USDA and HHS Declare New Dietary Guidelines to Help Address Obesity Epidemic in America

Recently, Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Kathleen Sebelius along with Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced the government’s evidenced-based, release of the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. The new nutritional guidelines are designed to help promote better health along with improved nutrition and to help decrease the widespread of obesity.

According to the USDA, there are more than one-third of children and adults in America that are overweight. The 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 7^th edition, is aimed at placing more urgency on reducing high-caloric consumption while influencing the increase of physical activities.

“The 2010 Guidelines are being released at a time when the majority of adults and one in three children is overweight or obese and this is a crisis that we can no longer ignore,” said Secretary Vilsack. “These new and improved dietary recommendations give individuals the information to make a thoughtful choice of healthier foods and to complement those choices with physical activity. The bottom line is that most Americans need to trim our waistlines to reduce the risk of developing diet-related chronic disease.” The 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans also focuses on encouraging Americans to add more healthy foods to their diet such as fat free and low-fat dairy products and whole grains while consuming less sodium (salt), trans fat, and added sugars (i.e., high-fructose corn syrup, fruit juice concentrates, and dextrose).

“Helping Americans incorporate these guidelines into their everyday lives is important to improving the overall health of the American people,” said Health and Human Services Secretary Sebelius. “The new Dietary Guidelines provide concrete action steps to help people live healthier, more physically active and longer lives.”

These Dietary Guidelines assist policymakers in applying and designing nutrition-related programs. They also form federal nutrition assistance programs such as Meals on Wheels for seniors and the school meal plans for grades K-12. The Guidelines provide tons of information and dietary advice to dieticians and many other health professionals.

More information on dietary guidelines can be found online, visit www.health.gov/dietaryguidelines and www.healthfinder.gov/prevention. The new 2010 Dietary Guidelines is available at www.dietaryguidelines.gov.