by Reed Mangels, PhD, RD
Dietary Guidelines for Americans is a document that is produced every 5 years and serves as a statement of current federal policy on the role of dietary factors in health promotion and disease prevention. It is used as the foundation for federal nutrition education materials, by schools, the food industry, and many others. It influences everything from school meals to the rations used by military personnel, to foods delivered to older Americans through programs like Meals on Wheels. In the past, every 5 years, a Scientific Advisory Committee, consisting of scientists appointed by the USDA and the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), reviewed the most current science related to diet and and created an extensive scientific report. This report was used to inform the Dietary Guidelines which are written by the staff of the USDA and DHHS.
The same process was initially used for the most recent edition of the Dietary Guidelines. After years of work, the Scientific Report of the 2025 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee was published. More than 31,000 comments were submitted about this report from individuals, food industries, researchers and organizations. The Vegetarian Resource Group submitted comments which commended the Committee for their attempts to promote more plant sources of protein as well as their commitment to having guidance be relevant to people with different needs. We also called for more attention to be paid to vegan diets, such as including a vegan meal plan in the Dietary Guidelines.
Much of this work and effort was apparently side-lined when the current administration issued a 10-page document, Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2025-2030, on January 4, 2026. A different scientific advisory committee was chosen through “a federal contracting process based on demonstrated expertise.” This group has been criticized for their ties to the meat and dairy industry. They did not apparently address the many comments that groups like VRG submitted about the 2025 Scientific Report. They rejected many of the recommendations of the Scientific Report of the 2025 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee in their own “Scientific Foundation “report including: .
- Modifying the dietary pattern to emphasize dietary intakes of beans, peas, and lentils while reducing intakes of red and processed meat.
- Reorganizing the order of the Protein Foods Subgroups to list Beans, Peas, and Lentils first, followed by Nuts, Seeds, and Soy Products, then Seafood, and finally Meats, Poultry, and Eggs.
- Including more nutrient-dense plant-based meal and dietary recommendation options.
- Replacing saturated with unsaturated fat primarily from plant sources.
The Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2025-2030 call for an increased emphasis on protein with protein foods prioritized at every meal and an increased protein goal of 1.2-1.6 grams of protein per kilogram body weight per day. We note that the RDA for protein is still 0.8 grams of protein per kilogram per day, calling into question the basis for this higher goal.
Americans are told to “Consume a variety of protein foods from animal sources including eggs, poultry, seafood, and red meat, as well as a variety of plant-sourced protein foods.” Note that animal source protein sources are listed first. The graphic accompanying the Dietary Guidelines shows a few nuts in the “Protein, Dairy, & Healthy Fats Group” but does not show any beans, lentils, or tofu.
Full-fat dairy products are recommended as is beef tallow. Vegetarians and vegans are told to “consume a variety of whole foods, especially protein-rich foods, such as dairy, eggs, beans, peas, lentils, legumes, nuts, seeds, tofu, or tempeh.” Again, animal-based protein sources are prioritized and are apparently recommended for vegans. I’ll talk more about vegan diets in the latest edition of Dietary Guidelines in another post.
Despite the Guidelines stating that they prioritize whole foods, the number of recommended servings of grains has a been reduced – more about that in a future post.
Yes, it is good that the Dietary Guidelines emphasize use of whole foods over highly processed junk foods, but this is nothing new. Nutrition scientists have been saying this for decades. What’s new is the undue emphasis on animal-based foods – it sounds like we’re heading back to the 1950s and the basic four food groups – milk, meat, fruits and vegetables, and grains.
To read more about the Dietary Guidelines for Americans see:
VRG Testimony on 2025-2030 Dietary Guidelines
What Have the U.S. Dietary Guidelines Said About Vegan and Vegetarian Diets?
2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans Released
VRG’s testimony about the 2020 Dietary Guidelines and the Scientific Report Underlying the 2020 Dietary Guidelines