MyPlate

Diet Reference Archive: plate and portion tool

MyPlate

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's picture of a place setting, a plate divided into fruits, vegetables, grains and protein foods with a small circle for dairy. It was the federal icon for the Dietary Guidelines for Americans from 2011 until January 2026, when the 2025-2030 edition replaced it with a new food pyramid, and clients still bring it from school, clinics and older handouts.

Family: Plate and portion tools Promoted by: U.S. Department of Agriculture, 2011 to January 2026 First appeared: 2011, replacing MyPyramid MyPlate handout: not rated. Page-assigned GRADE ratings for the specified teaching-program outcomes: Low or Very low; see the comparison-specific rows

ON THIS PAGE

1. In brief
2. Overview
3. In practice
4. For the coach
5. The evidence (opens on request)
6. Mechanisms (opens on request)
7. Risks, contraindications and myths (opens on request)
8. Key terms
9. Review questions
10. References and Resources
11. Evidence rating and review record

The summary and sections 1 to 3 are the short version and are open when the page loads. Sections 4 to 6 hold the research detail, the biology, and the cautions. Each of those opens when you select its heading, and you can read the page without opening them. Back to the Diet Reference Archive index.

In brief

What is it? A picture of a meal: a plate split into fruits, vegetables, grains and protein foods, with a small circle for dairy. It was the U.S. Department of Agriculture's icon for the federal Dietary Guidelines for Americans from 2011 until January 2026, when the 2025-2030 edition came with a new icon, an upside-down food pyramid. Many clients still know MyPlate from school, clinics and older handouts.

Does it work? No trial found for this page tested the picture by itself; trials tested teaching programs built around it, and they are few and small. In a 261-person U.S. trial comparing MyPlate-based coaching with calorie-counting coaching, both groups recorded small decreases in waist size, with no clear difference detected between programs; neither group's body weight changed clearly. A 44-person trial in adults with type 2 diabetes reported lower HbA1c, a blood test of average blood sugar, after MyPlate classes, but that group also got far more teaching. Long studies link diets that score well on a federal diet-quality score with fewer deaths; that is an association with a score, not a test of the plate. How sure we are about the programs is low or very low.

Is it safe? No professional or regulatory warning about MyPlate was found in the sources opened for this page. It is a general guide, not a medical diet, and in one experiment a weight-focused message that used MyPlate raised young women's worry about eating more than an intuitive eating message did.

Who should not do it without talking to a doctor or dietitian first? Anyone who has been given an individual eating plan for diabetes, kidney disease, heart disease, pregnancy or another condition; anyone on insulin, a sulfonylurea, warfarin or blood pressure medicine who plans a substantial change in eating; parents planning a child's eating around a medical condition; and anyone with a history of disordered eating.

Related pages: the Harvard Healthy Eating Plate, the Whole Food Plant-Based Plate from the American College of Lifestyle Medicine, and the Diabetes Plate Method. Full list on the archive index.

1. Overview

What you eat

MyPlate is a picture of a place setting rather than a diet with foods of its own. The plate is divided into 4 sections for fruits, vegetables, grains and protein foods, and a smaller circle beside it stands for dairy. The U.S. Department of Agriculture called it "the official symbol of the five food groups" (U.S. Department of Agriculture, n.d.-b). Each food group came with a short message:

• Fruits and vegetables: "Make half your plate fruits and vegetables," with "focus on whole fruits" and "vary your veggies" (U.S. Department of Agriculture, n.d.-f).
• Grains: "Make half your grains whole grains" (U.S. Department of Agriculture, n.d.-f).
• Protein foods: "Vary your protein routine." The group covers seafood; meat, poultry and eggs; beans, peas and lentils; and nuts, seeds and soy products, with meat and poultry choices described as lean or low-fat (U.S. Department of Agriculture, n.d.-d).
• Dairy: "Move to low-fat or fat-free dairy milk or yogurt (or lactose-free dairy or fortified soy versions)." The group covers milk, yogurt, cheese, lactose-free milk and fortified soy milk and yogurt, and leaves out cream cheese, sour cream, cream and butter (U.S. Department of Agriculture, n.d.-f; U.S. Department of Agriculture, n.d.-a).

