Following a succinctly worded joint blog post on Tuesday stating that the Departments of Agriculture and Health and Human Services would stick to the scope of the mandate of the 1990 National Nutrition Monitoring and Related Research Act, Secretary Tom Vilsack and Secretary Sylvia Burwell testified before the House Committee on Agriculture on Wednesday to reiterate the parameters and implementation of the 2015 Dietary Guidelines for Americans.
The 2015 Dietary Guidelines, a series of recommendations updated every five years, is expected to be released in December. The guidelines are meant to be used as general recommendations for what to put on your plate, but they also affect policies on school lunches, food stands, and other issues.
Chairman of the House Committee on Agriculture Rep. K. Michael Conaway (R-TX) noted, in his opening remarks, the heightened public interest in the guidelines as evident from the more than 29,000 comments related to a 500-page advisory report released in February that is partly used to draft the guidelines. And, he urged Vilsack and Burwell, during the testimony to be transparent about the science behind the recommendations, especially “at a time when consumers are already subjected to conflicting and often contradictory nutrition and health information.”
In the earing before the full House Agriculture Committee, Vilsack and Burwell remained firm in their assertion that the 2015 Dietary Guidelines will be “nutritional and dietary information and guidelines”and will be “based on the preponderance of the scientific and medical knowledge.” In response to several questions on the topic, the secretaries stated that sustainability and tax policy would not be included or considered in the guidelines, despite the recommendations laid out in the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee report released in February of this year.
Vilsack and Burwell additionally answered questions critical of the process of development for the Dietary Guidelines. Members of Congress expressed concern in a number of areas including: the studies utilized from the Nutrition Evidence Library; perceived reporting of opinions versus fact in the Advisory Committee report; and inconsistencies in dietary recommendations.
Secretary Vilsack and Secretary Burwell discussed how the guidelines would be incorporated into national feeding programs, and how the inclusion of lean meat, sugar, and fat would be considered. Though they could not go into specifics of the unfinished guidelines, the secretaries did state that the guidelines would be similar to those of previous years with a few minor updates.
As stated in their joint blog post, the secretaries assured the committee that “fruits and vegetables, low-fat dairy, whole grains, lean meats and other proteins, and limited amounts of saturated fats, added sugars and sodium remain the building blocks of a healthy lifestyle.”
A link to a video recording of the full hearing is available here, and the joint blog entry is available here.
