After Friday’s release of the 2015 report from the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts (R-KS) assailed the committee’s recommendations.
“I am glad the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee report has finally been released so we can all stop wondering what it was going to say,” Roberts, chairman of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, said. “This report is disappointing, as it is clear with some of these recommendations, the nonpolitical, science-based process has gone awry.”
The 600-page report from the 2015 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee was distributed on Friday to the secretaries of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
The report offers suggestions to these departments on setting dietary guidelines for U.S. citizens, and it will be released in its final form later in the year. The guidelines are reviewed every five years and are used to build menus for school lunches, military provisions and other government programs.
“The Dietary Guidelines are an essential part of combating obesity and improving the diets of all Americans, and it is crucial the guidelines be free from political influence and be completely based in nutrition science,” Roberts, who also serves on the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, said. “It appears this has not been the case, and that is troubling news. As USDA and HHS take this report into consideration and develop the 2015 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, I hope they work to restore integrity to the process and preserve the independent, unbiased and nutrition science-based nature of previous guidelines.”