A group of doctors is suing the US government for allegedly allowing the meat, dairy, egg, and low-carb industries to interfere with the 2025–2030 Dietary Guidelines for Americans.
The new guidelines, released this past January, place protein and animal-based foods at the top of the US Food Pyramid. While they encourage people to eat more plants and reduce their intake of ultra-processed foods, they also place significant emphasis on animal-based protein sources, including eggs, poultry, full-fat dairy, seafood, and red meat.
“Protein and healthy fats are essential and were wrongly discouraged in prior dietary guidelines,” Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said at the time. “We are ending the war on saturated fats.”
photo illustration by Richard Bowie
Why doctors are suing over the dietary guidelines
However, according to the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM), a nonprofit health organization with more than 17,000 physician members, the new guidelines put American health at risk.
In a new lawsuit, filed in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, PCRM argues that the US government sidelined advice from the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee (DGAC), which had recommended encouraging Americans to eat more meals centered on plant-based foods and prioritizing plant-based sources of protein.
An abundance of research suggests that plant-based whole foods are beneficial for health. They can help lower LDL (“bad”) cholesterol and blood pressure, while reducing the risk of diet-related chronic diseases, including heart disease and type 2 diabetes.
realfood.gov
Instead of following DGAC advice, PCRM alleges the government relied on a “secret panel” of “meat, dairy, and fad diet industry insiders” in developing the new guidelines. According to the nonprofit, eight of the nine members of the secret panel had ties to organizations like the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, the National Dairy Council, the American Egg Board, the National Pork Board, and the low-carbohydrate diet industry.
This wasn’t just a departure from the recommendations of the panel of nutrition and health experts appointed by HHS and USDA, who spent roughly two years reviewing the scientific evidence, but it also violated federal law, claims PCRM.
Under the Federal Advisory Committee Act, an advisory committee to the government cannot “be inappropriately influenced by the appointing authority or any special interest.”
“The government allowed the meat and dairy industries to ghostwrite the Dietary Guidelines,” said PCRM President Neal Barnard, MD. “They put money in industry’s pocket and cholesterol in Americans’ arteries.”
Americans aren’t sold on the new dietary guidelines
PCRM research suggests that most Americans are not taking the new dietary advice seriously. In a recent poll of more than 2,200 US adults, the nonprofit found that only 18 percent had changed their diets based on the new guidelines. Among those who had made changes, many appeared to have disregarded the advice around animal protein.
“The good news is that Americans are following the Dietary Guidelines’ recommendations to eat more fruits, veggies, and grains and to avoid saturated fat,” said Anna Herby, DHSc, RD, CDCES, nutrition education specialist for PCRM. “And they are ignoring recommendations to consume animal protein and full-fat dairy products, which can increase the risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and certain cancers.”
Sveta Zarzamora
Still, through the lawsuit, PCRM is asking for the Dietary Guidelines to be withdrawn and for new guidelines to be developed in compliance with the Federal Advisory Committee Act.
The lawsuit is not without precedent. PCRM has challenged the Dietary Guidelines on four previous occasions: in 2000, 2010, 2015, and 2020. In its 2000 challenge, which claimed that six DGAC members had financial ties to the meat, dairy, or egg industries, a federal court agreed that the government had violated both the Freedom of Information Act and the Federal Advisory Committee Act.
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Charlotte is a VegNews editor and writer based in sunny Southsea on England's southern coast.
