Robert Kennedy Jr., U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's nominee to run the Department of Health and Human Services, gestures in the U.S. Capitol subway on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., December 17, 2024. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier
(Washington, D.C.) – Health and Human Services Secretary RRoert F. Kennedy Jr., has unveiled a new gold standard for how we eat in the United States! In a press conference Wednesday morning The Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2025–2030, was announced- marking one of the most dramatic shifts in federal nutrition advice in decades.
The new guidelines are a sharp change, pushing a public health message much needed in the US. the guidelines no longer discourage red meat, butter, or whole milk. Full-fat dairy is now explicitly recommended, provided it contains no added sugars, and Americans are encouraged to consume higher levels of protein from both animal and plant sources. Red meat, once treated as a nutritional villain, is included as a legitimate part of a balanced diet.
Other common attributes to health concerns are also being looked at a little bit more- artificial sweeteners and sugar substitutes are under scrutiny.
Sugary beverages – including sodas, energy drinks, and sweetened fruit drinks – are singled out as foods to avoid altogether.
The recommendations align closely with Kennedy’s Make America Healthy Again agenda, which places blame for rising chronic disease rates on industrial food production, chemical additives, and what he has described as a broken regulatory system captured by corporate interests. While Kennedy’s views on vaccines have divided public health officials, his food policy proposals have attracted bipartisan interest and strong support from wellness advocates.
Federal data shows that more than half of the average American’s daily calories now come from ultra-processed foods – a trend increasingly linked to obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. The new guidelines are the first to explicitly call for a major reduction in those products, a move some nutrition experts have described as overdue.
The guidance also introduces clearer limits on added sugar, recommending no more than 10 grams per meal, a change intended to make dietary advice more practical and easier to follow. Previous guidelines relied on abstract calorie percentages that many Americans struggled to apply in daily life.
For advocates of the new approach, the message is straightforward: Americans don’t need more engineered substitutes or diet tricks. They need real food – and fewer rules designed to protect the processed food industry rather than public health.
