Trump administration delays release of new dietary guidelines amid shutdown

By Adam Cancryn, Sarah Owermohle, CNN

(CNN) — The Trump administration is delaying the release of new national dietary guidelines after the government shutdown disrupted efforts to finalize the overhaul by the end of October, officials said.

The US Department of Health and Human Services and US Department of Agriculture are now tentatively targeting December for publishing the highly anticipated nutrition advice, which is expected to make major changes to the government recommendations for a healthy diet.

HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has touted the revamp as an opportunity to transform people’s eating habits and bring federal food policy in line with the core tenets of his Make America Healthy Again movement. The guidelines, which are updated every five years, also carry far-reaching implications for school meals and an array of federal nutrition programs.

A fierce critic of the current dietary recommendations, Kennedy has blamed poor diet for driving many of the nation’s biggest health challenges. He’s promised vastly simplified guidelines that put fresh emphasis on whole foods — including consuming more saturated fats from meat and dairy products.

“There’s a tremendous amount of emerging science that talks about the need for protein in our diet and more fats in our diet,” Kennedy said during a July event with ice cream brands.

In response to inquiries from CNN, spokespeople for the White House and HHS confirmed the delay in finalizing the guidelines, with a White House official calling it “another unfortunate consequence” of a shutdown that the administration has blamed on Democrats.

Kennedy originally aimed to deliver the new dietary guidelines by the end of September, months earlier than the official year-end deadline. After health and agriculture officials missed that target, they set a new goal of unveiling them by the end of October.

But now, with the shutdown slowing the final stage of work and no end to the impasse in sight, the administration is tentatively planning to roll out the guidelines at some point in December. The government is required to finalize the guidelines by December 31 at the latest.

HHS and the USDA have spent much of the year working on the new guidelines. Although many Americans may not read the guide, which currently runs 164 pages, its recommendations shape what foods schools serve to students, what doctors recommend to patients and what can be purchased on food stamps through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP.

That means Kennedy’s vow to drastically reshape the guidelines could put billions of dollars in yearly spending at stake, spurring intense speculation and lobbying across the food industry, where every change can have significant financial consequences.

The promotion of more saturated fats would represent a particularly sharp departure from the current recommendations, which have advised seeking out fat-free or low-fat dairy foods and limiting saturated fats to 10% of a person’s daily diet.

The potential changes have alarmed some nutrition experts, who argue that there are significant and well-established links between consuming red meat and risks to heart health. The recommendation to limit saturated fat is one of the longest-standing recommendations in the federal dietary guidelines, according to nonprofit nutritional health advocacy group Center for Science in the Public Interest.

But Kennedy and MAHA advocates have dismissed those concerns, rejecting the current scientific consensus as flawed and unduly influenced by corporate interests.

“We’re rewriting the food guidance and cleaning house on the food pyramid, a document that was contaminated by industry influence, not based on good science but what they wanted you to buy,” US Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. Marty Makary said in a July interview with CNN.

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