“Food is hope, food is dignity, food is empathy. Food is community, food is family, food is caring. Food is nourishment and food is resilience. Food is building longer tables. Food is peace. Food is love!”
The Dietary Guidelines for Americans (the Guidelines) offer information on how to eat and drink to ensure that you are getting the nutrients you need, to improve health and avoid disease. Every five years, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (HHS) as well as Health Promotion (HHS) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) collaborate to evaluate the current scientific literature on nutrition and revise the Guidelines. To ensure that the Guidelines continue to meet the needs of everyone’s health people, those of us who are part of the process of development sincerely ask for feedback and participation from people working in the field of public health and nutrition and, equally important, the general population all over the world.
The Dietary Guidelines exists for the benefit of all. It is a framework that can be customized to eat healthy that can be customized and modified to suit the cultural, personal and traditional preferences of everyone. For the purpose of ensuring that Guidelines are in line with this goal The Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee examines the connection between diet and health at all life stages. It is doing so using an equity lens. This is taking a look at the scientific literature, evidence and research that takes into account the factors like socioeconomic position and race, ethnicity, and their relationship to nutrition and eating.
Participation from the public is so important. Comments from the public help inform Committee’s efforts to develop guidelines that are able to meet the requirements of a growingly diverse nation and reflect the diversity of its practices and customs. Participation from the public provides an opportunity to enhance the Committee’s knowledge of a wide variety of personal experiences and opinions about nutrition. This understanding assists HHS as well as USDA to create Guidelines which meet the requirements of this same audience.
My suggestion for the public to participate is easy Participate. This is an invitation to all those who work in the field of food, nutrition, health, decision-makers, and the general public, everyone. Your participation and views matter. There are numerous ways to get involved.
If you’re not familiar with what is the Dietary Guidelines process and its formulation, concepts in nutrition science, or concerns involving eating disorders, a quick read of each could be a good place to start. A few sources to think about include:
In the course of developing The Dietary Guidelines, we strive to comply with the highest level of scientific standards. We accomplish this in a clear and transparent manner. By inviting the public to observe and participate in meetings that are open to the public implements those principles and offers a further check on the progress. In the last month, HHS and USDA announced that the Committee is scheduled to hold its third meeting on September 12-13, 2023. It will be accessible to all interested parties via a live webcast. Details for viewing the livestream can be found at DietaryGuidelines.gov. I would encourage you to join me for the livestream.
Furthermore, during the third meeting, the Committee will also hear oral submissions (of between two and three minute every two minutes) by the general public. The opportunity to request to present oral comments will open on Thursday, August 10 at 10:00 am ET at DietaryGuidelines.gov. The request must be accompanied by an outline of the written form or a brief description of the proposed oral comment that is not more than 400 words. The Committee has limited space, therefore requests will be considered on a first-come-first-served basis. Participants who are confirmed to make orally-based comments to the Committee can choose to record a audio recording to play on September 12 or live on a webinar. Further details will be included within the email confirmation. If you’re unable to make oral comments you can submit written remarks to the Committee continues and will be available until the Committee is finished with its work.