2.2 Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2025-2030

The Dietary Guidelines for Americans are a set of general nutrition related lifestyle recommendations for healthy people to promote health and reduce risk of chronic disease. The Dietary Guidelines are reevaluated and updated every five years by the advisory committees of the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The guidelines are continually revised to keep up with new scientific evidence-based conclusions on the importance of nutritional adequacy and physical activity to overall health. Researchers study what types of foods Americans eat and in what quantities. This research can be used to compare what nutrients we are consuming enough of and what nutrients we are likely to be deficient in. This information is used to create recommendations for types of foods to eat to help people be more in line with the DRI recommendations. The goal of the Dietary Guidelines is to provide informative guidelines that will help any interested person in obtaining optimal nutritional balance and health. The 2025 Dietary Guidelines were released in January 2026.

The theme of the 2020 Dietary Guidelines is “Eat Real Food.” This means to focus on consuming more nutrient dense whole foods and limit empty calorie ultraprocessed foods higher in saturated fat, added sugar, and sodium while staying within your calorie limits. This gives an individual many options to choose an eating pattern that works best for them based on their individual food preferences, lifestyle, and budget.

Nutrient dense foods are foods that are relatively high in nutrients compared to the number of calories they contain. Whole grains, lean meats, seafood, fruits, vegetables, legumes or beans, eggs, low-fat or fat-free dairy products, nuts, and seeds are all examples of nutrient dense foods. Nutrient dense foods are often less processed but canned beans, fruits, vegetables, and meats are still considered nutrient dense and can be a great way to get nutrients for many people because they are often less expensive, more shelf stable, or easier to prepare than unprocessed versions. Empty calorie foods are foods that are high in calories with relatively few vitamins and minerals. Processed foods high in added sugar, sodium, and solid fats are examples of empty calorie foods. Empty calorie foods have little to no nutritional value. Calorie dense foods are relatively high in calories per serving. Fat or lipid is the macronutrient with the most kcals per gram so foods high in fat are relatively calorie dense. Calorie dense foods aren’t necessarily bad for you – there are plenty of foods that are beneficial for your health that are also calorie dense. Some examples include olive oil, avocados, and nuts.

There are 8 key recommendations in the 2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans:

1. Eat the right amount for you.
2. Prioritize protein foods at every meal.
3. Consume dairy.
4. Eat vegetables and fruits throughout the day.
5. Incorporate healthy fats.
6. Focus on whole grains.
7. Limit highly processed foods, added sugars, and refined carbohydrates.
8. Limit alcoholic beverages.

These concepts are further broken down into actionable bullet point lists. You can find more information and access the full guidelines here. These guidelines give specific recommendations for different ages and life stages. An optimal diet is likely to change across the lifespan – but developing flexible healthy habits when you are young will help you remain healthy as you age.

The major change in the 2025 Dietary Guidelines compared to previous editions was the shift away from plant based proteins and high fiber foods. This directly contradicted the recommendations of the scientific advisory committee due to the fact that many Americans do not meet fiber recommendations and fiber has been shown to reduce rates of many different types of chronic diseases. The panel that overturned the scientific advisory committee’s recommendations had strong ties to the beef and dairy industries and recommended red meat and full fat dairy in place of plant based proteins.

In addition to the key recommendations listed above, the 2025 Dietary Guidelines brought back the food pyramid that had been discontinued in 2011 due to being confusing and impractical for an average person to use to plan a healthy diet.

Figure 2.3 2025 Flipped Food Pyramid

While this pyramid gives a visual representation of whole foods that can be part of a balanced diet, it has been criticized for being too vague and difficult to implement. Are apples better than bananas? Is broccoli the most superior vegetable? There is also a lack of discussion of culturally relevant foods, a marked shift from the previous dietary guidelines.

The pyramid also contradicts some of the advice given in the guidelines themselves. The guidelines recommend 2-4 servings of whole grains per day along with 2 servings of fruits and 3 servings or vegetables. Looking at the visual representation of the pyramid, one may assume that whole grain intake should be much lower than the recommendations for fruits and vegetables. The guidelines also recommend that less than 10% of kcals should come from saturated fats. However, eating the recommended 3 servings of full fat dairy a day will make it difficult to stay within these limitations.