Obama Push For Healthy Diet Heading To Conflict Over Sugar Limit

The beverage association, which declined requests for an interview, has spent $37.2 million since 2003 on various issues, according to a decade of data from the Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks spending to influence policy.

The committee’s discussions on possible health risks from eating too much meat and sodium-rich foods also drew criticism.

The North American Meat Institute worries that panel’s warning of dangers from saturated fats may kill references to “lean meat” being part of a healthy diet. The group said such a conclusion is contrary to science. The trade group shared its concerns with lawmakers, said spokeswoman Janet Riley, without providing specifics.

Sustainability Initiative

The panel’s sustainability initiative included endorsing plant-based diets and urging more consumption of farm-raised fish to alleviate overfishing. The idea has sparked action in Congress: An appropriations bill passed last month includes a non-binding provision telling the guideline agencies -- the USDA and HHS -- to “only include nutrition and dietary information.”

Historically, committee efforts to provide clear direction have been watered down after lobbying, Nestle said.

In the first dietary guidelines, in 1980, guidance on sugar was four words long: Avoid too much sugar. That’s been progressively obscured in subsequent guidelines. Implicitly, the 10 percent limit has been part of government recommendations, but direct language has been avoided, she said.

This time around, greater public awareness of proper diet, in part spurred by the Obamas, may make it harder to bend them to industry goals, Nestle said. The guidelines are only as effective as the political will to defend them, said Michael Jacobson, executive director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a consumer advocacy group in Washington.

“The administration will be able to back up the science,” he said. Once the agencies publish the guidelines, he said “the sugar and meat industries can run to Congress, and Congress can limit the impact of the guidelines.

‘‘I don’t know how much they’ll be able to get away with.”