The U.S. government has overhauled its national dietary guidelines for the first time in five years. The core is effectively removing processed foods and sugars from the table and nearly doubling the recommended protein intake. The Donald Trump administration called the move a historic turning point to restore Americans' health.
The Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2025-2030, released on the 7th (local time) by the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Agriculture, is a federal legal document that sets standards for public meals and food assistance programs. On the day, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Secretary of Health and Human Services, and Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture, announced the new guidelines together.
The most striking change in the new guidelines is the sharply increased recommended protein intake. The new guidelines raise the daily protein recommendation from 0.8 grams per kilogram of body weight to 1.2 to 1.6 grams. They also advise prioritizing protein at every meal. Protein sources should include both animal foods such as eggs, poultry, seafood, red meat, and dairy, and plant foods such as beans and nuts.
By contrast, the guidelines take a strict approach to sugars and processed foods. Beyond naturally occurring sugars in foods, they set a concrete limit for added sugars at no more than 10 grams (about 2 teaspoons) per meal. In particular, they advise avoiding packaged processed foods like chips, cookies, and candy and eating meals cooked at home.
They also drew a clear line against artificial sweeteners for so-called "zero-sugar" products now leading the food market, such as allulose, aspartame, and sucralose, stating they are "not recommended as part of a healthy diet." The Department of Agriculture and the Ministry of Health and Welfare noted that while non-nutritive sweeteners do not raise blood sugar, they may maintain dependence on sweetness or lead to increased consumption of processed foods. However, they did not ban individual sweeteners such as allulose or deem them harmful. They limited the advice to "not recommending using these products as part of a nutritious diet." As a result, zero-sugar and zero-calorie products in the United States may be reevaluated within the category of processed foods, rather than as healthy sugar substitutes.
Minister Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said at the briefing that past administrations lied to the public to protect corporations' interests and that a diet centered on sugar and processed foods triggered the crises of obesity and chronic disease. He added, "My message is clear: Eat real food."
In these guidelines, the U.S. government shifted the focus of meals from carbohydrates to protein and fat. The grain-centered structure, such as bread and pasta that used to occupy the center of the American table, was pushed down the priority list. Instead, they said high-protein foods such as meat and dairy should take that place. Sugar, refined carbohydrates, and processed foods were classified as items to minimize or, if possible, exclude.
The view on saturated fat also changed. Health authorities had long severely restricted saturated fat intake. This time, however, they presented a positive view of getting enough saturated fat from "real food" such as meat, whole dairy, and avocados. They added the condition that saturated fat should remain within 10% of total calories.
Alcohol guidance also shifted in a stricter direction than before. The specific figures in the previous guidelines—"up to 1 drink a day for women, 2 for men"—were removed. One drink here refers to a standard drink containing about 14 grams of pure alcohol, such as a can of beer, a glass of wine, or a shot of whiskey. The new guidelines put front and center the message that the less alcohol, the better for health, and that limiting or avoiding it is preferable. This reflects a decision not to set a safe drinking level at all. Experts interpreted this as the government moving away from presenting an "acceptable drinking level" and toward classifying drinking itself as a health risk factor. Mehmet Oz, Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), added, "Alcohol serves as a social lubricant that brings people together, but that doesn't mean you should drink with every meal."
The revision is the result of fleshing out President Trump's "Make America Healthy Again (MAHA)" pledge. The administration said it had set "the health of all Americans" as the top goal, instead of "health equity," which had been the focus of health policy. It aims to restore scientific integrity and accountability and put public health before the interests of corporations.
The U.S. Dietary Guidelines go beyond recommendations to set the standards for all public procurement policies, including school meals, the military, veterans hospitals, and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) for low-income people. Because hundreds of millions of meals a year are designed to these standards, they function as de facto soft regulations for industry. The new guidelines, too, are expected to be a major variable that will reshape the multitrillion-dollar U.S. food industry landscape.
Large food corporations are likely to move to adjust product formulations to align with the government guidelines. PepsiCo earlier decided to launch Doritos chips fortified with protein. Starbucks is also responding to market changes by introducing a protein foam topping to add to beverages.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said it expects that preventing chronic diseases through improved diets could reduce massive medical spending. Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture, said, "The United States faces a national health emergency, with 90% of medical spending going to treat chronic diseases," adding, "These guidelines are a historic reset that puts real food back at the center of health."