Hands Off Our Health: Why We Must Stop the Dietary Guidelines Reform Act (S. 1129 / H.R. 2326)
Thankfully, I do not have hypertension. I like to believe my eating pattern helps protect me from that particular problem. However, there are times when I read legislation and feel my blood start to boil and the pressure rise. Learning about S. 1129 / H.R. 2326, the so-called “Dietary Guidelines Reform Act,” caused one of those moments.
After all the progress we have seen, after the promises made…it is clear this bill isn’t about reform. It’s about regression. It’s about taking what should be a science-based, people-first process designed for the good of the country and the abdication of that responsibility. If it passes, the health of our children, especially the most vulnerable among them, could be sold out to the highest bidder.
Let’s be clear: our Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA) are a public health cornerstone. They shape everything from school lunches to SNAP nutrition standards, military rations to hospital meals. They impact tens of millions of lives every single day. These guidelines are already under immense pressure from industry players, and instead of building stronger safeguards to keep science front and center, this bill throws the gates wide open to more lobbying, more influence, and more watered-down health advice.
Under this proposed law, the expert Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee (DGAC) would be replaced by an “Independent Advisory Board,” a name that sounds good until you realize that Congress gets a say in appointing members. What could go wrong? A lot. Imagine fast food lobbyists cozying up to Congress members who then appoint their buddies to decide what goes on your child’s lunch tray. That’s not just bad policy, it’s dangerous.
And speaking of our kids, here’s where I turn into a Mama Bear.
I’ve spent years working on nutrition, health equity, and children’s wellness. I know what happens when kids don’t get the nutrients they need, when school meals prioritize industry profits over health, when cultural food traditions are erased, when community voices are silenced. And this bill could easily do all of that.
It doubles the update timeline from five years to ten. So, what if new science shows that certain foods can prevent disease, save lives, or even reverse chronic conditions? Too bad. We’ll wait a decade. In a nation with skyrocketing rates of childhood obesity, type 2 diabetes in 10-year-olds, and racial health disparities that widen by the year, that kind of delay is criminal. Conversely, if science shows that certain foods are dangerous and should be removed from school meals, would we have to wait 10 years for the removal to occur?
It silences the social context that makes nutrition real for families—culture, race, poverty, and food access. You can’t give a meaningful guideline on what to eat if you ignore whether people can even afford to eat it. And yet, this bill bans the Advisory Board from considering social determinants of health. Translation: nutrition policy made in a vacuum and to the detriment of whole subsets of our population all across the country.
If this type of legislation feels outrageous and worthy of your comment, you are not alone.
Here’s what you can do to make your opinion count:
TAKE ACTION:
- Educate yourself and learn more about this bill. Review these resources for more information (Dietary Guidelines Reform Act Fact Sheet & Sign-on letter to Secretaries Kennedy and Rollins).
- Call your U.S. Senators and Representatives at 202-224-3121 and tell them to vote NO on S. 1129 / H.R. 2326. Make it personal—talk about your kids, your students, and/or your patients.
- Share this article with your networks. We need volume and visibility.
- Submit a public comment during DGA review periods. When Native communities spoke up in the last cycle, it made a difference.
- Host a community forum (school boards, PTAs, neighborhood groups) anywhere people care about feeding kids well.
We need better guidelines—not slower ones. We need evidence-based nutrition, not unqualified conjecture. We need to put our kids first, not last.
Let’s reject this bill and stand up for the health of every child, every family, and every community. Your voice, every voice, makes a difference.
In solidarity and action,
Meryl Fury
President & CEO
Plant Based Nutrition Movement
