ST. PAUL, Minn., Jan. 19 (UPI) -- A decision by the Trump administration to drop long-standing recommendations that adults should have no more than two drinks per day for optimal health has sparked a backlash among researchers, who claim the best available evidence shows any amount of alcohol is harmful.
The researchers and public health advocates are pushing back after Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz and other administration officials rolled out the latest version of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, which is updated every five years.
Kennedy said that under his "Make America Healthy Again" policies at HHS, the 2025-2030 dietary guidelines for food consumption favor "common sense, science-driven advice" rather than "favored corporate interests" in prioritizing "high-quality protein, healthy fats, fruits, vegetables and whole grains -- and avoiding highly processed foods and refined carbohydrates."
But while his revisions to the familiar "food pyramid" may have been expected, given his long-standing crusades against ultra-processed foods produced by some of the country's biggest corporations, the updates provided a surprise about alcohol consumption.
