The theme of the 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines was “Make Every Bite Count”. And according to a story from Tyron Spearman, the new recommendations show peanuts in a favorable position for healthy dietary patterns at every stage of life.
Introducing the ?Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2020-2025
Brought to you by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Make Every Bite Count With ?The Dietary Guidelines for Americans
Start with the 4 Guidelines.
The Guidelines
- Follow a healthy dietary pattern at every life stage.
- Customize and enjoy nutrient-dense food and beverage choices to reflect personal preferences, cultural traditions, and budgetary considerations.
- Focus on meeting food group needs with nutrient-dense foods and beverages, and stay within calorie limits.
- Limit food and beverages higher in added sugars, saturated fat, and sodium, and limit alcoholic beverages.
The foods and beverages we consume have a profound impact on our health.
While the science linking food and health has only become stronger, our Healthy Eating Index (HEI) score has remained low. The HEI measures how closely food and beverage choices align with the ?Dietary Guidelines?.
In this part of the video, the bar chart shows Healthy Eating Index or HEI Scores of the U.S. population over 6 time periods. Each time period corresponds to data collected during the 2005-2006 through the 2015-2016 What We Eat in America, National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. The maximum HEI score is 100. Over time HEI scores have remained far below Dietary Guidelines recommendations and have stayed relatively consistent. HEI scores are 56 in 2005-2006, 57 in 2007-2008, 59 in 2009-2010, 60 in 2011-2012, 59 in 2013-2014, and 59 in 2015-2016.
Today:
60% of adults have one or more diet-related chronic diseases.
About 74% of adults are overweight or obese.
About 40% of children and teens are overweight or obese.
Yet we are not following a healthy dietary pattern.
Our HEI score is higher early in life and in older adulthood, but we all fall short of following the ?Dietary Guidelines?.
In this part of the video, the bar chart shows the Healthy Eating Index-2015 Scores across 7 life stages using data from What We Eat In America, NHANES 2015-2016. The maximum total score is 100. Ages 2-4 is 61. Ages 5-8 is 55. Ages 9-13 is 52. Ages 14-18 is lowest, 51. Ages 19-30 is 56. Ages 31-59 is 59. And Ages 60+ is highest, 63.
Healthy eating is important at every life stage. For the first time, the ?Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2020-2025? provides recommendations for each life stage, from birth through older adulthood.
Nutrient needs vary over the lifespan and each life stage has unique implications for food and beverage choices and disease risk.
How do we “make every bite count”?
Focus on nutrient-dense foods and beverages, limit those higher in added sugars, saturated fat, and sodium, and stay within calorie limits.
Meeting food group recommendations—with nutrient-dense foods and beverages—takes up most of a person’s daily calorie limit.
In this part of the video,? ?a figure shows that approximately 85% of calories are needed per day to meet food group recommendations healthfully, in nutrient-dense forms. 15% of remaining calories are available for other uses, including added sugars and saturated fat.
When deciding what to eat or drink, follow these three key dietary principles.
- Meet nutritional needs primarily from nutrient-dense foods and beverages.
- Choose a variety of options from each food group: vegetables, fruits, grains, dairy, and protein foods.
- Pay attention to portion size.
The bottom line:
For lifelong good health, make every bite count with the ?Dietary Guidelines for Americans.?
For more information, go to DietaryGuidelines.gov
Brought to you by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services