Nutrition and Your Health:

Dietary Guidelines for Americans

What should Americans eat to stay healthy?

These guidelines help answer this question. They are advice for healthy Americans ages 2 years and over -- not for younger children and infants, whose dietary needs differ. The guidelines reflect recommendations of nutrition authorities who agree that enough is known about diet's effect on health to encourage certain dietary practices by Americans.

Many American diets have too many calories and too much fat (especially saturated fat), cholesterol, and sodium. They also have too little complex carbohydrates and fiber. Such diets are one cause of America's high rates of obesity and of certain diseases -- heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke, diabetes, and some forms of cancer. The exact role of diet in some of these is still being studied.

Diseases caused by vitamin and mineral deficiencies are rare in this country. But some people do not get recommended amounts of a few nutrients, especially calcium and iron.

Food alone cannot make you healthy. Good health also depends on your heredity, your environment, and the health care you get. Your lifestyle is also important to your health -- how much you exercise and whether you smoke, drink alcoholic beverages to excess, or abuse drugs, for example. But a diet based on these guidelines can help you keep healthy and may improve your health.

The first two guidelines form the framework for the diet: "Eat a variety of foods" for the nutrients you need and for energy (calories) to "Maintain healthy weight." The next two guidelines stress the need for many Americans to change their diets to be lower in fat, especially saturated fat, and higher in complex carbohydrates and fiber. Other guidelines suggest only moderate use of sugars, salt, and, if used at all, alcoholic beverages.

• Eat a variety of foods
• Maintain healthy weight
• Choose a diet low in fat, saturated fat, and cholesterol
• Choose a diet with plenty of vegetables, fruits, and grain products
• Use sugars only in moderation
• Use salt and sodium only in moderation
• If you drink alcoholic beverages, do so in moderation.

These guidelines call for moderation -- avoiding extremes in diet. Both eating too much and eating too little can be harmful. Also, be cautious of diets based on the belief that a food or supplement alone can cure or prevent disease.

Your good health may depend on your learning more about yourself. Are you at your healthy weight? Are your blood pressure and your blood cholesterol levels too high? If so, diet or medicine your doctor prescribes may help reduce them. Generally, the sooner a problem is found, the easier it is to treat.

The foods Americans have to choose from are varied, plentiful, and safe to eat. These guidelines can help you choose a diet that is both healthful and enjoyable.

Read on for more about each guideline -- what it means, how it is important to health, brief "advice for today," and some tips on using the guideline. How to get more help...

Back to Dietary Guidelines for Americans Introduction