Wednesday, 8 April 2026

Latest from Food Politics: HHS issues new guidelines for food served in hospitals

Mehmet Oz’s Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) sent a memo to hospitals last week, telling them to align their food service policies and practices with the 2025–2030 dietary guidelines (see announcement in video). Hospitals should: • ...
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By Marion Nestle

HHS issues new guidelines for food served in hospitals

Mehmet Oz’s Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) sent a memo to hospitals last week, telling them to align their food service policies and practices with the 2025–2030 dietary guidelines (see announcement in video).

Hospitals should:

• Limit ultra-processed food options for patients.
• Eliminate sugar-sweetened beverages unless clinically appropriate in limited scenarios.
• Eliminate refined grains and replace them with 100% whole grains.
• Prioritize minimally processed protein sources, including plant-based options.
• Emphasize vegetables, fruits, legumes, nuts, seeds, seafood, and healthy fats.
• Ensure baked, broiled, roasted, stir-fried, or grilled vegetables and proteins – and eliminate deep fried cooking methods
• Eliminate processed meats and foods high in added sugars, sodium, and artificial additives.
• Ensure meals contain less than 10 grams of added sugar, unless clinically appropriate.

These sound terrific!

According to RFK Jr’s advisor, Calley Means, these guidelines will be enforced.

Hospital food, of course, has been criticized heavily for decades.  A hospital director once explained to me that it was the only place in his budget that was discretionary, the only option he had for cutting spending, which he did.

But as always, the situation is complicated and the devil is in the details. Kevin Klatt, a nutrition professor in Toronto, questions on his Substack whether this is “anything more than the nutrition political theatre that we’ve come to expect from this federal administration/MAHA?”

He reviews the regulatory issues but also points out that clinical (hospital-based) nutrition is not the same as public health nutrition.

Patients who are acutely ill and hospitalized are not the general public that the DGAs are made for…Patients who are hospitalized often have conditions that impact their nutritional requirements, alter their ability to digest, absorb, and assimilate nutrients, and major barriers to consuming a normal diet – everything from altered taste and smell to the inability to chew and swallow…It’s clear no clinical dietitians…were in the room when this memo was put out…or it was always meant as more political performance before the midterms, as RJK Jr is being encouraged to quiet down on vaccines and play to his foodie base.

Yes, clinical dietitians must deal with their patients’ needs.

But surely these rules ought to apply to the hospital cafeterias and vending machines that serve visitors and staff.  That alone would be a big step forward.

Here too, I can’t wait to see how it all plays out.

The post HHS issues new guidelines for food served in hospitals appeared first on Food Politics by Marion Nestle

Now Available: What to Eat Now

My new book, What to Eat Now, is officially out!

It's both a field guide to food shopping in America and a reflection on how to eat well—and deliciously.

For more information and to order, click here.

You can explore the full archive of this (almost) daily blog at foodpolitics.com, where you'll also find information about my books, articles, media interviews, upcoming lectures, favorite resources, and FAQs.
​​​​​​​

Marion Nestle

Paulette Goddard Professor of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health at New York University, Emerita

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Tuesday, 7 April 2026

Latest from Food Politics: Dietary guidelines: AHA v. MAHA

The American Heart Association has just published its updated dietary guidelines: The 2026 Dietary Guidance to Improve Cardiovascular Health: A Scientific Statement From the American Heart Association  [the press release is here]. These constitute a ...
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By Marion Nestle

Dietary guidelines: AHA v. MAHA

The American Heart Association has just published its updated dietary guidelines: The 2026 Dietary Guidance to Improve Cardiovascular Health: A Scientific Statement From the American Heart Association  [the press release is here].

These constitute a firm rebuttal to the MAHA (Make America Healthy Again) guidelines issued in January.

The AHA’s clear and straightforward messages are beautifully illustrated:

The AHA messages particularly differ from the MAHA messages:

  • Protein: Plant rather than animal sources
  • Meat: Lean cuts, avoid processed, limit portions
  • Dairy: Low-fat or fat-free rather than full-fat
  • Fats: Unsaturated rather than saturated; nontropical oils rather than animal fats and tropical oils

The Wall Street Journal summarized the differences in its headline: Heart Association clashes with RFK, Jr over red meat, dairy, and beef tallow.

The recommendations, released Tuesday by the association, contrast with dietary guidelines that the Trump administration introduced earlier this year. The differences add to disagreements between the federal government and mainstream medical groups on medicine and nutrition advice, after the Health and Human Services Department under Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., for instance, sought to dial back vaccine recommendations and President Trump told pregnant women to minimize Tylenol use.

In response, senior food advisor to RFK, Jr, Calley Means, posted:

I suppose clashing is a matter of perception, but the differences are real.

Earlier, Calley Means had posted a more gracious response:

Wow!  Applause to the American Heart Association.  Let’s hope its graphic replaces the meat-heavy inverted pyramid and ends up in all the textbooks.

One last point: This is dietary advice for heart disease prevention, but it works for everything else too—obesity, other major chronic diseases, overall longevity, and while it’s at it, planetary as well as human health.

The post Dietary guidelines: AHA v. MAHA appeared first on Food Politics by Marion Nestle

Now Available: What to Eat Now

My new book, What to Eat Now, is officially out!

It's both a field guide to food shopping in America and a reflection on how to eat well—and deliciously.

For more information and to order, click here.

You can explore the full archive of this (almost) daily blog at foodpolitics.com, where you'll also find information about my books, articles, media interviews, upcoming lectures, favorite resources, and FAQs.
​​​​​​​

Marion Nestle

Paulette Goddard Professor of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health at New York University, Emerita

© Marion Nestle. You're receiving this email because you've signed up to receive updates from us.

If you'd prefer not to receive updates, you can unsubscribe.
Safely Unsubscribe • Archives • Preferences • Contact • Subscribe • Privacy
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Latest from Food Politics: HHS issues new guidelines for food served in hospitals

Mehmet Oz’s Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) sent a memo to hospitals last week, telling them to align their food servic...