The German Society for Nutrition (DGE) criticizes the new ones US government dietary recommendations for more proteins, for example from meat. The Trump administration’s Departments of Health and Agriculture would now up to twice the DGE reference value recommend 0.8 protein per kilogram of body weight per day, writes Germany’s most important association of nutritionists.
“The evidence to date from intervention and observational studies that the DGE guidelines on protein intake “The underlying cause does not provide any evidence of additional health benefits from a permanently higher protein intake.” In addition, it is “significantly less transparent” than before how the US authorities made their recommendations. The largest nutritional society in the USA, the American Society for Nutrition, made a similar statement.
The DGE also sees contradictions between the US guidelines and their graphic representation Pyramid: “While it is recommended to choose a wide variety of plant and animal protein sources, including eggs, poultry, fish and red meat as well as legumes, nuts, seeds and soy products, meat dominates the ‘protein, dairy and healthy fats’ group in the new food pyramid.”
The new messages recommend eating 2 to 4 servings of whole grains daily. “However, the placement of this food group in a comparatively small segment of the pyramid suggests that it is less important,” said the DGE. The background could be that farmers generally earn more money with animal foods than with plant-based foods. Farmers are an important group of voters for Trump.
The DGE also emphasizes that scientific findings must be “developed and evaluated free of political or economic interests”. The German recommendations are “independent, scientifically based, developed in a neutral manner, with the support of an open consultation process.“
Environment doesn’t matter
The basis is a mathematical optimization model developed by the DGE that takes health, the environment and the usual consumption habits in Germany into account. However, it is not apparent “that aspects of sustainability were systematically incorporated into the derivation of the American nutritional recommendations.”
For example, official brochures that explain how much of which food groups you should eat are based on the recommendations of the DGE, which is predominantly financed by the federal and state governments. Thousands of chefs, for example in schools or company canteens, follow this approach.