WASHINGTON, Nov 6 (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 ( LLY ) 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.