Following a dinner with Donald Trump and his son, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. expressed his views on red meat consumption, citing the new federal dietary guidelines that advise against it. This clash of opinions came at a time of shifting health advice on red meat and saturated fats, with researchers finding that increasing red meat intake could increase cardiovascular disease risk.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. shared a McDonald’s meal with Donald Trump and his son Donald Jr. shortly after the 2024 election. new federal dietary guidelines this January, he declared: “We are ending the war on saturated fats.
” Seconding Kennedy was Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Marty Makary, whowhere a thick cut of steak and a wedge of cheese share top billing with fruit and vegetables. This prime placement of a prime cut is the strongest endorsement for consuming red meat since the government first) and HHS jointly issue every five years, to limit red meat consumption issued under both Democratic and Republican administrations given the strong evidence that eating less of it lowers the risk of cardiovascular disease.
Multiple studies over the last decade havered and processed meats not only to cardiovascular disease, but also to colon polyps, colorectal cancer, diabetes, diverticulosis, pneumonia, and evenjust five years ago, warning Americans not to eat too much saturated fat.
“There is little room,” those guidelines stated, “to include additional saturated fat in a healthy dietary pattern. ” A significant percentage of saturated fat comes from red meat. Americans, who account for only 4% of the people on the planet, consume Kennedy’s fatmania even extends to beef tallow and butter, which the new pyramid identifies—along with olive oil—as “healthy fats” for cooking.
In fact, beef tallow is This rendering of recommended fats muddles a message that could have been stunningly refreshing, given the Trump administration’s penchant for meddling withby mainstream health advocacy groups, particularly one advising Americans to consume no more than 10 grams of added sugar per meal and others, as Kennedy pointed out, calling for people to “prioritize whole, nutrient-dense foods—protein, dairy, vegetables, fruits, healthy fats, and whole grains—and dramatically reduce highly processed foods. ” But such wholesomeness could easily be wasted if Americans increase their meat consumption.
That would not, as Kennedy professes, make America healthy again. Given the scientific evidence, we shouldthat more than 80% of Americans consume more than the recommended daily limit of saturated fat, which is about 20 grams—10% of a 2,000 calorie-per-day diet. The reportthat replacing butter with plant-based oils and spreads higher in unsaturated fat is associated with lower cardiovascular disease risk and eating plant-based foods instead of meat is “associated with favorable cardiovascular outcomes.
”in JAMA Internal Medicine came to a similar conclusion. It found that eating more butter was associated with a higher risk of cardiovascular disease and cancer. Using plant-based oils instead of butter, the researcher found, was associated with a 17% lower risk of death.
Such a reduction in mortality, according to study co-author Dr. Daniel Wang,“a substantial number of deaths from cancer or from other chronic diseases … could be prevented” by replacing butter with such plant-based oils as soybean or olive oil.more people than all cancers and accidents combined. The annual number of American deaths tied to cardiovascular disease is creeping toward the million mark.
According to the American Heart Association , it killed more thanthat the incidence of high blood pressure among adults will increase from 50% today to 61%, obesity rates will jump from 43% to 60% and diabetes will afflict nearly 27% of Americans compared to 16% today. Reducing mortality by 17% for those and other related health problems would go a long way to make Americans healthier.
A good place to begin reducing food-related mortality is by cutting highly processed foods out of the American diet. That would require a drastic change in eating habits for a lot of people. A July 2022of the six most popular fast-food chains in the country—Chick-fil-A, Domino’s Pizza, McDonald’s, Starbucks, Subway and Taco Bell—found that 85% of their menu items were ultra-processed.
And, according to a 2018, more than a third of US adults dine at a fast-food chain on any given day, including nearly half of those aged 20 to 39. The new federal dietary guidelines reverse decades of advisories that recommended limiting red meat consumption. Our overreliance on fast food presents a huge conundrum.
US food systems are structured in a way that it is unlikely you can tell people to cut processed foods and eat more meat at the same time. Hamburgers and processed deli meat are among the main ways Americans consume red meat.
