In December 2024, the much-anticipated Scientific Report of the 2025 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee was released. This 421-page report, compiled after years of research, reviews, and meetings, details expert recommendations that will shape the forthcoming 2025-2030 Dietary Guidelines for Americans.

While new and sometimes contradictory nutrition studies make for splashy headlines, the reality is that the research remains fairly consistent on the fundamental elements of a healthy diet. More healthy plant foods, like vegetables, fruits, whole grains, legumes, nuts, and seeds. Fewer servings of red and processed meat and sugary beverages. Reducing salt intake. Opting for heart-healthy fat sources such as extra virgin olive oil, nuts, and fish.

Part of the years-long review process for developing this report included modifying the whole and refined grain food groups to see how that impacted overall diet quality and risk of diet-related disease. Ultimately however, the health benefits of whole grains were crystal clear, and the recommendation to make at least half your grains whole remains, with specific guidance to “encourage mostly whole grains and lower refined grains.” For infants aged 12-23 months, the recommendation remains to make upwards of ⅔ of grains whole (sometimes as much as ⅚ of grains whole, depending on their calorie level), because infants have such high nutrient needs for the small number of calories they require.

Encouragingly, the report indicates that we’ve made significant progress across many age groups. Whole grain intake doubled for 12–19-year-olds from 200¾ to 2017/18 (from 0.4 to 0.8 ounce-equivalents per day) and increased significantly for adults ages 20 and older (from 0.6 to 0.8 ounce-equivalents per day) across the same period.

The report confirms that diets higher in whole grains are linked with a lower risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, colorectal cancer, breast cancer, obesity, gestational diabetes, excess gestational weight gain, and small-for-gestational age babies. When describing the flexibilities that exist within the recommended “Eat Healthy Your Way” Dietary pattern, the report proposes “noting how intakes should be at least half Whole Grains, but highlighting shifts to even more Whole Grains.”

Additionally, the report includes the recommendation to “Increase emphasis on Whole Grains, provide clear definitions and/or examples of Whole Grains, recommend that Grains are “mostly Whole Grains” instead of “at least half Whole Grains,” and support exploring fortification/enrichment of Whole Grains.”

It remains to be seen how these recommendations will play out in the forthcoming 2025-2030 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, as the guidelines are written by the Department of Health and Human Services and the United States Department of Agriculture, rather than the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee. However, it is clear that whole grains are an important part of a well-balanced diet, and we expect to see continued emphasis on whole grain consumption. (Kelly)

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