ABSTRACT
The Dietary Guidelines for Americans have served as the cornerstone of federal nutrition policy in the United States since the rst edition was released in 1980. While many factors may have contributed to the development of that document, two earlier efforts were of particular importance. One was the 1969 White House Conference on Food, Nutrition, and Health,1 which recommended that the government examine the links between diet and chronic disease. The second was the U.S. Senate Dietary Goals, released in 19772; that document, the product of several years of hearings before the Senate Select Committee on Nutrition and Human Needs, for the rst time, summarized speci c recommendations for diet-related goals for the American public.
