FEATURED ISSUE
Government’s healthy diet experts & conflicts of interest
Every five years the U.S. government updates the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Everyone is urged to use these Guidelines in selecting a healthy diet. In January of this year a new advisory committee of industry experts was appointed to be responsible to prepare the 2025 update recommendations.

In past years there have been complaints that many of these experts were financially connected with various elements in the food industry that were hidden conflicts of interest. These conflict-of-interest influences resulted in undeserved favoritism in the final Dietary Guidelines. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) publicly claim that all members of the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee are in compliance with the Federal ethics laws and regulations governing conflicts of interest.

This year these conflict of interest complaints are appearing again. And, again, this year the government claims of no conflict of interest are published. What appears to be different this year is that “Through Freedom of Information Act requests, STAT found that the food industry has worked tirelessly to get friendly ‘experts’ on the 20-member advisory committee.”

The list of experts appointed to the 2025 advisory committee can be found at https://www.dietaryguidelines.gov/2025-advisory-committee.

ISSUE: Are you aware of potential conflicts of interest on the part of experts dictating Dietary Guidelines for Americans?

AHHA strives to maintain a neutral position and views knowledge as power. For those interested in this month’s Issue, the following articles have been selected so that you can actually compare the published bios of the newly appointed individuals against claims of undeclared conflicts of interest and decide for yourself. You are encouraged to delve deeper and expand your knowledge of this matter using these articles as a springboard.

Members of the 2025 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee Announced (1/19/23)
U.S. Department of Agriculture
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced the appointment of 20 nationally recognized scientists to serve on the 2025 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee.

2025 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee Disclosures (updated 3/13/23)
Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee
All members of the 2025 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee are in compliance with the Federal ethics laws and regulations governing conflicts of interest. All Committee members have compiled with the reporting of all necessary financial information under these laws and any resulting recusal requirements.

Federal agencies are obscuring potential conflicts of interest among members of the Dietary Guidelines advisory Committee (5/9/23)
Center For Science in the Public Interest
The federal cabinet agencies charged with publishing the Dietary Guidelines for Americans are obscuring the potential financial conflicts of interest of the committee members whose report forms the scientific basis for the Guidelines.

Health watchdog demands greater transparency on US dietary guidelines amid conflict of interest fears (5/12/23)
Food Ingredients
The CSPI stresses that the list fails to include detailed information about individual relationships between members and the industry, which “doesn’t provide the public with the information it deserves.”

Conflicts of interest among Dietary Guidelines advisers (6/4/23(
Sharyl Attkisson
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) is questioning “serious conflict of interest” among advisers on the government’s newest Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee named to serve from 2025-2030. Grassley is questioning current disclosures, which fail to connect each reported financial conflict of interest to the specific member it pertains to.

The food industry has tried to stack a key nutrition policy panel with its preferred experts, documents show (9/12/23)
By Nicholas Florko
STAT News
Lawmakers and advocacy groups in recent months have urged the USDA to do a more thorough job in vetting potential conflicts of interest on the committee. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) has called for the entire dietary guidelines process to be halted until the committee’s “conflicts of interest are resolved.”

Nutrition Advice, Brought to You by Big Food (9/21/23)
Alliance for Natural Health USA
An investigation by STAT News has found that an advisory committee responsible for shaping American nutrition recommendations is rife with conflicts of interest. This helps explain why the Guidelines have, for years now, continued to miss the mark on several key health issues that, if followed, would undermine our health.

You are also encouraged to go to our blog at ahha.org/blog and post your comments.

To review past ISSUES, visit the Special Updates Archives.