The recently published 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGAs) recommend Americans consume half of their grains from whole grain sources and the remainder from enriched grains. The guidelines recognize whole grains are “one of the three food groups that are fundamental constituents of a healthy dietary pattern.”

The DGAs also maintain the existing recommendation for the average healthy American adult to consume six one-ounce servings of grain foods daily, with half of those servings coming from whole grains, and for the first time, the DGAs include recommendations for birth to two years.

Published by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Health and Human Services (HHS), the Dietary Guidelines are essential to Federal nutrition policy and nutrition education guidelines and shape consumer health decisions and doctor recommendations.

The Grain Chain, a farm to fork coalition of stakeholders in the grain industry sector and chaired by the American Bakers Association (ABA), is celebrating the recommendation and looking forward to partnering with the USDA and HHS to help educate the public on the value of both enriched and whole grains.

“The American Bakers Association is very appreciative of the thorough work of the DGAC as well as USDA staff in the culmination of their efforts, published today,” says Lee Sanders, senior vice president of government relations and public affairs for the ABA. “ABA has been pleased to lead and work with the Grain Chain throughout the 2020-2025 process, and we strongly agree on the goodness of six grain servings, half enriched grains and half whole grains, on Americans’ daily plates.”

“The Guidelines are an essential map for consumers, policy-makers and feeding program implementers to use as they feed themselves, their families and the most vulnerable in our country,” says Christine Cochran, executive director for the Grain Foods Foundation. “The unity of the Grain Chain’s message and the importance of its being heard have been affirmed in this DGA cycle today: the nutritional contribution of grains is essential in the diet at all stages of life.”