RFK Jr. expected to recommend eating more saturated fats
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is expected to release new dietary guidelines encouraging more consumption of saturated fats, despite long-held medical recommendations advising against this.
New guidance encouraging the consumption of foods like butter, cheese, milk and red meat could be issued as soon as this month, The Hill’s sister company NewsNation reported Monday.
A central tenet of the “Make America Healthy Again” agenda is limiting so-called ultra-processed foods, though there is no universally accepted definition of what that means, and consuming more whole foods.
The American Heart Association (AHA) — who Kennedy accused of being “co-opted by the food industry” in a Senate hearing earlier this year — recommends limiting saturated fats to only 6 percent of one’s diet.
“Saturated fats are found in butter, cheese, red meat, other animal-based foods and tropical oils. Decades [of] science has proven that saturated fats can raise your ‘bad’ cholesterol and put you at higher risk for heart disease,” the AHA says in its guidance.
Kennedy ascribes to what he says is “basically” the carnivore diet, which calls for eating only meat, poultry, eggs, seafood, fish, dairy products and water.
Speaking on Fox News, Kennedy described the “Bobby Kennedy diet” as:
“Basically, it’s the carnivore diet. So, it’s mainly meat and then fermented — anything fermented. So, a lot of yogurt, good yogurt without sugar in it. Then, coleslaw and kimchi and all kinds of fermented vegetables. And it’s really, I would say it’s dramatically changed my, you know, everything.”
| In evaluating the carnivore diet, the British Heart Foundation said, “Extreme diets high in saturated fat and low in fibre are known to raise cholesterol levels, increasing the risk of heart attack and stroke.” |
