The Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA) provide nutritional advice for Americans who are healthy or who are at risk for chronic disease but do not currently have chronic disease.[1] The Guidelines are published every five years by the US Department of Agriculture, together with the US Department of Health and Human Services. Notably, the most recent ninth edition for 2020–25 includes dietary guidelines for children from birth to 23 months.[2] In addition to the Dietary Guidelines per se, there are additional tools for assessing diet and nutrition, including the Healthy Eating Index (HEI), which can be used to assess the quality of a given selection of foods in the context of the Dietary Guidelines.[3] Also provided are additional explanations regarding customization of the Guidelines to individual eating preferences,[3] application of the Guidelines during pregnancy and infancy,[4] the USDA Nutrition Evidence Systematic Review,[5] information about the Nutrition Communicators Network and the MyPlate initiative,[6] information from the National Academies about redesigning the process by which the Dietary Guidelines for Americans are created,[7] and information about dietary guidelines from other nations.[8]
The nominal purpose of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans is to help health professionals and policymakers to advise Americans about healthy choices for their diet. In formulating the Dietary Guidelines for 2020–2025, the US Federal government rejected the advice of the expert scientific panel to set lower targets for consumption of sugar and alcoholic beverages.[9]