Pending US Dietary Guidelines Will Consider Full Life Span, Evaluate Benefits From Supplements

Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee notes additional guidelines for young children and pregnant women were required by language in the 2014 farm bill. “As a result, this edition will cover the full lifespan.”

Nutritional product industry trade groups support an advisory committee's emphasis on supplementation among infants, toddlers and pregnant women in its report on the next dietary guidelines from the US Department of Agriculture and the Department of Health and Human Services. 

In its Scientific Report on the pending 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines For Americans released on 15 July, the advisory committee stated concerns about under-consumption among children of vitamin D, calcium, dietary fiber and potassium.

It also noted that adding guidelines for young children and pregnant women were required by language in the 2014 farm bill. “As a result, this edition will cover the full lifespan,” the committee stated.

“This reinforces what we already know: that access to proper nutrition, especially for children and pregnant mothers, is critical to long-term health,” said Daniel Fabricant, Natural Products Association president and CEO, in a 17 July statement.

Additional Nutrients Reported As Under-Consumed

The Council for Responsible Nutrition on 22 July stated that the committee identified vitamins A, C, D, E and K, calcium, magnesium, dietary fiber, choline, and potassium as under-consumed nutrients, indicating they are “consumed by many individuals in amounts below the Estimated Average Requirement or Adequate Intake levels.”

“CRN is especially pleased to see the Committee’s recognition of the appropriate use of dietary supplements during pregnancy and lactation life stages. We appreciate the report’s acknowledgment that nutrient needs during these life stages are not expected to be met by food alone, especially for essential nutrients like iron, iodine, and folic acid,” said Haiuyen Nguyen, the Council for Responsible Nutrition’s senior director, scientific and regulatory affairs.

CRN also agrees with the committee’s suggestion that choline and magnesium should be further evaluated as levels of inadequacy of both nutrients are high in pregnant and lactating women.

The group notes that vitamin D, iron, calcium, dietary fiber, and potassium remain included as nutrients of public health concern in the report because they continue to be consistently under- consumed by the US population and under-consumption is linked to adverse health outcomes.

The committee lists vitamin D as a nutrient of public health concern for all ages and genders, while iron concerns are targeted to adolescent females and pregnant women. The report suggests that consumers discuss vitamin D and iron supplementation with a healthcare provider and notes that neither nutrient is easy to obtain from food alone without exceeding caloric needs.

NPA noted that it supports legislation that would expand the Supplement Nutrition Assistance Program and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children programs to cover nutritional supplements. The trade group has also pushed for Congress to allow tax-deferred healthcare spending accounts to be used for designated nutritional and dietary supplements to support health and wellbeing. (Also see "House Members Suggest Buying Some Supplements With Pre-Tax Savings" - HBW Insight, 15 Nov, 2019.) 

Evaluation Of Supplements Also New

CRN also pointed out the advisory committee has shifted from previously not acknowledging benefits from dietary supplements in overall nutrition to recognizing that supplements help in meeting nutrition and health needs. (Also see "Dietary Guidelines Should Endorse Regular Vitamin Use – CRN" - HBW Insight, 12 Sep, 2014.)

“For the first time, the advisory committee was asked to evaluate evidence on the relationships between dietary supplements of specific nutrients and health outcomes in pregnancy and lactation and birth to 24 months life stages,” said Nguyen. “This shift demonstrates great progress and CRN hopes to see future Dietary Guidelines recognize supplements as part of a strategy to meet essential nutrient intake even beyond the nutrients included in the 2020 report.”

The committee was appointed in February 2019 and the next month began its review of topics and questions for the report requested by the USDA and HHS. It said its report “emphasizes two major themes that can inform the development” of the 2020-2025 guidelines.

One theme is the importance of considering the life stages: pregnancy, lactation, birth to age 24 months, childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. “Special nutrition considerations exist at each life stage, and improvements in recommended food patterns at each stage have the potential to influence healthy food choices at the next life stage,” says the committee.

The second theme is dietary patterns provide a framework for the guidelines within and across life stages. The committee says healthy dietary patterns are defined by the quality of foods included as well as by foods that should be limited, and a high-quality dietary pattern can promote health, achieve nutrient adequacy and energy balance, and reduce the risk of diet-related chronic diseases.

The USDA and the HHS have yet to post the report for public comment on DietaryGuidelines.gov. The agencies will conduct a public meeting for oral comments on 11 August and will  accept written public comments through 13 August. A target date for publication of the 2020-2025 guidelines has not been announced.