Nearly 30 years ago, Oldways’ now-president Sara Baer-Sinnott and Oldways’ founder K. Dun Gifford presented at the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion on the importance of culturally relevant dietary patterns. A USDA employee sitting in the front row spoke up in support of this effort, explaining that the USDA Pyramid in its current form didn’t speak to her people. And yet the tides of government were slow to catch up to the old ways of eating.
Today however, is a different story. The Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee released their much-anticipated 2025 report, which included the first ever evidence scan on culturally responsive nutrition interventions. This 421-page report, compiled for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the USDA, is intended to serve as guidance for the forthcoming 2025-2030 Dietary Guidelines for Americans.
While new and sometimes contradictory nutrition studies make for splashy headlines, the reality is that the research remains fairly consistent on the fundamental elements of a healthy diet. The Scientific Report of the 2025 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee carries forward many of the recommendations of previous guidelines, such as an emphasis on vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and seafood, and a recommendation to limit added sugar and sodium, with a few key updates.
Notably, this report recommends increasing the intake of plant-based proteins like beans, peas, and lentils, and decreasing the intake of red and processed meats. The committee also recommends that the guidelines “encourage mostly whole grains and lower refined grains,” and place a large emphasis on culturally-tailored eating patterns by reframing the Healthy US Style Dietary pattern as the “Eat Healthy Your Way” pattern.
After more than three decades of working to elevate diverse cultural food traditions through Oldways’ programs and Heritage Pyramids, it is encouraging to see the committee acknowledge that “culturally responsive interventions may help promote better adherence and support uptake of dietary guidance by providing individuals with foods that align with their cultural practices and preferences.” Further, the committee “recommends more research to fully elucidate the effect of cultural tailoring on program acceptability and effectiveness for health outcomes,” and advises HHS and USDA to “allocate sufficient funding for culturally responsive research.”
It remains to be seen how these recommendations will play out in the forthcoming 2025-2030 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Although the Scientific Report of the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee is intended to serve as the scientific basis for the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, the translation from Scientific Report to Dietary Guidelines has often watered down the integrity of the final report. We applaud committee members for prioritizing public health and for taking a thorough, evidence-based approach to evaluating the science, and we urge the HHS and USDA to carry forward these recommendations into the final 2025-2030 Dietary Guidelines for Americans.
Leave a comment