New dietary guidelines call for more beans, less red meat

The 2025-2030 Dietary Guidelines released Jan. 7 by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and USDA recommend Americans eat more beans, peas and lentils and reduce consumption of red and processed meats and starchy vegetables.

The guidelines are released every five years following a scientific review of nutrition evidence by a committee of experts.

The International Fresh Produce Association acknowledged the guidelines’ recognition of fruits and vegetables as central to healthy dietary patterns.

“Today’s Dietary Guidelines reinforce the critical role fruits and vegetables play in overall health,” Mollie Van Lieu, IFPA vice president of nutrition and health,  said in a news release. “Scientific evidence consistently shows that fruits and vegetables should make up the majority of what people eat. The administration’s focus on whole foods is an opportunity to increase fruit and vegetable intake, as they are the most nutrient-dense foods available.”

The National Potato Council (NPC) sounded a note of preliminary optimism.

“The National Potato Council’s initial review of the new dietary guidelines finds them encouraging,” NPC said in a statement. “It is positive to see the new consumer graphic feature a whole, fresh potato front and center, identifying it as a nutrient-rich vegetable Americans should eat as part of a healthy diet. We welcome this recognition.

“We are currently analyzing how specific references to processed potato products integrate with the broader guidance in support of potato consumption. We continue to evaluate how these elements align.”

The report does not contain recommendations of consumption of ultraprocessed foods, saying there’s not enough evidence to recommend avoidance.

NPC keeps close tabs on the formulating of the guidelines, with a main concern being ensuring that potatoes remain classified as a vegetable.

The committee examined a range of topics related to dietary intakes, including the relationship between overall dietary patterns and specific dietary components and a series of broad health outcomes, according to the report.

Food policy expert Marion Nestle told The Associated Press that the guidelines broke little new ground.

“This looks like every other set of dietary guidelines since 1980: eat your veggies and reduce consumption of foods high in salt, sugar and saturated fat,” Nestle told AP in an email. “This particular statement says nothing about balancing calories, when overconsumption of calories, especially from ultra-processed foods, is the biggest challenge to the health of Americans.”