US dietary guidelines set to prioritize plant protein over meat protein
The proposed guidelines, used by federal nutrition programs and health professionals, will emphasize that protein can come from different sources, and recommend plant-based proteins over animal-based proteins.
The upcoming Dietary Guidelines for Americans is set to prioritize plant-based proteins over animal-based proteins for the first time.
The government guidelines are a key educational framework that help Americans learn about food, and are used nationwide by health professionals and federal nutrition programs.
Reviewed and updated every five years, the dietary guidelines set the national recommendations for daily food and drink intake, and highlight how food plays an integral role in helping to promote health, prevent diet-related chronic diseases, and meet nutrient goals.
Many Americans are taught the guidelines through educational tools like the food pyramid and the more recent MyPlate symbol of five food groups.
Now, the upcoming Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2025-2030 is set to update its national recommendations to highlight and prioritize plant-based proteins.
The move is understood to be driven in part as a way to help expand the public’s awareness of protein and where it comes from.
By highlighting foods like beans, peas, and lentils as healthy sources of protein, the updated advice helps redefine the public’s image of protein and how it is not exclusive to meat.
Alongside highlighting plant-based proteins, the guidelines are also set to downgrade the importance of animal-based proteins by moving meats, poultry and eggs below plant-based protein sources on the list of food groups.
These changes, intended to help Americans consume more healthy plant-based proteins, were discussed as part of a five-hour meeting held last month by the 2025 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee.
The meeting was held to evaluate scientific findings for the upcoming dietary guidelines, with the Committee set to finalize its results and submit a scientific report to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The scientific report is expected before the end of the year, with the resulting 2025-2030 Dietary Guidelines then published in early 2025.
But the committee’s proposed changes have already drawn criticism from the US livestock industry.
The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) issued a press release slamming the recommendations, and described the idea of prioritizing plant-based proteins like beans, peas, and lentils as “unhinged”.
However, the committee’s scientific findings follow in the footsteps of other national guidelines around the world that are already promoting or prioritizing plant-based foods.
In Germany, the country’s Society for Nutrition updated its guidelines to advise for less meat and egg consumption, and more plant-based foods. To put this advice in action, Germany’s national food pyramid was transformed this year into a food wheel, which now consists of over 75 percent plant-based foods.
A spokesperson for Germany’s guidelines also confirmed to news outlets at the time that meat was an optional - and not essential - part of the guidelines.
Across America too, local governments are already implementing programs to increase the uptake of plant-based foods to improve public health.
Los Angeles County, the most populated county in the US, passed legislation earlier this year to make all new food purchases by county-run facilities to be plant-based by default. The City of West Hollywood later also passed a similar policy, which states that plant-based food and drink will be served as the default option at city-sponsored events and meetings.
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