Learn About the Process
Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2025-2030 Development Process
Updating the Dietary Guidelines for Americans (Dietary Guidelines) is a scientifically rigorous, multi-year process. The U.S. Departments of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Agriculture (USDA) are committed to providing clear information to the public and providing opportunities for public participation during the process.
This is a 5-Step Process
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Step 1: Identify the Scientific Questions
During this step, HHS and USDA developed and asked for public comments on the proposed scientific questions. The questions inform the scientific review of the 2025 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee (Committee), ensuring that its work builds on the previous edition of the Dietary Guidelines and meets the needs of Federal nutrition policies and programs.
More information is provided below about how HHS and USDA identified the proposed scientific questions, the criteria used to develop each question, and the call for public comments that took place from April 15 – May 16, 2022.
Identifying the Proposed Scientific Questions
HHS and USDA conducted a yearlong process to gather information, receive input from Federal experts, and review relevant documents to develop the proposed scientific questions for public comment. The scientific questions inform the scope of the Committee’s evidence review and its scientific report. The questions focus on diet and health outcomes across the lifespan and examine the relationship between diet and the risk of overweight and obesity with a new emphasis on weight loss and weight maintenance and a question on ultra-processed foods. All scientific questions will be reviewed with a health equity lens to ensure that the next edition of the Dietary Guidelines is relevant to people with diverse racial, ethnic, socioeconomic, and cultural backgrounds. HHS and USDA will support the Committee to describe and consider factors such as socioeconomic status, race, ethnicity, and culture, to the greatest extent possible, based on the information provided in the scientific literature and data.
The proposed scientific questions were informed by the following:
- Scientific Report of the 2020 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee: Questions addressed by the 2020 Committee, particularly those that informed the development of the current Dietary Guidelines, and future directions documented in the Scientific Report of the 2020 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee.
- Topics of Public Health Interest: Consideration of current nutrition science and potential new topics of public health interest.
- Federal Review: Input from Federal nutrition scientists and program experts from across the Federal government, including the Interagency Committee on Human Nutrition Research (ICHNR) and other federal experts.
- Federal Resources: Consideration of existing Federal resources to avoid duplication of Federal efforts. Topics addressed by existing Federal resources were not included in the proposed scientific questions, although many will be included in the next edition of the Dietary Guidelines.
Alcohol and sustainability will be addressed in separate Federal processes. Learn more about how these topics are being addressed by visiting the Related Projects page.
Scientific Question Criteria
The criteria HHS and USDA used to prioritize the proposed scientific questions included the following:
- Relevance: Question is within the scope of the Dietary Guidelines and its focus on food-based recommendations, not clinical guidelines for medical treatment.
- Importance: Question addresses an area of substantial public health concern, uncertainty, and/or knowledge gap.
- Potential Impact to Federal Programs: There is a high probability that the question will provide the scientific foundation for guidance that would inform Federal food and nutrition policies and programs.
- Avoiding Duplication: The question is not addressed through existing or planned evidence-based Federal guidance (other than the Dietary Guidelines).
Research availability was evaluated for the proposed questions to determine whether sufficient evidence exists to conduct a new review or update an existing systematic review. If adequate research is not available, the question will be identified as an area needing more research.
Public Engagement
HHS and USDA requested public comments, on the proposed scientific questions from April 15 – May 16, 2022. Approximately 1,400 public comments were received. About half of these submissions were identified as unique comments. View the public comments on the proposed scientific questions by visiting our page on Regulations.gov (Docket ID HHS-OASH-2022-0005).
HHS and USDA appreciate the public input and considered all comments in relation to the above criteria. The Departments will work with the Committee to refine and prioritize the questions as it initiates its evidence review.
Learn more about each step in the Dietary Guidelines development process by visiting our page on the topic:
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Step 2: Appoint the Advisory Committee
During this step, HHS and USDA requested nominations to the 2025 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee (Committee) and selected the Committee.
The call for nominations was held from June 15 – July 15, 2022. More information is provided below about how HHS and USDA established the Committee. Step 3 provides more information about the Committee’s evidence review.
Establishing the Committee
The 2025 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee is formed under and governed by the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA), which provides legal requirements for forming and using Federal advisory committees. A charter is filed with Congress before the Federal advisory committee can meet or take any action. The Committee is charged with reviewing the evidence on nutrition and health across the lifespan. It will provide independent, science-based advice and recommendations to be considered by HHS and USDA.
