Review of the plant-based nutrition and lifestyle medicine

The year kicked off with the highly anticipated release of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA). These were always going to be controversial since it was known that the recommendations of the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee had been thrown out and replaced by a rather non-transparent process. I have written a separate in-depth review. Needless to say, ideology and industry influence has replaced evidence-based recommendations.

At the same time, the US New and World Report has published their annual analysis of the best diets for various health conditions, as recommended by a panel of experts. In contrast to the DGAs, all recommended diets have a focus on nutrient-dense, fibre-rich plant-based foods.

Going forwards, it is going to be difficult to assess the impact of dietary guidelines on health outcomes with so many people using GLP1 agonists for weight loss and their potential positive impacts for other chronic conditions. However, diet and lifestyle support will remain fundamental for the success of these therapies as demonstrated by the next two papers.