Issue – It’s Time to Get Whole Milk Back in Our Schools. The U.S. Dietary Guidelines Need to Be Fixed!

Issue – It’s Time to Get Whole Milk Back in Our Schools. The U.S. Dietary Guidelines Need to Be Fixed!

BACKGROUND

National Grange policy strongly supports whole milk as part of a well- balanced school nutrition program. However, the USDA -HHS Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, as they draft the latest Dietary Guidelines for America, may not be considering recent scientific evidence on the benefits of saturated fats and the healthy role they play. We encourage you to review the information from the American Dairy Coalition, contact your Senators and Representative, and ask them to delay the Dietary Guidelines report until all pertinent scientific dietary information is thoroughly considered by the Committee. A link is provided to connect you with your elected officials.

ACTION

The Dietary Guidelines for America (DGA) sets our nation’s leading nutrition policies. They directly influence WIC, SNAP, and school lunch programs, shaping the tastes and preferences of the next generation of consumers. The DGA is used by physicians, nutritionists, dietitians, and other health professionals to “promote good health, prevent chronic disease and help Americans reach a healthy weight.” By law, the guidelines are required to be updated every five years by USDA and Health and Human Services to incorporate the latest research and advancements in nutritional sciences.

Why This Matters Today

The DGA program was introduced in 1980, yet public health has steadily declined in the 40 years since implementation. Childhood obesity and diabetes diagnoses have tripled, adult obesity rates have doubled, and 25 million American adults have diabetes. The current guidelines are not working. Despite criticism from top professional groups of experts, the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee refuses to address serious allegations regarding the flawed process used to update the guidelines.

In 2015, Congress commissioned a third party review completed by the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM), at a cost of $1M to taxpayers. The purpose was to evaluate the process used to update the very influential and far-reaching guidelines. However, the majority of recommendations from NASEM have been ignored in the proposed 2020 DGA draft.

What Science Says

The Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee continues to place caps on saturated fats, despite clear evidence this is not supported by the latest research. These caps limit whole milk and butter in consumers’ diets in exchange for low fat dairy or plant-based beverages and meat substitutes. Recent studies suggest again and again that regular consumption of full fat milk products promotes a healthy weight and lower risk of obesity, as well as reduces the risk of osteoporosis, diabetes and hypertension. Continuing to ignore the latest evidence is harmful to the health of the nation, particularly children.

ADC supports the CHOICE of offering whole milk in all daycare and school nutrition programs. Science concludes that full fat dairy products not only improve nutrition, but also learning readiness and satiety, especially for those most nutritionally at-risk. It is vital to increase dairy product consumption domestically as well as internationally by increasing consumption of full fat milk products.

What Can You Do?

Congress must intervene to ensure the publication is updated in the guidelines and includes recent scientific evidence on the benefits of saturated fats and the healthy role they play. Americans deserve a comprehensive redesign of the flawed Dietary Guidelines process. Congress must take a look at the potential conflicts of interest that members of the Subcommittee on Dietary Fats may have. We cannot allow those who have stake in groups advocating vegan and vegetarian lifestyles to control the fate of American diets or dictate the continued exclusion of healthy, insulin-moderating fats in the nutrient dense food that our dairy farmers produce each and every day.

ADC is asking for your help. Contact your elected representatives and ask them to delay the report by the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee to ensure USDA and HHS have adequate time to review and address the flawed process and implement recommendations from NASEM. Demand the caps on saturated fat be removed so that schools once again have the ability to provide students with whole milk. Americans deserve sound science, not a vegan or vegetarian agenda. We cannot afford to wait five more years to get this right.