​The not-so-revolutionary food pyramid

By Ellie Liverani

In January 2026, the 2026-2030 dietary guidelines for Americans were released by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. They are supposed to be revolutionary and a “reset” from the previous ones. Are they? And if so, how revolutionary?

First, the renewal was due because dietary guidelines get reviewed every five years. So this was not an unexpected release as much as a routine task for the Department of Health. Second, it is important to reiterate that no cartoon online, no website — and not even the new extended guidelines — can tell us what to eat. For that, we need a dietitian or a nutritionist (or maybe our grandmother).

The guidelines implore us to “eat real food” and impose limits on added sugar and processed food. This is good advice, but I was able to find the same lines in previous dietary guidelines for Americans (even as early as 2000). So far, this is not revolutionary nor a reset.

The actual pyramid got very popular. It’s a flipped (or inverted) pyramid.. The top (the big portion) is shared equally by “protein, dairy, and healthy fats” and veggies. The bottom (the small part) is whole grains. The middle is nuts and fruits. A few relevant things seem to be missed: fiber, for instance, and legumes. And proportions!

But thankfully, more information is included in the actual guidelines. They are economically written, especially in comparison with previous versions, but are they as comprehensive?

Is the pyramid, as captivating as it looks, an accurate representation of the “real” guidelines?

Meat and dairy are a significant part of the new pyramid. The other part of the base is veggies. If you are thinking of bingeing on bacon, think again, because there is a catch.

When looking at the pyramid, it appears that you can eat meat, dairy and vegetables in similar amounts. But the daily dose of saturated fat recommended is 10% of your total calories (the same as the previous guideline). In the end, meat and dairy are still limited and definitely not recommended in the same amounts as broccoli. I would go as far as say that you are more limited in meat and dairy now, as the low-fat options are highly discouraged. And this is different from previous guidelines.

The daily recommended dose of protein intake has increased. It is now from 0.8 to 1.2 grams/kilos of body weight (as a minimum). The previous range was around 0.8-1 gram/kilo of body weight, so the increase is about 20%. This is important and supported by science. Proteins are essential for our health, in particular to maintain skeletal muscles and strong bones. However, it is not enough to just eat protein to keep or build muscles. We can binge on protein powder as if there were no tomorrow, but if you do not use your muscles, you lose them.

Alcohol intake is not encouraged but allowed. The recommended quantity is vague. However, alcohol is sugar, so I understand it is implicitly limited. It is interesting as they claim that alcohol is important for a social life. I agree that there is more to health than just what we eat, like fun.

I guess part of the “revolution” is the “war on sugar”. This reminds me of the food fights that I have seen in movies. Are we now allowed to throw sugar at others? Or processed food, as it also seems to be under attack? Water balloons filled with wine are probably not part of the war, as fermented sugar is allowed. We should be happy because sugar is better than throwing a whole chicken in a food fight (although the effort could be good for building muscles).

The guidelines tell you which “carbohydrates” to limit, but they do not tell you what to eat or what qualifies as “good stuff”. Two to four servings per day is vague. However, if we take into account the recommendations for fat and proteins, carbohydrates are still more than 50% of our diet. And overall, that is within the range of previous guidelines.

Legumes are included in the guidelines and vegans and vegetarians are mentioned briefly, so we still see support for whoever is not eating meat or dairy. Contrary to previous guidelines, there is not a big emphasis on fiber, which is important for our gut health and general well-being (and notoriously neglected).

In conclusion, the pyramid is a fun image to look at, but it is not a faithful representation of the guidelines. Moreover, the actual guidelines do not cover all the important parts of our diet and they focus on what we need to “limit” rather than on what we should eat and how much.

I checked the dietary guidelines of other countries. The images are always fun to look at, but overall, there is not such a significant difference in the recommendations for Americans. For instance, in Japan, the image is a spinning top! The top (big portion of the spinning top) is carbohydrates, then veggies and then meat and dairy share the bottom. It seems to be the opposite of the new, updated “revolutionary” U.S. pyramid, but math-wise, it is pretty similar. It is good news as Japan has one of the healthiest populations in the world!

Despite not being “revolutionary,” the new guidelines have provided an excuse to talk about our diet, which is a key component of our well being. This is very important. But for now, we might still need a nutritionist (or another expert, like our grandmother).

Reach Dr. Ellie Liverani at eli.liverani.ra@gmail.com.