New dietary guidelines urge Americans to avoid processed foods and added
sugar
[January 08, 2026]
By JONEL ALECCIA
Americans should eat more whole foods and protein, fewer highly
processed foods and less added sugar, according to the latest edition of
federal nutrition advice released Wednesday by the Trump administration.
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Agriculture Secretary Brooke
Rollins issued the 2025-2030 U.S. Dietary Guidelines for Americans,
which offer updated recommendations for a healthy diet and provide the
foundation for federal nutrition programs and policies. They come as
Kennedy has for months stressed overhauling the U.S. food supply as part
of his Make America Healthy Again agenda.
“My message is clear: Eat real food,” Kennedy said at a White House
briefing.
The guidelines emphasize consumption of fresh vegetables, whole grains
and dairy products, long advised as part of a healthy eating plan.
Officials released a new graphic depicting an inverted version of the
long-abandoned food pyramid, with protein, dairy, healthy fats and
fruits and vegetables at the top and whole grains at the bottom.
But they also take a new stance on “highly processed” foods, and refined
carbohydrates, urging consumers to avoid “packaged, prepared,
ready-to-eat or other foods that are salty or sweet, such as chips,
cookies and candy." That's a different term for ultraprocessed foods,
the tasty, energy-dense products that make up more than half the
calories in the U.S. diet and have been linked to chronic diseases such
as diabetes and obesity.
The new guidance backs away from revoking long-standing advice to limit
saturated fats, despite signals from Kennedy and Food and Drug
Commissioner Marty Makary that the administration would push for more
consumption of animal fats to end the “war” on saturated fats.
Instead, the document suggests that Americans should choose whole-food
sources of saturated fat — such as meat, whole-fat dairy or avocados —
while continuing to limit saturated fat consumption to no more than 10%
of daily calories. The guidance says “other options can include butter
or beef tallow,” despite previous recommendations to avoid those fats.
Guidelines were due for an update
The dietary guidelines, required by law to be updated every five years,
provide a template for a healthy diet. But in a country where more than
half of adults have a diet-related chronic disease, few Americans
actually follow the guidance, research shows.
The new recommendations drew praise from some prominent nutrition and
medical experts.
"There should be broad agreement that eating more whole foods and
reducing highly processed carbohydrates is a major advance in how we
approach diet and health,” said Dr. David Kessler, a former FDA
commissioner who has written books about diet and nutrition and has sent
a petition to the FDA to remove key ingredients in ultraprocessed foods.
“The guidelines affirm that food is medicine and offer clear direction
patients and physicians can use to improve health,” said Dr. Bobby
Mukkamala, president of the American Medical Association.
Other experts were relieved that the guidelines didn't go against
decades of nutrition evidence linking saturated fat to heart disease,
but they were critical of the guidelines' focus on meat and dairy as a
primary source of protein instead of plant-based sources.
“Overall, if people eat the way these are recommended, they will be
eating more calories, not less,” said Marion Nestle, a nutritionist and
food policy expert who advised previous editions of the guidance.
The new document is just 10 pages, upholding Kennedy's pledge to create
a simple, understandable guideline. Previous editions of the dietary
guidelines have grown over the years, from a 19-page pamphlet in 1980 to
the 164-page document issued in 2020, which included a four-page
executive summary.
The guidance will have the most profound effect on the federally funded
National School Lunch Program, which is required to follow the
guidelines to feed nearly 30 million U.S. children on a typical school
day.
The Agriculture Department will have to translate the recommendations
into specific requirements for school meals, a process that can take
years, said Diane Pratt-Heavner, spokesperson for the School Nutrition
Association. The latest school nutrition standards were proposed in 2023
but won't be fully implemented until 2027, she noted.
Science advisers didn't make ultraprocessed food recommendations
The new guidelines largely rejected the advice of a 20-member panel of
nutrition experts convened by the Biden administration, who met for
nearly two years to review the latest scientific evidence on diet and
health. Kennedy had criticized the expertise of the panel members and
suggested that they had ties to the food industry that influenced their
advice.
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Fruit are displayed at Iovine Brothers Produce in Philadelphia, May
29, 2007. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)
 Instead, the new guidance relied on
a new set of experts revealed Wednesday in supporting documents. Of
the 10 experts who led the new scientific review under Kennedy, five
reported financial ties to beef, pork or dairy industries or to
makers of infant formula or supplements.
The new group rejected more than half the recommendations of the
previous panel, the documents showed.
That previous panel didn’t make recommendations about ultraprocessed
food. Although a host of studies have shown links between
ultraprocessed foods and poor health outcomes, the nutrition experts
had concerns with the quality of the research and the certainty that
those foods, and not other factors, were causing the problems.
The recommendations on highly processed foods drew cautiously
positive reactions. The FDA and the Agriculture Department are
already working on a definition of ultraprocessed foods, but it’s
expected to take time.
Not all highly processed foods are unhealthy, said Dr. David Ludwig,
an endocrinologist and researcher at Boston Children’s Hospital.
“I think the focus should be on highly processed carbohydrates,” he
said, noting that processing of protein or fats can be benign or
even helpful.
More protein recommended
The guidelines made a few other notable changes, including a call to
potentially double protein consumption.
The previous recommended dietary allowance called for 0.8 grams of
protein per kilogram of body weight — about 54 grams daily for a
150-pound person. The new recommendation is 1.2 to 1.6 grams of
protein per kilogram of body weight. An average American man
consumes about 100 grams of protein per day, or about twice the
previously recommended limit.
Makary said the new advice supersedes protein guidance that was
based on the “bare minimum” required for health.
Ludwig also noted that the earlier recommendation was the minimum
amount needed to prevent protein deficiency and said higher amounts
of protein might be beneficial.
“A moderate increase in protein to help displace the processed
carbohydrates makes sense,” he said.
Officials with the American Heart Association, however, called for
more research on protein consumption and the best sources for
optimal health.
“Pending that research, we encourage consumers to prioritize
plant-based proteins, seafood and lean meats and to limit high-fat
animal products including red meat, butter, lard and tallow, which
are linked to increased cardiovascular risk,” the group said in a
statement.
Avoid added sugars
The guidelines advise avoiding or sharply limiting added sugars or
non-nutritive sweeteners, saying “no amount” is considered part of a
healthy diet.
No one meal should contain more than 10 grams of added sugars, or
about 2 teaspoons, the new guidelines say.
Previous federal guidelines recommended limiting added sugars to
less than 10% of daily calories for people older than 2, but to aim
for less. That's about 12 teaspoons a day in a 2,000-calorie daily
diet. Children younger than 2 should have no added sugars at all,
the older guidance said.
In general, most Americans consume about 17 teaspoons of added
sugars per day, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention.
Alcohol limits removed
The new guidelines roll back previous recommendations to limit
alcohol to one drink or less per day for women and two drinks or
less per day for men.
Instead, the guidance advises Americans to “consume less alcohol for
better health." They also say that alcohol should be avoided by
pregnant women, people recovering from alcohol use disorder and
those who are unable to control the amount they drink.
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