By Giuliana D’Esopo
On March 1, 2018, the USDA requested public comment on topics and questions to be examined at the start of the 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines development process. The Guidelines are published every five years and allegedly rely on the current body of nutrition science to outline how people can improve their eating patterns. However, rather than reflecting the latest scientific conclusions associating animal products with a variety of health problems, the Guidelines continue to allege the importance of animal products in a healthy diet. The Animal Legal Defense Fund (“ALDF”) submitted comments on March 30, requesting that the USDA acknowledge the health benefits of plant-based diets and incorporate them into the Dietary Guidelines.
The number of people in the United States self-identifying as vegan has grown 600% since 2012, according to data obtained by animal rights nonprofit Mercy for Animals. The rapidly expanding variety of meat and dairy alternatives shows that these foods are part of the mainstream U.S. diet, and as such, are central to the health of millions of consumers. The USDA admits that approximately half of all American adults have one or more chronic diseases, often related to poor diet. Despite consistent scientific agreement that plant-based diets provide significant health benefits, as well as animal welfare and environmental protection benefits, the USDA has failed to acknowledge plant-based diets in its recommendations. The ALDF makes three arguments for the incorporation of plant-based diets into the 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines.
First, the Guidelines should consider plant-based diets separately. Current Dietary Guidelines do not individually address plant-based alternatives; rather, they present these foods as improvements to be incorporated into dishes. Discussing plant-based alternatives as only side dishes undermines the association of animal products with various human health risks and ignores the substantial benefits associated with exclusively plant-based diets. Diets without animal products improve body weight, blood pressure, and diabetes management, reverse coronary atherosclerosis, and improve cancer survival. Diets high in animal products and low in plants and fiber can exacerbate all of these problems. The ALDF suggests the development of a Healthy Vegan Pattern, not only to educate the growing population of individuals eating vegan diets, but also to help other consumers make healthy choices. The Dietary Guidelines emphasize the importance of maintaining health through food choices, and this goal canoe be completed without recognizing the health benefits of plant-based diets.
The ALDF also suggests protein and dairy categories of the Guidelines should reflect current science, not just industry funded research. The Guidelines need to change their characterization of protein and calcium and the ways the body can receive these essential nutrients. The USDA uses MyPlate to provide consumers with a condensed version of the Guidelines, and current suggestions allege that animal protein and dairy are essential to a healthy diet. Protein, however, is not synonymous with meat and dairy products. Protein is a macronutrient found in foods, not a food group, and MyPlate’s categorization of “protein” as a food group leads to confusion about protein and its sources. Animal protein, specifically, is not a necessary nutrient, and is associated with a variety of health risks. Animal protein also has a higher proportion of essential amino acids, the ingestion of which results in the human body producing higher levels of the hormone insulin-like growth factor-1 (“IGF-1”), consistently associated with increased cancer risk. Unlike plant protein, animal protein does not come packaged with necessary fiber, antioxidants, or phytonutrients. In addition to the characterization of protein, the ALDF suggests the 2020-2025 Guidelines use clear language regarding what animal-based foods people should avoid. Dairy products, notably milk, are especially praised for their high calcium content even though leafy greens such as collard, kale, and mustard greens provide an absorbable source of calcium without the risks associated with dairy consumption. Industry-funded research has led to confusion about the need for dairy in a healthy diet. Not only is dairy the number one source of saturated fat in the American diet, but it is also associated with certain cancers. The ALDF argues that removing dairy from the 2020-2025 Guidelines would help assure consumers receive the most current and accurate science-based recommendations for creating a healthy diet.
Lastly, the ALDF suggests the Guidelines should factor in the effects of animal welfare on food safety and nutrition suggestions. Animal welfare encompasses the housing, husbandry, handling, feeding, and slaughter practices of the meat and dairy industries. Current animal agriculture practices negatively affect the health of animals and consequently affect the quality and safety of their food products. For example, “pasture-raised” hens lay eggs that contain lower levels of harmful cholesterol than hens raised in more crowded and stressful conditions. Poor conditions cause disease and degenerative disorders in animals that implicate nutritional content and food safety. Slaughter facilities fall under the purview of the USDA, but most slaughterhouses operate at such high speeds that USDA inspectors cannot adequately inspect each and every carcass for disease as required by the USDA’s regulations on postmortem inspection. The Guidelines should consider the conditions under which ninety-nine percent of agriculture animals are raised in this country when making dietary recommendations involving plant-based diets as an alternative to animal-based products. A majority of consumers already support this proposition; fifty-eight percent of consumers are more concerned about food animal welfare than they were just a few years ago (Organic Consumers Association, June 2, 2017). Furthermore, the vagueness of labels regarding animal welfare is unacceptable. Nineteen percent of consumers have only a general idea of what “grass-fed” means, for example, and another nineteen percent do not know what “certified humane” means. Consumers who choose organic products largely credit the assumption that organic standards include animal welfare provisions, but organic meat and poultry producers are not held to higher animal welfare standards than non-organic producers. The ALDF recommends that the 2020-2025 Guidelines take into consideration the effects of animal welfare on food safety and nutrition, and the opinion of nearly two-thirds of consumers who agree that humane treatment of farmed animals should be both a societal concern and a regulatory issue.
The Dietary Guidelines have evolved over the decades from focusing on individual foods and food groups to examining what consumers eat and drink as a whole, and how diet can help prevent diseases. The Animal Legal Defense Fund answered the USDA’s request for comments with a call to finally recognize the health benefits of plant-based diets as an alternative to the consumption of animal products. Incorporating plant-based diets into the 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines would help achieve the USDA’s mission of helping individuals prevent diseases and make healthy food choices.
Giuliana D’Esopo is a 3L and the Lead Articles Editor of JHBL. Giuliana works in the Policy Department of The Good Food Institute, a nonprofit that promotes plant-based products and clean meat as healthy, humane, and sustainable alternatives to animal agriculture. She wrote a Note on why plant-based manufacturers’ use of the term “milk” does not constitute “misbranded” under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, which will be published in JHBL’s fall issue.
Link for more info: http://aldf.org/press-room/press-releases/animal-advocates-urge-usda-u-s-department-health-human-services-incorporate-plant-based-diets-new-dietary-guidelines/