U.S. Dietary Guidelines are set to expire in 2025, and groups like NCBA want to get ahead and start promoting the foundational benefits of beef.
“We really wanted to focus on the critical role that beef plays and its nutrients play at each life stage. Beef has a special package of nutrients- iron, zinc, and B vitamins. As we talk about, these are not only needed in infancy, but they are also needed during adolescence, during adulthood, pregnancy, and aging. We are starting to see widening rates of iron deficiency. That is because people have cut back on their beef intake, so we are seeing those consequences, and we wanted to make sure the committee had that research in front of them that it’s time to really look back to the foundational benefits that beef delivery. And then we also wanted to remind them that based on current evidence, plant-proteins are not a substitute for the real thing,” said Dr. Shalene McNeill, NCBA Executive Director of Nutrition Research.
McNeill expects the Scientific Committee to give its recommendations to USDA about a year from now. Then, the Department will begin writing its guidelines to carry the country through 2030.
