Federal dietary guidelines recommend cutting back on red and processed meat, sugar and refined grains

The Department of Agriculture and the Department of Health and Human Services have released proposed 2015 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. The guidelines, released every five years, "provide authoritative advice about consuming fewer calories, making informed food choices, and being physically active to attain and maintain a healthy weight, reduce risk of chronic disease, and promote overall health," says USDA.

It shouldn't come as a surprise that the 2015 guidelines recommend eating healthier foods, while cutting back on less healthy alternatives. "The committee basically recommended Americans take up a diet that is higher in vegetables, fruits, whole grains, low- or non-fat dairy products, seafood, legumes and nuts," Chris Clayton reports for DTN The Progressive Farmer. "We should cut back on red and processed meats and sugar-sweetened foods, drinks and refined grains. And we should be moderate in our alcohol."

Recommended cutbacks of certain foods have not gone over well with those food producers, who met this week to give feedback on the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee's recommendations, Clayton writes. The North American Meat Institute argued that "lean meat, poultry, red and processed meats should all be part of a healthy dietary pattern because they are nutrient-dense protein."

Shalene McNeill, a nutritionist for the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, "told the committee that its recommendation to exclude lean meat ignores decades of nutrition science," Clayton writes. McNeill said Americans should be encouraged to eat more lean meat, along with fruits, vegetables and whole grains. Grain, sugar and milk producers also expressed displeasure with the proposed rules.

Most nutritionists have embraced the proposed rules, but say the key is getting people to adopt them, Andrea McDaniels reports for The Baltimore Sun. Among those rules is limiting sugar intake to 200 or less calories, or 10 percent of total calories, per day. Currently, Americans get about 13 percent of their calories, or 268 calories, from added sugar.

"On the flip side, some foods once shunned are now accepted," McDaniels writes. "Research has found that cholesterol-high foods are no longer believed to contribute to high blood cholesterol, so people can now indulge in shrimp, eggs and other foods that were once off limits, the panel said. Rather than focus on cholesterol, people should curb saturated fat to about 8 percent of the diet."

The panel also said "up to five cups of coffee a day are fine, so long they are not flavored with lots of milk and sugar," McDaniels writes. "The panel also singled out the Mediterranean diet—rich in fish and chicken, fruits and vegetables, nuts, whole grains, olive oil and legumes—for its nutritional value."

Kentuckians split on taxing sugary drinks to pay for nutrition and physical-activity programs, but like warning labels for such drinks

Should soda and other sugary drinks be taxed to fund school nutrition and physical activity programs? Kentucky adults are almost evenly divided on the issue, but the majority of them believe that sodas and sugary drinks should come with a health warning label.

According to the latest Kentucky Health Issues Poll, 51 percent of Kentucky adults support taxing soda and other sugary drinks, while 47 percent do not. Fifty-five percent of women favored the measure, while 46 percent of men favored it. African American adults (67 percent) were more likely than white adults (50 percent) to support a tax. Sixty-eight percent of respondents ages 18-29 favored the measure, 49 percent of those 30 to 45, 49 percent of those 46 to 64 and 32 percent of those 65 and over.

The poll also asked respondents if sodas and other sugary drinks should come with a label that says "studies show that daily consumption of soda and other sugary drinks contributes to diabetes, obesity and tooth decay." Seventy-one percent of Kentucky adults favored adding the label.

A random sample of 1,597 Kentucky adults were interviewed by phone. To see the rest of the results, click here. The poll is sponsored by the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky and Interact for Health, formerly the Health Foundation of Greater Cincinnati.

Americans' sweet tooth blamed for increases in obesity and diabetes; new website explains the dangers of too much sugar

A new website called SugarScience is now available to help consumers understand the health dangers of sugar in our lives, Lisa Aliferis reports for NPR.

This University of California, San Francisco project examined 8,000 studies and research papers and "found strong evidence that over-consumption of added sugar contributes to three major chronic illnesses: heart disease, Type 2 diabetes and liver disease," Aliferis writes.

"Right now, the reality is that our consumption of sugar is out of whack, and until we bring things back into balance, we need to focus on helping people understand what the consequences are to having the average American ... consume too much added sugar," Laura Schmidt, a professor of health policy at UCSF and leader of this project, told Aliferis.

SugarScience is a user-friendly website that partners with health departments across the country to educate the public. Two departments have already agreed to participate in the outreach, Aliferis writes.

Schmidt told Aliferis that the food environment is the driver of the increased obesity of Americans in the last generation: "Sugar isn't just making us fat, it's making us sick."

"It's not like Americans suddenly lost their will power," she said. "The only major change in the diet that explains the obesity epidemic is this steep rise in added sugar consumption that started in the 1980s."

What our average daily diet of added sugar looks like

Schmidt said that while not all sugar is bad, we need to determine how much sugar is too much, pointing out that Americans consume the "equivalent of 19.5 teaspoons a day in added sugar, " Aliferis reports. She also suggest there is a need for federal guidelines to recommend a limit.

"SugarScience suggests the same limits advocated by the American Heart Association and the World Health Organization: no more than 9 teaspoons a day for men and no more than 6 teaspoons a day for women," Aliferis writes.

A taste of what the SugarScience website tells us is: Added sugar hides in 74 percent of packaged foods; fructose, a common type of sugar, can damage your liver more than other kinds of sugar; and one 12-ounce can of soda a day can increase your risk of dying of heart disease by one-third, Aliferis reports.

It also suggest the best way to cut down on sugar is to stop drinking sugar-sweetened drinks, saying this is where we get more than one-third of added sugar in our diets. Another suggestion is for us to read nutrition labels, suggesting that if a chemical on the label ends in "ose," it is probably sugar.

Dean Schillinger, a professor of medicine at UCSF and a primary care doctor at San Francisco General Hospital, is also part of the SugarScience team. He told Aliferis that beds in his hospital that used to be filled with AIDS patients are now filled with diabetes patients.

"The ward is overwhelmed with diabetes — they're getting their limbs amputated; they're on dialysis. And these are young people. They are suffering the ravages of diabetes in the prime of their life,"Schillinger told Aliferis.

"We're at the point where we need a public-health response to it, " he said.