January 2025 Issue
FYI: Preserving Dietetic Institutional Trust
By Toby Amidor, MS, RD, CDN, FAND
Today’s Dietitian
Vol. 27 No. 1 P. 10
Addressing Misinformation About the Dietary Guidelines for Americans
The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and USDA have released the Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGAs) every five years since 1980. The DGAs were created to help the US population improve health, and each edition reflects the latest scientific evidence. They’re an important tool for RDs, physicians, educators, and other health professionals to help shift the US population to more healthful dietary patterns. Over the years, there’s been much misinformation that’s been disseminated about the DGAs, and in this article, five of those myths regarding the DGAs will be debunked.
The DGAs
The process of DGA development has evolved to keep up with advances in nutrition science and best practices in scientific evidence review. Recently, the HHS and USDA have provided detailed information to increase the transparency of the DGA process and encourage public participation.1 However, misinformation about the rigor and transparency of the DGA process continues to swirl, with individuals and communities questioning the validity and the recommendations set forth by the DGAs.
With social media quickly spreading all sorts of nutrition misinformation, it’s imperative that dietetic professionals understand the DGA process. Having the DGAs mistrusted can result in decreased usage of dietetic health professionals and educators. The Surgeon General of the United States, Vivek H. Murthy, MD, MBA, has deemed this health misinformation as a “serious threat to public health and can cause confusion, sow mistrust, harm people’s health, and undermine public health efforts.”2 A 2024 article published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition addressed seven common DGA myths and clarified each with the goal of increasing trust in the DGA process and encouraging health professionals to continue to play a role in helping the US population lead healthier lives.3 Below are five of those myths debunked.
Myth 1
The DGA process isn’t transparent. The HHS and USDA have published information about each step of the DGA process and how the public can participate in the process.4 The website DietaryGuidelines.gov was launched in 2018 to support transparency and DGA implementation. Transparency is provided in the five-step DGA process and with access to public meetings that are live streamed and/or recorded, presentations, scientific reports and supplementary materials, peer-reviewed publications, and other online materials. The public can comment orally or via written submissions throughout various points in the process.
Myth 2
The DGA ignores science and isn’t based on a rigorous review of the evidence. The Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee (DGAC) is a group of nominated health professionals and scholars who were rigorously vetted by the HHS and USDA. Each member is given a background check by HHS to determine any financial, ethical, legal, and/or criminal conflict of interest that would prohibit them from serving on the DGAC. Each member of the DGAC is appointed as a special government employee and is subject to Federal Ethics Rules.
The DGAC members are divided into groups (eg, 0–24 months, older adults) based on their expertise and are given a list of questions to answer. The DGAC completes an extensive review of scientific evidence in each area using three different methodologic approaches: data analysis, food pattern modeling, and nutrition evidence systematic reviews.
Data analysis uses national data sets to describe the current health and dietary intakes of the US population. Food pattern modeling illustrates how changes to the amounts or types of foods and beverages in a dietary pattern might affect an individual’s nutrient needs. Finally, nutrition evidence systematic reviews are the go-to benchmark for evidence synthesis that answers a nutrition question of public health importance. It uses systematic, transparent, rigorous, and protocol-driven methods to search for, evaluate, synthesize, and grade the strength of the eligible body of evidence.3 Each approach has its own rigorous, protocol-driven methodology designed to capture the most relevant, appropriate, and direct body of evidence while minimizing any bias.5
Myth 3
The DGAC’s work is controlled by HHS and USDA. The roles of the federal government and the DGAC are clearly outlined in the DGAC’s charter, which is also published online.4 The HHS and USDA are responsible for ensuring that the DGAC’s work is documented clearly and any recommendations provided by the DGAC in the scientific report are applicable to federal nutrition programs.
The DGAC is ultimately responsible for all scientific decisions throughout its evidence review, while the federal government agencies support the DGAC’s scientific review and the development of the scientific report. The Federal Advisory Committee Act, which became law in 1972, is the legal foundation defining how federal advisory committees operate.6 The DGAC scientific report and conclusions are independent advice of the DGAC and are in line with the Federal Advisory Committee Act.
