Dietary Guidelines
- LAST REVIEWED: 19 March 2013
- LAST MODIFIED: 19 March 2013
- DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780199756797-0023
- LAST REVIEWED: 19 March 2013
- LAST MODIFIED: 19 March 2013
- DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780199756797-0023
Introduction
Dietary guidelines or recommendations are suggestions to help adults and children consume foods and beverages that support growth and development and reduce risks for chronic diseases. Dietary guidelines, first introduced in the United States in the late 1800s, focused on protective foods. As the science of nutrition evolved and nutrients were discovered, the guidelines focused on the consumption of foods to provide adequate nutrients. Since the late 1970s, known human nutritional requirements, both deficiencies and excesses, became the common foundation for the United States and other countries developing food-based dietary guidelines for their populations. Guidelines appear both in scientific language (e.g., limit consumption of saturated fat) and as food-based recommendations, sometimes including graphics and icons of food groupings. Guidelines serve multiple purposes from educating consumers to guiding policy makers and regulators. Since 1980, Dietary Guidelines for Americans has referred to a specific set of guidelines issued jointly by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the US Department of Health and Human Services, and recognized as federal nutrition policy. Current Dietary Guidelines for Americans can be found at the USDA’s Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion website. Current consumer education about the guidelines can be found at the USDA’s Choose My Plate. Agencies of the United Nations (the Food and Agricultural Organization and the World Health Organization) and other countries also provide guidance. Access to guidelines from countries around the world is at the Food and Agricultural Organization’s Food Guidelines by Country. Many health organizations (e.g., American Heart Association, American Institute for Cancer Research) also review the role of diet and disease prevention and publish dietary guidelines or recommendations for both the general public and specific audiences. The focus of this article will be on the events leading to the current “Dietary Guidelines for Americans” and a description of those guidelines. Some information about international dietary guidance is also provided.
Introductory Works
This section contains the history of early diet guides (1800–1970), primarily from the United States. Nutrition science has been translated into dietary recommendations, often as food charts, food posters, and food-based icons since the late 1800s, primarily with a focus on protective foods. The goal for authors of guidelines was to provide guidance with maximum simplicity consistent with scientific facts, available foods, and acceptable food patterns in the country in which they are used. The first national US food guide was presented in 1916 with five groups. The science of nutrition was still very young and new essential vitamins were still being discovered. Hertzler and Anderson 1974 and Welsh, et al. 1993 provide details of the dietary guidance offered the public. In 1941, the National Dairy Council developed “A Guide to Good Eating,” which consisted of seven food groups. A similar guide, but with different emphasis, was announced in 1943 as part of the USDA National Wartime Nutrition Program. The announcement of the first Recommended Dietary Allowances in 1943 led to an increased emphasis on nutrient adequacy. These dietary recommendations were relatively noncontroversial since they focused on adequacy of nutrient intake or avoiding deficiencies. With the aim to promote variety in food consumption and provide a plan to select a diet adequate in protective foods, the Basic 7, a system that categorized foods into seven groups, was introduced in 1943. In 1954 the four-food-group system was introduced, and variations of it were used as a nutrition education tool until the introduction of the Pyramid in 1992. Each new plan came with mixed reception from various audiences. Some of the reactions question the interpretation of the science, while other reactors provide suggestions for improvement in describing and communicating the science to consumers. Hayes, et al. 1955 felt the nutrition education tool needed to be simpler than the Basic 7 food groups. Hertzler and Anderson 1974 shows that, just as with earlier food guides, the current system was then under fire, and understanding the history of food guides might give perspective. Trusswell 1995 provides the author’s candid views on why some guides are met with resistance and others are more readily accepted, while Welsh, et al. 1993 gives a more official mainstream view of the development of dietary guidance.
Hayes, O., M. F. Trulson, and F. J. Stare. 1955. Suggested revisions of the Basic 7. Journal of the American Dietetic Association 31.11: 1103–1107.
Questions if the Basic 7 achieves simplicity and effectiveness as an educational tool; two simpler plans are proposed: one with two groups, energy foods and protective foods, showing a balance of the two for groups with limited nutrition education, and a proposed graphic in the form of a shield for health, with four groups for countries like the US with abundant and varied food supplies.
