Nutrition Network Welcomes the Most Significant Shift in Dietary Guidance in Decades
8 January 2026 — Nutrition Network today welcomes the release of the new U.S. Dietary Guidelines, alongside the launch of the Eat Real Food initiative (https://realfood.gov/), describing it as the most important global development in nutrition policy in a generation — with far-reaching implications for chronic disease, healthcare education, and patient outcomes worldwide.
After decades of advocacy, research, and clinical experience from practitioners around the world, the new guidelines represent a decisive break from the era of ultra-processed foods, refined carbohydrates, and fat-phobic nutrition advice.
Real food is back on the American plate. And with it, the possibility of real health.
A Long-Awaited Course Correction
The updated U.S. Dietary Guidelines place whole, nutrient-dense foods at the center of human health, explicitly deprioritising refined carbohydrates, sugar, and ultra-processed products. For the first time in modern U.S. nutrition policy:
- Protein-based foods are prioritised, including animal-source proteins such as eggs, dairy, fish, and red meat
- Dietary fats are no longer demonised, with natural fats — including traditional fats like tallow — recognised as part of a healthy diet
- Grain recommendations have been dramatically reduced, reflecting growing recognition of carbohydrate intolerance and insulin resistance
- Processed foods and added sugars have no place in the recommended dietary pattern
- The emphasis has shifted from abstract nutrients to real, recognisable food
This marks a clear and powerful departure from previous guidelines that centred low-fat products, high grain intake, and permissive thresholds for sugar and ultra-processed foods.
Why This Matters — Far Beyond America
“This is not just a U.S. policy update,” says Tamzyn Murphy, Registered Dietitian (MSc) and Nutrition Network’s Head of Content. “It is a global signal that the scientific tide has turned.”
Chronic, diet-driven diseases — including obesity, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, fatty liver disease, and metabolic dysfunction — now affect hundreds of millions worldwide. For decades, patients have been offered escalating pharmaceutical solutions while foundational nutrition guidance failed to address root causes.
The new guidelines acknowledge what clinicians on the ground have seen for years:
You cannot medicate your way out of a dietary disease.
Profound Implications for Medical & Healthcare Education
For Nutrition Network, this moment is both validating and galvanising.
For over a decade, Nutrition Network and its partners — including The Noakes Foundation and Eat Better South Africa — have trained healthcare professionals to implement therapeutic carbohydrate restriction, real-food nutrition, and metabolic health–centred care.
The new U.S. guidelines align strikingly with what Nutrition Network has been teaching clinicians across more than 100 countries:
- Treating insulin resistance and metabolic dysfunction at the root
- Using food — not pharmaceuticals alone — as a primary therapeutic tool
- Supporting adequate protein intake for satiety, muscle, and metabolic health
- Re-integrating healthy fats into clinical nutrition practice
- Removing sugar and ultra-processed foods from therapeutic frameworks
“This is a system-level change,” says Jayne Bullen, Managing Director of Nutrition Network “It will take time for food systems and institutions to adapt — but for clinicians and patients, hope begins now.”
A Milestone Worth Celebrating — and Acting On
Jayne Bullen, captured the moment succinctly:
“The decade of work, advocacy, and thousands of voices have finally been heard.
Refined carbs and processed foods are in their rightful place.
Real foods — and the possibility of health — are back.”
For Nutrition Network, this announcement reinforces the urgency of its mission:
to equip healthcare professionals with the education, clinical confidence, and practical tools to implement these changes safely, ethically, and effectively.
As healthcare systems worldwide grapple with unsustainable costs and rising chronic disease, the message is clear:
Health and recovery are possible — and food is central to the solution.
About Nutrition Network
Nutrition Network is a global education platform training healthcare professionals in evidence-based, real-food and metabolic health–centred nutrition. With a community spanning over 100 countries, Nutrition Network delivers accredited training programs that empower clinicians to address chronic disease at its roots.
We offer expert-led online low-carb, high-fat (LCHF) training courses for healthcare professionals, focusing on Therapeutic Carbohydrate Restriction (TCR). These programs provide cutting-edge research, practical tools, and actionable insights to improve health outcomes, manage chronic conditions, and support sustainable lifestyle changes. Elevate your practice and transform lives with our comprehensive online nutrition courses.
Media enquiries:
Nutrition Network https://nutrition-network.org
This is the moment the world has been waiting for.
Now comes the work — and we are ready.”