Myth 4
The DGAC members have conflicts of interest that influence their work. Members of DGAC are top US nutrition scientists who volunteer their time to serve. The process of vetting DGAC members involves determining if any candidates have a financial, ethical, legal, and/or criminal conflict of interest that would prohibit them from serving on the committee. All DGAC members are required to be in compliance with the federal ethics laws and regulations governing conflicts of interest. Once appointed, each DGAC member receives ethics training and again annually throughout their service.
In 2017, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine report on the DGAC selection processes recommended increased transparency with regard to how real and perceived lack of impartiality and conflicts of interest are identified and managed. Funding sources are a common topic discussed in nutrition research, as many nutrition scientists receive industry funding. The HHS and USDA review DGAC nomination packages for each individual, which includes consideration of current or prior funding and affiliations. Factors considered when reviewing a nominee’s funding sources include whether the scientist has a variety of funding sources, whether all funding is related to one food component vs several, the content of public relations and presentations, and whether the proposed DGAC member is balanced.
To demonstrate their commitment to transparency, the 2025 DGAC members voluntarily disclosed relationships, interests, and activities over the previous 12 months that may potentially be related to the content of their scientific review, as defined by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors.
Myth 5
The DGA is only for healthy people and isn’t relevant to the majority of the US population who are at risk of or who have chronic diseases. Earlier versions of the DGAs focused on providing recommendations for healthy individuals; however, with the rise of chronic diseases, the dietary guidelines evolved to include recommendations for those at risk or living with one or more chronic illnesses. Interestingly, there are 61 million adults in the US living with one or more chronic illnesses, whereas most of these conditions were included in the evidence base of the DGAs from 2020 to 2025.7 As such, the systematic reviews conducted by recent DGACs included studies that were conducted with subjects who represent the general population.
It should be noted that the DGA isn’t intended as clinical nutrition recommendations for treating chronic disease. Rather, the DGAs serve as a reference for federal, medical, voluntary, and patient care organizations as they develop clinical nutrition recommendations tailored for people living with specific medical conditions. In addition, health care professionals can use the DGAs to meet the specific needs of their clients with chronic diseases as part of a multidisciplinary approach and treatment plan. As such, the DGAs serve as a foundational building block for the bigger US nutrition recommendation picture.
Recommendations for RDs
Since 1980, the DGAs have continued to evolve to meet the changing needs of the US population—and continue to do so. This is why dietetic professionals need to stay abreast of changes to the DGAs and their processes. Some of the information that may have been relevant decades ago may have been changed over the years—not keeping up with these changes can spread misinformation.
DGAC members volunteer a tremendous amount of time to provide scientifically up-to-date guidance. The entire DGAC selection process and DGA scientific review process have become extremely transparent and inclusive to public comments so as to minimize any questions raised regarding their service. The DGAs are set forth to help people in the US live more healthful lives, the same goal as dietetic professionals.
— Toby Amidor, MS, RD, CDN, FAND, is founder of Toby Amidor Nutrition (tobyamidornutrition.com) and a Wall Street Journal bestselling author. She’s written 11 cookbooks, including Health Shots: 50 Simple Tonics to Help Improve Immunity, Ease Anxiety, Boost Energy, and More. She’s also an award-winning media dietitian, spokesperson, and nutrition expert for FoodNetwork.com, and a contributor to U.S. News and other national outlets.
References
1. About the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Dietary Guidelines for Americans website. https://www.dietaryguidelines.gov/about-dietary-guidelines. Published December 2020.
2. Murthy VH. Confronting Health Misinformation: The US Surgeon General’s Advisory on Building a Healthy Information Environment. https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/surgeon-general-misinformation-advisory.pdf. Published 2021.
3. de Jesus JM, Stoody EE, DeSilva DM, et al. Addressing misinformation about the Dietary Guidelines of Americans. Am J Clin Nutr. 2024;119(5):1101-1110.
4. Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Dietary Guidelines for Americans website. https://www.dietaryguidelines.gov
5. 2025 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee: examine the evidence. Dietary Guidelines for Americans website. https://www.dietaryguidelines.gov/examine-evidence
6. The Federal Advisory Committee Act. US General Services Administration website. https://www.gsa.gov/policy-regulations/policy/federal-advisory-committee-management/legislation-and-regulations/federal-advisory-committee-act. Updated August 2, 2017.
7. Boersma P, Black LI, Ward BW. Prevalence of multiple chronic conditions among US adults, 2018. Prev Chronic Dis. 2020;17:E106.