Lifestyle Sports: Latest from Food Politics: The MAHA 2025-2030 Dietary Guidelines have arrived: Cheerful, Muddled, Contradictory, Ideological, Retro and more...

By Marion Nestle

January 08 2026

The MAHA 2025-2030 Dietary Guidelines have arrived: Cheerful, Muddled, Contradictory, Ideological, Retro

The new Dietary Guidelines [The guidelines are in bold; my summary follows]

Eat the right amount for you: balance calories
Prioritize protein foods at every meal: prioritize animal sources
Consume dairy: prioritize full-fat
Eat vegetables & fruits throughout the day: eat more, but not as much as previously recommended
Incorporate healthy fats: prioritize animal fats
Focus on whole grains: prioritize, but eat less than previously recommended
Limit highly processed foods, added sugars, & refined carbohydrates: eat less
Limit alcoholic beverages

These were released along with a fact sheet, scientific report, and interactive website. I’ve summarized the details below in a table comparing these guidelines to the previous version.

Why muddled? The lists of guidelines differ among the various documents. The prioritization of protein is hard to understand; most Americans already eat plenty. Some of the instructions don’t make sense: “Consume meat with no or limited added sugars?” Who does this?

Why contradictory? If you increase the amount of protein, meat, and full-fat dairy in your diet, you will not be able to keep your saturated fat intake below 10% of calories, and will have a harder time maintaining calorie balance (fat has twice the calories of protein or carbohydrate). If you want to increase the amount of fiber in your diet, you need to prioritize vegetables, fruits, and whole grains, not meat and dairy.

Why ideological? The fats recommended as sources of essential fatty acids—olive oil, butter, and beef tallow—have little or no essential linoleic or alpha-linolenic acids. For those, seed oils (not mentioned in these guidelines) are much better sources. The prioritization of animal-based as opposed to plant-based is inconsistent with research on diet and health. USDA Secretary Rollins said these guidelines would no longer reflect leftist ideology. The fact sheet and website make the ideology explicit.

Why retro? Except for the excellent advice to reduce intake of highly processed foods, which were not particularly prevalent back then, these guidelines take us back to the diets of the 1950s when everyone was eating lots of meat and dairy and not worrying much about vegetables, and heart disease was rampant. I’m all for eating whole foods but these guidelines dismiss 75 years of research favoring diets higher in plant foods.

Bottom line: A mixed bag. These guidelines are big wins for the meat, dairy, and alcohol industries (alas). The loser: ultra-processed foods (yes!). The recommendation to reduce highly processed foods (a euphemism for ultra-processed) is the one great strength of these recommendations. Following that advice might help Make America Healthy Again. But the rest must be viewed more as ideology than science, and also must be interpreted in the light of this administration’s destruction of what was once a reasonably effective public health service (CDC, FDA, NIH) and system. Eating more meat and fat is unlikely to help people resist measles and other illnesses preventable by vaccination.

I will have more to say about the specific recommendations in subsequent posts. In the meantime, here’s my quick summary.

Dietary Guidelines: 2020-2025 vs. 2025-2030

_{RECOMMENDATION}	_2020-2025	_2025-2030	_CHANGE?

_{Number of pages}	₁₄₉	₁₀
_Calories	_{Measure by weight status}	_{Eat the right amount}	_Same
_Water	_Choose	_Choose	_{Same, but stronger}
_Protein	_{56 g/2000 kcal [based on 0.8 g/kg]}	_{Prioritize at every meal. [ 84 to 112g/2000 kcal, based on 1.2 -1.6 g/kg]}	_Increase
_Dairy	_{3 cups/day}	_{3 servings}	_Same
_Vegetables	_{2.5 cups/day}	_{3 servings/day}	_Decrease
_Fruits	_{2 cups/day}	_{2 servings/day}	_Decrease
_Fats	_{27 grams/day oils}	_Healthy	_{Prioritize animal sources}
_{Saturated fat}	_{<10% calories}	_{<10% calories}	_Same
_Grains	_{6 ounces, >3 whole/day}	_{2-4 servings/day}	_{Decrease, prioritize whole}
_{Processed foods other than meat}	_{Not mentioned}	_{Limit, avoid}	_{Major improvement}
_{Added sugars}	_{Eat less}	_{Limit, avoid}	_Stronger
_Sodium	_{<2300 mg/day}	_{<2300 mg/day}	_Same
_Alcohol	_{<2 drink/d for men; 1 for women}	_{Limit, consume less}	_Weaker
_{Eat more}	_{Vegetables, Fruits, Legumes, Whole grains, Low- Or Non-Fat Dairy, Lean Meats, Poultry, Seafood, Nuts, Unsaturated Vegetable Oils}	_{Animal-source foods, full-fat dairy, vegetables, fruits, healthy fats, butter, beef tallow, whole grains}
_{Eat less}	_{Red and Processed Meats, Sugar-Sweetened Foods and Beverages, Refined Grains, Alcohol}	_{Added sugars, refined grains, chemical additives, fruit and vegetable juices, highly processed foods and beverages, sodium, alcohol}
_{Dietary sustainability}	_{Not mentioned}	_{Not mentioned}

I will be writing about the details in subsequent posts. Stay tuned.

Resources

The post The MAHA 2025-2030 Dietary Guidelines have arrived: Cheerful, Muddled, Contradictory, Ideological, Retro appeared first on Food Politics by Marion Nestle

Keeping up with AI and food

While waiting for the new dietary guidelines to be released today (I will write about them tomorrow), here’s a place-holder.

Artificial intelligence is taking over everything and food is no exception. Here’s my latest collection of items about the design of AI technology ostensibly to improve foods and beverages, as well as human health.

FOODS AND BEVERAGES

AI goes mainstream in food and beverage in 2025: This year’s wave of tools – from trend‑spotting engines to autonomous R&D agents – turned AI into everyday infrastructure for food and beverage…Read more
How AI can help design proteins for the food industry: Using a combination of artificial intelligence and synthetic biology, one start-up is enhancing proteins into a wide array of functions across the food industry…. Read more

HUMAN NUTRITION AND HEALTH

Study: AI-assisted personalized diet program supports weight loss and gut microbiome health: A personalized dietary and lifestyle program positively impacted the gut microbiome and demonstrated significant associations between gut microbial changes and weight loss, according to a recent study sponsored by Digbi Health…. Read more
A.I. ‘digital twin’ microbiome model may predict infant neurodevelopment: A new generative artificial intelligence (AI) tool that models the infant microbiome can be used to forecast which babies were at risk for cognitive deficits…. Read more
ASA targets menopause claims with AI assisted crackdown: The UK’s advertising standards authority (ASA) has warned supplement firms they must remove ads which make claims to treat or cure the symptoms of menopause, as part of a wider AI-assisted campaign…. Read more To unleash the true power of probiotics, manufacturers and brand owners should adopt an integrated approach to gut health that harnesses the benefits of bacterial strains…. Read more
Study: AI guided supplement prescriptions more effective than doctors: Supplement prescriptions guided by artificial intelligence (AI) are more effective at lowering low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and triglycerides than those prescribed by a doctor, according to a recent pilot study reported in Nutrients…. Read more
The rise of self-diagnostics: ‘The future of nutrition is hyper-personalized’: With the growing focus on personalization, the industry should present authentic data and information rather than scaring consumers into purchasing, experts agreed at the recent Future of Food Summit in Geneva ahead of Vitafoods Europe…. Read more

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Now Available: What to Eat Now

My new book, What to Eat Now, is officially out!

It's both a field guide to food shopping in America and a reflection on how to eat well—and deliciously.

For more information and to order, click here.

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