Low-carb diet advocates aims to alter feds' nutrition advice

A group of people who advocate low-carbohydrate diets is trying to persuade the federal government to lower the recommended daily intake of "carbs." The Department of Agriculture and the Department of Health and Human Services are set to update federal nutrition advice in 2020.

"The Low-Carb Action Network — launched on Wednesday by a small group of doctors, researchers and consumers . . . said scientific research shows the diet can help prevent diseases, particularly Type 2 diabetes, and should be included in the Dietary Guidelines for Americans," Ryan McCrimmon reports for Politico's Morning Agriculture. "The network does not receive funding from industry and plans to set up a donation page on its website to raise money, a spokesperson said."

Nutrition guidelines are updated every five years, based on a scientific report from an independent 20-member committee. The guidelines shape federal nutrition programs like school meals and the Women, Infants and Children nutrition program, McCrimmon reports.

"The committee last year signaled it would review low-carb (and high-fat) diets, a move welcomed by a disparate group of nutrition experts, Atkins and keto followers, and the livestock sector," McCrimmon reports. "The research on low-carb diets that the advisory committee includes in its review is a top concern among the leaders of the Low-Carb Action Network."

Proponents of low-carb diets say they're a good way to lose weight and can help reverse and prevent diseases. The American Diabetes Association seemed to support this view with a report earlier this year saying low-carb diets have been shown to reduce the need for diabetes medication, McCrimmon reports. However, some nutrition experts say the long-term health impacts of low-carb diets are unclear and that research on them is so new that it's too early to base firm recommendations on it.