Dietary Guidelines for Americans (2020-2025)
The U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services released the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2020-2025. These are guidelines released per Federal civil rights law, regulations, and policies. This is the first time the recommendations are provided by life stage, from birth through older adulthood. The premise is that each life stage has unique needs that impact health and disease risk. The dietary guidelines are the science-backed basis for federally funded nutrition programs, which include school meal programs.
The released guidelines' feedback suggests the guidelines capitulated to the Alcohol and Soda industry lobbying groups like the American Beverage Association. The Union of Concerned Scientists' desire would have liked the recommendation of limiting alcohol intake for men to one drink per day. The current guideline recommendation is set at two drinks per day. Additionally, adult's and children's guidance to reduce sugar intake from a maximum of 10% to 6% of daily calories was also rejected.
Interestingly, the 2019 report from the Union of Concerned Scientist’s report, Delivering on the Dietary Guidelines, found that drinking just one fewer sugar-sweetened beverage per day could avert nearly 19,000 deaths from type 2 diabetes and decrease medical costs by $16 billion annually among US adults. I would encourage you to look at Dietary Guidelines for Americans (2020-2025) and Delivering on the Dietary Guidelines to arrive at your own conclusions.