And given the blizzard of TV ads for junk food and fast-food joints, which have proliferated across the country and especially in low-income food deserts—it is also unlikely that many people will use the new guidelines to comb through their local grocer’s meat department for the leanest cut of beef. According to the University of Connecticut’s Rudd Center for Food Policy and Health, food, beverage, and restaurant companies spenda year on advertising in the United States.
More than 80% of those ad buys are for fast food, sugary drinks, candy, and unhealthy snacks. That $14 billion is also 10 times more than thefor chronic disease and health promotion at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And don’t expect the CDC to get into an arms race with junk food advertisers any time soon.
KennedyAll of this adds up to the probability that Americans will see the new guidelines’ recommendation to eat red meat as a green light to gorge on even more burgers and other fast-food, ultra-processed meat. The new guidelines’ green light for consuming red meat and saturated fats is particularly vexing given the guidelines produced five years ago during Trump’s first term did not promote them.
Why the about-face?he wanted dietary guidelines “free from ideological bias, institutional conflicts, or predetermined conclusions,” Kennedy rejected the recommendations of the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee and turned over the nation’s dietary data to 9 review authors, at least 6 of whom hadPerhaps, but the grim reality is most Americans do not follow a balanced, heart-healthy diet. Four out of five of us are already consuming more than the recommended daily limit of saturated fat and we are well on our way to athat red meat is as healthy as broccoli, tomatoes, and beans.
Beholden to Big Beef, he is driving us full speed ahead on the road to a collective heart attack. It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project.
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Derrick Z. Jackson is a Pulitzer Prize finalist; a National Headliner and Scripps Howard winner; a 14-time winner from the National Association of Black Journalists; and co-author of The Puffin Plan , the 2021 winner in Teen Nonfiction from the Independent Book Publishers Association.new federal dietary guidelines this January, he declared: “We are ending the war on saturated fats. ” Seconding Kennedy was Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Marty Makary, whowhere a thick cut of steak and a wedge of cheese share top billing with fruit and vegetables.
This prime placement of a prime cut is the strongest endorsement for consuming red meat since the government first) and HHS jointly issue every five years, to limit red meat consumption issued under both Democratic and Republican administrations given the strong evidence that eating less of it lowers the risk of cardiovascular disease. Multiple studies over the last decade havered and processed meats not only to cardiovascular disease, but also to colon polyps, colorectal cancer, diabetes, diverticulosis, pneumonia, and evenjust five years ago, warning Americans not to eat too much saturated fat.
“There is little room,” those guidelines stated, “to include additional saturated fat in a healthy dietary pattern. ” A significant percentage of saturated fat comes from red meat. Americans, who account for only 4% of the people on the planet, consume Kennedy’s fatmania even extends to beef tallow and butter, which the new pyramid identifies—along with olive oil—as “healthy fats” for cooking.
In fact, beef tallow is This rendering of recommended fats muddles a message that could have been stunningly refreshing, given the Trump administration’s penchant for meddling withby mainstream health advocacy groups, particularly one advising Americans to consume no more than 10 grams of added sugar per meal and others, as Kennedy pointed out, calling for people to “prioritize whole, nutrient-dense foods—protein, dairy, vegetables, fruits, healthy fats, and whole grains—and dramatically reduce highly processed foods. ” But such wholesomeness could easily be wasted if Americans increase their meat consumption.
That would not, as Kennedy professes, make America healthy again. Given the scientific evidence, we shouldthat more than 80% of Americans consume more than the recommended daily limit of saturated fat, which is about 20 grams—10% of a 2,000 calorie-per-day diet. The reportthat replacing butter with plant-based oils and spreads higher in unsaturated fat is associated with lower cardiovascular disease risk and eating plant-based foods instead of meat is “associated with favorable cardiovascular outcomes.
”in JAMA Internal Medicine came to a similar conclusion. It found that eating more butter was associated with a higher risk of cardiovascular disease and cancer. Using plant-based oils instead of butter, the researcher found, was associated with a 17% lower risk of death.
Such a reduction in mortality, according to study co-author Dr. Daniel Wang,“a substantial number of deaths from cancer or from other chronic diseases … could be prevented” by replacing butter with such plant-based oils as soybean or olive oil.more people than all cancers and accidents combined. The annual number of American deaths tied to cardiovascular disease is creeping toward the million mark.
