In 1980, the first Dietary Guidelines for Americans were released to provide recommendations to Americans about the link between food choices and chronic diseases. The Guidelines are updated every five years using new research to translate key nutrition findings into broad dietary statements. The core aim is to promote health and prevent disease. The 2020 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee released their recommendations for the next iteration of these guidelines. Nutrition educators need to be part of the national dialogue by reading the document, discussing these guidelines with colleagues, or using the final guidelines as the foundation for designing evidence-based nutrition education programs or messages.

Although many recommendations have remained relatively consistent over time, the Dietary Guidelines also has built upon previous editions and evolved as scientific knowledge has grown. The Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2020-2025 reflects this in three important ways:

• The recognition that diet-related chronic diseases, such as cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, obesity, and some types of cancer, are very prevalent among Americans and pose a major public health problem. As a result, it appears almost everyone can benefit from shifting food and beverage choices to better support healthy dietary patterns.

• The second is its focus foods and beverages act synergistically to affect health. The Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2020-2025, emphasizes the importance of a healthy dietary pattern as a whole— rather than on individual nutrients, foods, or food groups in isolation. The call to action is to “make every bite count.”

• The third is its focus on a lifespan approach. These recommendations underscore the importance of encouraging healthy dietary patterns at every life stage from infancy through older adulthood. For the first time since the 1985 edition, the 2020- 2025 Dietary Guidelines includes recommendations for healthy dietary patterns for infants and toddlers.

Since 1980, eating patterns have become more complex rather than simpler due to multiple factors. I commend the committee for reviewing hundreds of research articles as they relate to nutrition and chronic conditions. Food choices clearly have a large role to play in the development and treatment of chronic conditions, and, to me, these guidelines should be bolder in advocating for further reduction of foods rich in sodium, saturated fat, and sugar. However, these guidelines are for ALL individuals not only those with chronic conditions, so it is up to nutrition educators to use their knowledge in tailoring nutrition messages to the populations that they serve.