Committee Selection
HHS and USDA accepted nominations from the public to serve on the 2025 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee. The Departments received nominations from individuals and organizations. To help support the goal of having a balanced and diverse committee, the Departments encouraged self-nominations and conducted outreach to make the public and stakeholders aware of the opportunity to provide nominations. HHS and USDA used the following evaluation criteria in the review of nominations:
- Professional Experience: At least ten years of experience as an academic, researcher, practitioner, or other health professional in a field related to one or more of the scientific topic areas to be examined; consideration of leadership experience and participation on previous expert committees or panels.
- Educational Background: Advanced degree in nutrition or health-related field, including registered dietitians, nutrition scientists, physicians, and those with public health degrees.
- Demonstrated Scientific Expertise: Expertise related to one or more of the scientific topic areas to be examined by the Committee as demonstrated by the number and quality of peer-reviewed publications and presentations. Expertise related to health equity and the scientific approaches used to review the evidence (systematic reviews with or without meta-analysis, food pattern modeling, and data analysis) is also desired.
- Balanced and Diverse Membership: A Committee that is reasonably balanced in terms of points of view and expertise, experience, education, and institutional affiliation, with a goal of establishing a diverse membership that is reflective of the racial, ethnic, gender, and geographic diversity within the United States.
Nomination Package Review
All complete nomination packages were reviewed by HHS and USDA program staff based on the factors listed above. Following review by program staff, nominees were evaluated by leadership from within HHS and USDA.
Additional Review, Including Conflicts of Interest
The vetting process for potential members included a background check by HHS to determine if any candidates have a financial, ethical, legal, and/or criminal conflict of interest that would prohibit them from serving on the Committee. In addition, HHS ethics officials ensured interests and affiliations of proposed Committee members complied with applicable conflict of interest statutes, regulations issued by the U.S. Office of Government Ethics (OGE), additional agency requirements, and other applicable Federal ethics rules. Each Committee member submitted a confidential financial disclosure report and will continue to submit one annually until the Committee concludes. HHS ethics officials review each report for financial conflicts of interest and compliance with Federal ethics rules. Following the review process, the member recommendations were submitted to the Secretaries of HHS and USDA for approval.
HHS and USDA Secretary Review and Appointment
The Secretaries of HHS and USDA reviewed formal nomination recommendations from the departments on the proposed Committee members and jointly appointed individuals to serve on the Committee. Committee members are appointed as Special Government Employees (SGEs) and are subject to applicable Federal ethics rules. Each Committee member receives ethics training upon appointment and annually throughout their service on the Committee. Committee members are not paid for their service, although travel expenses are reimbursed.
Following appointment, the Committee begins its work to review the scientific evidence on nutrition and health across the lifespan.
Learn more about each step in the Dietary Guidelines development process by visiting our page on the topic:
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Step 3: Advisory Committee Reviews Scientific Evidence
During this step, the 2025 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee (Committee) reviewed the scientific evidence on nutrition and health from birth through older adulthood. The Committee concluded its work in the fall of 2024 with the submission of its Scientific Report to the Secretaries of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Throughout the Committee’s work, the public was encouraged to participate in public meetings and provide comments.
More information is provided below about the Committee’s work, its review of the evidence, and the scientific approaches.
The Role of the Committee
Committee members collaborated to develop protocols, review and synthesize evidence, present scientific findings, and consider public comments. The Committee’s work culminated in a comprehensive Scientific Report on the current state of nutrition science that provides the Committee’s independent advice to HHS and USDA to use as the departments develop the next edition of the Dietary Guidelines. The Committee conducted its review of the science from early 2023 through late 2024. The Committee met seven times, and all Committee meetings were open to the public to attend virtually.
As part of the process to establish the 2025 Committee, HHS ethics officials reviewed potential members for conflicts of interest that would prohibit service. More information about the establishment of the Committee is available on the Step 2: Appoint the Advisory Committee page. In addition to the requirements under the federal ethics laws and regulations, the members of the Committee voluntarily disclosed relationships, activities, and interests that may potentially be related to the content of the Committee’s scientific review, using a form from the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors.
The Committee’s disclosures represented its commitment to transparency and do not necessarily indicate a bias. The Committee worked collectively to review the evidence on diet and health and provide advice, minimizing any potential bias from individual members. Because its work is collective, the Committee decided to provide its disclosures collectively rather than individually. In addition to the disclosures, the scientific process is designed to minimize bias through a rigorous methodological approach, and members received annual ethics training.
The Committee’s Examination of the Evidence
The Committee examined the evidence from a list of prioritized scientific questions, informed by the proposed list of scientific questions identified by HHS and USDA. The scientific questions were organized by subcommittees and the approach used to evaluate each question.
Scientific Approaches
The Committee used three approaches to examine the evidence: systematic reviews, food pattern modeling, and data analysis. Each of these approaches has its own rigorous, protocol-driven methodology, and plays a unique, complementary role in examining the science. For each approach, staff from HHS and USDA supported the Committee's review of the evidence. The Examine the Evidence page provides more information about each of these approaches.
