Which of the following are key recommendations of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans?

December 24, 2025 •

2 min read

The latest edition of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA), the 2020-2025 version, emphasizes several overarching principles for creating a healthy eating pattern. Among these, the core recommendations focus on consuming nutrient-dense foods, limiting certain components, and following a healthy dietary pattern across the entire lifespan.

Quick Summary

The Dietary Guidelines for Americans provide critical advice on creating healthy eating patterns. These include focusing on nutrient-dense foods, limiting added sugars, saturated fat, and sodium, and considering an individual's entire lifespan. The recommendations are based on a flexible framework to accommodate various needs.

Key Points

Emphasize a Healthy Dietary Pattern: Focus on the combination of foods and drinks consumed over time, promoting healthy choices across the entire lifespan.
Choose Nutrient-Dense Foods: Prioritize vegetables, fruits, whole grains, lean proteins, and low-fat dairy to get the most nutrients within calorie limits.
Limit Added Sugars: Reduce intake of added sugars to less than 10% of total daily calories, and avoid them for children under two.
Minimize Saturated Fat: Keep saturated fat consumption below 10% of daily calories by replacing high-fat foods with healthier alternatives.
Reduce Sodium Intake: Limit daily sodium to less than 2,300 mg, a crucial step for managing blood pressure.
Moderate Alcohol Consumption: For adults who choose to drink, limit intake to two drinks or less per day for men and one drink or less per day for women.
Promote Flexibility: Use the DGA's flexible framework to customize dietary choices based on personal preferences, cultural background, and budget.

The Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA), jointly published by the USDA and HHS every five years, serves as the federal government's foundation for nutritional policy. The 2020-2025 edition marked the first time the DGA included dietary advice for every life stage, from birth through older adulthood. While the DGA has evolved, its core advice has remained consistent for decades, promoting more fruits, vegetables, and whole grains while advising against excessive refined grains, added sugars, salt, and fat.

Core Principles of the DGA

The 2020-2025 DGA is structured around four overarching guidelines to encourage healthy eating habits, providing a flexible framework for customization based on personal preferences, cultural traditions, and budget. The central message is to “make every bite count” by choosing nutrient-dense foods.

Follow a Healthy Dietary Pattern Across the Lifespan

A healthy eating pattern is a combination of all foods and beverages consumed over time. The DGA highlights that healthy eating is a continuous process throughout life, offering specific advice for various life stages, including infants, toddlers, and pregnant or lactating women.

Focus on Nutrient-Dense Foods and Beverages

Nutrient-dense foods offer vitamins, minerals, and other beneficial substances with relatively few calories. The DGA advises building a diet around these foods, such as a variety of vegetables, whole fruits, whole grains, fat-free or low-fat dairy, lean proteins, and healthy oils, to meet nutritional needs within calorie limits.

Limit Added Sugars, Saturated Fat, Sodium, and Alcoholic Beverages

This recommendation establishes quantitative limits for components considered public health concerns. The DGA suggests limiting added sugars to less than 10% of daily calories for those aged two and older, with no added sugars for infants under two. Saturated fat should also be less than 10% of daily calories for those aged two and older. The recommendation for sodium intake is less than 2,300 mg per day. For adults who choose to drink alcohol, the DGA suggests limiting intake. More details on these limits and healthy dietary choices can be found on {Link: CSPI website https://www.cspi.org/advocacy/nutrition/dietary-guidelines-americans} and {Link: Hogan Lovells website https://www.hoganlovells.com/en/publications/usda-and-hhs-release-2020-2025-dietary-guidelines-for-americans}.

The Role of MyPlate

The USDA's MyPlate tool helps consumers apply DGA recommendations by visually representing the five food groups (fruits, vegetables, grains, protein, and dairy) in appropriate proportions on a plate. It's a practical resource for creating balanced meals, for instance, by encouraging half a plate of fruits and vegetables.

Conclusion

The Dietary Guidelines for Americans offer a flexible framework for healthy eating patterns throughout life. Key recommendations include prioritizing nutrient-dense foods, limiting added sugars, saturated fat, and sodium, and applying these principles to all life stages. Following these guidelines, aided by tools like MyPlate, is crucial for public health and reducing chronic disease risk. Making gradual shifts towards healthier choices helps individuals make every bite count. More information is available at DietaryGuidelines.gov.

Note: The DGA primarily informs policy and health professionals and federal nutrition programs. For personalized dietary advice, individuals should consult a healthcare provider or registered dietitian.

Frequently Asked Questions

The four main overarching guidelines of the DGA are: 1) Follow a healthy dietary pattern across the lifespan; 2) Customize and enjoy nutrient-dense food and beverage choices; 3) Focus on meeting food group needs while staying within calorie limits; and 4) Limit foods and beverages higher in added sugars, saturated fat, and sodium, as well as limiting alcoholic beverages.

Nutrient-dense foods are those that provide a high amount of vitamins, minerals, and other beneficial nutrients with relatively few calories. The DGA recommends focusing on these foods to meet nutritional needs, with examples including fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and lean proteins.

The DGA recommends that saturated fat should be limited to less than 10 percent of total daily calories for individuals aged two and older. This can be achieved by choosing healthier fat sources like those found in seafood, nuts, and vegetable oils.

The DGA advises limiting sodium intake to less than 2,300 milligrams per day for most adults. Most Americans consume more than this due to high levels in processed and restaurant foods.

Yes, the 2020-2025 edition of the DGA was the first to include specific dietary recommendations for infants from birth up to 24 months, and for pregnant and lactating women.

MyPlate is a visual guide developed by the USDA to help consumers practically apply the DGA's recommendations. It illustrates the five food groups—fruits, vegetables, grains, protein, and dairy—in appropriate proportions on a plate.

Yes, the DGA provides a flexible framework that can be adapted to reflect personal preferences, cultural traditions, and budgetary considerations. This ensures that a healthy eating pattern can be achieved by people from diverse backgrounds.