Every five years the U.S. government issues a new version of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. The most recent version was most recent version was published as the Dietary Guidelines 2005. The dietary guidelines are developed out of recommendations of a dietary guidelines advisory committee. This committee is sponsored and appointed jointly by Department of Agriculture and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

The purpose of the Dietary Guidelines is to simplify authoritative recommendations for the United States public on how to achieve a healthy life through nutrition. The recommendations are based on the best available scientific information; but at the same time, heavy emphasis is based on judgments of the significance of scientific research by the panel of experts. Recommendations are used widely within the United States government for its nutrition policies. Nutrition educators and food planners also employ them.

The Dietary Guidelines are considered to be important to the food industry, which is expected to respect the spirit of the guidelines in the food choices that are made available to the public. The Dietary Guidelines are the basis for the Food Guide Pyramid. The pyramid itself is designed by the Department of Agriculture. This pyramid attempts to further simplify the categorization of health foods and eating patterns.

Although the guidelines advisory panel is not directly responsible for the contents of the Food Guide Pyramid, its recommendations are taken seriously by the Department of Agriculture in the modification of the pyramid. Dr. Scott M. Grundy, director of the Center for Human Nutrition, was a member of the advisory committee of Dietary Guidelines 2000. He was responsible for the "dietary fat guideline". In addition, he contributed to the overall contents of the guideline.

Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2005 was released January 12, 2005, by HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson and USDA Secretary Ann M. Veneman.

Please visit www.healthierus.gov/dietaryguidelines for more information on the 2005 Guidelines.