Scientific Report
The Committee’s Scientific Report was submitted to the Secretaries of HHS and USDA, and provides the Committee’s review of the current state of nutrition science and includes independent, evidence-based advice for HHS and USDA to consider as the departments develop the next edition of the Dietary Guidelines. The Scientific Report will be a key resource in developing the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2025-2030. HHS and USDA plan to release the Dietary Guidelines by the end of 2025.
Public Engagement
Members of the public participated in the process by providing public comments to the Committee and attending Committee meetings virtually. Now that the departments have received the Scientific Report from the Committee, the departments have opened a separate comment period to gather input from the public on the Scientific Report. This input will help to inform the development of the next edition of the Dietary Guidelines.
The Get Involved page provides more detail about the important role the public played in each step in the process.
Find out more about each step in the Dietary Guidelines development process by visiting our page on the topic:
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Step 4: Develop the Dietary Guidelines
During this step, HHS and USDA work together to develop the Dietary Guidelines. Each edition of the Dietary Guidelines builds upon the preceding edition, with the scientific justification for revisions informed by the Scientific Report of the 2025 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee (Scientific Report), Dietary Reference Intakes (DRI), existing Federal guidance and consideration of public and Federal agency comments.
What Informs the Dietary Guidelines
Developing the Dietary Guidelines is a step-by-step process that is supported by a writing team of Federal staff from HHS and USDA. The writing team includes Federal nutrition scientists with expertise in the Dietary Guidelines and related research and programs, as well as specialists with expertise in communicating nutrition information. The role of these writers is to represent the preponderance of scientific information when developing updated guidance.
Prior to its publication, Federal agencies that implement other food and nutrition policies and programs across HHS and USDA review a draft of the Dietary Guidelines. Within HHS, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), Indian Health Service (IHS), and Administration for Community Living (ACL) provide review. Within USDA, the Agriculture Marketing Service, Agricultural Research Service (ARS), Food and Nutrition Service (FNS), Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), and National Institute for Food and Agriculture (NIFA) provide a review. The draft document is also reviewed by nutrition and public health experts outside of the Federal government to ensure that it accurately reflects the body of evidence documented in the Committee’s Scientific Report. The review culminates with the Secretaries of HHS and USDA. After approval by the Secretaries of HHS and USDA, the Departments release the Dietary Guidelines.
Dietary Guidelines Role in the Nutrition Landscape
The Dietary Guidelines provides science-based recommendations to inform nutrition programs and policies in the United States.
Each edition of the Dietary Guidelines builds on the previous edition using science-based recommendations from the following sources:
- Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee Scientific Report: The Scientific Report is a resource developed by the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, an external group of nationally recognized nutrition and public health professionals. The Committee reviews the scientific evidence on nutrition and health and provides independent science-based advice for HHS and USDA to consider as the Departments work together to develop each edition of the Dietary Guidelines. The Committee’s Scientific Report is not a draft of the Dietary Guidelines. View our infographic to read more about the differences between the Scientific Report and the Dietary Guidelines. Additional information about the Committee’s scientific evidence review can be found in step 3.
- Previous edition of the Dietary Guidelines: Each edition of the Dietary Guidelines provides recommendations on what to eat and drink to meet nutrient needs, promote health and help reduce risk of disease. These recommendations are based on the preponderance of evidence current at the time that edition was published. As the scientific evidence evolves, recommendations on diet and health may stay the same, be updated, or no longer be carried forward into the next edition. The Scientific Report provides critical updates to the evidence that help to inform revisions that are included in the next edition of the Dietary Guidelines.
- Dietary Reference Intake (DRI): The DRIs are developed through a separate process and provide reference values for vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients that: 1) indicate daily intake amounts that meet the needs of most healthy people, 2) set intake levels not to exceed to avoid harm, and 3) reduce the risk of chronic disease. The Dietary Guidelines provides food-based recommendations to help Americans meet nutrient needs based on these DRI values.
- Existing Federal Guidance: To make efficient use of resources and not duplicate efforts related to diet and health produced by Federal agencies, the Dietary Guidelines can leverage existing science-based advice from across the Federal government. Existing Federal guidance can be used to inform or provide context for specific recommendations.
Existing evidence based Federal guidance can be used to inform the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2025-2030. These topics do not require formal review by the Committee. These include, but are not limited to:
- Healthy Food Environments (e.g., Community Preventive Service Task Force findings)
- Oral Health (e.g., CDC Oral Health)
- Food Safety (e.g., FoodSafety.gov)
- Human milk, infant formula, and health outcomes (e.g., Forthcoming federal systematic reviews)
- Seafood (e.g., FDA/EPA Advice about Eating Fish)
- Eating Disorders (e.g., National Institute of Mental Health)
- Additional items described on the related projects page.
