Nutrition Myth: Nutrition Guidelines Are Evidence-Based

If you were like me, you thought that public agency food recommendations such as MyPlate, The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, the EAT-Lancet Commission, and the American Heart Association were made to help people achieve optimal health.

Sadly, this isn't reality.

These groups have significant conflicts of interest (COI), including stocks and Big Food and Pharma donations.

The data they use is often from low-quality studies, and the members of these organizations often use plant-based individuals to “review” all the data. What a "you can't make this stuff up" situation. We're hoping to help untangle this for you in upcoming newsletters.

The Low Down on the USDA MyPlate Committee

Every five years, the US gets new dietary guidelines from this panel. Biden appointed Dr. Fatima Cody Stanford to the 2025 committee, and she claims that "obesity can't be treated with exercise and a good diet because it's genetic." This is someone who will help decide new diet guidelines… should be interesting…

Before 2020, committee members had NO public disclosure of their COI, despite a 2017 recommendation by the National Academies of Sciences.​ In 2022, the committee was found to have major COI for their latest release in 2020:​

"Our analysis found that 95% of the committee members had COI with the food, and/or pharmaceutical industries and that particular actors, including Kellogg, Abbott, Kraft, Mead Johnson, General Mills, Dannon, and the International Life Sciences had connections with multiple members. Research funding and membership of an advisory/executive board jointly accounted for more than 60% of the total number of COI documented.

Trustworthy dietary guidelines result from a transparent, objective, and science-based, process. ​

Our analysis has shown that the significant and widespread COI on the committee prevent the U.S. Dietary Guidelines for Americans from achieving the recommended standard for transparency without mechanisms in place to make this information publicly available.”​

We all know what these food companies primarily make. It makes sense that the MyPlate recommendations continue to promote 45-65% of dietary intake from carbohydrates, even though most Americans are insulin resistant, overweight, and obese.

As a side note, this group makes diet recommendations intended for healthy Americans, but omits recommendations for disease treatment. The Nutrition Coalition working hard in DC is encouraging legislation for dietary guidelines to address disease prevention for healthy Americans and disease treatment for 60% of adults with a chronic disease.

The report includes the following language:

“The Committee recognizes that the Dietary Guidelines for Americans is designed to include all Americans. Given the increase in chronic disease, the Committee directs USDA to include in the 2025–2030 Dietary Guidelines for Americans a dietary pattern for the treatment of diet-related diseases, including obesity and diabetes, based exclusively on rigorous data.”

The report's language is non-binding, but it makes a powerful statement about the intention of Congress and is precedent-setting. For the first time, we can now say that Congress has acknowledged that the Dietary Guidelines ignore most of the adult population and will point to this language in future advocacy efforts. Read this Nutrition Coalition blog post on the topic.

This news is particularly relevant for healthcare professionals who are told the Guidelines are the gold standard for disease treatment. They’re not.

Stay tuned for even more illumination into this messy situation.