The Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA) provide nutritional advice for Americans who are healthy or who are at risk for chronic disease but do not currently have chronic disease. The Guidelines are published every five years by the US Department of Agriculture, together with the US Department of Health and Human Services. Notably, the most recent ninth edition for 2020–25 includes dietary guidelines for children from birth to 23 months. In addition to the Dietary Guidelines per se, there are additional tools for assessing diet and nutrition, including the Healthy Eating Index (HEI), which can be used to assess the quality of a given selection of foods in the context of the Dietary Guidelines. Also provided are additional explanations regarding customization of the Guidelines to individual eating preferences, application of the Guidelines during pregnancy and infancy, the USDA Nutrition Evidence Systematic Review, information about the Nutrition Communicators Network and the MyPlate initiative, information from the National Academies about redesigning the process by which the Dietary Guidelines for Americans are created, and information about dietary guidelines from other nations.
The nominal purpose of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans is to help health professionals and policymakers to advise Americans about healthy choices for their diet. In formulating the Dietary Guidelines for 2020–2025, the US Federal government rejected the advice of the expert scientific panel that the guidelines set new low targets for consumption of sugar and alcoholic beverages.
History
The efforts of the US Federal Government to establish a scientific basis for human nutrition began with Wilbur Olin Atwater, who published the first dietary recommendations for Americans in 1894, notably stating that, "We live not upon what we eat, but upon what we digest."
In 1977, despite limited and contradictory input from nutrition experts, the United States Senate Select Committee on Nutrition and Human Needs, chaired by Senator George McGovern, published the Dietary Goals for the United States, recommending that Americans avoid becoming obese by consuming only as much energy as was expended and to reverse obesity by decreasing energy intake and increasing energy expenditure. The Dietary Goals also recommended increasing complex carbohydrates and naturally occurring sugars from 28% to 48% of energy intake, reducing refined and processed sugars to about 10% of energy intake, reducing fat from 40% to 30% of energy intake, reducing eating saturated fat to 10% of energy intake, reducing cholesterol consumption to 300 milligrams daily, and reducing salt intake to 5 grams daily. The 1977 Dietary Goals for the United States were not based on a consensus among scientists and for this reason were criticized by agriculture and food manufacturing interests, and also by some scientists. A second version of the report was published in 1980, with less stringent changes from the standard American diet.
The Dietary Guidelines for Americans has been published every five years beginning in 1980, producing nine guidelines to date. One consistent recommendation of these nine guidelines has been that Americans reduce their dietary consumption of fat and animal products, including meat, dairy, and eggs and to increase their dietary consumption of carbohydrates and plant foods, including fruits, vegetables, and grains.
Purpose
The Guidelines were established so as to provide dietary advice that would improve the health of Americans and reduce their risk for chronic conditions, such as cancer, atherosclerosis, hypertension, heart disease, stroke, and renal disease. The Dietary Guidelines have the purpose of guiding the development of Federal policies and programs related to food, nutrition, and health. The guidelines influence and guide policymakers for Federally-financed food and dietary education programs. They also influence clinicians in the United States and in other countries.
The intended audience for the Dietary Guidelines for Americans are policymakers, nutrition scientists, and dieticians and other health professionals. The Guidelines themselves are not intended to directly inform the general public, but instead to serve as an authoritative, evidence-based information source that policymakers and health professionals can use to advise Americans about making healthy choices in their daily lives so as to enjoy a healthy diet that also prevents chronic disease. The Dietary Guidelines for Americans provide an evidence base that is used by the Federal government to develop nutrition education materials for Americans.