Americans should eat more beans, peas, and lentils and cut back on red and processed meats and starchy vegetables, all while continuing to limit added sugars, sodium, and saturated fat.
That's the advice by an expert panel of nutritionists charged with counseling the U.S. government about the 2025 edition of the dietary guidelines that will form the cornerstone of federal food programs and policy.
But the 20-member advisory panel didn't weigh in on the growing role of that have been linked to health problems, saying there's not enough evidence to tell people to avoid them. And the group steered clear of updating controversial guidance on , leaving that analysis to two outside reports expected to be released soon.
Overall, the recommendations for the 2025-2030 Dietary Guidelines for Americans sound familiar, said Marion Nestle, PhD, MPH, of New York University, a food policy expert.
"This looks like every other set of dietary guidelines since 1980: eat your veggies and reduce consumption of foods high in salt, sugar, and saturated fat," Nestle said in an email. "This particular statement says nothing about balancing calories, when overconsumption of calories, especially from ultra-processed foods, is the biggest challenge to the health of Americans."
The nutrition panel concluded that a healthy diet for people aged 2 years and older is higher in vegetables, fruits, legumes, nuts, whole grains, fish, and vegetable oils that are higher in unsaturated fat. It is lower in red and processed meats, sugar-sweetened foods and beverages, refined grains, and saturated fat. It may also include fat-free or low-fat dairy and foods lower in sodium and may include plant-based foods.
The panel, which met for nearly 2 years, was the first to focus on the dietary needs of Americans through what they called a "health equity lens," said Fatima Cody Stanford, MD, MPH, MPA, an obesity expert at Massachusetts General Hospital who was part of the group. That meant considering factors such as household income, race, ethnicity, and culture when recommending healthy diets. This will help ensure that the guidance "reflects and includes various population groups," she said in an email.
Ultraprocessed Foods and Alcohol
Ultraprocessed foods include the snacks, sugary cereals, and frozen meals that make up about 60% of the American diet.
The panel considered more than 40 studies, including several that showed links between ultraprocessed foods and becoming overweight or developing obesity. But the nutrition experts had concerns with the quality of the research, leaving them to conclude that the evidence was too limited to make recommendations.
That decision is likely to bump up against the views of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., the nominee to lead HHS who has questioned among members of the dietary guidelines panel and vowed to crack down on ultraprocessed foods that contribute to chronic disease.
The panel also didn't revise recommendations that suggest limiting alcohol intake to two drinks or less a day for men and one drink or less a day for women.
In 2020, the last time the guidance was updated, the government rejected the advice of scientific advisers to recommend less alcohol consumption.
Two groups -- the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine and a committee of the government agency that oversees substance abuse -- are expected to release reports in the coming months on the effects of moderate alcohol use to inform the guidelines.
Do Americans Follow Guidelines?
The advisory panel acknowledged that the diets of most Americans don't meet the current guidelines. More than half of all U.S. adults have one or more diet-related chronic health conditions and 18 million U.S. households have insecure sources of food, according to the report.
"Nutrition-related chronic health conditions and their precursors continue to threaten health through the lifespan," the report concluded. "Which does not bode well for the future of health in the United States."
What Happens Next?
The scientific report informs the dietary guidelines, which are updated every 5 years. Tuesday's recommendations now go to HHS and the Agriculture Department, where officials will draft the final guidance set for release next year.
Starting Wednesday, the public will have 60 days . HHS and USDA officials will hold a public meeting Jan. 16 to discuss the recommendations.
The new guidance, which will be finalized by the incoming Trump administration, is consistent with decades of federal efforts to reduce diet-related disease in the U.S., said Peter Lurie, MD, president of the advocacy group Center for Science in the Public Interest.
"Broadly, I think these are well-formulated recommendations that the incoming administration would do well to adopt," Lurie said.