The Scientific Report of the 2025 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee (Report) was released today with both the Meat Institute and the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) expressing disappointment with the recommendations of reduced red meat consumption.
“Meat products provide high quality protein that is critical for developing, maintaining, and repairing strong muscles; vital for growth and brain development in children; beneficial for providing satiety and maintaining a healthy weight; and essential to prevent muscle loss in the aged,” says Meat Institute President and CEO Julie Anna Potts in a release. “Including meat and poultry in the diet allows consumers to more easily fulfill their dietary needs for protein, iron, zinc, copper, vitamin B6, vitamin B12, and potassium – all of which are nutrients the Report has found many Americans are under-consuming.”
Potts shares that 95% of Americans consume meat and need more guidance on how meat fits into a healthy diet.
“Directives from out-of-touch academics to eat legumes and avoid the nutrient-dense foods they love does not foster improved health and fails to account for the central role of meat within America’s cultural diversity,” Potts says. “The Report’s recommendations fail to provide attainable nutritional guidance by marginalizing one of the most nutrient dense, accessible, and culturally relevant foods in the American diet.”
The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) also addressed the important role of beef in a healthy diet and responded to the questionable advice published in the Report.
“Most Americans today already eat beef within the Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA) recommended levels for a healthy diet. This reduction is a solution in search of a problem,” says NCBA President and Wyoming rancher Mark Eisele. “Public health advice should be based on the totality of scientific evidence. The Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee ignored robust and rigorous scientific evidence about beef’s essential nutrients and the foundational, positive role it plays in health as a preferred protein food in a variety of healthy diets for all Americans.”
Obesity and chronic disease are critical health issues in our nation and eating beef is a solution. With a single, 3-ounce serving of lean beef, Americans receive half of their daily protein needs, as well as 10 essential nutrients like iron and B vitamins—all in less than 170 calories. NCBA will continue working hard to ensure the wealth of evidence in support of beef’s positive role in health is available to the future secretaries and considered in the final guidelines over the coming months.
“Cutting back on beef isn’t going to Make America Healthy Again. There’s irrefutable evidence about the valuable role of beef and its nutrients in promoting health,” says NCBA Executive Director of Nutrition Science and Registered Dietitian Dr. Shalene McNeill.
McNeill says beef consumption has decreased during the 40 years of Dietary Guidelines, yet Americans suffer more from obesity and chronic disease than ever before.
“Advising Americans to cut back on beef takes us even further in the wrong direction, putting our most vulnerable populations like women, children, teens and the aging at risk,” McNeill adds. “This advice detracts from the real and most basic challenges we face with eating healthfully. Nutrition guidance should encourage Americans to have the flexibility to choose nutrient dense foods and dietary patterns they enjoy within calorie goals.”
Background
Every five years, the federal government formulates the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, a foundational document on nutrition that helps inform federal nutrition policies and programs like school lunches.
The agencies will evaluate the committee’s recommendations and translate that information into the final guidelines. The report is expected to post to the Federal Register Dec. 11, and will be open for a 60-day comment period.
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