Abstract
For more than 100 years in the United States, dietary guidance has existed to guide food choices. In the 1980s, the first formal process, by which US dietary guidance is reviewed and created, was instituted, and this process has continued to evolve, albeit slowly, up until present day. However, it is unclear if the Dietary Guidelines for Americans have kept up with the evolution of this process over the past thirty years. During this time, nutrition and medical science has evolved dramatically. Yet, despite decades of well-intentioned advice, review, updates and revisions, there has simply been an additive effect to US dietary guidance resulting in too many messages and consumer confusion. This begs the question: Does current dietary guidance consist of too many messages and some long-standing nutrition advice that may be obsolete? We present a case study that demonstrates how some old guidance may not meet the current evidentiary-based standards to establish it as a guideline today, therefore making it obsolete, and a brief overview of how the dietary guideline review and updating process have evolved over the past 40 years from one of consensus to evidentiary based