As our readership is well aware, every five years, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) release the Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA) — a set of recommendations based on up-to-date nutrition science that is intended to help the U.S. population make healthy food and beverage choices.

On February 26, 2018, HHS and USDA announced a new step in the Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA) development process for the 2020-2025 DGA edition. Specifically, the departments will seek public comments on the proposed priority topics and supporting scientific questions that will guide the development of the upcoming 2020-2025 DGA. The public is invited to submit comments through the Federal Register starting today, February 28, 2018, through March 30, 2018. The topics, supporting scientific questions, and link to submit public comments are available at gov.

For the 2020-2025 edition of the DGA, HHS and USDA are proposing a life stage approach, focusing on priority scientific questions from birth through older adulthood. This approach is consistent with the 2014 farm bill which mandated that starting with the 2020-2025 edition, the DGA must specifically provide guidance for women who are pregnant, as well as infants and toddlers from birth to 24 months. Proposed topics and scientific questions are grouped by life stage. For each stage of life, current dietary patterns, including intakes of food groups and nutrients, will also be described.

In a joint USDA/HHS statement inviting comments to support the 2020-2025 DGA, the departments noted that “the topics and supporting questions for public comment reflect a continued focus on patterns of what we eat and drink as a whole, on average and over time, not on individual foods or food groups.”