An extra cup or two of coffee may be OK after all. More eggs, too. But you definitely need to drink less sugary soda. And, as always, don’t forget your vegetables.
Recommendations Thursday from a government advisory committee call for an environmentally friendly diet lower in red and processed meats. But the panel would reverse previous guidance on limiting dietary cholesterol. And it says the caffeine in a few cups of coffee could actually be good for you.
The committee also is backing off stricter limits on salt, though it says Americans still get much too much. It’s recommending the first real limits on added sugar, saying that’s especially a problem for young people.
The Agriculture and Health and Human Services Departments will take those recommendations into account in writing final 2015 dietary guidelines by the end of the year. The guidelines affect nutritional patterns throughout the country — from federally subsidized school lunches to food package labels to your doctor’s advice.
Among the recommendations:
• Dietary cholesterol now is “not considered a nutrient of concern for overconsumption,” the report says. This follows increasing medical research showing that what contributes to the amount of cholesterol in your bloodstream is more complicated than once thought. The committee says available evidence “shows no appreciable relationship” between heart disease and how much dietary cholesterol you consume, and it still recommends limiting saturated fats to 10 percent of total calories. The panel doesn’t give a specific recommendation for how much cholesterol — or eggs — a person may eat.
• Added sugars should be around 200 calories a day — about the amount in one 16-ounce sugary drink.The recommendation is part of a larger push in recent years to help consumers isolate added sugars from naturally occurring ones like those in fruit and milk. Americans now get about 13 percent of their calories from added sugar, or 268 calories a day, the committee says. Older children, adolescents and young adults generally take in more. The committee recommends 10 percent, which is “a target within reach,” says Miriam Nelson, a Tufts University professor of nutrition who served on the panel.
• Sodium adds up quickly. A turkey sandwich and a cup of soup can average about 2,200 milligrams. That’s just under the committee’s recommendation of 2,300 milligrams a day for all people, even those most at risk for heart disease. The 2010 dietary guidelines had recommended those at risk for heart disease limit sodium to 1,500 milligrams. The new report said dropping to that amount can still be helpful for some. But the new advice follows a 2013 report by the Institute of Medicine that said there is no good evidence that eating less than 2,300 milligrams a day of sodium offers benefits.
• The report looks at caffeine for the first time, and says coffee is OK — even good for you. The panel says there is strong evidence that 3 to 5 cups a day can be part of a healthy diet, and there’s consistent evidence that it’s even associated with reduced risk of type 2 diabetes and heart disease.
• The panel recommends eating more vegetables, fruits, whole grains, legumes, nuts and seeds. A plant-based diet is “more health promoting and is associated with less environmental impact” than the current U.S. diet, which is high in meat.
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