Two placements surprise people. MyPlate counted white potatoes as a vegetable, in a starchy vegetables subgroup alongside corn, green peas and plantains (U.S. Department of Agriculture, n.d.-e). Beans, peas and lentils counted in both the vegetable group and the protein foods group (U.S. Department of Agriculture, n.d.-d). Amounts were set by a personalized MyPlate Plan based on age, sex, height, weight and physical activity; as general examples, the vegetable table listed 2½ to 3 cups a day for women aged 19 to 30 and 3 to 4 cups for men of the same age, and the dairy table listed 3 cups a day for adults (U.S. Department of Agriculture, n.d.-e; U.S. Department of Agriculture, n.d.-a; U.S. Department of Agriculture, n.d.-f).

What you avoid or limit

The plate shows no foods to avoid and has no section for oils, sweets or drinks other than dairy. The limits sat in the guidance behind it: one research team describes those guidelines as suggesting limits on added sugars, sodium and fats (Nazmi et al., 2019), and MyPlate's food group pages steered toward lean meat and low-fat or fat-free dairy (U.S. Department of Agriculture, n.d.-d; U.S. Department of Agriculture, n.d.-a). Nothing was banned outright.

Where it came from

MyPlate was the latest in a long line of federal food guides. The Department of Agriculture traces its food guidance back to 1916, through the Basic Seven of the 1940s, the Basic Four from 1956 and a food wheel in 1984, to the Food Guide Pyramid of 1992 and MyPyramid in 2005 (U.S. Department of Agriculture, 2018). MyPlate was introduced in 2011 alongside the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. The department chose a different shape "to help grab consumers' attention with a new visual cue," and described the icon as "a reminder for healthy eating, not intended to provide specific messages" (U.S. Department of Agriculture, 2018).

The federal Dietary Guidelines website now dates each icon: the Food Guide Pyramid from 1992 to 2005, MyPyramid from 2005 to 2011, and MyPlate from 2011 to 2026 (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services & U.S. Department of Agriculture, n.d.-a). Until the end of 2025, the MyPlate website said it was based on the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2020-2025 (U.S. Department of Agriculture, n.d.-f). The Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health launched its Healthy Eating Plate on September 14, 2011, describing it as designed to address deficiencies in MyPlate (Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, n.d.-b; Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, n.d.-a).

Current status

MyPlate is no longer the federal icon. The 2025-2030 Dietary Guidelines for Americans were released on January 7, 2026 (American Heart Association, 2026), and the federal guidelines website lists that edition as "published with new visual icon," linking to a new food pyramid on RealFood.gov (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services & U.S. Department of Agriculture, n.d.-a). The new icon is an upside-down pyramid: protein, dairy and healthy fats fill one side of the wide top, vegetables and fruits the other, and whole grains sit at the narrow point at the bottom (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services & U.S. Department of Agriculture, 2026). The guidelines document does not mention MyPlate; its opening message from the 2 department secretaries describes the edition as "reclaiming the food pyramid" (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services & U.S. Department of Agriculture, 2026).

The MyPlate website changed at the same time. An archived copy from January 7, 2026 still shows the full MyPlate site, and by January 8 its front page had been replaced with a single notice: "Prioritize whole, healthy, and nutritious foods with the new Dietary Guidelines for Americans! Read the new edition and learn more at RealFood.gov!" (U.S. Department of Agriculture, n.d.-b; U.S. Department of Agriculture, n.d.-c). When this page was written and again when it was checked in October 2026, the current MyPlate site showed only that notice, and its former pages, including What Is MyPlate and the food group pages, led back to it.

The sources opened for this page do not include a federal announcement that uses the word "retired." A clinic or extension handout may still describe MyPlate as current, and one university extension newsletter from April 2026 says plainly that the new guidelines "replaced MyPlate with the New Pyramid" (Kindamo, 2026).

