Dietary Guidelines for Americans
The Dietary Guidelines for Americans (Dietary Guidelines) is the cornerstone for Federal nutrition programs and a go-to resource for health professionals nationwide. The Dietary Guidelines provides food-based recommendations to promote health, help prevent diet-related chronic diseases, and meet nutrient needs.
The Dietary Guidelines was first released in 1980. In 1990, Congress passed the National Nutrition Monitoring and Related Research Act, which mandated that the Dietary Guidelines be published jointly by the U.S. Departments of Agriculture (USDA) and Health and Human Services (HHS) every five years.
The 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines is the 8th edition and is the current edition until the 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines is released. The process to develop the 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines is under way. Per the Agricultural Act of 2014, the next edition of the Dietary Guidelines will expand to include more comprehensive guidance for infants and toddlers from birth to 24 months, as well as for women who are pregnant. USDA and HHS are looking to take a life stage approach for the upcoming edition, focusing on topics and priority scientific questions from birth through older adulthood.To learn more about the Dietary Guidelines and work under way, please go to DietaryGuidelines.gov, where you also can sign up for email updates.