Show 991: New Dietary Guidelines for Americans

Every five years, the US Departments of Agriculture and Health and Human Services collaborate on producing Dietary Guidelines for Americans. These are supposed to tell us what we should be eating. They are also used to shape institutional food choices, such as those in schools or prisons.

Will there be any changes in the 2015 Guidelines? The advisory committee has issued its report, which is open for comments until May 8.

We discuss the proposed changes with two eminent nutrition scientists with very different perspectives. One is an advocate of high-fat, low-carb eating patterned on the recommendations of Dr. Robert Atkins. The other is himself a vegetarian and a proponent of plant-based diets. Listen to find out about the similarities and differences in their evaluations of the recommendations. What should we be eating?

This Week’s Guests:

Christopher Gardner, PhD, is professor of medicine at the Stanford Prevention Research Center in Palo Alto, CA.

Eric Westman, MD, is director of the Duke Lifestyle Medicine Clinic and associate professor of medicine at Duke University Medical Center. He is author of The New Atkins for a New You and, with Jimmy Moore, KetoClarity: Your Definitive Guide to the Benefits of a Low Carb, High Fat Diet.