What it claims to do

The Department of Agriculture presented MyPlate as "the modern way to eat better every day," calling it "easy to use, customizable, based on science, and an overall great way to enjoy healthier eating," and its symbol as "a simple visual reminder to choose a variety of foods throughout the day and throughout the week" (U.S. Department of Agriculture, n.d.-f). A university extension newsletter describes it as a tool "to help consumers implement the Dietary Guidelines for Americans" (Kindamo, 2026). Section 4 sets those claims against the studies.

What it gets right

Several of MyPlate's messages line up with the American Heart Association's 2026 scientific statement, the source this program uses for nutrition claims. The statement calls whole or minimally processed vegetables and fruits "core components of heart-healthy dietary patterns" and says those patterns are consistently associated with cardiovascular health, including blood lipids, blood pressure and type 2 diabetes control (Lichtenstein et al., 2026).

The statement reports that regular whole-grain intake is associated in large cohort studies with lower risks of heart disease, stroke and type 2 diabetes, and that feeding trials replacing refined grains with whole grains improved cardiovascular risk factors (Lichtenstein et al., 2026). It names beans, peas, lentils, nuts and fish as heart-healthy protein sources, and, while noting the question is debated, calls it prudent to keep choosing nonfat or low-fat dairy (Lichtenstein et al., 2026). MyPlate's half-plate of fruits and vegetables, half of grains whole, varied protein and low-fat dairy all point the same way, which lets a coach honor what a client learned without treating it as wrong.

How clients describe it, and what it gets confused with

Clients say "MyPlate," "ChooseMyPlate," "the government plate," "half my plate fruits and vegetables," or "the food pyramid," which could mean the 1992 pyramid, MyPyramid or the 2026 pyramid, each a different picture with different advice.

MyPlate is often confused with the Harvard Healthy Eating Plate, which looks similar but gives different advice, and with 2 other plates: the Diabetes Plate Method, built for people with diabetes, and the Whole Food Plant-Based Plate from the American College of Lifestyle Medicine. The table sets MyPlate beside the Harvard plate, using MyPlate's own archived pages and Harvard's pages; Harvard's statements about MyPlate are its own comparison.

On a narrow screen, scroll the table sideways to see every column.

MyPlate and the Harvard Healthy Eating Plate, section by section

Section	MyPlate	Harvard Healthy Eating Plate
Vegetables	Any vegetable counts, including white potatoes in the starchy subgroup (U.S. Department of Agriculture, n.d.-e).	"Potatoes and French fries don't count" as vegetables (Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, n.d.-a).
Grains	"Make half your grains whole grains" (U.S. Department of Agriculture, n.d.-f).	A quarter of the plate is whole grains; limit refined grains such as white rice and white bread (Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, n.d.-a).
Protein	Seafood, meat, poultry, eggs, beans, peas, lentils, nuts, seeds and soy, with lean meat (U.S. Department of Agriculture, n.d.-d). Harvard notes that the section "could be filled by... a hamburger or hot dog" (Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, n.d.-b).	Fish, poultry, beans and nuts; limit red meat and cheese; avoid bacon, cold cuts and other processed meats (Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, n.d.-a).
Dairy	A dairy circle beside the plate; low-fat or fat-free milk or yogurt (U.S. Department of Agriculture, n.d.-f). Harvard describes this as dairy "at every meal" (Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, n.d.-b).	Limit milk and dairy to 1 to 2 servings a day (Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, n.d.-a).
Oils and fats	No oil on the plate; Harvard calls MyPlate "silent on fat" (Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, n.d.-b).	A bottle of healthy oils, such as olive and canola; limit butter; avoid trans fat (Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, n.d.-a).
Drinks	The only drink shown is the dairy circle.	Water, tea or coffee with little or no sugar; limit juice to a small glass a day; avoid sugary drinks (Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, n.d.-a).
Physical activity	Not on the icon (Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, n.d.-b).	A running figure as a reminder to stay active (Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, n.d.-a).
Who made it	The U.S. Department of Agriculture, as the icon for the federal guidelines, 2011 to 2026 (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services & U.S. Department of Agriculture, n.d.-a).	Nutrition experts at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and editors at Harvard Health Publications, who say it was "designed to address deficiencies" in MyPlate (Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, n.d.-a).

