The Dietary Guidelines of America (DGA) are based on extensive scientific review of the current body of evidence on key nutrition and health topics for each life stage. Twenty distinguished scientists on the 2020 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee contribute their expertise conducting an independent scientific review characterized by more transparency and public participation throughout the process than ever before. The Committee’s work produced a comprehensive scientific report on the current state of nutrition science and provided advice to the Departments for their development of this 9th edition of the Dietary Guidelines. Thus the recommendations you hear your doctor and other health professionals refer to are founded on evidence based research. What I find interesting this plethora of valuable, accurate information on nutrition and disease prevention is provided to us for free and by leading public health experts, doctors, registered dietitians and their years of evidence based research. However, Americans continue to be overweight, obese and spend billions of dollars in the diet industry. The reason our top 10 causes of death are lifestyle related I believe is partly because we don’t realize how valuable a tool the DGA’s are and how easy to apply and implement to personal lifestyles they are. I don’t think most people understand the DGA and why the recommendations are so rich. Please reach out to me for coaching on the DGA if you would like to understand them more.
Every five years since 1980, a new edition of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA) is released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I would imagine as soon as the latest DGA is released, the Committee begins gathering the newest research for the next set of DGA. DGA are created based on the most current findings and since research is constantly being done, the DGA may slightly vary every 5 years. Promoting health and preventing disease are the goals of these guidelines.
The most recent DGA includes cultural diversity and different eating practices. All individuals can benefit from a healthy eating pattern, regardless of age, race, ethnicity, or health status. The DGA are intended to be a framework that can be customized to you based on your specific needs.
In addition, you can also find advice tailored to the needs of each life stage, infancy through elderly. The DGA recommendations emphasize the importance of healthy eating patterns instead of focusing on individual foods regardless of where you are in life.
The new DGA are broken down into four main points:
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Follow a healthy dietary pattern at every life stage
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Customize your choices to reflect personal preferences, culture, and lifestyle
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Focus on meeting food group needs by adding nutrient-dense foods and beverages, and stay within calorie limits. Elements of a healthy eating pattern include: Vegetables of all types, whole fruits, grains (half of which are whole grain), dairy products that are fat-free or low-fat and/or lactose-free alternatives, protein foods (both animal and plant-based) and oils (including vegetable oils and oils in food like seafood and nuts). Most of this remains as it is in the last few editions.
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Limit foods and beverages higher in added sugars, saturated fat, and sodium, and limit alcohol. This also remains the same.
The DGA acts as a resource everyone can use to make healthier food choices. As usual, the most recent update is based on science and research and is formatted in life stage sections. Check out this PDF for your copy of the latest and greatest DGA.