Recently, the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee (DGAC) decided to drop the long-standing cholesterol consumption recommendation from the 2015 edition of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Instead, the committee said cholesterol should not be considered a nutrient of concern for overconsumption.

According to Rose Smith, Carmel Clay Schools (CCS) Food Service dietitian, the DGAC makes recommendations for the guidelines, but cannot make them official—this is done by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

Though the change could cause some people to add more eggs or meat into their diets, Smith said the change in recommendation most likely will not affect school lunches as much as daily diet, because CCS schools are not under any cholesterol limits as of now.

“As far as school lunch standards go, I don’t know if it will really affect us at this point, because we don’t have any cholesterol-type limits in school lunch,” Smith said. “I don’t know if that’s something they will do further down the road. They do mention saturated fat as being more of a factor versus cholesterol, but we’re already under saturated fat limits at schools, so only ten percent of our calories can come from saturated fats.”

Junior Olivia Wang said she pays attention to general nutrition information and to what she eats because her parents “have always been really big on gardening and fishing and buying natural foods.” She said another reason she tries to be health-conscious is that the food people eat have an impact on health later on.

With the changes, Wang said though some people may change their diets, the change won’t have immediate, direct impact; rather, the questions surrounding the changes may cause confusion about what is healthy and what isn’t.

“I think (people will be confused) because I think with health and dietary patterns, the information isn’t always consistent as to what is good for you and what isn’t,” Wang said. “Some sources will say one thing and others will say something else, and I guess it’s even more complicated by how the federal guidelines aren’t always consistent year to year and they’re always changing.”

Smith agreed. She said, “I think (people are) going to question a little bit because it used to be ‘oh, cholesterol’s bad,’ it used to be ‘oh, butter is bad,’ but now it’s ‘butter is the best’ and not margarine. And now cholesterol’s okay so I think they’re going to start questioning (whether) we trust what the government says because they keep changing their mind with their recommendations.”

Sports dietitian Heather Fink said this confusion is “one of our biggest challenges in the nutrition world.” She said the guidelines don’t try to cause confusion but rather evolve as research evolves, like the cholesterol guideline has changed due to further research.

“When cholesterol first started to be a concern, years ago, our assumption was that blood cholesterol and dietary cholesterol were directly correlated,” Fink said. “But after we started researching it and really diving into blood cholesterol, we discovered that dietary cholesterol wasn’t really the link, and we were seeing a stronger link with saturated fat and now trans fat.”

With all the changes and hype, Wang said some of the basics are overlooked, and she often looks to the established, general guidelines such as eating less processed foods but more fruits and vegetables. She said exercise is another part of health that is often overlooked in order to focus more on diet.

Fink also said the portions of the guidelines that cover behaviors, like exercise, are often disregarded or forgotten.

“It’s not just nutrition knowledge and selection of specific foods, it’s a greater view of nutrition. It’s your environment, how you feel about food, who you’re sharing it with, and creating this really wonderful environment to enjoy nutritious food,” she said. “I’m certain that piece will get overlooked and it really shouldn’t.”