The National Potato Council has responded to what it called unscientific recommendations by the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, which encourages Americans to eat fewer starchy vegetables.
“The National Potato Council has commented extensively on all elements of the Dietary Guidelines process, demonstrating the nutritional and economic value that America’s favorite vegetable plays in all diets,” Kam Quarles, NPC CEO, said in a news release. “While the advisory committee acknowledges the overwhelming and clear evidence that Americans do not eat enough vegetables, the panel’s report reduces the starchy vegetable consumption recommendation. This conclusion is unsupported by nutritional science and will confuse consumers. Instead of reducing recommendations for any vegetable, USDA and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services should focus on increasing Americans’ intake of vegetables overall. As USDA and HHS work to complete the 2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, we urge the two Secretaries to discard this erroneous recommendation in any final report.”
Meanwhile, NPC said it welcomed the advisory committee’s abandonment of an attempt to make starchy vegetables interchangeable with grains within its recommendations — a notion brought up during the committee’s deliberations.
“Potatoes are a vegetable. Period,” Quarles said. “Despite some initial views to the contrary, we are pleased the full committee rejected attempts to place potatoes and other starchy vegetables in a different food category. Doing so would have made potatoes less affordable for schools and other feeding program managers who struggle to put nutritious, cost-effective, and appealing vegetables on Americans’ plates.”
