(P35-10-26) What Do Americans Think About the New Dietary Guidelines? Results of a National Survey

Objectives: The 2025-2030 U.S. Dietary Guidelines (DG’s) incorporated major changes from prior guidelines, including raising protein intake recommendations, recommending the avoidance of highly processed foods entirely and introducing a new food guide pyramid (FGP). This study aimed to provide a first look at how Americans feel about the new DG’s and FGP.

Methods: Cross-sectional, nationally representative survey of English-speaking U.S. adults ( > 18 years) administered in mid-January 2026 through NORC’s AmeriSpeak Omnibus panel.  Respondents were asked a series of questions to evaluate their awareness of and opinions about the new DG’s/FGP. Survey data were weighted to produce national representative estimates. Population-weighted percentages are presented.

Results: Among the (n=1,032) respondents to the survey, only 35% reported hearing either a lot or a moderate amount about the DG’s/FGP in the prior month and 65% not much/nothing at all. About equal proportions of the population felt positively and negatively about the DG’s (27% each), with 46% not having an opinion.  After being presented with information about the pyramid, 65% of respondents agreed with the statement that “the food pyramid helps me understand what foods I should eat more or less of”. Females were slightly more likely to agree (70% vs. 59%) with this statement. About 64% of the total population agreed that they had enough time to prepare foods that align with the recommendations. Respondents with a bachelor’s degree (73%) were more likely to agree vs. HS grad or less (58%) and agreement increased with age (73% among 60+y vs. 51% 18-29y). Households making >$100k/year were more likely to agree that they could afford foods that align with the recommendations (81%) vs. 46% among those making < $30k/year. About half (51%) agreed that they wanted to make changes to their diet to align with the recommendations, and 61% said it would be easy to make dietary changes that align with the recommendations.

Conclusions: Awareness of the new DG’s was low, and Americans had mixed feelings about them. Most respondents agreed that the pyramid was useful in helping them understand what to eat, but economic, education, and time constraints limit the perceived ability of many subgroups to adopt the recommendations.

Funding Sources: Silicon Valley Community Foundation