Why are new dietary guidelines for Americans drawn up regularly?

By law, the country’s dietary guidelines are re-visited and if necessary, revised every 5 years.  The guidelines are intended for individuals, ages 2 years and older, with the understanding that younger children need smaller sized dietary versions of the recommended foods. Since, 1980, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) have jointly published the Dietary Guidelines every 5 years.

The two key philosophical points in the guidelines are:

• Maintain calorie balance over time to achieve and sustain weight loss – that means that there has to be a “balance the checkbook” approach to eating and physical activity.  If you eat more than you burn off daily, you will gain weight over time.

• Focus on consuming nutrient-dense foods and beverages – We tend to eat too many processed foods that are high in salt, sugar and unhealthy fats.  Typically foods with high levels of added sugar will digest quickly, causing a rapid rise and fall of blood sugar levels, which means they don’t provide satiation.  Ultimately you’ll be hungry more quickly, and eat again in a short interval of time.  The result will be a pattern of overeating and weight gain.   Foods like fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean proteins, beans and legumes, nuts and seeds tend to fill you up with smaller portions and keep you full longer, because they contain fiber and other satiating components.

Every five years, an advisory committee of experts is appointed by the government to update the dietary guidelines to reflect the most updated, scientific evidence regarding nutrition and health guidelines for Americans.

The Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2010 reflect the most current nutrition and physical activity recommendations for good health. They are designed to help individuals ages 2 and older to improve the quality of their diet and lifestyle in order to lower their risk of chronic diseases and conditions, such as high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol levels, diabetes mellitus, heart disease, certain cancers, and osteoporosis.

MyPlate is the latest tool to help Americans incorporated the guidelines at each meal.

Nutrition science is constantly evolving. The guidelines are updated every 5 years to make sure that they reflect current science. In addition, the way Americans eat and our health status both change over time. Think about it... 15 years ago, quinoa and edamame were not very popular. Now you can find these on every supermarket shelf. So, it's important to update the guidelines to reflect what's available.

Updating the dietary guidelines is an essential part of helping to move Americans in a healthy direction. With that being said, you’ll notice that there aren’t usually major differences in the dietary guidelines from update to update. Many guidelines are reconfirmed and others are tweaked.