The White House unveiled sweeping changes to federal dietary guidelines Wednesday, marking what officials are calling the most dramatic overhaul of American nutrition policy in decades.
The new framework introduces an inverted food pyramid that fundamentally restructures decades of federal dietary advice.
Under the revised system, vegetables, fruits, proteins, dairy and healthy fats now occupy the top tier of recommended foods.
Whole grains have been repositioned to the bottom of the pyramid.
Officials say the redesign prioritizes metabolic health, chronic disease prevention and food quality over previous approaches.
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced the changes alongside other senior administration officials.
Kennedy emphasized the shift toward what he described as nutrient-dense whole foods rather than processed carbohydrates.
“The new guidelines recognize that whole, nutrient-dense food is the most effective path to better health and lower health care costs,” Kennedy said.
“The new framework centers on protein and healthy fats, vegetables, fruits and whole grains. It’s upside down, a lot of people say. It was actually upside down before.”
The original federal food pyramid emerged in the 1990s and recommended Americans consume eight to eleven daily servings of bread, rice, pasta, and other grain products.
Fats and sugars sat at the pyramid’s peak under that model.
The Obama administration later replaced that system with MyPlate, which featured a circular plate divided into food groups.
The Trump administration’s new guidelines now supersede that framework entirely.
The updated recommendations appear on a newly launched federal website at realfood.gov. The site provides detailed guidance on implementing the administration’s nutrition philosophy.
Kennedy joined Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Marty Makary, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Mehmet Oz, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins and press secretary Karoline Leavitt for the announcement.
The briefing marked the first White House press conference of 2026.
During the presentation, Kennedy addressed questions about vaccination policy changes. “I’ve always promised I’m not going to take people’s vaccines away from them… Everybody who wants them can get all of the vaccines that were on the old schedule… We released guidelines that we think are optimal to public health,” Kennedy said.
Oz connected the dietary changes directly to federal healthcare spending and national economic strength. “You can’t be a wealthy nation without being a healthy nation,” Oz said.
He pointed to obesity-related healthcare expenditures as a key driver behind the policy shift. “30% of healthcare costs are directly attributable to obesity… that’s about $300B a year for just Medicare, just Medicare,” Oz said.
The Medicare administrator suggested the new guidelines could significantly reduce pharmaceutical dependency among Americans.
“What you’re hearing today with these dietary guideline adjustments are going to be massively effective, in not just dropping the need for us to buy these weight loss drugs, but buy expensive drugs for autoimmune problems,” Oz said.
