Members of Congress had sought in December to keep the group from even discussing the issue, asserting that while advising the government on federal dietary guidelines, the committee should steer clear of extraneous issues and stick to nutritional advice. "The overall body of evidence examined by the 2015 DGAC identifies that a healthy dietary pattern is higher in vegetables, fruits, whole grains, low- or non-fat dairy, seafood, legumes, and nuts; moderate in alcohol (among adults); lower in red and processed meat; and low in sugar-sweetened foods and drinks and refined grains," the report says. [ Top nutrition panel: The American diet is killing us ] 
 
 Many scientists say animal-based foods are a poorer choice for the environment because they are associated with significantly larger carbon emissions than their plant-based counterparts. (Jayme Halbritter/AP) 
 
 The environmental recommendations are part of a report meant to provide the scientific basis for the next version of the Dietary Guidelines, the federal government’s publication on what to eat. The public gets 45 days to weigh in and then Health and Human Services Department and the U.S. Department of Agriculture use the report as the basis for new guidelines to be issued by the end of the year. Despite some debate about saturated versus unsaturated fats, with some research suggesting that saturated fats aren't as bad as once thought, most dieticians and health experts are generally pleased with the recommendation to limit saturated fat intake to no more than 10 percent of daily calories. New dietary recommendations released today suggest a diet high in vegetables and low in red meat, but no longer warn against foods high in cholesterol. And it doesn't mean you can eat all the bacon and eggs you want. Americans are eating less meat than they have in the past, but they are still eating too much, according to the panel’s experts, and all that meat consumption is having detrimental effects on the environment. It'll take some research to figure out how to get through to Americans, says Dr. Alice Lichtenstein of Tufts University, one of the panel members. After intense lobbying by representatives of the U.S. meat industry and other special interest groups, the language calling on Americans to eat less red meat was softened somewhat by a footnote saying that lean red meat can be part of a healthy diet. Photograph by Brian Finke, National Geographic 
 
 The Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee issued its recommendations today, calling on Americans to eat less meat, watch their sodium intake, and start thinking about the environment more. One critical detail is that the committee, for the first time, is including "the impact of food production, processing, and consumption on environmental sustainability" in its recommendations.
– When the federal government's new Dietary Guidelines come out later this year, the nation's top nutritional panel wants them for the first time to include a recommendation that Americans keep the planet in mind when deciding what to eat. That's the panel's advice, at least, and its inclusion in its 571-page report, issued yesterday, is quite controversial. In December, Congress warned the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee not to touch on anything other than nutrition, but the report urges Americans to eat more plant-based foods and fewer animal-based foods in an effort to have a smaller environmental impact, the Washington Post reports. The report calls out red meat in particular as harmful to the environment, and it also notes that Americans should cut back on it for health reasons. Members of Congress and the meat industry lobby were quick to criticize the report. "Politically motivated issues such as ... environmental sustainability are outside their purview," says a spokesman for GOP Rep. Robert B. Aderholt; the head of the largest meat-trade association said the recommendations "appear to be based on ... social agendas." But the American Institute for Cancer Research applauded the report's meat advice, NBC News reports. And, National Geographic adds, the report does include the footnote that "lean red meat" can be included in a healthy diet. The Department of Health and Human Services and the Agriculture Department could simply ignore the report, which is meant to provide a scientific basis for the guidelines, when they issue the official guidelines, but the Post reports the recommendations are rarely altered. Americans can, of course, ignore the guidelines once they come out, but as they can impact things like school lunch menus, they could have an effect. (Another first: a reversal of long-standing warnings about cholesterol.)