A scientific report – 2025 U.S. Dietary Guidelines – has been published by the U.S. Departments of Agriculture and Health and Human Services (USDA-HHS). The 421-page document is intended to inform new guidelines in 2025, although these will now fall within the scope of Trump Administration selected political appointees.
Updated every five years, the document guides everyone from dieticians to consumers, to food producers to food retailers, in the creation and facilitation of national nutrition programs and nutrition education.
Key recommendations in this report include:
- Reducing red and processed meats;
- Replacing poultry, meat, and eggs with peas, beans, and lentils as sources of protein;
- No limits on ultra-processed foods; and
- Continued caps on saturated fats, to be replaced by vegetable (seed) oils.
According to HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra: “This report will help to ensure that the next edition of the Dietary Guidelines is based on current scientific evidence and medical knowledge, and that future guidelines factors in socioeconomic status, race, ethnicity, and culture. I want to thank the Committee for all their hard work, as well as the American people for sharing their voice with us in this process. Together, we can help Americans enjoy a healthy diet, and the health benefits that are possible as a result.”
The primary recommendation within the document is with eating more beans, peas and lentils, while reducing the intake of red and processed meats.
A healthy dietary pattern for people 2 years and older “is higher in vegetables, fruits, legumes (eg, beans, peas, lentils), nuts, whole grains, fish/seafood, and vegetable oils higher in unsaturated fat, and lower in red and processed meats, sugar-sweetened foods and beverages, refined grains, and saturated fat.”
The also report addresses other factors that shape health and welfare in the context of diet. Notably, this is manifest in terms of social class. In the section titled Eat Healthy Your Way, the report recognizes that healthy eating and nutrition-related chronic health conditions vary among individuals and between sociodemographic groups. Notably, the prevalence of obesity, hypertension, and Type 2 diabetes is higher among lower-income (working class) families.
Concerns have been expressed about what the incoming Administration will do with the findings, given that the essence of the soon-to-be-government’s approach to food policy is deregulation.
“This is a deregulatory agenda,” Marion Nestle, a professor of nutrition and food policy at New York University, has told The Guardian. “And what we know historically from deregulation is that it’s really bad for consumers, it’s bad for workers, it’s bad for the environment.”
