The C.D.C. will soon decide which group to recommend next, and the debate over the trade-offs is growing heated. Ultimately, states will determine whom to include.
Plant-based diets have taken root in American culture in recent years, mostly thanks to the growing realization about the health benefits of this eating pattern.
"A lot of the early research and news headlines from three or four years ago used to say things like ' sitting is the new smoking' even if you exercise, and there was this notion that exercise doesn't matter if you sit all day," says Keith Diaz, an assistant professor of behavioral medicine at Columbia University and one of the coauthors of the study.
In a two-day meeting sponsored by the N.I.H., officials acknowledged an insufficient understanding of the issues and warned of a growing public health problem.
After a brush with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, professional Santa Clauses are just trying to get through this holiday season safely.