AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
If you feel like there's conflicting advice on what makes a healthy diet, you're not alone. The American Heart Association has come to some different conclusions from the food pyramid full of red meat and full-fat dairy that Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. recently introduced. NPR's Allison Aubrey joins us now. Welcome, Allison.
ALLISON AUBREY, BYLINE: Good morning, Ayesha. It's great to be here.
RASCOE: It seems like the diet advice is changing all the time, and I was so happy to learn that I could eat all the steak I want (laughter).
AUBREY: Oh. That's how you heard it.
RASCOE: Yes. Yes.
AUBREY: Yeah, I hear you. I - you know, it can feel like whiplash, because there are so many opinions when it comes to diet. But here's really what is reassuring, Ayesha. A lot of nutrition science actually points in the same direction. I think what's been confusing over the last several months is that Health Secretary Kennedy has repeatedly talked about his preferences, you know, things like beef tallow and red meat on his birthday, and there was a social media post showing him smiling with birthday candles in a steak, not cake. Now, steak is a very good source of protein, but there is a lot of criticism that nutrition policy has been politicized. And Dr. Alice Lichtenstein, a nutrition expert at Tufts University who helped write these new guidelines from the American Heart Association, says the emphasis on meat is not backed by science.
ALICE LICHTENSTEIN: We need to shift the fat in the diet. We don't want to eliminate fat, but we want to shift it towards unsaturated fat, particularly from plant sources, rather than saturated fat.
RASCOE: OK, that's a very different message. So who should we trust?
AUBREY: You know, Ayesha, I would say you should trust the science. There's actually a lot of convergence. When researchers look at the pattern of eating that's linked to good health and lower rates of heart disease, a clear pattern emerges. So more fruits and vegetables, more plant proteins, more healthy fats. This doesn't mean sort of an all-or-nothing approach when it comes to meat. And Dr. Lichtenstein says the process for making these new guidelines was to dispense with politics and stick to the evidence.
LICHTENSTEIN: Well, I think there's no agenda behind these guidelines, that they're evidence-based, and then we added onto it the evidence that has emerged in the past five years, and it essentially makes a stronger argument for the recommendations that we're making.
RASCOE: So it sounds like these dietary guidelines are based on science. So why does it seem like everybody's not on the same page?
AUBREY: Well, I would say there's always room for differences of opinion. And, you know, nutrition science does evolve over time. And here's another point I want to make. Despite these differences, there is a lot of agreement on many of the key recommendations, such as minimizing ultra-processed foods full of too much salt and sugar. You know, everyone supports this from the Make America Healthy Again folks to the scientists behind these new Heart Association guidelines. So remember, Ayesha, heart disease is the number one cause of death for both men and women in the U.S. And when I spoke to Dr. Lawrence Appel of Johns Hopkins, he's another co-author of these guidelines, he says that is why diet is such an important factor to consider.
LAWRENCE APPEL: You know, the pattern of eating that the American Heart Association is recommending is perfect for not just preventing disease, but controlling disease. And it's not just heart disease. It's many other conditions, including diabetes and even cognitive decline. So it's good for overall health.
AUBREY: And he says the sooner in life that you start, the better.
RASCOE: That's NPR's Allison Aubrey. Thank you so much.
AUBREY: Thank you, Ayesha. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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