"An inside look at the creation and translation of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans"
Abstract
The Dietary Guidelines provide science-based advice on what to eat and drink to promote health, reduce risk of chronic disease, and meet nutrient needs. Designed for policymakers and health professionals, the Dietary Guidelines is used to develop, implement and evaluate Federal nutrition policies and programs. As the scientific knowledge of the connection between diet and health has evolved, so too, has the Dietary Guidelines. Today, with more than half of U.S. adults living with one or more diet-related chronic disease, a fundamental premise of the 2020- 2025 Dietary Guidelines is that just about everyone, no matter their health status, can benefit from shifting food and beverage choices to better support healthy dietary patterns.
In this presentation, Federal staff from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will discuss the history and evolution of U.S. dietary guidance and explain the how the recommendations of the expert committee translate to the evidence-based guidance in the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Participants will gain an understanding of how Federal scientists, nutritionists, and communications experts write the Dietary Guidelines in a manner that is transparent, represents the totality of evidence, and addresses the needs of Federal programs. Using the USDA’s recently released Thrifty Food Plan, 2021 as a case study, this presentation will also detail how the Dietary Guidelines translates to Federal programs and policies.
The Dietary Guidelines for Americans is updated every five years, and the scientific community is integral to this process. Learn about continuous process improvement efforts carried out by USDA and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and how students and researchers can become involved in this process.
Speaker Bios
Julie Obbagy
Julie Obbagy is a Nutritionist for the USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service (FNS), in the Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion (CNPP). She has over 12 years of experience with CNPP’s Nutrition Evidence Systematic Review (NESR) team, conducting systematic reviews on diet- and health-related topics. Dr. Obbagy has played a key role in developing NESR’s rigorous methodology for reviewing food and nutrition-related research. She provided support to the 2010 and 2015 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committees, and was the NESR Project Lead for the 2020 Advisory Committee’s scientific review. Dr. Obbagy received Bachelor’s degrees in Biology and American History from Brown University. She earned a Doctorate in Nutritional Sciences from the Pennsylvania State University. Dr. Obbagy is a Registered Dietitian, completing her Dietetic Internship at the National Institutes of Health.
Claire Brown
Claire Brown works as a Nutritionist on the Nutrition Guidance team at the Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion, part of the USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service (FNS). Claire supported the work of the 2020 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee and served on the writing team for the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2020-2025. More recently, Claire supported the reevaluation of the USDA Thrifty Food Plan, released in August, 2021. Claire has a background in public health and previously worked with WIC and other Federal food assistance programs at the regional level. She is a proud Friedman alum having completed the dual-degree program in 2015. Claire is also a Registered Dietitian and serves as an adjunct faculty at Simmons University. Outside of work Claire is an avid equestrian and amateur gardener.