The release of the 2025–2030 Dietary Guidelines for Americans comes at a time when nutrition messaging has become increasingly visible throughout the retail environment. From front-of-pack protein claims to wellness shelf tags and digital shopper education, consumers are encountering nutrition guidance everywhere they shop — even if they never read the Dietary Guidelines themselves.

While the Dietary Guidelines help shape federal nutrition programs like school meals and WIC, most consumers experience the Guidelines far less directly. Influence over consumers’ eating habits happens through the products brands develop, the claims they make and the shopping environments retailers create. In practice, that means the DGA often shape industry strategy more directly than individual consumer behavior.

Despite decades of public health messaging, roughly 90% of Americans still do not follow the Dietary Guidelines, and only about 1 in 10 Americans meet recommended fruit and vegetable intake targets. The challenge is not simply lack of awareness. Most consumers already know the basics of healthy eating.

The greater issue is navigating a food environment filled with competing health claims, wellness marketing, convenience pressures and conflicting nutrition information — while still trying to make choices that are realistic, affordable and appealing.

That tension between what the science suggests is ideal and what feels achievable in practice has always existed within the Dietary Guidelines themselves. Recommendations are designed not only around long-term health outcomes, but also around how people actually shop, cook, eat and make decisions in the real world.

No matter how strong the nutrition science may be, products still need to meet consumer expectations for taste, convenience, cost and familiarity in order to succeed. Health is only one factor shaping how people shop and eat, which is why translating nutrition guidance into realistic, appealing food experiences remains such a critical challenge for brands and retailers.

For retailers and brands, this is where the opportunity — and responsibility — increasingly lies. The Dietary Guidelines may shape policy, but retail is where nutrition guidance becomes real-world consumer behavior.

The result is that the Dietary Guidelines increasingly function not just as public health recommendations, but as signals that shape retail strategy and consumer expectations across the marketplace. For brands and retailers, these are five of the most important takeaways from the 2025 DGA.

1. Protein messaging is evolving beyond “more is better”

One of the most notable updates in the new Guidelines is stronger support for higher protein intake, particularly in relation to healthy aging, satiety and metabolic health. But the bigger opportunity for retailers may be how protein is being framed.

Consumers are looking for protein throughout the day — not just in shakes and bars, but across meals, snacks, beverages and convenience formats. At the same time, shoppers are becoming more discerning about ingredient quality and overall nutritional value.

For brands and retailers, this creates an opportunity to move beyond “high protein” as a standalone claim and instead emphasize balanced, whole-food protein options that align with broader wellness goals. Consumers are increasingly looking for protein that feels woven naturally into everyday eating rather than positioned solely as performance nutrition.

2. Whole grains and fiber remain major whitespace opportunities

One of the clearest shifts in the 2025 DGA is the stronger emphasis on choosing 100% whole grains — particularly as fiber remains one of the most under-consumed nutrients in the American diet. Even with growing consumer interest in gut health and digestive wellbeing, fiber intake remains low.

Rather than relying exclusively on technical nutrient messaging, retailers can help shoppers make easier swaps through merchandising, shelf education and assortment strategies that make whole grains, beans, lentils, nuts, seeds, fruits and vegetables feel more accessible and convenient in everyday eating patterns.

The continued growth of digestive health and gut health interest only increases the relevance of this category.

3. Added sugar reduction is shifting from awareness to implementation

Consumers already know they should limit added sugar. The challenge now is helping them do it realistically.

The updated Guidelines reinforce tighter added sugar recommendations, while also highlighting the ongoing role of ultra-processed foods and sugar-sweetened beverages in excess intake. But translating those recommendations into everyday behavior requires more than awareness campaigns alone.

For retailers and brands, this likely means continued investment in portion-forward innovation, lower-sugar product development, beverage diversification and clearer nutrition communication that helps shoppers better identify sources of added sugar in their diets.

Consumers are also looking for greater transparency and alignment between a product’s health positioning and its actual nutritional profile. Most shoppers do not expect indulgent foods like desserts or candy to be low in added sugar. But when products are marketed as “better-for-you,” shoppers increasingly expect those claims to be reflected in the formulation itself.

As nutrition literacy grows, clearer alignment between product positioning, ingredient quality and added sugar content will likely become increasingly important for building consumer trust.

4. Whole foods remain central to “better-for-you” positioning

Although nutrition trends constantly evolve, the broader direction of the Guidelines remains remarkably consistent across editions: More fruits and vegetables, more minimally processed foods, stronger emphasis on protein quality and distribution, more whole grains and more balanced eating patterns overall. Notably, the 2025 Guidelines place greater emphasis on both animal-based proteins as well as whole-food plant protein sources like beans and lentils, reflecting a more flexible and practical approach to meeting protein needs across different eating patterns.

That consistency aligns closely with where consumer preferences are already moving.

Shoppers increasingly want health signals that feel simple, recognizable and grounded in real, whole foods. In retail settings, this often translates into stronger interest in produce-driven merchandising, simplified ingredient lists, fresh-forward positioning and wellness messaging centered around everyday eating habits rather than restriction.

For retailers, the implication is clear: Nutrition guidance is becoming less about isolated nutrients and more about helping shoppers build realistic eating patterns across the entire store.

5. Nutrition communication is becoming just as important as nutrition science

Evidence-based nutrition messaging now competes directly with social media trends, influencer content, wellness marketing and widespread consumer confusion. As a result, how nutrition guidance is communicated may matter just as much as the guidance itself.

In that environment, brands that prioritize transparency and clear, consistent communication will be better positioned to build long-term consumer trust.

Whether through shelf tags, retailer dietitians, digital tools, QR codes, loyalty programs or in-store education, brands and retailers are playing a growing role in helping shoppers make sense of increasingly complex nutrition information.

The retailers that succeed will likely be the ones that make healthier decision-making feel simpler, more intuitive and easier to apply in everyday life.

Ultimately, the Dietary Guidelines do not directly change consumer behavior overnight. What they do shape is the broader food environment: The products that get developed, the claims that appear on packaging, the nutrients that become prioritized and the eating patterns retailers and brands choose to reinforce throughout the shopping experience.

As nutrition guidance becomes increasingly embedded into merchandising, marketing and wellness positioning, retailers and brands have a growing opportunity to shape how healthier eating shows up in the products they see on shelves. The companies that succeed will likely be the ones that make those choices feel seamless and better aligned with how consumers actually shop, cook and eat.