According to the American Heart Association , it killed more thanthat the incidence of high blood pressure among adults will increase from 50% today to 61%, obesity rates will jump from 43% to 60% and diabetes will afflict nearly 27% of Americans compared to 16% today. Reducing mortality by 17% for those and other related health problems would go a long way to make Americans healthier.
A good place to begin reducing food-related mortality is by cutting highly processed foods out of the American diet. That would require a drastic change in eating habits for a lot of people. A July 2022of the six most popular fast-food chains in the country—Chick-fil-A, Domino’s Pizza, McDonald’s, Starbucks, Subway and Taco Bell—found that 85% of their menu items were ultra-processed.
And, according to a 2018, more than a third of US adults dine at a fast-food chain on any given day, including nearly half of those aged 20 to 39. The new federal dietary guidelines reverse decades of advisories that recommended limiting red meat consumption. Our overreliance on fast food presents a huge conundrum.
US food systems are structured in a way that it is unlikely you can tell people to cut processed foods and eat more meat at the same time. Hamburgers and processed deli meat are among the main ways Americans consume red meat.
And given the blizzard of TV ads for junk food and fast-food joints, which have proliferated across the country and especially in low-income food deserts—it is also unlikely that many people will use the new guidelines to comb through their local grocer’s meat department for the leanest cut of beef. According to the University of Connecticut’s Rudd Center for Food Policy and Health, food, beverage, and restaurant companies spenda year on advertising in the United States.
More than 80% of those ad buys are for fast food, sugary drinks, candy, and unhealthy snacks. That $14 billion is also 10 times more than thefor chronic disease and health promotion at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And don’t expect the CDC to get into an arms race with junk food advertisers any time soon.
KennedyAll of this adds up to the probability that Americans will see the new guidelines’ recommendation to eat red meat as a green light to gorge on even more burgers and other fast-food, ultra-processed meat. The new guidelines’ green light for consuming red meat and saturated fats is particularly vexing given the guidelines produced five years ago during Trump’s first term did not promote them.
Why the about-face?he wanted dietary guidelines “free from ideological bias, institutional conflicts, or predetermined conclusions,” Kennedy rejected the recommendations of the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee and turned over the nation’s dietary data to 9 review authors, at least 6 of whom hadPerhaps, but the grim reality is most Americans do not follow a balanced, heart-healthy diet. Four out of five of us are already consuming more than the recommended daily limit of saturated fat and we are well on our way to athat red meat is as healthy as broccoli, tomatoes, and beans.
Beholden to Big Beef, he is driving us full speed ahead on the road to a collective heart attack. The Trump Administration's $3 Meal: 'A Piece of Chicken, a Piece of Broccoli, Corn Tortilla, and One Other Thing' ›Derrick Z. Jackson is a Pulitzer Prize finalist; a National Headliner and Scripps Howard winner; a 14-time winner from the National Association of Black Journalists; and co-author of The Puffin Plan , the 2021 winner in Teen Nonfiction from the Independent Book Publishers Association.new federal dietary guidelines this January, he declared: “We are ending the war on saturated fats.
” Seconding Kennedy was Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Marty Makary, whowhere a thick cut of steak and a wedge of cheese share top billing with fruit and vegetables. This prime placement of a prime cut is the strongest endorsement for consuming red meat since the government first) and HHS jointly issue every five years, to limit red meat consumption issued under both Democratic and Republican administrations given the strong evidence that eating less of it lowers the risk of cardiovascular disease.
Multiple studies over the last decade havered and processed meats not only to cardiovascular disease, but also to colon polyps, colorectal cancer, diabetes, diverticulosis, pneumonia, and evenjust five years ago, warning Americans not to eat too much saturated fat.
“There is little room,” those guidelines stated, “to include additional saturated fat in a healthy dietary pattern. ” A significant percentage of saturated fat comes from red meat. Americans, who account for only 4% of the people on the planet, consume Kennedy’s fatmania even extends to beef tallow and butter, which the new pyramid identifies—along with olive oil—as “healthy fats” for cooking.
