The Trump administration announced a new set of dietary guidelines for Americans that prioritizes protein and encourages consuming less sugar and processed foods.
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins announced the 2025-2030 U.S. Dietary Guidelines for Americans on Wednesday. The new guidance provides recommendations for Americans to achieve a healthy diet and provides updated information for federal nutrition programs and policies.
The guidelines encourage eating fresh vegetables, whole grains and dairy, while also emphasizing some of the core beliefs behind Kennedy’s “Make America Healthy Again” agenda, like avoiding added sugar and ultra-processed foods.
America’s new healthy eating plan also takes a fresh position on “highly processed” foods and refined carbohydrates, encouraging people to stay away from “packaged, prepared, ready-to-eat or other foods that are salty or sweet, such as chips, cookies and candy.” Those foods, also referred to as “ultra-processed,” have been linked to chronic diseases such as diabetes and obesity, key issues Kennedy and the “MAHA” crowd hope to combat.
“Our message is clear: Eat real food,” Kennedy said Wednesday.
While some of the new guidelines implement changes promised by Kennedy, long-standing recommendations, like prioritizing fruits, vegetables and whole grains, have not been changed.
It also keeps the longtime recommendation that saturated fat consumption should be at no more than 10 percent of daily calories. However, the new guidelines recommend that Americans choose whole-food sources for saturated fat, like meat, whole-fat dairy or avocados.
Another notable change included a call to possibly double the amount of protein Americans consume each day.
Previously, it was recommended that Americans consume 0.8 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight. Now, health officials say 1.2 to 1.6 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight should be consumed.
The guidelines advise avoiding or limiting added sugars or non-nutritive sweetners, saying “no amount” is considered part of a healthy diet. The new guidelines say no meal should contain more than 10 grams of added sugars, or about two teaspoons.
Meanwhile, the old guidance recommended limiting added sugars to less than 10 percent of daily calories or less, which at its cap would be 12 teaspoons a day. Most Americans eat about 17 teaspoons of added sugar a day, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The updated guidance also backtracks older recommendations to limit alcohol to one drink or less a day for women, and two or less for men.
Instead, it encourages Americans to “consume less alcohol for better health.”
A new set of guidelines is published every five years by the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Agriculture.
With reporting by the Associated Press.
