WASHINGTON (BakingBusiness.com) — Concerns in the baking industry over how the Make America Healthy Again Commission may influence the upcoming Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2025-2030 continue to mount. The recommended intake of grains potentially could change. The Guidelines’ stance on fat, including saturated fat, may become more lenient, and ultra-processed food also may be addressed.
The US Department of Health and Human Services, which includes the US Food and Drug Administration, and the US Department of Agriculture put together the Guidelines every five years. While the document traditionally reflects the findings of a Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, the 2025-2030 committee was formed during the previous presidential administration of Joe Biden.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order in February to create the Make America Healthy Again Commission, which issued a report in September saying the 2025-2030 Dietary Guidelines will align with science, data and health recommendations.
“They may be very different from the existing DGAs if some of the food and nutrition topics discussed by MAHA are adopted,” said Joanne Slavin, PhD, a professor in the University of Minnesota Department of Food Science and a member of the 2010 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee.
Outside of the Guidelines, the MAHA Commission report said the HHS and the USDA will remove restrictions on whole milk sales in schools, allowing districts to offer full-fat dairy options alongside reduced fat alternatives. Mandatory reduced-fat requirements in federal nutrition programs will be eliminated to allow consumer choice, according to the MAHA Commission report.
Previous Guidelines have recommended that American limit their saturated fat intake to less than 10% of total caloric intake.
“It’s anticipated the final Guidelines may shift toward higher recommendations for meat and full-fat dairy and recommended lower intake of foods that contain carbohydrates — like grain foods,” said Erin Ball, executive director of the Grain Foods Foundation. “When grain foods are included, the emphasis may be to focus solely on whole grains.”
Previous Guidelines have recommended six servings of grains per day, with three being whole grains and three being refined grains, which include enriched grains.
“There have been indications that the new Guidelines may recommend further limiting refined grains — even those that are enriched, culturally significant or important nutrient delivery vehicles,” Ball said.
The grains food group (assuming the guidance of half whole grains and half refined enriched grains) provides macronutrients (carbohydrates, protein and dietary fat), fiber, and key vitamins and minerals, Ball said.
“Modeling from the Advisory Committee shows that reducing refined, enriched grains to less than half of total grain intake can create nutrient shortfalls — particularly, iron in children, adolescent girls and women of child-bearing age,” Ball said.
The DGAC found that inadequate intake of nutrient-dense, carbohydrate-containing foods leads to micronutrient deficiencies, including underconsumed nutrients of public health concern (such as fiber, potassium and calcium), she said. The committee also found that refined, enriched staple grain foods (such as sandwich bread and rolls, tortillas, rice and pasta) are among the top carriers of vegetables in the American diet. As a result, these healthy grain foods also are among the major sources of potassium and fiber.
“We may see differences not just from the current 2020-2025 edition, but also from what the 2025 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee recommended,” Ball said. “This is important because the Guidelines are intended to be based on the committee’s scientific review.”
Full-fat dairy
The update Guidelines stand a good chance of pleasing the dairy industry.
“Dairy has consistently held a central place in every edition of the DGA, including its own food group and a longstanding recommendation for Americans to consume three servings per day,” said Michelle Albee Matto, vice president of regulatory affairs and nutrition for the International Dairy Foods Association. “Yet 90% of Americans continue to fall short in consuming recommended levels of dairy. IDFA is hopeful this new edition of the DGA addresses this problem in part by recommending consumption of dairy at all fat levels in a healthy meal pattern.”
Modern nutrition science shows that full-fat dairy foods can be part of a healthy, balanced diet, she said.
“This includes whole milk and full-fat yogurt, cheese and other dairy foods that have been shown to have neutral or positive health effects,” Matto said. “If the DGA changes the long-standing saturated fat restriction, it would mark the first major shift on dairy fat guidance in more than 40 years. This change would validate current research and offer consumers greater flexibility to choose dairy foods that fit their cultural, nutritional and taste preferences.”
Ball said any DGA changes on fat would go against the findings of the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee.
“Recent opinions, including those included in the MAHA Commission assessment report, suggesting that butter and lard are healthier than refined plant oil are not supported by the totality of scientific evidence the committee evaluated,” she said. “If the final Guidelines reflect opinions over scientific evidence, it could have significant implications for public health, since federal nutrition programs — including school meals and WIC — must follow the Guidelines.”
Kantha Shelke, PhD, a senior lecturer on food safety regulations at Johns Hopkins University and principal of Corvus Blue LLC, Chicago, said she expects the DGA to keep the current recommendation on saturated fat as well as the current recommendations to limit added sugars to less than 10% of total caloric intake and limit sodium to less than 2,300 mg per day.
She noted that Robert F. Kennedy Jr., commissioner of the HHS, has suggested that recommendations on saturated fat could be relaxed.
“Critically note that the current (presidential) administration is conducting a ‘line-by-line review’ with promises of major, dramatic changes,” Shelke said. “So which recommendations survive into the final December 2025 release remains uncertain, and your guess is as good as mine.”
Defining ultra-processed
The HHS and the USDA in July jointly issued a request for information (RFI) to gather data to help establish a federally recognized uniform definition for ultra-processed foods (UPFs). There currently is no federal definition for ultra-processed foods.
“It is likely that the DGA will support limiting consumption of ultra-processed foods and food additives that are currently used for many attributes used in processed foods such as stability, food safety and food taste,” Slavin said. “New guidance on seed oils and alternative sweeteners may also be included.”
Ball said, “The Guidelines will likely include language encouraging Americans to consume fewer ‘highly processed’ foods. But because there is no standardized definition of ‘highly’ or ‘ultra’ processed, many people interpret the term inconsistently, and grain foods such as bread often get mislabeled as foods to avoid.
“This misunderstanding could affect both the baking industry and public health, since grains contribute to nutrient needs and support healthy outcomes when consumed as part of an eating pattern that also includes other nutrient-dense foods.”
The government has yet to announce when the DGA 2025-2030 will be released.
“Several release dates have been mentioned publicly, many of which have passed,” Ball said.
The announcement has been delayed before. The HHS and the USDA released the 2010-2015 Dietary Guidelines for Americans on Jan. 31, 2011.
“We don’t have any intel on when they will be released,” Matto said of the upcoming Guidelines. “They are due in 2025, but the government shutdown may have delayed finalizing the report until the New Year.”
Shelke said that, based on publicly available information, she expects the DGA to be released on Dec. 31.
More at: https://www.bakingbusiness.com/articles/65367-bracing-for-maha-commission-influence-on-dietary-guidelines?utm_source=Baking+%26+Snack+Update&utm_medium=Newsletter&oly_enc_id=3436E0774901H1H