Hertzler, A. A., and H. L. Anderson. 1974. Food guides in the United States: An historical review. Journal of the American Dietetic Association 64.1: 19–28.
Historical review of food guides from the 1880s through the development of the four food groups, used with only minor changes since 1957. Considerations used in developing food guides include nutritional and dietary status of the population, food patterns, food availability and its nutritive value, and food economics. The use of familiar names of foods and limiting the number of groups make these guides consumer friendly.
Trusswell, A. Stewart. 1995. Dietary guidelines: Theory and practice. Proceedings of the Nutrition Society of Australia 19:1–10.
Personal insights from an internationally recognized nutrition scientist into the process of developing and disseminating guidelines and reasons for the mixed reception that the promulgation of dietary guidelines receives in various countries.
Welsh, Susan O., Carole Davis, and Anne Shaw. 1993. USDA’s food guide: Background and development. Hyattsville, MD: Nutrition Education Division, Human Nutrition Information Service, US Department of Agriculture.
Traces the evolution of the nutrition message over one hundred years. Table outlines major USDA food guides from 1916 to 1992.
Users without a subscription are not able to see the full content on this page. Please subscribe or login.
How to Subscribe
Oxford Bibliographies Online is available by subscription and perpetual access to institutions. For more information or to contact an Oxford Sales Representative click here.
Article
- Abortion
- Access to Health Care
- Action Research
- Active Aging
- Active Living
- Addiction
- Adolescent Health, Socioeconomic Inequalities in
- Adolescent Risk-Taking Behavior in the United States
- Advocacy, Public Health
- Agricultural Safety and Public Health
- Air Quality: Health Effects
- Air Quality: Indoor Health Effects
- Alcohol Availability and Violence
- Alternative Research Designs
- Ambient Air Quality Standards and Guidelines
- American Perspectives on Chronic Disease and Control
- Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR)
- Arts in Health
- Asbestos
- Asthma in Children
- Asthma, Work-Related
- Attachment as a Health Determinant
- Behavior
- Behavior Change Theory in Health Education and Promotion
- Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance
- Bicycling and Cycling Safety
- Bioethics
- Birth and Death Registration
- Birth Cohort Studies
- Board of Health
- Breastfeeding
- Built Environment and Health, The
- Business and Corporate Practices
- Cancer Communication Strategies in North America
- Cancer Prevention
- Cancer Screening
- Capacity Building
- Capacity Building for NCDs in LMICs
- Capacity-Building for Applied Public Health in LMIC: A US ...
- Cardiovascular Health and Disease
- Child Labor
- Child Maltreatment
- Children, Air Pollution and
- Children, Injury Risk-Taking Behaviors in
- Children, Obesity in
- Citizen Advisory Boards
- Climate Change and Human Health
- Climate Change: Institutional Response
- Clinical Preventive Medicine
- Community Air Pollution
- Community Development
- Community Gardens
- Community Health Assessment
- Community Health Interventions
- Community Partnerships and Coalitions
- Community-Based Participatory Research
- Complexity and Systems Theory
- Critical Health Literacy
- Cultural Capital and Health
- Cultural Safety
- Culture and Public Health
- Definition of Health
- Dental Public Health
- Design and Health
- Dietary Guidelines
- Directions in Global Public Health Graduate Education
- Driving and Public Health
- Ecological Approaches
- Enabling Factors
- Environmental Health, Pediatric
- Environmental Laws
- Environmental Protection Agency
- Ethics of Public Health
- Evidence-Based Pediatric Dentistry
- Evidence-Based Public Health Practice
- Family Planning Services and Birth Control
- Food Safety
- Food Security and Food Banks
- Food Systems
- Frail Elderly
- Functional Literacy
- Genomics, Public Health
- Geographic Information Systems
- Geography and Health
- Global Health
- Global Health Diplomacy
- Global Health Promotion
- Global Health Security
- Guide to Community Preventive Services, The
- Health Administration
- Health Communication
- Health Disparities
- Health Education
- Health Impact Assessment
- Health in All Policies
- Health in All Policies in European Countries
- Health Literacy
- Health Literacy and Noncommunicable Diseases
- Health Measurement Scales
- Health Planning
- Health Promoting Hospitals
- Health Promotion
- Health Promotion Foundations
- Health Promotion Workforce Capacity
- Health Promotion Workforce Capacity
- Health Systems of Low and Middle-Income Countries, The
- Healthy People Initiative
- Healthy Public Policy
- Hepatitis C
- High Risk Prevention Strategies
- Homelessness
- Human Rights, Health and
- Human Sexuality and Sexual Health: A Western Perspective
- IANPHI and National Public Health Institutes
- Immigrant Populations
- Immunization and Pneumococcal Infection
- Immunization in Pregnancy
- Indigenous Peoples, Public Health and
- Indigenous Populations of North America, Australasia, and ...
