The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and U.S. Department of Agriculture issued their latest dietary guidelines in January. Now it is up to public health workers and advocates to help Americans translate those recommendations into practice.
The 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans are a series of suggestions to help Americans eat a healthier diet. Written specifically for policymakers and health professionals, the eighth edition of the guidelines has suggestions for how Americans can improve their eating habits. The guidelines call for people to:
follow a healthy eating pattern across their lifespan;
focus on variety, nutrient density and amount;
limit calories from added sugars and saturated fats, and reduce sodium intake;
shift to healthier food and beverage choices; and
support healthy eating patterns for all.
The new guidelines recommend eating a variety of vegetables, including legumes, and a range of protein-based foods.
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The guidelines also offer more specific “key recommendations,” including eating a variety of vegetables in many colors, including legumes such as beans and peas, and a range of protein foods, including seafood, lean meats and poultry, eggs, nuts and seeds. They lay out quantitative numbers about what limits Americans should put on their diets; namely, consuming less than 10 percent of calories each day from added sugars and saturated fats, and consuming less than 2,300 milligrams of sodium each day.
But the guidelines, updated every five years by law, mean nothing if they are not being used. Karen DeSalvo, MD, MPH, MSc, acting assistant secretary for health at HHS, said she hopes the guidelines are a jumping-off point for public health workers.
“We know that a lifetime of healthy eating helps to prevent chronic diseases like obesity, heart disease, high blood pressure and Type 2 diabetes,” DeSalvo said in a statement to The Nation’s Health. “The 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans provides a clear path for policymakers and public health professionals to help Americans make healthy choices, informed by a thoughtful, critical and transparent review of the scientific evidence on nutrition. Everyone has a role in encouraging healthy choices. We hope that public health professionals will use the strategies outlined in this edition of the dietary guidelines to help increase access to affordable, healthy food choices through policy initiatives and programs to support their communities.”
The guidelines include tips and tools for practitioners to work with the public to help them make healthy food choices. For example, ChooseMyPlate.gov offers information about added sugars. The Nutrition Facts label on food can be used to learn about saturated fat content in items, as well as sodium in processed food. Teaching people to use the tools, along with practical skills such as cooking and gardening, can set them up on the path to making healthier choices, said Tia Taylor, MPH, program manager for APHA’s Center for Public Health Policy.
The new dietary guidelines recommend Americans follow a healthy eating pattern across their lifespans, including childhood.
Photo by Monkeybusinessimages, courtesy iStockphoto
Taylor noted that public health is leading the way in improving how Americans eat, using innovation to bring healthy foods to all communities. While roadblocks do exist — particularly for at-risk communities that can most benefit from the guidelines — Taylor lauded efforts and said public health advocates should work for more.
“We need sustained support and investments in mobile markets, school and community gardens, healthy corner stores and other innovative efforts to make quality plant-based foods affordable and accessible to all communities,” she said.
Taylor also said that in many ways, the guidelines are catching up with public health’s approach to nutrition by focusing on healthy eating patterns and shaping environments to make healthy choices easy.
The guidelines point out that many Americans do not get enough of some nutrients, such as vitamins A, C, D, E, calcium, potassium and fiber. Public health workers can help people take note of their needs and achieve them.
“On average, Americans currently consume about 13 percent of their calories from added sugars and children consume as much as 17 percent,” DeSalvo said. “It is very difficult for people to consume enough healthy foods that meet their nutritional needs while staying within calorie limits if more than 10 percent of their calories come from added sugars. Emphasizing small changes like switching from sugar-sweetened beverages to beverages without added sugars is a critical message in these guidelines.”
Public health organizations are already reaching out to their memberships and the public to promote the dietary guidelines. In a Jan. 7 news release, the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics commended HHS and USDA for creating guidelines “based on a thorough review of the strongest available scientific evidence about how and what Americans eat.”
The academy offers tips on how people can incorporate the guidelines into their diets. Jessica Crandall, RD, a nutritionist and academy spokesperson, said small, positive changes can add up.
“Start by making tweaks to your diet, like adding leafy greens to smoothies or eating an apple with lunch,” Crandall said in a release. “Small shifts in food choices can make a long-term difference in finding a healthy eating pattern that works for you.”
HHS will release a toolkit this month to help professionals share dietary guidelines messages. A new version of the MyPlate graphic that incorporates the guidelines will be released soon as well.
For more information, visit www.dietaryguidelines.gov.
- Copyright The Nation’s Health, American Public Health Association
