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How do the new US #DietaryGuidelines compare to hunter-gatherer diets? Out of curiosity I decided to have a look - here's how the @USDA diet recs compare to the observed diets in the Hadza hunter-gatherer community @HadzaFund 
1/n
https://dietaryguidelines.gov
1/nhttps://dietaryguidelines.gov
First, a disclaimer - this is a first pass, not an authoritative peer-reviewed comparison. (you're on the wrong website for those anyway - what you're looking for is https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/ ) 2/n
Most of the advice is high-level and hard to argue with, in my view. Eat nutrient dense foods; avoid added sugars and added oils/fats; aim for protein rich foods; don't eat too much salt (aim for <2300 mg). All Hadza-approved 3/n
Given the dangers of ultra-processed foods for unhealthy weight gain a la @KevinH_PhD avoiding added sugars and added fats (which currently make up ~1/3 of the US calorie consumption... ugh) just makes good sense 4/n
But back to the Hadza. The new US guidelines say to limit added sugars to <10% of daily calorie intake. There's an argument for making that even lower, <6%, as @Regan_Bailey_ noted. Hadza get ~10% or more of their calories from honey, which is just sugar and water. 5/n
What about macronutrient intake? US guides say 45 - 65% of calories from carbs. That actually matches well w the ~20-70% seen in the Hadza community, based on analysis w @briwood1 6/n
Protein? US guidelines suggest ~10 - 35% calories from protein, which matches our estimates for the Hadza of roughly ~10 - 40%. By the way, these ranges reflect variation over weeks / months from observed food returns. 7/n
And fat?? That matches pretty well too. US guidelines are 20-35% of your calories from fat, similar to the roughly ~15-35% we see with the Hadza community. 8/n
Unclear % saturated fat for the Hadza - other analyses suggest ~30% of wild animal fat is sat, which would put Hadza at up to 10% calories from saturated fat, again in line with the US guides that say limit sat fat to 10% calories 9/n https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21471535/
The only difference that really stands out to me is fiber intake. US guidelines say 20-30g/day. Hadza adults get at least twice that much. 10/n https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30511505/
Bottom line: while everyone will find a reason to hate the new guidelines (and I haven't done a deep dive - maybe there's horrible stuff hidden in there) they are actually consistent w diets from at least one hunter-gatherer group known for incredible cardiometabolic health 11/n
True, other hunter-gatherer pops undoubtedly had different diets. Variation is the rule for human cultures. But it's hard to argue, I think, that the new guidelines are crazy or inconsistent w healthy lifestyles. They actually seem... *reasonable* 12/n
So thanks, @USDA , for putting out a reasonable set of guidelines. And for the haters, take comfort knowing that no one follows them anyway 
Happy (almost) 2021 everyone!
Lucky 13/13
Happy (almost) 2021 everyone!
Lucky 13/13
Pre-emptive post-script: if you follow a diet that diverges from the US guidelines and have had great success with it, no one is happier for you than I am. Stick with whatever diet keeps you healthy. We humans are an adaptable species that can do great on a wide range of diets
