DeLauro Leads Eight Members of Congress in Supporting Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee Report

WASHINGTON, DC— Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) today led eight members of Congress in supporting the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee Report that provides recommendations for the next edition of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Those guidelines contain information on how to live healthier lives, and are a critical tool for efforts to improve public health and to decrease Americans’ risk of developing heart disease, diabetes, cancer, tooth decay and other chronic diseases.

The letter to Secretaries Tom Vilsack and Sylvia Mathews Burwell was signed by DeLauro, and Democratic Representatives Ted Deutch, Tim Ryan, John Conyers, Donald Payne Jr, Chellie Pingree, Bobby Rush and Jose Serrano.

“The experts on the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee based their report on the best available scientific evidence for what constitutes healthful diets for Americans through the utilization of a rigorous, evidence-based evaluation process,” they wrote. “The basic nutrition advice in the Guidelines has been largely unchanged for years. Also unchanged, unfortunately, has been the public’s consistent under-consumption of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, often due to lack of access and affordability, and over-consumption and over-promotion of foods associated with many of the chronic diseases burdening our constituents.

“Given this continuing disconnect, the report also rightly translates the evidence-based science in the report into public health policy recommendations. These should be reflected in the final Guidelines to ensure that the government’s sound nutrition science results in health-promoting, actionable changes that serve the public health goals of federal, state and local stakeholders.”


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