The newest Dietary Guidelines for Americans are expected to be released in early 2026. Here are a few recommendations from the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee we want to see incorporated in the 2025-2030 Guidelines.

CSPI’s wish list for the 2025 Dietary Guidelines

The Dietary Guidelines for Americans (“the Guidelines,” or DGA) are recommendations for how we should be eating to meet nutrient needs, promote health, and prevent chronic disease. The Departments of Agriculture (USDA) and Health and Human Services (HHS) are responsible for updating the Guidelines every five years, incorporating the latest available science on nutrition, and the newest Guidelines will supposedly be released in early 2026.

This is required by law: The National Nutrition Monitoring and Related Research Act of 1990 mandates that the Secretaries of USDA and HHS publish the Guidelines at least once every five years and that they be based on scientific evidence.

There is a process in place to ensure the Guidelines are evidence-based: USDA and HHS appoint an independent panel of experts—the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee (DGAC)—to conduct a multi-year, systematic review of the scientific literature. The 2025 DGAC’s Scientific Report, published late last year, reflects a comprehensive evaluation of high-quality evidence on nutrients, dietary patterns, and health outcomes. That report is intended to guide USDA and HHS as they write the final Guidelines.

The 2025 DGAC’s recommendations build on the 2020-2025 edition of the Guidelines, which states that a dietary pattern associated with positive health outcomes includes “relatively higher intake of vegetables, fruits, legumes, whole grains, low- or non-fat dairy, lean meats and poultry, seafood, nuts, and unsaturated vegetable oils, and relatively lower consumption of red and processed meats, sugar-sweetened foods and beverages, and refined grains.” Building on that, here are a few 2025 DGAC recommendations we definitely want to see incorporated in the 2025-2030 Guidelines:

1. Keep the recommended limits on added sugar, sodium, and saturated fat.*

*Added sugar: less than 10 percent of total calories; sodium: no more than 2,300 mg per day; and saturated fat: less than 10 percent of total calories.

While Americans consume too much of all three, Trump administration officials have publicly opposed limits on saturated fat. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., has stated that the new Guidelines will "stress the need to eat saturated fats,” which breaks with decades of nutrition guidance. The science is clear: Saturated fat consumption increases heart disease risk. Saturated fat raises—and polyunsaturated fat lowers—LDL (“bad”) cholesterol. And lowering your LDL cholesterol cuts your risk of heart disease, the leading cause of death in the US. Based on reviews of all relevant, high-quality studies, the 2020-2025 DGA and the 2025 DGAC report recommend limiting saturated fat to less than 10 percent of calories per day starting at age two. Experts recommend replacing saturated fats (like those found in red meat, full-fat milk, cheese, butter, coconut oil, and fatty sweets) with unsaturated fats (like those found in oil, salad dressing, mayo, nuts, fish, and avocado).

2. Include recommendations to prioritize plant-based proteins and reduce red and processed meat.

Evidence reviewed by the 2025 DGAC consistently demonstrated “the health benefits of increasing beans, peas, and lentils while reducing red and processed meats.” As a result, the 2025 DGAC explicitly recommended reducing intakes of red and processed meats and adjusting the protein food group to include beans, peas, and lentils and prioritize plant-based proteins.

3. Highlight plain drinking water as the primary beverage for people to consume (and limit sugary drinks).

The 2025 DGAC recommends consuming “water and beverages that contribute beneficial nutrients, such as fat-free and low-fat milk and 100% juices” and reducing intake of sugary drinks, in order to limit added sugar and saturated fat intake. Their review found that sugary drink consumption is associated with unfavorable growth patterns, body composition, and higher risk of obesity in childhood through early adulthood, and can be associated with an increased risk of type 2 diabetes in adults. USDA and HHS should advise people to limit consumption of these beverages (or, even better, advise people to avoid consuming sugary drinks altogether) and prioritize plain water.

Speaking of beverages, USDA and HHS should also heed the DGAC’s recommendations on milk and alcohol and...

4. Provide clear advice to limit alcohol consumption.

The DGAC did not review the topic of alcohol but recommended that USDA and HHS consider the findings of two other scientific reviews on alcohol and health outcomes being conducted by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and the Interagency Coordination Committee on the Prevention of Underage Drinking. Additionally, the US Surgeon General released an Advisory on Alcohol and Cancer Risk in January 2025. While the reports varied in their conclusions, all three were consistent in their findings that moderate alcohol consumption is associated with an increased risk of breast cancer, and heavy drinking is associated with many increased health risks. Therefore, USDA and HHS should clearly communicate that drinking less alcohol is better for health than drinking more, and individuals who do not drink alcohol are not advised to start drinking.

5. Maintain recommendations to limit milk consumption to pasteurized low- and no-fat dairy milk or fortified soy milk for those ages two and older.

Whole milk, low-fat, and skim milk have the same amount of protein and equivalent amounts of essential nutrients like calcium and Vitamin D, but whole milk has five times the saturated fat content compared to low-fat milk.

It is also important for the 2025–2030 DGA to maintain guidance that protects the health of kids who “should not be given any unpasteurized foods or beverages, such as unpasteurized juices, milk, yogurt, or cheeses, as they could contain harmful bacteria.” USDA and HHS should maintain the previous DGA recommendation that consuming raw, undercooked, or unpasteurized food products—like raw milk—increases the risk of contracting a foodborne illness, and that populations at increased risk of foodborne illness— like pregnant individuals, young children, older adults, and individuals with weakened immune systems—or those preparing food for them, should use extra caution.

Ultra-processed foods in the Dietary Guidelines?

We’ll also be watching closely to see what the 2025-2030 Guidelines say about ultra-processed foods. While the 2025 DGAC expressed the need for additional research and consensus around a definition before making a recommendation to limit ultra-processed foods, the Trump administration’s Make America Healthy Again Commission has identified ultra-processed foods as an important cause of chronic disease. However, the administration is presumably still formulating its definition of ultra-processed foods after receiving thousands of public comments on the issue earlier this year. Given all of that, it’s unclear how the administration will make an evidence-based recommendation by early next year.

Why do the DGA matter?

The Guidelines play a role in many people’s lives because they form the backbone of national nutrition policies and shape what foods can be served or purchased in many programs, including the National School Lunch Program and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC). In fact, at least 16 nutrition assistance programs that are informed by the Guidelines together serve one in four people in the US every year. That includes the 30+ million kids who eat school meals, which must meet nutritional standards adapted from the Guidelines.

Read more: What are the Dietary Guidelines, and why do they matter?

CSPI stands with the science: the DGAC’s recommendations reflect the best evidence for improving the nation’s health. We hope USDA and HHS will honor that work and release Guidelines that give all Americans clear, science-based tools to eat better and live healthier.