New dietary guidelines take bite out of sugar, salt

The federal government has some new, but familiar, advice for Americans when it comes to their diets: Eat a greater variety of food and nutrient-dense foods, cut back on added sugars and rein in sodium consumption.

This month, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services unveiled their 2015-20 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, an updated collection of science-based nutrition recommendations. The guidelines are updated every five years with the goal of improving how people eat to reduce obesity and prevent chronic diseases.

The new guidelines — the eighth version — offer some familiar advice but also include new emphasis and adjusted recommendations based on new scientific evidence. The new guidelines don’t limit the amount of dietary cholesterol a person should consume, as past versions have, because there’s a growing consensus among nutrition scientists that cholesterol in food has little effect on the amount of cholesterol in the bloodstream, said Melissa Martin, a community health specialist at Clark County Public Health. Still, the guidelines advise eating as little dietary cholesterol as possible, because foods high in cholesterol also tend to be high in saturated fat, she said.

“For egg lovers out there, that’s a relief,” Martin said.

One of the biggest differences between the new dietary guidelines and the older versions is the new focus on overall eating rather than individual dietary components, such as food groups and nutrients.

A healthy eating pattern, according to the new guidelines, includes:

• A variety of vegetables from all of the subgroups (dark green, red and orange, legumes, starchy and other).

• Fruits, especially whole fruits.

• Grains, at least half of which are whole grains.

• Fat-free or low-fat dairy, including milk, yogurt, cheese and/or fortified soy beverages.

• A variety of protein foods, including seafood, lean meats and poultry, eggs, legumes, nuts and seeds, and soy products.

• Oils.

A healthy eating pattern also limits saturated fats and trans fats, added sugars, sodium and alcohol, according to the recommendations.

Allowing for more flexibility in eating patterns allows people to adapt the model based on their personal preferences and budget, according to the new guidelines.

“It’s more inclusive of individual food preferences and cultural differences,” Martin said. “I think that was a nice change.”

The new guidelines also give advice on how people can shift their diets to represent a more healthy eating pattern, which is more realistic than telling people to completely overhaul their diets overnight, said Theresa Cross, a health educator at Clark County Public Health.

“It is a shift and small changes that get you closer to what’s recommended,” she said.

Limiting sugar, sodium

The new guidelines also taken a stronger stand on sodium and added sugars. Reining in consumption in those two areas can help prevent chronic diseases, Cross said.

“Sugar is implicated in not only obesity, but also diabetes,” she said. “And sodium in high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease.”

Past versions of the dietary guidelines have simply advised people to limit added sugars. This version, however, takes it a step further and sets an upper threshold: no more than 10 percent of daily calories.

For a person consuming 2,000 calories per day, that means no more than 200 calories, or 12 teaspoons of added sugar. One 12-ounce can of sweetened soda contains about 10 teaspoons, leaving just 2 teaspoons of sugar before a person is exceeding the upper limit.

“It’s not quite as aggressive as the American Heart Association’s reductions of sugar, but I think it’s definitely in the right direction,” said Jendy Newman, a registered dietitian at PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center in Vancouver.

The heart association recommends no more than 9 teaspoons of added sugar for men and 6 teaspoons for women.

“The key there is added sugars,” Newman said. “It’s not the naturally occurring sugars in fruit and dairy.”

Teasing out the amount of added sugars in a food item with naturally occurring sugar can be difficult, Newman said, because nutrition labels don’t yet distinguish between the two. Instead, consumers need to compare labels — such as comparing sugar amounts in plain yogurt with flavored yogurt — and do the math on their own, she said.

Currently, added sugars account on average for nearly 270 calories (or more than 13 percent of calories) per day and are highest among children, adolescents and young adults. Sugar-sweetened beverages account for nearly 47 percent of all added sugars consumed by Americans.

The guidelines also use stronger language around sodium consumption. The dietary guidelines recommend limiting sodium to 2,300 milligrams, which is the equivalent of about 1 teaspoon of salt.

Current sodium intakes are much higher, averaging 4,240 milligrams per day for adult men and 2,980 milligrams per day for adult women.

Most sodium is consumed from salts added during commercial food processing and preparation, according to the dietary guidelines.

Overall, the local nutrition experts said they were pleased with the new guidelines. The dietary guidelines are comprehensive and appear well-researched, they said. And they all agree with the overall message of the guidelines.

“A balanced diet with nutrient-dense foods is really important for optimal health and disease prevention,” Martin said.