Current 56 - Updates from the U.S. Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee's Scientific Report

Summary

The 2025 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, appointed by the U.S. Departments of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Agriculture (USDA), recently released a scientific report reviewing overall dietary patterns and evaluating the associations between diet and disease to inform the forthcoming 2025-2030 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, expected December 2025.^1,2

The report notes the heavy burden of nutrition-related chronic diseases: 73% of adults and 36% of children (ages 2 to 19 years) are affected by overweight and obesity, and 38% of adolescents (ages 12 to 19 years) have prediabetes. Obesity disproportionately affects racial and ethnic minority groups and individuals with lower socioeconomic status. However, across all demographic strata, the intake of vegetables, fruits, dairy, fortified soy alternatives, seafood, nuts, seeds, soy products, and whole grains falls below recommended levels, while the consumption of refined grains, total protein foods, and meat, poultry, and eggs meets or exceeds targets.

Reaffirming the 2020–2025 guidelines, the committee endorses limiting saturated fat intake to less than 10% of total energy. Systematic reviews show that replacing saturated fats with plant-based proteins, whole grains, vegetables, or unsaturated fat-rich vegetable oils can reduce cardiovascular disease risk. To emphasize plant proteins, the committee recommends reclassifying beans, peas, and lentils into the protein foods group, listing them first among the subgroups, followed by nuts, seeds, soy, seafood, meat, poultry, and eggs.

Sources

1. 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. doi:10.52570/DGAC2025.

2. Congressional Research Service. The Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA): Current Status. https://www.congress.gov/crs_external_products/IF/PDF/IF12963/IF12963.1.pdf. Published April 10, 2025. Accessed August 24, 2025.

This summary was created with assistance from generative artificial intelligence (Microsoft Copilot, 2025)