{"id":714075,"date":"2026-01-22T23:29:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-22T23:29:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/714075\/"},"modified":"2026-01-22T23:29:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-22T23:29:12","slug":"theres-certainly-affordability-issues-with-mahas-updated-dietary-guidelines-economist-warns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/714075\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018There\u2019s certainly affordability issues’ with MAHA’s updated dietary guidelines, economist warns"},"content":{"rendered":"

The \u201cMake America Healthy Again\u201d movement has already made sweeping changes to what consumers see at the grocery store. The Department of Health and Human Services last year announced plans to phase out artificial dyes, and major brands have followed suit: Campbell\u2019s and General Mills<\/a> have pledged to eliminate certain color additives<\/a> from their snacks and cereals. PepsiCo<\/a> offers \u201cSimply NKD<\/a>\u201d versions of Doritos and Cheetos, which are colorless, dye-free alternatives to their neon orange counterparts.<\/p>\n

But the implementation of updated dietary guidelines<\/a> from HHS, introduced earlier this month, may make it harder for many Americans to abide by what the agency has deemed to be healthy. Economists and public health experts warned many of its recommendations are prohibitively expensive for lower-income Americans, laying bare how the K-shaped economy\u2014of the rich thriving while the poor struggle\u2014has found its way into pantries and fridges.<\/p>\n

Like its 2025 predecessor<\/a>, the updated guidelines prioritize less-processed foods, but now emphasize pricier red meat and whole-fat dairy products over plant-based diets. The new guidance also discourages more processed grain products such as white bread, crackers, and packaged breakfast items that many lower-income households rely on to fulfill their dietary needs.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know food prices have been top of mind for many consumers over the past few years,\u201d David Ortega, professor of food economics and policy at Michigan State University, told Fortune. \u201cThese are items that sell at a higher price point. Animal proteins are traditionally more expensive. Whole milk is more expensive than low-fat or reduced-fat milk. That\u2019s one major concern. There\u2019s certainly affordability issues.\u201d<\/p>\n

Under HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the MAHA movement has rebuffed medical expertise<\/a> on a series of well-researched public health conventions, including seed oils and processed foods, which Kennedy has claimed are associated with chronic illness. With a distrust of the current health care system, Kennedy has led an overhaul of the HHS, laying off thousands of agency employees<\/a>, a move that scientists have warned will endanger the future of public health research<\/a>. But beyond the controversy<\/a> about the new dietary guidelines\u2014particularly the focus on animal sources instead of plant-forward ingredients\u2014economists like Ortega are worried Americans and institutions like schools looking to follow these new recommendations won\u2019t have the means to.<\/p>\n

K-shaped economy in action<\/p>\n

The Federal Reserve\u2019s Beige Book<\/a> published this month already suggested these new dietary guidelines will present challenges for the bottom half of the \u201cK.\u201d The San Francisco Fed observed low- and middle-income Americans purchasing less protein to accommodate tight budgets. It also reported wealthier Americans continuing to spend, including on luxury items.<\/p>\n

Prior to the introduction of the new dietary guidelines, affordability was top of mind for many Americans. Grocery prices rose 2.4% over the past 12 months ended in December, according to Department of Labor data<\/a>. Beef prices in particular have skyrocketed<\/a> as a result of tariffs and dwindling cattle herd sizes, a trend expected to continue through this year, according to Omaha Steaks CEO Nate Rempe. As food prices ticked up over the course of the past year, consumer sentiment dropped nearly 20 points<\/a>, though it\u2019s marginally increasing<\/a> over the past two months.<\/p>\n

Groceries are a major sticking point in the affordability conversation because, for poorer Americans, it makes up the lion\u2019s share of their spending. While the highest-income American households spent the most on food in 2023\u2014nearly $17,500 on average\u2014they spent the lowest share of their income on groceries, about 8%, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture data<\/a>. The lowest-income Americans spent only about $5,000 annually on groceries, but it accounted for more than 30% of their spending. <\/p>\n

Concerns beyond the food pyramid<\/p>\n

The Trump administration, for its part, has insisted it\u2019s possible to buy a healthy meal for just a few dollars. In an interview with NewsNation<\/a> last week, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins claimed the new guidelines will not require Americans to spend more on their diet. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve run over 1,000 simulations,\u201d she said. \u201cIt can cost around $3 a meal for a piece of chicken, a piece of broccoli, corn tortilla, and one other thing. So there is a way to do this that actually will save the average American consumer money.\u201d<\/p>\n

Following a slew of online backlash<\/a> over the described meals, Rollins clarified to reporters outside the White House on Tuesday that she had meant to describe a more \u201crobust plate\u201d with a big piece of chicken, a head of broccoli, a baked potato, and slices of bread.<\/p>\n

A USDA spokesperson told Fortune that many of the simulations\u2014which also contained foods like canned tuna, tofu, and frozen vegetables\u2014generated meals that would cost Americans less than $10 per day for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.<\/p>\n

But addressing lower-income Americans\u2019 barriers to accessing recommended foods is about more than just the price of groceries. There are structural reasons that may inhibit people from adopting a healthy diet, Ortega argued.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHealthy eating isn\u2019t just a choice. There are real constraints,\u201d he said. \u201cIf nutritional guidance is going to translate into real-world behavior, we have to account for these things: price levels, inflation dynamics, access constraints, and time costs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Prioritizing whole ingredients requires more preparation time, something lower-income Americans working multiple jobs or balancing childcare may not have, Ortega noted. More than 6% of Americans live in a food desert, according to USDA data<\/a>, meaning they don\u2019t readily have access to a grocery store. <\/p>\n

Because the updated dietary guidelines are recommendations, Ortega said, consumers are not necessarily compelled to abide by these suggestions. But institutions such as schools that provide free lunches generally follow federal nutrition standards based on the guidelines. In fiscal 2024, the National School Lunch Program provided 4.8 billion lunches<\/a> costing $17.7 billion. Some schools are stretched on resources like equipment and employees to prepare the food, meaning new guidelines may require more resources, but it\u2019s not clear at this time how schools will implement the guidelines.<\/p>\n

\u201cMany schools are working with outdated kitchen equipment. They\u2019re understaffed because they\u2019re not able to offer competitive wages,\u201d Meghan Maroney, campaign manager for federal child nutrition programs at the Center for Science in the Public Interest, told The Hill<\/a>. \u201cThey are scrambling to try to put healthy meals together, and they\u2019re doing the best they can with what they have, but if we really want to see fundamental changes in the way we feed kids in this country, then we need to invest in it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The \u201cMake America Healthy Again\u201d movement has already made sweeping changes to what consumers see at the grocery…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":714076,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4318],"tags":[26598,73078,372,786,105,4434,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-714075","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nutrition","8":"tag-affordability","9":"tag-department-of-health-and-human-services","10":"tag-diet","11":"tag-food-and-drink","12":"tag-health","13":"tag-nutrition","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115941354010762809","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/714075","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=714075"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/714075\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/714076"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=714075"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=714075"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=714075"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}