Public perceptions of the 2025-2030 Dietary Guidelines for Americans

The 2025-2030 Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGAs), released in January 2026, generated substantial controversy among public health experts. However, little is known about public perceptions of the new DGAs.

A nationally representative, web-based survey was fielded by Verasight from March 6-16, 2026. One-thousand US adults were randomized to complete the DGA perception questions. Respondents were asked four questions about their familiarity with the new DGAs, trust in the scientific basis of the DGAs, usefulness of the DGAs for decision-making, and support for incorporating environmental sustainability into future DGAs. Responses were analyzed overall using ordinal logistic regressions and chi-squared tests were used to assess differences across socio-demographic subgroups. All analyses were survey-weighted and were completed in 2026.

Overall, 50% of US adults did not trust that the recommendations in the new DGAs were based on sound scientific evidence; whereas, 35% did. Respondents were split between finding the DGAs useful (41%) versus not useful (44%), with 16% 'not sure'. Responses were significantly different (p's<0.01) based on education, household income, and political party affiliation with more unfavorable opinions about the new DGAs among those with higher education, higher income, and among Democrats and Independents. Support for including environmental sustainability into the DGAs (40%) was higher than opposition (24%), with 36.0% of adults being neutral.

Results from this nationally representative survey showed US adults are divided about the trustworthiness and usefulness of the 2025-2030 DGAs, particularly along socio-economic and political lines which could have implications for dietary quality and health.