U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks during a press conference alongside U.S. Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Marty Makary, and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Mehmet Oz, discussing administration plans to lower drug costs, at the Department of Health and Human Services in Washington, D.C., U.S., October 29, 2025. REUTERS/Annabelle Gordon

By Steve Holland

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump's administration will release new dietary guidelines in December aimed at reducing high rates of obesity and changing the country's food culture, U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said on Thursday.

"We're about to release dietary guidelines that are going to change the food culture in this country," Kennedy told reporters during an event in the Oval Office, where Trump announced a deal with Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk to cut the price of weight loss drugs. "We're releasing those in December."

Kennedy said the new guidelines would change the kind of food served to military service members and children in schools, but gave no details on the new recommendations.

"If we want to solve the chronic disease crisis, we have to tackle obesity," Kennedy said. "Obesity is the number one driver of chronic disease," he said, adding that 50% of the adult U.S. population was obese or overweight, driving costs up for diabetes care and cardiac diseases.

The updated U.S. Dietary Guidelines for Americans, which influence school lunches, medical advice and nutrition standards, have been anticipated since summer.

The new guidelines are expected to address saturated fat, found mainly in meat and certain oils, and ultra-processed food, along with modified suggestions related to dairy consumption, sources familiar with the process told Reuters in June.

The Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Department of Agriculture publish the guidelines jointly every five years.

The current dietary guidelines recommend limiting saturated fat to less than 10% of total calories consumed daily, and do not address ultra-processed food. The definition of ultra-processed food is hotly debated by the food industry, while the report describes it as industrially manufactured products.

The guidelines recommend limiting consumption of alcoholic beverages to one drink a day for women and two for men, or not drinking.

(Reporting by Steve Holland and Andrea Shalal; Editing by Hugh Lawson)