3 March 2025

I don't know why I vividly remember the Four Food Groups that I learned about in Junior High School (maybe I was always destined to be a dietitian!). For over a century, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has played a central role in shaping the nation’s dietary habits. The USDA Dietary Guidelines have evolved significantly, reflecting changes in scientific understanding, public health concerns, and consumer needs…but perhaps not as much as you would think!

From the simple four food groups to the latest MyPlate model, fun graphics and their accompanying guidelines have sought to provide clear and actionable nutrition advice to Americans. I thought it would be fun to look at the Dietary Guidelines that USDA has provided for us over the years and see how and why it has changed.

Pre-Official Dietary Guidelines

During WWII (1943), the USDA published a “Basic 7" chart to help consumers choose a healthy diet with rationing. Note that the first three food groups are fruits and vegetables: green and yellow vegetables, citrus and tomatoes, and potatoes and other vegetables and fruits. As a campus nutritionist at Pleasantville Cottage Schools, I can report that this breakdown closely resembles current federal requirements for school lunch programs.

Condensed and made “official” in a quarter of a century

The first widely recognized USDA dietary guidance was the “Basic Four,” introduced in 1956. This framework emphasized four essential food groups (I couldn't find an exact replica of what I remembered):

1. Milk Group (including dairy products like milk, cheese, and yogurt)
2. Meat Group (including meats, poultry, fish, eggs, and nuts)
3. Vegetable and Fruit Group (encouraging consumption of a variety of fresh produce)
4. Bread and Cereal Group (emphasizing whole grains and fortified cereals)

This simple structure was intended to ensure nutritional adequacy, but lacked guidance on portion sizes or the risks associated with excessive consumption of certain foods, such as saturated fats and added sugars.

More specific dietary guidelines were issued in 1980 by the USDA and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Entitled Nutrition and Your Health: Dietary Guidelines for Americans, they described seven principles for a healthful diet to help healthy people in making daily food choices. At this point, heart disease killed less than 3% of the one million it kills annually today, and most of them (over 94%) were over 65. It made sense to provide guidelines for healthy consumers. The suggestions were pretty sensible, and something I might recommend even today, but faced controversy from some groups (early lobbyists? I'm guessing the sugar and salt boards).

This is what led to the formation of a Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, outside of the federal sector, who would examine the research and make recommendations for future guidelines. It appears that this group was either too lazy to do more research, or found the “controversial” recommendations from the 1980 guidelines to be fairly accurate because the 1985 guidelines didn't seem to differ much.

A Positive Spin

In between, a law was passed requiring the Dietary Guidelines to be reviewed every five years. The wording was made more positive - instead of “avoid”, using “choose”. Of course, I support that - law of attraction and all… In 1995, they also added the physical activity element. So far, so good, although this may have been a pre-cursor to the soda companies blaming obesity on “energy balance” in the next decade.

The Food Guide Pyramid (1992-2005)

In response to rising concerns about obesity and heart disease, the USDA replaced the Basic Four with the Food Guide Pyramid in 1992. This new model provided a more nuanced approach by adding recommended servings and categorizing food groups into hierarchical levels:

• The base of the pyramid emphasized bread, cereal, rice, and pasta as dietary staples.
• The next level encouraged vegetables and fruits, suggesting multiple servings per day.
• The middle section included dairy and protein sources (meat, poultry, fish, eggs, nuts, and beans), recommending moderate intake.
• The top of the pyramid highlighted fats, oils, and sweets, advising small amounts or infrequent consumption.

This model was the first to address proportionality and moderation, but it was criticized for its complexity and lack of distinction between healthy and unhealthy sources within each group, e.g. an apple vs. apple pie.

MyPyramid (2005-2011)

To address the shortcomings of the Food Guide Pyramid, the USDA introduced MyPyramid in 2005. This updated, colorful version:

• Replaced the stacked levels with vertical colored bands representing different food groups.
• Added a figure climbing stairs on the side to promote physical activity (not an original idea).
• Stressed the importance of personalization based on age, sex, and activity level (not a substitute for a Registered Dietitian 😊).

Although MyPyramid was more flexible and emphasized whole grains, lean proteins, and healthy fats, apparently many consumers found it confusing due to its abstract design and lack of clear visual guidance.

Putting all the food groups on equal footing at the bottom demonstrates their equal importance, however does not clearly display proportionality. Perhaps that was the point. A spike in campaign contributions from the dairy industry in 2000, increased lobbying from the meat industry, and the 2001 merger of Tyson (the country's largest poultry company) with IBP (the nation's largest beef company) meant that a large block of federal legislators had vested interests in meat and dairy.

MyPlate (2011-Present)

In 2011, the USDA unveiled MyPlate, a simpler, supposedly more intuitive model designed to guide meal planning. As a Registered Dietitian at this point, I knew consumers had not utilized previous guidelines to benefit their health, but thought a new nutrition-for-dummies graphic was not the answer. As I began using MyPlate, though, I realized the genius of it.

MyPlate presents a visual representation of a balanced plate divided into four sections, accompanied by four strategies (and my expert commentary):

• Make half your plate fruits and vegetables; focus on whole fruits and vary your veggies. Yay, this is my favorite slogan and the single biggest action you can take to improve your health!
• Make half your grains whole grains. I prefer to say “most” but appreciate the healthy carb recommendation.
• Vary your protein routine. Protein is a macronutrient, not a food, but agree they have the right idea about getting protein from a variety of sources.
• Dairy is represented as a cup and doesn't quite have the same zippy tag line: Move to low-fat or fat-free dairy milk or yogurt (or lactose-free dairy or fortified soy versions). I'd suggest we go back to combining protein and dairy, and make the cup a glass of water.

MyPlate focuses on portion sizes, variety, and nutrient density while supposedly encouraging healthier choices such as whole grains, lean proteins, and low-fat dairy. It has been widely accepted as an easy-to-follow tool for consumers of all ages. It includes no actual pictures of foods in it, making it easy to apply in a country where over 50% of our intake is in the form of ultraprocessed food.

BTW, experts and consumers had advocated unsuccessfully for getting sustainability and environmental provisions included in this iteration of the Dietary Guidelines.

Mission of the USDA

This is from their website:

We have a vision to provide economic opportunity through innovation, helping rural America to thrive; to promote agriculture production that better nourishes Americans while also helping feed others throughout the world; and to preserve our Nation's natural resources through conservation, restored forests, improved watersheds, and healthy private working lands.

The problem with our dietary guidelines has always been a conflict between their many goals. But I would argue that the primary issue at present is the extreme power of a few agricultural players (money in politics). Helping our farmers to farm according to the guidelines (more veggies, less meat) and adapt to climate change, providing a market by way of feeding our nation's poor and sending food aid elsewhere, conserving forests, water and land so that they can regeneratively support a healthy food system - all of these things are wins for farmers AND consumers.

Make America Healthy Again?

So it would seem we are now back to square one. The USDA is currently (or soon) considering the Scientific Report of the 2025 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee for the next release of guidelines. Experts have weighed in on including new topics like food justice, climate impacts and encouraging legumes as a primary protein source (if you want some tasty ideas for inexpensive egg alternatives, reach out!).

It's true - most consumers have ignored the guidelines from the USDA for decades - however food purchases for many huge federal programs (e.g. SNAP, school lunch) are based upon them. That impacts our food system, health care expenditures, farmer survival and overall economy. I hope that the Trump administration will take all of this - and the current preponderance of scientific data - into consideration and act on behalf of the entire USA. Our collective success depends upon it.