Diabetes risk alert: Donald Trump admin issues diet guidelines, emphasizes red meat, whole milk, animal sources of protein but nutrition experts flag blood sugar issue

Donald Trump administration's latest federal dietary guidelines tell Americans to "prioritize protein foods at every meal" and advise increasing daily intake — up to double the amount of previous recommendations. The guidance — including a new food pyramid — emphasizes red meat, whole milk and other animal sources of protein, while downplaying plant-based offerings.

“We are ending the war on protein,” Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said in a White House post on social media.

But top nutrition experts question the protein push, saying Americans already consume more protein than they need, and there’s no new evidence that people need to drastically ramp up consumption. For many people, eating much more protein could lead to more fat and more cases of diabetes, they say.


Others worry that the dietary advice will accelerate the trend of companies encouraging Americans to embrace extra protein in foods including bars, cereals and snacks – even water.

Fight over Protein

For decades, the U.S. dietary guidelines and other sources have recommended that people consume 0.8 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight each day, or about 54 grams daily for a 150-pound person.

The new recommendation advises people to consume 1.2 grams to 1.6 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight — up to double the previous advice. The guidance says adults should consume at least 100 grams of protein per day with half or more coming from animal sources.

Diabetes Risks

Nutrition experts noted that trials focusing on weight reduction aren’t typically used to make dietary recommendations for the general population. And, in a new article published in Journal of the American Medical Association, Mozaffarian said there is little evidence, outside of use for strength or resistance training, that “higher protein builds muscle or provides other health benefits.”

“In fact, excess dietary protein can be converted to fat by the liver,” Mozaffarian wrote. That can increase the risk of the development of dangerous fat in the abdomen that surrounds vital organs and boost the risk of diabetes, he added.

Other nutrition experts said the recommendation to eat more protein could be useful if it helps achieve another key goal of the new guidelines: encouraging people to eat more whole foods and fewer highly processed foods such as packaged snacks and cookies.