2. In practice

A typical day of eating

MyPlate did not ask every meal to fill all 5 groups; its symbol covered a variety of foods "throughout the day" (U.S. Department of Agriculture, n.d.-f). An example day, built from the food group pages rather than a published menu: oatmeal with berries and low-fat milk at breakfast; a turkey sandwich on whole-wheat bread with carrot sticks and an orange at lunch; grilled salmon, brown rice, broccoli and a salad at dinner, with yogurt afterward. Amounts would come from a person's MyPlate Plan (U.S. Department of Agriculture, n.d.-e; U.S. Department of Agriculture, n.d.-d; U.S. Department of Agriculture, n.d.-a).

Cost, products, and who profits

MyPlate was free. Its website offered free tools: the personalized MyPlate Plan, the Start Simple with MyPlate app, MyPlate Kitchen recipes, the Shop Simple budget pages and tip sheets (U.S. Department of Agriculture, n.d.-f). Using MyPlate required no purchase. Harvard presents its own plate as free of "political or commercial pressures from food industry lobbyists," which is Harvard's description of its plate and an implied contrast with MyPlate (Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, n.d.-a).

Food cost is a different question. In a secondary analysis of 43 young adults at risk of or diagnosed with metabolic syndrome, the 38 judged to be following the MyPlate fruit and vegetable recommendations spent $95.73 a week on food, against $66.24 for the 5 who were not (Clark et al., 2019). This was a small comparison of self-selected adherence groups at one university, and the spending measure included food bought from restaurants and other outlets as well as groceries. Higher spending was associated with adherence in this sample; the study did not isolate the cost of adding fruits and vegetables. Frozen and canned vegetables counted on MyPlate the same as fresh ones (U.S. Department of Agriculture, n.d.-e).

Environmental footprint

No study found for this page measured the footprint of following MyPlate itself, and it depends mostly on which foods a person chooses for each section, especially the protein section. A modeling study of the 3 eating patterns in the 2015-2020 federal guidelines, the guidance MyPlate then pictured, found that the healthy vegetarian pattern had 42 to 84 percent lower modeled burdens than the healthy U.S.-style pattern on 5 of 6 environmental measures, including greenhouse gas emissions and land use, mostly because of its reliance on plant protein and eggs (Blackstone et al., 2018). These are estimates for a modeled population diet, not measurements in people.

Cultural fit

Because MyPlate names food groups rather than dishes, it can hold many food traditions, but a single plate does not fit everyone's meals. Among 349 Asian American adults in a Los Angeles nutrition program, 13.2 percent ate meals only on a plate and 30.7 percent were used to eating only refined grains such as white rice; the authors called for better tailored resources (Garcia et al., 2022). Bowls, burritos, dumplings and lasagna are also hard to show on a plate (Kindamo, 2026). In the U.S. trial described in section 4, which enrolled mostly Latine women, the participants the study rated most acculturated showed the clearest decrease in waist size, and the authors suggested more tailoring for recent immigrants (McCarthy et al., 2023).

What makes people stop

Many people never started. In national survey data from 2013 to 2018, about 1 in 5 adults had heard of MyPlate at first, and about 1 in 4 by 2017 to 2018, with awareness rising more slowly in the lowest-income households (Kinderknecht et al., 2024). In a 2024 national survey, 32.5 percent of adults said they knew about the MyPlate plan, and 14.8 percent said they knew about it and tried to follow it (Restrepo, 2025). Among adults with chronic kidney disease, awareness was lower than among adults without it (Thule et al., 2024).

In the trials, attendance thinned: in the U.S. coaching trial, 14 percent of participants attended all 11 sessions (McCarthy et al., 2023), and in a workshop trial for adults over 60, about 43 percent of the program group was lost to follow-up for reasons the authors could not identify (Barnett & Zeng, 2022). Mixed dishes are a practical sticking point; college students sorted foods into MyPlate groups correctly about 60 percent of the time, before and after reading a MyPlate flyer (Nazmi et al., 2019).

