FEATURED ISSUE
Which dietary guidelines do you follow?
Are you basing your personal, dietary choices on the “2020–2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans” as released on 12/28/20? Or perhaps you have been following the media coverage revealing varying degrees of disagreement with these Dietary Guidelines – coming from registered dietitians, nutritionists, chronic disease physicians, academics, policy officials, wellness lobbyists, and other health experts. The Dietary Guidelines provide advice on what to eat and drink to meet nutrient needs, promote health, and prevent disease. They are used to determine what foods are prioritized in all national food programs, including school breakfast and lunch programs and food assistance programs that provide food for over 70 million Americans a year.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), who jointly compile this set of Dietary Guidelines every five years, report that everything is based on scientific evidence. Their recommended diet choices are for members of the general U.S. population (1) who are healthy, (2) who are at risk for diet-related diseases (such as heart disease, cancer and obesity), and (3) who are living with these diseases. Most of the guidelines have largely remained the unchanged. However, the 2020-2025 report was expanded to include specific recommendations for pregnant and lactating women and infants and toddlers through 24 months.

Those mildly critical of the latest Dietary Guidelines note that the limits for the four items (sugar, saturated fat, sodium, and alcoholic beverages) that Americans consume too much of were left too high and were not reduced to the amounts recommended by the experts on the 2020 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee.

Those more severely critical of the Dietary Guidelines are also concerned with the sugar, saturated fat, sodium, and alcoholic beverages limits. They further point to the ignoring of the importance of dietary supplements at a level sufficient for reducing the risk for chronic diseases. Some even reject all of the Dietary Guidelines recommendations, as they claim that the government’s Dietary Guidelines are the reason why four out of ten Americans are obese.

Here are three of the  reasons offered as explanations for the purported flaws in the final version of the guidelines: (1) industry pressure and successful lobbying by special interest groups for leaving higher limits for harmful items; (2) allowing higher limits for harmful items as a deliberate campaign strategy based on gradual behavior changes being more achievable; (3) the two individuals who oversee the guidelines project and make all final decisions are political appointees, not nutrition researchers or physicians.

Issue: Credibility of the U.S. governmental guidelines for eating patterns

AHHA strives to maintain a neutral position on issues and views knowledge as power. For those interested in this month’s issue, the articles below were selected to give you samplings of the varying degrees of disagreement with the 2020–2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommendations as you do your own research. As always, discuss your nutrition plan of action with your physician.

Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2020–2025 (12/28/20)
U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)

What’s Changed In the 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans? (1/4/21)
by Toby Amidor
Shape

MILDLY CRITICAL:
What Nutrition Pros Think of the New U.S. Dietary Guidelines (1/21/21)
by Colleen De Bellefonds
Well + Good

3 Missteps in the 2020-2025 USDA Dietary Guidelines (2/26/21)
by Isabel Lu
Center for Nutrition Studies

Here’s What’s Wrong With the Newest Dietary Guidelines for Sugar, According to an RD (3/31/21)
by Betty Gold
Real Simple

STRONGLY CRITICAL:
New Dietary Guidelines for Americans (1/25/21)
by Janet Helm, MS, RDN
U.S. News

2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines Not Applicable for Majority of Americans; Not Scoped for 60% of U.S. With at Least One Diet-Related Chronic Disease (12/2920)
Nutrition Coalition

US Diet Advice Still Wrong (1/21/21)
Alliance for Natural Health USA

As always, you are encouraged to go to our blog at https://ahha.org/blog and post your comments.

To review past ISSUES, visit the Special Updates Archives.