Throughout the development of each edition of the Dietary Guidelines, the writing team utilizes public comments on the Committee’s Scientific Report as well as comments from Federal technical experts and external peer reviewers to ensure that the next edition meets the needs of various audiences and Federal agencies. HHS and USDA celebrate the rich diversity of cultural foodways among people living in the United States, which is why the Departments prioritize diversity and health equity throughout the development process.
Learn more about each step in the Dietary Guidelines development process by visiting our page on the topic:
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Step 5: Implement the Dietary Guidelines
During this step, HHS and USDA release the updated Dietary Guidelines and work with Federal, state, and local partners to implement the new edition.
The Dietary Guidelines provides food-based recommendations to help meet nutrient needs, promote health, and prevent disease. It provides a customizable framework for healthy eating that can be tailored and adapted to meet personal preferences, cultural traditions, and budgetary considerations. It is developed and written for a professional audience, including policymakers, healthcare providers, nutrition educators, and Federal nutrition program operators. These audiences rely on the Dietary Guidelines when providing information on diet and health to the general public. For example, the recommendations in the Dietary Guidelines inform nutrition standards for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children and the Older Americans Act Nutrition Programs.
While the process to develop the next edition of the Dietary Guidelines is under way, work is ongoing to support implementation of the current edition of the Dietary Guidelines to help promote health and reduce risk of disease among Americans. A suite of resources is available in both English and Spanish in the current Dietary Guidelines section to support implementation efforts. These resources include print materials, brochures, and infographics to share directly with patients and clients and supporting materials, such as presentation slides and figures that can be used in a professional setting and adapted to support specific outreach efforts.
Another way to implement the Dietary Guidelines is through MyPlate, which serves as a reminder to build healthy eating patterns by making healthy choices across the food groups. Both Federal and nonfederal programs use MyPlate as a resource to help Americans make shifts in their daily food and beverage choices to align with the Dietary Guidelines.
Dietary Guidelines Supports Healthy Eating
The Dietary Guidelines recognizes the importance of increasing the focus on cultural representation, purposefully celebrating the rich diversity of the people who live in the United States and their unique cultural foodways. This is represented by Guideline 2: Customize and enjoy nutrient-dense food and beverage choices to reflect personal preferences, cultural traditions, and budgetary considerations.
Since the launch of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2020–2025, nutrition professionals across the Federal government have been working on the implementation of Guideline 2 through internal and external partner outreach and by developing culturally inclusive and equitable resources that consider personal preference, culture, traditions, and budget to help ensure that more people can enjoy delicious, nutrient-dense dietary patterns.
The Dietary Guidelines is for everyone, not only healthy people. The evidence informing the Dietary Guidelines includes studies with participants who are representative of the general public, including healthy individuals, those who are at risk of chronic disease, such as individuals with obesity or cardiovascular disease risk factors, and some people who are living with a chronic disease. Each step closer to eating a diet that aligns with the Dietary Guidelines is associated with health promotion and reduced risk of chronic disease, including heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and obesity.
Below are examples of how the Dietary Guidelines supports Federal, state and local efforts across the country.
- Federal food and nutrition policy and programs: The Dietary Guidelines for Americans is a cornerstone for federal food and nutrition policy and programs. These are examples of a few programs that translate the Dietary Guidelines to meet the needs of their program participants: National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and School Breakfast Program (SBP), Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP), the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC), Food Distribution on Indian Reservations (FDPIR), and Older Americans Act Nutrition Programs, such as home-delivered meals.
- State and local public health programs: The Dietary Guidelines provides evidence-based guidance to inform state and local public health programs with their workplace and community initiatives to prevent chronic disease and improve nutritional intake.
- Nutrition education and communication: MyPlate is the consumer translation of the science-based recommendations provided in the Dietary Guidelines. MyPlate.gov offers a suite of resources and tools to help individuals and families build healthy diets. The Dietary Guidelines also informs other nutrition education efforts such as Supplemental Nutrition Program – Education (SNAP-Ed), Team Nutrition, and WIC Works Resource System.
- Health professionals and the public: The Dietary Guidelines is designed for professionals. HHS and USDA have created additional resources, including the toolkit for health professionals, brochures for the general public, and presentation slides for specific life stages to support professionals in their effort to promote healthy eating among the public. Opportunities to earn free continuing professional education (CPE) credits also help to support health professional education.
Learn more about each step in the Dietary Guidelines development process by visiting our page on the topic: