Doctors Urge USDA To Remove Dairy From New Dietary Guidelines Over “Food Racism”

Health experts condemn the current USDA guidelines on recommended dairy intake, warning that the advice is “likely to maintain high cancer rates in Americans, especially Black Americans”. 

Credit: The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine

New dietary guidelines from the USDA have been condemned by doctors and physicians who say the government’s advice risks maintaining high cancer rates in America.

The newly updated guidelines, which continue to recommend three servings of dairy per day, are “likely to maintain high cancer rates in Americans, especially Black Americans”, says The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM). 

The group of doctors and dietary experts warn that by consuming dairy in the amounts recommended by USDA, people could increase their risk of various cancers: research reveals that the amount of recommended dairy can increase breast cancer risk by up to 80% and risk of death from prostate cancer by 141%. 

And according to research funded by the National Cancer Institute, the National Institutes of Health, and the World Cancer Research Fund, women who consumed 1 cup of cow’s milk per day had a 50% increased chance for breast cancer, the PCRM point out. When asked about the milk recommendations in the Guidelines, the lead author of the study said that “people should view that recommendation with caution.”

The guidelines have also been condemned for their role in “food racism”. Warning that the USDA’s guidelines are “racially tinged”, PCRM explains that it is Black men and women who are most likely to suffer from diet-related diseases such as breast cancer and prostate cancer.

The group reports that breast cancer death rates are 40% higher among Black women, compared with white women, and that Black men are more likely to get prostate cancer than other men and twice as likely to die from prostate cancer than other men.

“Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue released the Guidelines too hastily. They need to be pulled back and redrafted,” says Susan Levin, MS, RD, CSSD, director of nutrition education for the PCRM. “The Guidelines maintain a racially tinged promotion of dairy products, which are far less healthful than other calcium sources and have been shown to increase the risk of prostate and breast cancer, both of which are particularly deadly in the Black community, as well as an inappropriate emphasis on meat, rather than healthier foods.” 

The committee's argument follows a wider movement where many high-profile Black vegans are advocating for plant-based diets to help tackle diet-related diseases within the black community.  

Brooklyn President Eric Adams, who is currently running for NYC Mayor, cured his own diabetes and partial blindness by making the switch to plant-based foods. Ever since, he's been on a mission to implement plant-based diets and nutrition in hospitals, schools, prisons, and communities all over New York City. 

And award-winning public nutritionist Tracye McQuirter, ran a successful campaign last year that encouraged 10,000 Black women to go vegan for their health. 

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