US dietary guidelines make biggest shift in decades
Jan 8, 2026, 7:27 PM | Updated: Jan 9, 2026, 11:50 am
“Eat real food,” is the message for the newly-released US dietary guidelines.
The U.S. food pyramid is updated every five years, but this is the first time since 1992 that the pyramid is truly changing.
The new guidelines encourage the consumption of fewer processed foods and more whole foods, fruits and vegetables. The older pyramid was heavily influenced by contributions from the grain industry.
The new dietary guidelines call for prioritizing high-quality protein, healthy fats, fruits, vegetables and whole grains – and avoiding highly processed foods and refined carbohydrates.
The message is urging consumers to avoid “packaged, prepared, ready-to-eat or other foods that are salty or sweet, such as chips, cookies and candy.”
That’s a different term for ultra processed foods, the super-tasty, energy-dense products that make up more than half of the calories in the U.S. diet and have been linked to chronic diseases such as diabetes and obesity.
“Ultra processed” or “highly processed” food is the same thing and eliminating processed food could radically improve the health of Americans. The problem is the cost of eating processed food is cheaper than eating whole foods, fruits and vegetables. Convenience and cost can win in the economy.
How much sugar you should consume in a day? No one meal should contain more than 10 grams of added sugars, or about two teaspoons, the new guidelines say.
Previous federal guidelines recommended limiting added sugars to less than 10 percent of daily calories or people older than 2, but to aim for less. That’s about 12 teaspoons a day in a 2,000-calorie daily diet. Children younger than 2 should have no added sugars at all, the older guidance said.
In general, most Americans consume about 17 teaspoons of added sugars per day, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The process to develop the Dietary Guidelines is detailed on the dietaryguidelines.gov website.
Read more about the new dietary guidelines for protein, saturated fats and alcohol here.
