What is the 1916 Food Guide?

December 16, 2025 •

4 min read

In 1916, nutritionist Caroline Hunt published the USDA's first official food guide, focusing initially on young children. The 1916 Food Guide categorized foods into five groups to provide a foundational approach to healthy eating, setting a precedent for over a century of American dietary recommendations.

Quick Summary

The 1916 Food Guide was the first USDA publication offering dietary advice based on five food groups. Authored by Caroline Hunt, it primarily targeted young children but was later adapted for the general public. This early guidance prioritized nutrient adequacy and categorized foods such as cereals, vegetables, and fats, long before modern nutrient standards were established.

Key Points

First USDA Food Guide: The 1916 Food Guide was the first official dietary guidance published by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Authored by Caroline Hunt: Nutritionist Caroline Hunt was responsible for creating the initial guide, titled Food for Young Children.
Five Food Groups: It categorized foods into five groups: milk and meat, cereals, vegetables and fruits, fats and fatty foods, and sugars and sugary foods.
Foundational Guidance: The guide provided simple, accessible advice using household measures for an average American family.
Precursor to Modern Guides: It served as the basis for later dietary guidance, including the Basic Seven, Food Guide Pyramid, and MyPlate.
Emphasis on Adequacy: The core goal was to promote nutrient adequacy by encouraging a variety of foods, though specific vitamin knowledge was limited.

Origins of the 1916 Food Guide

The 1916 Food Guide emerged from a growing interest in nutrition science at the turn of the 20th century. Before this, dietary advice was less formalized and not consistently issued by a government body like the USDA. The guide's inception is largely attributed to nutritionist Caroline Hunt, who worked for the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The initial version, titled Food for Young Children, was a groundbreaking resource, followed shortly by How to Select Foods in 1917, which adapted the same principles for a broader audience. This shift from general food discussions to a structured, group-based system marked a significant milestone in public health and nutritional education.

The Five Original Food Groups

Unlike modern dietary guidance, which emphasizes a wide variety of nutrients, the 1916 Food Guide focused on just five food categories. These groups were designed to provide the foundational nutrients understood at the time.

Milk and Meat: This group included dairy products and all types of meat and eggs. It was a primary source of protein and fat in the diet.
Cereals: Grains and cereals formed another major group. This included bread and other grain-based products, which were a staple for many Americans.
Vegetables and Fruits: This category combined all fruits and vegetables, which were recognized as important for vitamins and minerals, though specific vitamin functions were not yet fully understood.
Fats and Fatty Foods: This group encompassed butter, margarine, and oils. It represented a source of concentrated energy for the diet.
Sugars and Sugary Foods: This final category included all forms of sugar and sweet foods, reflecting a basic recognition of carbohydrates as a source of energy.

Beyond the Groups: Early Nutritional Philosophy

While the five food groups provided a simple framework, the guide's underlying philosophy was also progressive for its time. It emphasized the importance of a varied diet to achieve nutrient adequacy, a principle that still holds true today. The recommendations were practical, focusing on household measures and offering advice that was accessible to the average American family. This approach helped to demystify nutrition and empower individuals to make better food choices with the knowledge available.

Comparison: 1916 Guide vs. Modern Guidance

Understanding the 1916 guide's place in history is best done by comparing it to modern recommendations like MyPlate. This shows the dramatic evolution of nutritional science.


Feature	1916 Food Guide	Modern MyPlate Guidance (2024)
Food Groups	Five groups: Milk & Meat, Cereals, Vegetables & Fruits, Fats, Sugars	Five groups: Fruits, Vegetables, Grains, Protein, Dairy (plus oils)
Visual Representation	No visual guide; text-based recommendations	Uses a plate graphic showing proportional food groups
Serving Sizes	Based on household measures; often vague	Specific serving size recommendations available online
Nutrient Emphasis	Focus on basic energy (calories), protein, and minerals	Emphasizes specific nutrients (e.g., fiber, vitamins) and limits (e.g., saturated fat, added sugars)
Underlying Science	Based on early understandings of nutrients and prevention of deficiency	Based on extensive research on chronic disease prevention and long-term health
Lifestyle Integration	Focused primarily on food consumption	Incorporates physical activity and energy balance into overall recommendations

The Lasting Legacy of the 1916 Food Guide

Despite its simplicity and the scientific limitations of the era, the 1916 Food Guide was a crucial first step in the government's role of providing nutritional advice to the public. It established the concept of categorizing foods for educational purposes and laid the groundwork for future, more complex dietary guides, including the Basic Seven, the Food Guide Pyramid, and MyPlate. The guide’s emphasis on a varied diet, even with its nascent understanding of nutrient functions, was a fundamentally sound principle that has been carried forward. It also highlighted the importance of dietary patterns, rather than focusing solely on individual foods. The guide served as a foundation for nutrition education for decades, informing generations of Americans about healthy eating habits and showing the long-term impact of public health initiatives. The guide’s influence can be seen in the progressive development of dietary standards and the modern focus on balanced, adequate, and varied diets. For more on the evolution of dietary guidelines, the USDA website offers comprehensive resources on modern nutrition standards.

Conclusion

To understand the history of nutrition, one must look back to the 1916 Food Guide. Authored by Caroline Hunt, this USDA publication pioneered a food group-based system for nutritional guidance, initially for children and later for the general public. While primitive by today's standards, with its five broad food groups, the guide established a lasting precedent for government-led nutrition education. Its core principles of variety and moderation laid the foundation upon which all subsequent American dietary guidelines have been built. The journey from the 1916 recommendations to the contemporary MyPlate illustrates the remarkable scientific advancements in nutritional understanding over a century of public health efforts.

Frequently Asked Questions

The 1916 Food Guide was created by nutritionist Caroline Hunt and was published by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).

The five food groups were: Milk and Meat, Cereals, Vegetables and Fruits, Fats and Fatty Foods, and Sugars and Sugary Foods.

The first version of the guide in 1916, Food for Young Children, was for children. The principles were extended to the general public in a subsequent 1917 publication, How to Select Foods.

No, the 1916 guide was a text-based publication and did not feature the visual representations found in later food guides, such as the Food Guide Pyramid or MyPlate.

It recognized fats and sugary foods as distinct food groups, acknowledging their role as sources of energy, though it did not provide the specific moderation advice found in modern guidance.

The 1916 guide was followed by several other USDA guides, including the Basic Seven in the 1940s and the Basic Four in the 1950s, as nutritional science evolved.

It is significant as the first U.S. government-sponsored, food group-based dietary guide, establishing a precedent for public nutrition education that continues to this day.