The Trump Administration on Jan. 7 unveiled new U.S. dietary guidelines that encourage Americans to eat more protein, and less sugar and highly processed foods. 

The guidelines also soften recommendations on alcohol and laud the benefits of red meat, dairy, and butter, worrying some doctors and nutritionists who say such guidance could be confusing and even harmful.

U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said the updated guidelines—which include a new, inverted food pyramid that prioritizes the consumption of protein, dairy, healthy fats, vegetables, and fruits—highlight the importance of eating “real” food. “Nothing matters more for health outcomes, economic productivity, military readiness,” Kennedy said at a White House press briefing. 

The guidelines reflect many of Kennedy’s own positions on nutrition and the priorities of his Make America Healthy Again movement. They advise people to significantly limit highly processed foods, which Kennedy has repeatedly blamed as a source of what he refers to as America’s chronic-disease epidemic. The term “highly processed foods” is not clearly defined in the guidelines, but are described as foods “laden with refined carbohydrates, added sugars, excess sodium, unhealthy fats, and chemical additives.” 

The guidelines also encourage the consumption of greater amounts of protein—including from animal sources such as red meat, poultry, and eggs—than what previous guidelines advised, and recommend that people eat full-fat dairy and cook with butter and beef tallow. These foods contain saturated fats, which earlier dietary guidelines had urged people to avoid. Research on the health hazards of saturated fats has been mixed, but has largely shown that consuming too much of them can increase cardiovascular risks. 

Kennedy and others in the Trump Administration have contended that saturated fats have been unfairly vilified and are actually essential to a healthy diet. “We are ending the war on saturated fats,” Kennedy said Wednesday. 

However, while Kennedy and other Trump officials had previously hinted that they were seeking to loosen restrictions on saturated fats, the revamped dietary guidance maintained the longstanding recommendation of limiting consumption of such fats to 10% of daily calories.

Marion Nestle, a professor emerita of nutrition, food studies, and public health at New York University, said this advice was contradictory. “If you increase the amount of protein, meat, and full-fat dairy in your diet, you will not be able to keep your saturated fat intake below 10% of calories, and will have a harder time maintaining calorie balance,” since fat has twice the calories of proteins or carbohydrates, Nestle said in an email.

The American Heart Association, which recommends that people limit consumption of saturated fats to , said it was concerned about some of the protein-related recommendations in the updated guidelines.