The Dietary Guidelines for Americans: Can We Trust It?
Are these guidelines still beneficial?
The Dietary Guidelines for Americans contains the federal government’s healthy eating advice for its citizens and forms the basis of many federal, state, and municipal nutrition policies. Updated once every 5 years, these guidelines are published jointly by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Department of Health and Human Services and involve input from an advisory committee of scientific experts in nutrition and medicine.
But there is some question as to how impartial those members are when it comes to how they think we should be eating. An investigation published in Public Health Nutrition uncovered that 95% of the 2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans committee had conflicts of interest with the food and pharmaceutical industries, including ties to companies like Kraft, Kellogg’s, General Mills, Dannon and others. Research funding and/or memberships to advisory boards accounted for more than 60% of the total number of conflicts of interest documented by the investigators.
Some believe that these industry ties make it difficult to provide objective nutrition advice, while others say that despite these conflicts, which are not always transparent, the nutrition advice outlined in the guidelines is sound and it would be greatly beneficial if more Americans consumed a diet more closely outlined by the guidelines.
Does this report degrade your trust in the Dietary Guidelines for Americans? Do you believe the guidelines still provide sound nutrition advice? What changes would you like to see?
See also: Are the Dietary Guidelines for Americans Tough Enough?
Matthew Kadey, MS, RD
Matthew Kadey, MS, RD, is a James Beard Award–winning food journalist, dietitian and author of the cookbook Rocket Fuel: Power-Packed Food for Sport + Adventure (VeloPress 2016). He has written for dozens of magazines, including Runner’s World, Men’s Health, Shape, Men’s Fitness and Muscle and Fitness.
