Erin Allman-Updike

Not to name names, but I don't think anyone is out there eating Cheetos thinking that they're getting nutrient dense foods in their diet.

Don't get me started.

Okay.

And that's a health washing and a marketing and that's kind of a separate issue, right?

But it is part of this.

And the thing is that like none of these types of foods that they are really trying to get at here.

Right.

Because what they're trying to get at is avoiding sugared sweetened beverages, refined, highly processed carbohydrates and other foods that have a lot of added sugars, added sodium and tend to be high in saturated fats.

None of these types of foods were recommended by any means in previous guidelines.

Right.

And scientific reports, again, the reports that are coming out of the DGAC, the committee who's making these initial recommendations that go to the DGA, they have recommended limiting them to various degrees.

Previous guidelines have never explicitly discouraged the consumption of these foods.

We've been recommended to avoid added sugars, to limit our amounts of added sugars and things like that.

So it's really kind of the emphasis and the explicitness of this recommendation that's different.

Exactly, exactly.

And I think that that theoretical part is so important because it's also the case that these highly processed, I'm going to call them what they actually are, which is ultra processed foods.

And processed foods in general tend to be less expensive.

They tend to be more available, especially in low income areas.

They are going to be more shelf stable.

Many times they're fortified with a lot of vitamins and minerals that people might be lacking.