HHS releases new Dietary Guidelines for Americans, emphasizing the consumption of whole foods

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has released the Dietary Guideline for Americans, 2025-2030 marking a significant reset of federal nutrition policy. According to the HHS, the new guidelines reestablish food, rather than pharmaceuticals, as the foundation of health, reclaiming the food pyramid as a tool for nourishment and education.

“These Guidelines return us to the basics,” said HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., in a press release. “American households must prioritize whole, nutrient-dense foods—protein, dairy, vegetables, fruits, healthy fats, and whole grains—and dramatically reduce highly processed foods. This is how we Make America Healthy Again.”

“Thanks to the bold leadership of President Trump, this edition of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans will reset federal nutrition policy, putting our families and children first as we move towards a healthier nation,” added U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Brooke Rollins. “At long last, we are realigning our food system to support American farmers, ranchers, and companies that grow and produce real food. Farmers and ranchers are at the forefront of the solution, and that means more protein, dairy, vegetables, fruits, healthy fats, and whole grains on American dinner tables.”

The new guidance includes emphasis on:

• Prioritizing protein at every meal to achieve 1.2-1.6 g/kg of body weight per day
• Consuming full-fat dairy without added sugars
• Consumption of fruits (two servings) and vegetables (three servings) throughout the day, with a focus on whole forms
• Incorporating healthy fats from whole foods
• Eating whole grains (2-4 servings per day) and sharply reducing refined carbohydrates
• Limiting highly processes foods, added sugars, and artificial additives
• Limiting alcohol consumption

Trade groups are praising the new guidance for its emphasis on nutrition and acknowledging the role of dietary supplements in nutrition. In addressing the needs of specific age groups, the guidelines state that supplements may be implemented under medical supervision.

“For many Americans, meeting nutrient recommendations through food alone is challenging—sometimes due to limited food sources, increased nutritional needs during certain life stages, or other real-world barriers,” said Steve Mister, President & CEO of the Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN; Washington, D.C.), in a press release. “By appropriately recognizing dietary supplements as a way to help fill nutrient gaps, the agencies have taken an important step toward improving public health and ensuring the Dietary Guidelines are both evidence-based and practical.”

The Natural Products Association (NPA; Washington, D.C.) also praised the new guidelines but also encourages policymakers “to ensure that dietary supplements are accurately represented as part of a comprehensive nutrition strategy. This includes recognizing the essentiality of specific nutrients, reflecting modern nutrition science on bioavailability and life-stage needs, and avoiding outdated assumptions that overlook how Americans actually consume nutrients in the real world.”

Criticisms

Not everyone is enthusiastic about the new guidelines. While most are behind the message of eating whole foods, critics point out that the guidelines are contradictory and do not actually empower Americans to make healthy decisions since it does not take into account the realities of people’s economic situations or access to foods it recommends.

For example, Leah McGrath, RD, LDN, and founder of Build Up Dietitians points out one of the central contradictions of the new guidelines which is that while they keep saturated fat guidelines below 10% of calories or less, they recommend many foods high in saturated fats such as full fat milk, dairy cheese, butter, beef tallow and animal proteins such as red meat, which may make reducing saturated fats in one’s diet more difficult. While the guidelines don’t ignore plant-based protein sources, the emphasis is on animal sources of protein.

Additionally, the new food pyramid, says McGrath, is not useful as a visual aid/tool to help Americans eat more healthily. “It's sloppy, basic, and many of the images are indistinguishable, as if created by clip art,” she explains. “It's pretty clear that MyPlate was (and still is) seen as a tool that was easy to use both for the dietitian and the patient/client.”

"Dietitians tend to look at how guidelines could be practically explained and implemented. Many of the loud voices that are ‘for’ these guidelines don't do that kind of work and may be just looking at this from a personal perspective,” adds McGrath. “They may not realize how many federal programs are touched by the Dietary Guidelines.”

Blake Ebersole, founder of Fearless Naturals USA and NaturPro Scientific LLC, says that with its push for “real food,” the new guidelines are less practical and more expensive for many Americans. Indeed, the new guidelines reject “healthy equity” as the prism through which the guidelines should be constructed. According to the fact-sheet, it instead argues that “a common-sense, science-driven document is essential to begin a conversation about how our culture and food procurement programs must change to enable Americans to access affordable, healthy, real food.”

In practice, says Ebersole, the new guidelines make eating healthy more expensive. “The guidelines state to focus on 'real food', which are perishable and result in a large amount of food waste by percentage weight – for example, apple cores and meat gristle. And the consumer pays for food waste incurred by producers and retailers,” he explains. “While the previous 2020-2025 DGA recommended to limit red and processed meats, sugar-sweetened foods, refined grains and alcohol, the new guidelines recommends red meat and animal fats like butter, which are more expensive than vegetable oils. All while beef prices have skyrocketed.”

Protein is the most expensive macronutrient, says Ebersole, and the increase in protein intake, with an emphasis on animal sources, represents a 50-100% increase in the most costly macronutrient. “In inner cities and rural regions where much of America lives, retailers and distribution are not set up to deal with the amount of perishable foods,” he explains. “Adding the necessary infrastructure, including cold distribution and refrigeration, to reach these areas adds extra cost for everyone in the chain which gets passed down to the consumer.”

“It's important to remember that these might be considered ‘optional guidelines’ for those of us not reliant on our institutions – like SNAP/WIC, schools, hospitals and prisons,” concludes Ebersole. “We often forget that the main purpose of the DGA's is to set nutrition standards for people who are fed under a fixed budget. Meaning that under a given budget, restrictions on shelf-stable foods, which are cheaper than fresh foods mean fewer people get to eat, and tough choices will be made to pick who gets to eat and who doesn't.”

Updated on January 12, at 1:13 PM