Added sugar recommendations that haven’t changed in the new dietary guidelines | 2020-12-30

Washington — Compared to the 2015-2025 guidelines, the 2020-2025 American dietary guidelines haven’t changed much, but without one change can be controversial.

The latest dietary guidelines released on December 29, contrary to the advice of the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Board, continued to recommend adding sugar at less than 10% of total calories per day starting at age 2. .. Infants under 2 years old Avoid foods and drinks with sugar.

Updated dietary guidelines may be found here.. The United States Department of Agriculture and the United States Department of Health and Human Services update their dietary guidelines every five years. Each time they appointed a dietary guidelines advisory board, a report issued in July stated that additional sugar intake recommendations should be reduced to less than 6% of total calories.

However, the updated dietary guidelines did not change the quantitative recommendations because there was no “evidence superiority” in the material reviewed by DGAC to support certain changes. Both USDA and HHS encourage further research on additional sugars, including studies looking for evidence of health benefits from reducing from less than 10% to less than 6% of total calories.

“Today, we are pleased that the USDA and HHS have endorsed strong scientific evidence and discounted the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Board’s recommendation to reduce additional sugar intake recommendations to less than 6% of daily calories. I think, “said The Sugar Association. “The recommendation was not justified because there was no proper and thorough review of the entire scientific evidence, but in the end, the agency understood it correctly and 10% of the calories from the added sugar. Maintained the current recommendations of. “

Dr. Mitchell SV Elkind, MD, President of the American Heart Association, said he was pleased with the updated dietary guidelines emphasizing a healthy diet. The final guidelines for 2020 recommend reducing additional sugar consumption to less than 6% of calories. “

The FDA defines added sugar as sugar that is added or packaged during the processing of food. Sugar-sweetened beverages make up 24% of the average additional sugar intake of Americans over the age of 1, while desserts and sweet snacks make up an additional 19%.

For the first time, the updated dietary guidelines included recommendations for pregnant and lactating women and infants under the age of two.

Infants should be fed only breast milk for the first 6 months of life and infant formula fortified with iron during the first year of life when breast milk is not available. You also need to supplement vitamin D immediately after birth.

Infants about 6 months old should be introduced into nutritious supplements, including potentially allergic foods along with other supplements. Foods should be rich in iron and zinc, especially for breast-fed babies. Infants at high risk of peanut allergies should be introduced with foods containing peanuts within 4-6 months.

Folic acid / folic acid, iron, iodine, choline, and seafood were recommended for pregnant and lactating women.

While recommending restricted intake of saturated fat and sodium, the updated dietary guidelines maintained the same quantitative recommendations as the 2015-2020 version. Saturated fat intake should be less than 10% of total caloric intake per day from 2 years of age. Sodium intake is less than 2,300 mg per day and should be even lower in children under the age of 14.

According to updated dietary guidelines, 85% of daily calories provide vitamins, minerals and other health-promoting ingredients, with very little sugar, saturated fats or sodium added, making nutritious foods and Must be taken from beverages. Foods that serve as examples of nutritious foods when cooked with no or little sugar, saturated fats, or sodium are vegetables, fruits, whole grains, seafood, eggs, beans, peas, lentils, and none. Salted nuts and seeds, fat-free, low-fat dairy products, lean meats and poultry.

Dietary guidelines provide science-based recommendations designed to create healthy eating patterns as a way to combat dietary illnesses. According to dietary guidelines, about 74% of adults in the United States are overweight or obese. About 18.2 million US adults suffer from coronary artery disease. Almost 11% of Americans have type 1 or type 2 diabetes. More than 250,000 women have been diagnosed with breast cancer this year, and more than 1.3 million have colorectal cancer.

Diet guidelines are designed to be used by healthcare professionals and policy makers to reach out to the general public and provide a nutritional foundation for federal nutrition programs.

“At USDA and HHS, US Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue helps all Americans prosper and lead healthier lives through access to healthy foods and nutritional recommendations. With the release of Diet Guidelines, we strive to serve the American people, a very important step in providing nutritional guidance that will help all Americans lead a healthy life bit by bit. I took a step forward. “

Alex Azar, US Secretary of Health and Welfare, said: “Science shows that good nutrition leads to better health results. New dietary guidelines are the best available to provide Americans with the information they need to make healthy decisions. Using evidence. Their family. USDA and HHS extend this edition of the dietary guidelines to provide new guidance for infants, toddlers, pregnant and lactating women, and are related to age and life stage. We are helping all Americans improve their health. “