2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines Development Update
By RDBA Executive Director Annette Maggi, MS, RDN, LD, FAND
The second of five meetings of the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee took place last week, continuing discussion on key topics and points of interest. Within the committee, there are six subcommittees addressing specific topics and following prescribed protocols.
Each of the six subcommittees is addressing the following key topics related to a health and wellness issue:
- The Dietary Patterns Subcommittee addresses questions on how dietary patterns impact obesity and the health conditions of greatest public health concern (diabetes, heart health). New to this round of Dietary Guidelines is discussion on how dietary patterns impact neurocognition, which includes cognitive functions such as memory, attention and language, and structures and processes of the central nervous system.
- The Pregnancy and Lactation Subcommittee looks at how eating habits during pregnancy impact gestational diabetes, hypertension risk, and gestational age at birth. Similarly, dietary patterns during lactation and impact on human milk composition, infant development, and post-partum weight loss are being considered. The risk of child food allergies within both time frames is being assessed.
- The Birth to 24-Months Subcommittee considers human milk vs. formula consumption and impact on infant growth and body composition, food allergy risk, and neurocognitive development.
- The Beverages and Added Sugars Subcommittee addresses questions related to added sugar consumption and disease risk as well as the impact of their consumption during pregnancy and lactation.
- The Dietary Fats and Seafood Committee considers the impact of type of fat consumed as well as the impact of seafood consumption at various life stages on neurocognition and diseases like cancer and cardiovascular disease.
- The Frequency of Eating Subcommittee looks at the frequency of food consumption and its relationship to obesity, key health conditions, pregnancy weight gain and post-partum weight loss.
It’s clear in the definition of the subcommittees and the topic being addressed that there is heightened focus in this edition of the Dietary Guidelines review on neurocognition and the gestation and infant life stage. For more information on the Dietary Guidelines development process, click here.
