With the release of new dietary guidelines, The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Department of Agriculture recommend three servings of vegetables and two servings of fruit per day for a 2,000-calorie diet and clearly distinguish naturally occurring sugars in whole fruits from added sugars.
The overall emphasis is a diet centered on “real, whole foods.”
Mollie Van Lieu, Vice President of Nutrition and Health, International Fresh Fruit Association, said fruits and vegetables were a big part of the previous guidelines in MyPlate, and IFPA expected produce to have a prominent place in the new guidelines.
She said IFPA also supports the focus on reducing added sugars and highly processed foods that Americans often eat instead of fruits and vegetables.
“We’ve been vocal about added sugars and highly processed foods in the past, and we are now,” Van Lieu said.
She said children and their developing diets are receptive to foods high in sugar, and that can be a challenge for forging habits to consume fruits and vegetables.
She also said the government has not defined highly processed foods.
“We have to be cautiously optimistic because Americans haven’t followed the guidelines closely in the past,” she said.
Van Lieu said there is a strong emphasis on protein in the new guidelines, which IFPA isn’t opposed to, but it would have liked to see more emphasis on dietary fiber, which fruits and vegetables provide in abundance.
“Like fruits and vegetables, only about 10 percent of Americans get enough fiber in their diets,” she said.