On January 7, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (RFK Jr.), Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz publicly announced the 2025-2030 United States Dietary Guidelines.
Some recommendations within the guidelines have a basis in scientific reality. As usual, it advises Americans to consistently consume vegetables, whole grains, and dairy products. The guidelines also emphasized the risks of “highly processed” foods, otherwise known as ultraprocessed foods, and “refined carbohydrates.” Such prepared salty and sweet foods have been linked to diabetes and obesity.
While the suggested limits on saturated fats were not revoked, the guidelines recommended “butter or beef tallow,” as well as other whole-food sources of saturated fat, including meat, some forms of dairy, and avocados. Previous recommendations generally suggested that Americans avoid saturated fats. This addition to the guidelines is based on a conspiracy theory subscribed to by RFK Jr. and Food and Drug Commissioner Marty Makary that there is a “war” on saturated fats.
Most drastically, alcohol limits were removed. Previous guidelines recommended one drink or less per day for women, and two drinks or less for men. This is despite the fact that, between 2020 and 2021, the Centers for Disease Control found that alcoholism caused about 178,000 deaths annually.
The meat industry has enjoyed a significant role in the second Trump administration. Pilgrim’s Pride was the biggest donor to his second inauguration, donating $5 million. The parent company of Pilgrim’s Pride is Brazilian meatpacking firm JBS, which spent $500,000 lobbying the Trump administration in the first quarter of 2025.
Dr. Oz has lied about nutrition in the past.
In 2012, Oz claimed that selenium supplements were “the holy grail of cancer prevention,” with no scientific evidence to back the claim. Instead, studies have found that high rates of selenium intake can cause severe heart problems. In February 2012, Oz baselessly claimed that raspberry ketones were “the No. 1 miracle in a bottle to burn your fat.” As the Public Affairs Council found, “There is a total lack of research on raspberry ketones’ effects on fat loss.” In 2014, Oz encouraged his followers to try using strawberries and baking soda to whiten teeth, even though studies have found that the mixture may harm tooth health. In 2015, Oz baselessly claimed that umckaloabo root extract was “incredibly effective at relieving cold symptoms,” even though the National Center for Biotechnology Information found that “there’s a lack of reliable studies on the benefits of these products.” In 2018, Oz tweeted a bizarre pseudoscientific claim that astrological signs “may reveal a great deal about our health.”
Protect Our Care
