What’s New?
It’s 2025 – so when will we see the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2025-2030? According to the USDA and Department of Health and Human Services, they will be unveiled by the end of the year. While you await the final Guidelines, you can sneak a peek at its contents by viewing the Scientific Report of the 2025 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee. The Scientific Report examines the relationships between diet and health across the lifespan, developing overarching guidelines and more specific recommendations that serve as the basis for the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. As we anticipate the release of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2025-2030, it is worth pondering whether they will affect our nutrition practice.
A Dietary Guidelines Refresher
The federal government is mandated to publish the Dietary Guidelines at least every five years. The Guidelines present evidence-based nutrition recommendations that help dictate federal, state, and local nutrition programs and policies. Registered dietitian nutritionists (RDNs) rely on them as a template for menu development and as a springboard for nutrition education for individuals and groups. The recommendations in the Guidelines are used to develop MyPlate, which provides consumers with easy-to-interpret nutrition recommendations.
The Scientific Report in a Nutshell
The proposed overarching guidelines suggested in the Scientific Report are familiar to most nutrition care professionals but the specific details (assuming they hold up to public comment and professional scrutiny in the next few months) will have some changes that will affect nutrition programs and services.
Overarching Guidelines
- Follow a healthy dietary pattern at every life stage. At every life stage – infancy, toddlerhood, childhood, adolescence, adulthood, pregnancy, lactation, and older adulthood – it is never too early or too late to eat healthfully.
- Customize and enjoy nutrient-dense food and beverage choices to reflect personal preferences, cultural traditions, and budgetary considerations.
- Focus on meeting food group needs with nutrient-dense foods and beverages, and stay within calorie limits.
- Limit foods and beverages higher in added sugars, saturated fat, and sodium, and limit alcoholic beverages.
Recommended Dietary Pattern
Some of the many changes in the Scientific Report’s recommended dietary pattern include but are not limited to:
- The three current USDA dietary patterns, which share core elements, will be eliminated and one new Eat Healthy Your Way dietary pattern will be adopted.
- More plant-based protein foods will be part of the Eat Healthy Your Way dietary pattern.
- Beans, peas, and lentils will be moved from a subgroup of the vegetables food group to a subgroup of the protein foods group to align with evidence to encourage plant sources of protein foods. The quantity of vegetables in the pattern will be 0.5 cup eq/day and the quantity of protein foods in the pattern will be increased by 0.50 to 1.75 ounce eq/day in the 2,200 to 3,200 calorie levels.
- The order of the protein foods subgroups will be reorganized to emphasize the health benefit of plant-based protein foods. The recommendation is to list beans, peas, and lentils first, followed by nuts, seeds, and soy products, seafood, and meats, poultry, and eggs.
- Health equity will be woven into all aspects of the Guidelines. It remains to be seen if that will affect any specific recommendations.
Reading the Scientific Report of the 2025 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee provides insight into the process and outcomes of the research review that will help guide the next 5 years of nutrition practice. And it gives RDNs a heads up as to what to expect when the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2025-2030 are released later this year.
Call to Action
- Familiarize yourself with the Scientific Report of the 2025 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee.
- Recognize that you will probably need to make changes to programs, menus, and messaging once the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2025-2030 are released.
- Get updates on the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2025-2030, by connecting with the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion.
- Expect changes in MyPlate, a tool to guide consumers to healthy eating that is based on the Dietary Guidelines for Americans.
Reference
2025 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee. 2024. Scientific Report of the 2025 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee: Advisory Report to the Secretary of Health and Human Services and Secretary of Agriculture. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. https://doi.org/10.52570/DGAC2025. Accessed January 2, 2025.
