News: Axios PM: New food guidelines for babies — 🎵 Holiday music sets record

Tuesday, December 29, 2020

Axios PM: New food guidelines for babies — 🎵 Holiday music sets record

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Axios PM

By Mike Allen ·Dec 29, 2020

🏂 Good Tuesday afternoon. Today's PM — edited by Justin Green — is 589 words, a 2-minute read.

🚨Bulletin: President-elect Biden, vowing to tell the truth about COVID even when it's "hard to hear," said in Wilmington today that U.S. coronavirus stats "might not see improvement until well into March."

Biden promised to speed up vaccinations when he takes office: "At the pace the vaccination program is moving now, it would take years, not months, to vaccinate the American people."

1 big thing: Food guidelines for infants and toddlers

Photo (c. 1955): Harold M. Lambert/Getty Images

For the first time, the highly influential dietary guidelines from the federal government feature recommendations for babies and toddlers, Axios' Oriana Gonzalez reports.

Why it matters: "The dietary guidelines, which are updated every five years ... shape school lunch programs, mold state and local health-promotion efforts, and influence what food companies produce," the Wall Street Journal notes.

The big picture: Babies should be fed exclusively breast milk for their first six months and receive a supplement of vitamin D.

Children under two should avoid added sugars and high levels of sodium at all costs.
No cake, ice cream candy, or chips should be given before their second birthday.

Between the lines: The latest guidelines declined to follow recommendations for cuts on sugar and alcohol intake, the Journal notes.

The advisory committee of researchers and doctors recommended cutting added sugars from 10% to 6% of daily calories. That was rejected.
They also advised lowering the recommendation for alcoholic drinks for men from 2 to 1 per day. That was rejected.

The other side: "[T}he new evidence is not substantial enough to support changes to quantitative recommendations for either added sugars or alcohol," USDA deputy undersecretary Brandon Lipps said.

2. Pic du jour: "It's about saving your life"

Photo: Samuel Corum/Getty Images

Registered nurse Patricia Cummings gave Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine to Vice President-elect Harris today at United Medical Center in Southeast Washington.

Axios' Alexi McCammond, who was there, reports that Harris wanted to get the shot on live TV to bolster confidence in the vaccine — especially in the Black community, where a history of mistreatment has contributed to mistrust.

"That was easy!" Harris said. "Thank you. I just barely felt it. I barely felt it."
"I look forward to getting the second vaccine," Harris added. "Literally this is about saving lives. I trust the scientists, and it is the scientists who created and approved the vaccine."

Doug Emhoff, her husband, also received the vaccine.

🎥 See video. ... Share this story.

A message from JPMorgan Chase & Co.

The racial wealth gap holds back the U.S. economy

JPMorgan Chase committed $30 billion to advance racial equity.

The goal: The company will harness its expertise in business, policy and philanthropy to help break down barriers of systemic racism and advance an inclusive economic recovery.

Find out about their long-term commitment.

3. Catch up quick

AA Flight 718, the first U.S. Boeing 737 MAX commercial flight since its March 2019 grounding, landed at LaGuardia this afternoon. Photo: Eduardo Munoz/Reuters

✈️ Boeing's 737 MAX resumed passenger flights in the U.S. for the first time in 21 months, with an American Airlines flight from Miami to LGA. Go deeper.
Senate Majority Leader McConnell blocked Democrats' push to boost stimulus checks from $600 to $2,000. But the idea could come back up; McConnell hasn't disclosed his strategy. Video.
Next Big Tech fight: Prominent conservative groups are backing Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.) for a top GOP antitrust role, Ashley Gold reports.

4. 📻 1 song thing: Record holiday blitz on music chart

Photo: Apple TV+ via AP

A record 39 holiday songs dominate this week's Billboard Hot 100 chart, including nine of the Top 10, AP reports:

Mariah Carey's ubiquitous hit, "All I Want for Christmas Is You," leads the pack at No. 1 — the tune's fifth time at the top spot. Carey's classic, released in 1994, reached the No. 1 spot last year — 25 years after its release.

Brenda Lee's "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" is No. 2, followed by Bobby Helms' "Jingle Bell Rock," Burl Ives' "A Holly Jolly Christmas," and Andy Williams' "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year."
José Feliciano's "Feliz Navidad," which celebrated its 50th anniversary this year with an all-star remix featuring Lin-Manuel Miranda, is No. 6.

The only non-holiday song in the Top 10 is 24kGoldn and iann dior's "Mood," which topped the Hot 100 chart for six weeks this year and is currently No. 7.

Go deeper: See a list of the 39 holiday songs on this week's Billboard Hot 100.

A message from JPMorgan Chase & Co.

A plan to address the key drivers of the racial wealth divide

Structural barriers in the U.S. created deep racial inequalities, worsened by COVID-19. JPMorgan Chase is committing an additional $30 billion to advance racial equity, across: