NYC Gazette

Every five years since 1980, the federal government releases dietary guidelines to advise Americans on their eating habits. These guidelines have influenced visual aids like the food pyramid of the 1990s and the MyPlate graphic of 2011, serving as a key element in national nutrition policy and education.

Before updating these guidelines, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) assemble an independent advisory committee composed of nutrition experts. This committee reviews current research to address specific questions about diet and nutrition. Their findings, combined with public feedback, inform the revised federal guidelines.

Andrea Deierlein, director of public health nutrition at NYU's School of Global Public Health, was part of the 2025 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee. Her research focuses on maternal and child health in nutritional epidemiology.

Deierlein explained that studying diet is complex because it involves examining how people eat collectively over time. "Diet is a really complicated exposure to study," she said. The committee reviewed extensive nutrition research to identify high-quality studies for their report, focusing on randomized controlled trials and prospective cohort studies while excluding cross-sectional studies.

The report underscores the importance of high-quality studies tracking dietary patterns over time. "We think everything has been studied, but it hasn’t," Deierlein noted.

The current dietary guidelines use a "lifespan approach" to guide Americans from birth through older age. Research indicates younger children generally have healthier diets than older ones, while older adults tend to eat better than younger adults. Deierlein emphasized how children are fed can shape their diets significantly.

A new recommendation from the committee advocates for more plant-based proteins instead of red and processed meats. They suggest reclassifying beans, peas, and lentils as proteins due to their ability to meet protein goals.

The committee also acknowledged diverse cultural foodways in America. "Food assistance programs may not cover items that are culturally important to different communities," Deierlein stated. Their work proposed an "Eat Healthy Your Way" pattern designed to be inclusive while meeting nutritional needs.

Regarding ultra-processed foods—often high in sugar, saturated fat, and salt—the committee found links between such diets and obesity but noted limited high-standard research on this topic across different life stages.

Despite challenges in defining ultra-processed foods consistently across studies, minimizing consumption is widely recommended for better health outcomes. Deierlein's ongoing research uses machine learning algorithms with collaborators at Stevens Institute of Technology to further investigate these foods' impact.

Deierlein concluded by stating that although dietary guidelines can't drastically change the US food environment alone, they can help improve decision-making about food choices and policies: “Although the dietary guidelines can’t do much to change the US food environment, we can help people make better decisions about food and hopefully improve food programs and policy.”

The scientific report from the 2025 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee was released last December. The USDA and HHS plan to publish the final 2025-2030 Dietary Guidelines for Americans by year-end.