the Meat Institute is also seeing red over the Committee report:

“The Meat Institute remains strongly opposed to the Report’s recommendation to reduce meat consumption and will urge the agencies to reject it,” said Meat Institute President and CEO Julie Anna Potts.

“Meat products provide high quality protein that is critical for developing, maintaining, and repairing strong muscles; vital for growth and brain development in children; beneficial for providing satiety and maintaining a healthy weight; and essential to prevent muscle loss in the aged. Including meat and poultry in the diet allows consumers to more easily fulfill their dietary needs for protein, iron, zinc, copper, vitamin B6, vitamin B12, and potassium – all of which are nutrients the Report has found many Americans are under-consuming. 

“For the 95% of Americans who consume meat, the Report’s recommendations are tone deaf and unrealistic. Americans need guidance on how meat fits in a healthy diet. Directives from out-of-touch academics to eat legumes and avoid the nutrient-dense foods they love does not foster improved health and fails to account for the central role of meat within America’s cultural diversity. The Report’s recommendations fail to provide attainable nutritional guidance by marginalizing one of the most nutrient dense, accessible, and culturally relevant foods in the American diet.”

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The dairy industry is happier with the recommendation. This statement is from the National Milk Producers Federation:


“NMPF thanks the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee for recognizing dairy’s important role in a healthy diet and its continued recommendation of three servings of dairy for Americans two years and older.

“Throughout this process, the committee looked carefully at the nutrition dairy products provide. The committee’s scientific review showed that reducing or eliminating dairy from the diet leads to undernourishment in key nutrients for millions of Americans. The review also made clear that expanding the food group to include additional plant-based alternative beverages outside of fortified soy is not supported by scientific evidence. Specifically, the committee noted “the direct substitution of plant-based milk alternatives for cow’s milk within the patterns may introduce unintended consequences for meeting other nutrient recommendations and may vary by product selected.” This is especially important, as the dietary guidelines greatly affect the food options available to children through school meals and other nutrition programs.

“NMPF also thanks the committee for acknowledging that dairy is an equitable option that provides accessible and affordable sources of essential nutrients to everyone, and that lactose-free and lactose-reduced dairy foods can provide those same nutrients for people who may not be able to tolerate regular dairy.

“We are disappointed that the committee only recommends consumption of unflavored milk, especially as they acknowledged that flavored milk contains beneficial nutrients and did not explicitly conclude any connection between flavored milk consumption and obesity risk.

“It is reassuring that the committee came to multiple conclusions supporting dairy that are backed by decades of scientific evidence. We encourage the agencies to look further into recent science supporting the benefits of whole milk in the diet. The committee found evidence that substituting higher-fat dairy with lower-fat dairy showed no association with cardiovascular disease morbidity, and it also found evidence of positive benefits for growth and bone health specifically related to whole milk consumption by young children. We see these conclusions as positive steps. We will continue to advocate for consideration of full-fat dairy in the final dietary guidelines expected to be released next year.”

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