Teicholz Reports: USDA Ignoring the Science on Low-Carb Diets

By Nina Teicholz

“I was wondering if we should have a separate section on low-carb diets rather than burying it,” wrote Harvard nutrition professor Frank Hu about the official expert report for the 2015 U.S. Dietary Guidelines for Americans….

…[H]ere is the recent history on how the U.S. Departments of Agriculture and Health and Human Services (USDA-HHS), the federal agencies that co-issue the guidelines every five years, have treated this large body of scientific literature:

  • For the 2015 guidelines, the USDA conducted a formal review of this literature and found 40 studies but unlike its other reviews, kept this one hidden and did not even reveal the fact that it had been conducted. The review’s existence was only discovered in emails obtained via the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA);

  • Five years later, for the 2020 guidelines, the USDA publicly reviewed the low-carbohydrate diet but could find no studies meeting its inclusion criteria on the topic;

  • For the upcoming 2025 guidelines, USDA has proposed ignoring low-carbohydrate diets altogether.

How could this happen?

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