DGAC identifies America's nutrient shortfalls in latest Dietary Guidelines

WASHINGTON — The 2015 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, a group of prestigious outside experts, on Thursday submitted its recommendations to Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to inform the 2015 edition of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. 

 

According to the Council for Responsible Nutrition, the DGAC identified 10 “shortfall” nutrients — vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin D, vitamin E, folate, calcium, magnesium, fiber, potassium and iron — indicating that they are under-consumed relative to recommendations from the Institute of Medicine. Of these nutrients, the DGAC further classified four of them — vitamin D, calcium, fiber and potassium — as “nutrients of public health concern” because getting insufficient amounts of these particular nutrients has been linked in the scientific literature to adverse health outcomes. 

 

Additionally, iron was identified as a shortfall nutrient of public health concern specifically for adolescent females and premenopausal adult females due to the increased risk of iron deficiency in these populations.  

 

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and U.S. Department of Agriculture will consider this report, along with input from other federal agencies and comments from the public as they develop the 2015 Dietary Guidelines for Americans to be released later this year.

 

"For decades, the Dietary Guidelines for Americans have been at the core of our efforts to promote the health and well-being of American families," stated Secretaries Burwell and Vilsack in a joint statement. "Now that the advisory committee has completed its recommendations, HHS and USDA will review this advisory report, along with comments from the public — including other experts — and input from other federal agencies as we begin the process of updating the guidelines."