Press Release

With the 2020-2025 U.S. Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA) released today, the Food4Health Alliance (F4H), which represents ethnic, racial and cultural minorities as well as nutrition specialists and other advocacy groups, remains alarmed that the nation’s official nutrition policy is based on studies conducted almost entirely on white populations, excluding a majority of Americans....

The Food 4 Health (F4H) Alliance sent a letter to the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) highlighting a recent F4H report that found more than 90% of the systematic reviews in the Scientific Report by the 2020 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee did not account for race, ethnicity, and/or socio-economic status. The report also found the Committee relied predominantly on white populations that are questionably generalized to the broader U.S. population....

Two op-eds and one article published in major U.S. outlets last week highlight the need to ensure that the U.S. government’s official nutrition policy, the Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA), better address the health needs of communities of color as well as those with one or more chronic disease....

More than 90% of the systematic reviews in the Scientific Report by the 2020 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee did not account for race, ethnicity, and/or socio-economic status. Moreover, they relied on predominantly white populations that are questionably generalized to the broader US population. These findings come from an in-depth analysis by the Food4Health Alliance on the report’s 56 systematic review questions where the evidence was graded “Strong,” “Medium,” or “Limited.” The disturbing implication is that the 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA) will be questionably appropriate for historically disadvantaged populations. ...

The Food4Health Alliance urges a delay in the publication of the report by the 2020 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee (DGAC), citing concerns about incomplete scientific reviews, reviews that have excluded important bodies of scientific literature and the urgent need for the Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA) to address most Americans, including the 60% with one or more chronic, diet-related diseases. The Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee would benefit from using the three remaining months of its charter to complete its critical work....

Chronic disease rates in the United States are at all-time highs. Today, more than 60 percent of Americans have one or more chronic disease – a number that continues to rise year after year. This problem is exacerbated among minority and traditionally underserved communities who suffer from disproportionately high rates of chronic disease. In recognition of this fact and the opportunity to prevent, reduce, and even reverse rates of chronic disease through the forthcoming Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA), a new group called the Food4Health Alliance launched today to ensure that the next version of our federal nutrition guidance is as reliable as possible and addresses the needs of all Americans....