From what I gather in the article, the government updates their dietary guidelines every 5 years and this is the year. It seems like they are very conservative and tend to be behind the scientific times, but the recommendations seem pretty much in line with what I know. I was disappointed they didn't include the sustainability issues around meat consumption, especially around the depleted ocean fish stocks, but I suppose in the big bureaucracy of things that really isn't their bailiwick. The again I don't know how much attention the general public pays to these things, although it does affect things like school food programs and possibly labeling. One slight surprise for me was this,
"The biggest surprise in the guidelines was the conclusion that teenage boys and men were generally consuming too much protein. As a result, the guidelines recommend that men and boys “reduce their overall intake of protein foods” such as meat, poultry and eggs and add more vegetables to their diets."
http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/...at-gets-a-pass