{"id":45343,"date":"2026-01-08T11:59:41","date_gmt":"2026-01-08T17:59:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.incredibleegg.org\/?post_type=news&#038;p=45343"},"modified":"2026-01-08T12:11:20","modified_gmt":"2026-01-08T18:11:20","slug":"dietary-guidelines-protein-eggs","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.incredibleegg.org\/about-us\/newsroom\/dietary-guidelines-protein-eggs\/","title":{"rendered":"New Dietary Guidelines Emphasize Protein and Recommend Eggs as a High-Quality, Nutritious Choice for Americans at Every Age"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"has-large-font-size\"><em>Guidance reinforces eggs as a high-quality, nutrient-rich food that supports health from pregnancy through healthy aging.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"537\" src=\"https:\/\/www.incredibleegg.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/American-Egg-Board_DGA-1024x537.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-45344\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.incredibleegg.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/American-Egg-Board_DGA-1024x537.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.incredibleegg.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/American-Egg-Board_DGA-300x157.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.incredibleegg.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/American-Egg-Board_DGA-768x403.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.incredibleegg.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/American-Egg-Board_DGA-1536x805.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.incredibleegg.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/American-Egg-Board_DGA-2048x1074.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>CHICAGO (January&nbsp;8, 2026)&nbsp;<\/strong>\u2013&nbsp;The&nbsp;2025-2030&nbsp;Dietary&nbsp;Guidelines encourage&nbsp;Americans&nbsp;to&nbsp;prioritize protein&nbsp;at every meal&nbsp;and&nbsp;list eggs first among recommended protein foods. This guidance reinforces eggs\u2019 long-standing role as&nbsp;one of the&nbsp;highest quality,&nbsp;healthy&nbsp;proteins available&nbsp;that&nbsp;Americans should count on&nbsp;at&nbsp;every stage of&nbsp;their lives.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The protein quality of eggs is so&nbsp;high that food scientists often use eggs as the standard to assess the protein quality of other foods.&nbsp;And&nbsp;the Guidelines continue to&nbsp;specifically&nbsp;recommend eggs&nbsp;not only for their high-quality protein and healthy fats, but also for the essential nutrients they provide.&nbsp;Choline-rich eggs are specifically&nbsp;highlighted for&nbsp;pregnancy and lactation,&nbsp;and&nbsp;recognized as a&nbsp;key&nbsp;food for healthy aging, reflecting their value at&nbsp;every age.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya reinforced the dietary value of eggs at&nbsp;a&nbsp;policy celebration event today hosted by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), noting that \u201ceggs are a superfood.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe new Guidelines reinforce what decades of research have shown:&nbsp;eggs are a&nbsp;perfect&nbsp;protein&nbsp;and a nutritional powerhouse&nbsp;that supports health across the lifespan,\u201d said Emily Metz, president and CEO of the American Egg Board. \u201cAs protein takes center stage in these Guidelines, eggs continue to&nbsp;lead the way&nbsp;as a&nbsp;healthy,&nbsp;high-quality, accessible&nbsp;protein&nbsp;option&nbsp;that families can rely on every day. This continued confidence in eggs is meaningful for the farmers who produce them and for the Americans who count on them.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Underscoring this sentiment,&nbsp;U.S.&nbsp;Secretary of Agriculture&nbsp;Brooke Rollins,&nbsp;in a release announcing the guidelines&nbsp;said, \u201cAt long last, we are realigning our food system to support American farmers, ranchers, and companies that grow and produce real food.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cAmerica\u2019s egg farmers are proud to produce eggs\u00a0\u2014\u00a0a healthy, natural food with high-quality protein and essential nutrients,\u201d said Chad Gregory, president and CEO of United Egg Producers.\u00a0\u201cThe Dietary Guidelines for Americans are important, and we appreciate the recognition of the value of eggs in the 2025-2030 Guidelines, which make both whole foods and protein a priority.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Science Continues to&nbsp;Build on Benefits of Eggs&nbsp;<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe&nbsp;science behind eggs has been consistent for years,\u201d said Jen Houchins, PhD, RD, director of&nbsp;nutrition research&nbsp;at the American&nbsp;Egg&nbsp;Board. \u201cEggs deliver&nbsp;a&nbsp;complete and bioavailable&nbsp;protein along with essential nutrients like choline that support health from pregnancy through healthy aging. This guidance reinforces that eggs are a smart, nutritious choice people can feel good about putting in their&nbsp;shopping&nbsp;cart.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The science&nbsp;continues to build on the benefits of eggs.&nbsp;Recent data from the Rush Memory and Aging Cohort found a relationship between egg consumption and lower risk of Alzheimer\u2019s dementia, a relationship driven by dietary choline<sup>1<\/sup>, a nutrient highlighted in the new&nbsp;guidelines.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With protein front and center in the new Dietary Guidelines\u2014and with eggs prominently featured\u2014the guidance reinforces eggs\u2019 role as a foundational food that helps Americans meet nutrient needs throughout life. Earlier this year, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration also confirmed that eggs are a healthy choice, further reinforcing&nbsp;their role&nbsp;in healthy eating patterns.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To learn more about the nutrition science behind eggs and the American Egg Board\u2019s nutrition education efforts, visit&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.incredibleegg.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">IncredibleEgg.org<\/a>&nbsp;and explore&nbsp;the&nbsp;AEB\u2019s Stronger by the Dozen initiative.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>###<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>About the American Egg Board<\/strong><br>Home of the Incredible Egg, the American Egg Board (AEB) is the national commodity organization supporting America\u2019s egg farmers through research, education, and promotion. The AEB is located in Chicago, Ill. For more, visit <a href=\"https:\/\/www.incredibleegg.org\/\">IncredibleEgg.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>About United Egg Producers<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>United Egg Producers (UEP) is a cooperative of U.S. egg farmers working collaboratively to address legislative, regulatory and advocacy issues impacting the industry through active farmer-member leadership, a unified voice and partnership across the agriculture community. Formed in 1968, UEP members represent about 95 percent of U.S. egg production.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li class=\"has-small-font-size\"><em>Pan, Y., et al., Association of Egg Intake With Alzheimer\u2019s Dementia Risk in Older Adults: The Rush Memory and Aging Project. The Journal of Nutrition, 2024.<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Guidance reinforces eggs as a high-quality, nutrient-rich food that supports health from pregnancy through healthy aging. CHICAGO (January&nbsp;8, 2026)&nbsp;\u2013&nbsp;The&nbsp;2025-2030&nbsp;Dietary&nbsp;Guidelines encourage&nbsp;Americans&nbsp;to&nbsp;prioritize protein&nbsp;at every meal&nbsp;and&nbsp;list eggs first among recommended protein foods. This guidance reinforces eggs\u2019 long-standing role as&nbsp;one of the&nbsp;highest quality,&nbsp;healthy&nbsp;proteins available&nbsp;that&nbsp;Americans should count on&nbsp;at&nbsp;every stage of&nbsp;their lives.&nbsp; The protein quality of eggs is so&nbsp;high that food [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":45344,"template":"","class_list":["post-45343","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>New Dietary Guidelines Emphasize Protein, Recommend Eggs<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The 2025\u20132030 Dietary Guidelines emphasize protein at every meal and recommend eggs as a high-quality, nutrient-rich food for Americans of all ages.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link 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