In fact, beef tallow is This rendering of recommended fats muddles a message that could have been stunningly refreshing, given the Trump administration’s penchant for meddling withby mainstream health advocacy groups, particularly one advising Americans to consume no more than 10 grams of added sugar per meal and others, as Kennedy pointed out, calling for people to “prioritize whole, nutrient-dense foods—protein, dairy, vegetables, fruits, healthy fats, and whole grains—and dramatically reduce highly processed foods. ” But such wholesomeness could easily be wasted if Americans increase their meat consumption.
That would not, as Kennedy professes, make America healthy again. Given the scientific evidence, we shouldthat more than 80% of Americans consume more than the recommended daily limit of saturated fat, which is about 20 grams—10% of a 2,000 calorie-per-day diet. The reportthat replacing butter with plant-based oils and spreads higher in unsaturated fat is associated with lower cardiovascular disease risk and eating plant-based foods instead of meat is “associated with favorable cardiovascular outcomes.
”in JAMA Internal Medicine came to a similar conclusion. It found that eating more butter was associated with a higher risk of cardiovascular disease and cancer. Using plant-based oils instead of butter, the researcher found, was associated with a 17% lower risk of death.
Such a reduction in mortality, according to study co-author Dr. Daniel Wang,“a substantial number of deaths from cancer or from other chronic diseases … could be prevented” by replacing butter with such plant-based oils as soybean or olive oil.more people than all cancers and accidents combined. The annual number of American deaths tied to cardiovascular disease is creeping toward the million mark.
According to the American Heart Association , it killed more thanthat the incidence of high blood pressure among adults will increase from 50% today to 61%, obesity rates will jump from 43% to 60% and diabetes will afflict nearly 27% of Americans compared to 16% today. Reducing mortality by 17% for those and other related health problems would go a long way to make Americans healthier.
A good place to begin reducing food-related mortality is by cutting highly processed foods out of the American diet. That would require a drastic change in eating habits for a lot of people. A July 2022of the six most popular fast-food chains in the country—Chick-fil-A, Domino’s Pizza, McDonald’s, Starbucks, Subway and Taco Bell—found that 85% of their menu items were ultra-processed.
And, according to a 2018, more than a third of US adults dine at a fast-food chain on any given day, including nearly half of those aged 20 to 39. The new federal dietary guidelines reverse decades of advisories that recommended limiting red meat consumption. Our overreliance on fast food presents a huge conundrum.
US food systems are structured in a way that it is unlikely you can tell people to cut processed foods and eat more meat at the same time. Hamburgers and processed deli meat are among the main ways Americans consume red meat.
And given the blizzard of TV ads for junk food and fast-food joints, which have proliferated across the country and especially in low-income food deserts—it is also unlikely that many people will use the new guidelines to comb through their local grocer’s meat department for the leanest cut of beef. According to the University of Connecticut’s Rudd Center for Food Policy and Health, food, beverage, and restaurant companies spenda year on advertising in the United States.
More than 80% of those ad buys are for fast food, sugary drinks, candy, and unhealthy snacks. That $14 billion is also 10 times more than thefor chronic disease and health promotion at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And don’t expect the CDC to get into an arms race with junk food advertisers any time soon.
KennedyAll of this adds up to the probability that Americans will see the new guidelines’ recommendation to eat red meat as a green light to gorge on even more burgers and other fast-food, ultra-processed meat. The new guidelines’ green light for consuming red meat and saturated fats is particularly vexing given the guidelines produced five years ago during Trump’s first term did not promote them.
Why the about-face?he wanted dietary guidelines “free from ideological bias, institutional conflicts, or predetermined conclusions,” Kennedy rejected the recommendations of the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee and turned over the nation’s dietary data to 9 review authors, at least 6 of whom hadPerhaps, but the grim reality is most Americans do not follow a balanced, heart-healthy diet. Four out of five of us are already consuming more than the recommended daily limit of saturated fat and we are well on our way to athat red meat is as healthy as broccoli, tomatoes, and beans.
Beholden to Big Beef, he is driving us full speed ahead on the road to a collective heart attack. The Trump Administration's $3 Meal: 'A Piece of Chicken, a Piece of Broccoli, Corn Tortilla, and One Other Thing' › The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different.
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Red Meat Cardiovascular Disease New Dietary Guidelines Overconsumption Obesity Health Advice Fast-Food Joints
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