- Indoor Air Quality Guidelines
- Inequities
- Infant Mortality
- Internet Applications in Promoting Health Behavior
- Intersectoral Action
- Intersectoral Strategies in Low - Middle Income Countries ...
- Justice, Social
- Knowledge Translation and Exchange
- Knowledge Utilization and Exchange
- Law of Public Health in the United States
- Media Advocacy
- Mental Health
- Mental Health Promotion
- Migrant Health
- Migrant Worker Health
- Motor Vehicle Injury Prevention
- Multi-Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis
- Nanotechnology
- National Association of Local Boards of Health
- National Public Health Institutions
- Needs Assessment
- Needs Assessments in International Disasters and Emergenci...
- Obesity Prevention
- Occupational Cancers
- Occupational Exposure to Benzene
- Occupational Exposure to Erionite
- Occupational Safety and Health
- Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)
- Oral Health Equity for Minority Populations in the United ...
- Ottawa Charter
- Parenting and Work
- Parenting Skills and Capacity
- Participatory Action Research
- Patient Decision Making
- Pesticide Exposure and Pesticide Health Effects
- Pesticides
- Physical Activity and Exercise
- Physical Activity Promotion
- Pneumoconiosis
- Polio Eradication in Pakistan
- Population Aging
- Population Determinants of Unhealthy Foods and Beverages
- Population Health Objectives and Targets
- Precautionary Principle
- Prenatal Health
- Preparedness
- Program Evaluation in American Health Education
- Program Planning and Evaluation
- Public Health, History of
- Public Health Surveillance
- Public-Private Partnerships in Public Health Research and ...
- Public-Private Partnerships to Prevent and Manage Obesity ...
- Quackery as a Public Health Problem
- Quantitative Microbial Risk Assessment
- Racism as a Structural Determinant of Health
- Radiation Emergencies and Public Health: Impacts, Prepared...
- Randomized Controlled Trials
- Real World Evaluation Strategies
- Reducing Obesity-Related Health Disparities in Hispanic an...
- Research Integrity in Public Health
- Resilient Health Systems
- Rural Health in the United States
- Safety, Patient
- School Health Programs in the Pacific Region
- Sex Education in HIV/AIDS Prevention
- Silicosis
- Skin Cancer Prevention
- Smoking Cessation
- Social Determinants of Health
- Social Epidemiology
- Social Marketing
- Statistics in Public Health
- STI Networks, Patterns, and Control Strategies
- Stillbirths
- Suicide
- Sustainable Development Goals
- Systems in the United States, Public Health
- Systems Modeling and Big Data for Non-Communicable Disease...
- Systems Theory in Public Health
- Traditional, Complementary, Alternative, and Integrative M...
- Translation of Science to Practice and Policy
- Traumatic Stress and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
- Tuberculosis among Adults and the Determinants of Health
- UK Public Health Systems
- Unintentional Injury Prevention
- Urban Health
- Vaccination, Mandatory
- Vaccine Hesitancy
- Vermiculite
- Violence Prevention
- Vulnerability, Intersectionality and Health in Migration
- War
- Water Quality
- Water Quality and Water-Related Disease
- Weight Management in US Occupational Settings
- Welfare States, Public Health and Health Inequalities
- Workforce
- Worksite Health Promotion
- World Health Organization (WHO)