What happens when you stop

No study found for this page followed people after they deliberately stopped using MyPlate. Two trials followed people after the teaching ended. In the U.S. coaching trial, the decrease in waist size in the MyPlate group was still present 6 months after the coaching sessions stopped (McCarthy et al., 2023). In the older adults' workshop trial, the program group still reported several healthier behaviors 6 months later, but not all of the early improvements lasted (Barnett & Zeng, 2022).

Common variations

• The earlier federal icons, the Food Guide Pyramid of 1992 and MyPyramid of 2005, which some clients still remember (U.S. Department of Agriculture, 2018).
• The MyPlate Plan and MyPlate apps, which turned the picture into personal daily amounts and goals (U.S. Department of Agriculture, n.d.-f).
• The 2026 food pyramid, the federal icon that replaced MyPlate, with different advice on protein, dairy and fats (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services & U.S. Department of Agriculture, 2026; U.S. Department of Health and Human Services & U.S. Department of Agriculture, n.d.-a).
• Other countries' plates, such as the United Kingdom's Eatwell Guide and plates from Malaysia and Poland, which a 2025 review compared with MyPlate (Jodkiewicz et al., 2025).
• Other plates with different purposes: the Harvard Healthy Eating Plate, the Diabetes Plate Method and the Whole Food Plant-Based Plate.

3. For the coach

SCOPE OF PRACTICE

A health and wellness coach does not prescribe, adjust, endorse, or discourage MyPlate or any eating pattern, and does not diagnose or treat. MyPlate and the federal guidelines are named in this program so a coach recognizes what a client is working from; they are not the source behind a health claim, and the coach does not judge whether the client is following them correctly. With the client's permission, a coach can share general guidance from recognized authorities, such as the Harvard Healthy Eating Plate, and explore how the client wants to use it. The point at which MyPlate needs a clinician is any client following an individual eating plan for a medical condition, and any client on insulin, a sulfonylurea, warfarin or blood pressure medicine who plans a substantial change in eating.

Who does what

The physician or prescribing clinician

Diagnoses and treats conditions such as diabetes, kidney disease and heart disease, orders and reads the labs that go with them, adjusts medicines when eating changes, and decides whether a client needs a medical eating plan rather than general guidance.

The registered dietitian

Designs and monitors an individual eating plan, including amounts by food group, and adapts general guidance such as MyPlate or the new federal pyramid to a diagnosed condition, a pregnancy, a child's growth, a food tradition or a budget.

The health and wellness coach

Helps the client explore what they took from MyPlate and why it matters to them, how it fits their real meals, family, culture and budget, which habits they want to build, and how it is going. The coach notices when a question belongs with the client's clinician or dietitian and helps the client take it there.

What a client bringing MyPlate needs

A client who brings MyPlate often learned it years ago, from a school lesson, a clinic handout or a community class, and is not asking for a new rule. Some have heard about a new pyramid and wonder whether what they learned is now wrong. If they want information, the coach asks permission, shares in a sentence what changed in January 2026, and, if the client wants a picture to work from, can offer the Harvard Healthy Eating Plate, the tool this program shows first, with its copyright line. The coaching conversation offers what a handout cannot: clarity about the client's own reasons, a realistic look at how it fits their life, and a plan they own.

What to ask

• "Where did you learn about MyPlate, and what stuck with you?"
• "When you picture a meal you eat most weeks, which parts of the plate are already there?"
• "You mentioned the new pyramid. What have you heard about it, and what would be useful to know?"
• "If you want to change something about your meals, what would you like to try first, and what would make it easier?"

Referral red flags

Any of these means the client involves their clinician or dietitian rather than continuing with coaching alone.

• A client following an individual eating plan for diabetes, kidney disease, heart failure or another condition who wants to switch to a general plate picture.
• A client on insulin, a sulfonylurea, warfarin or blood pressure medicine who plans a substantial change in what or how much they eat; the client keeps the prescriber informed before the change.
• A client who is pregnant or breastfeeding, or a parent planning a child's eating around a medical condition, who wants amounts by food group.
• Weight loss the client did not intend, which can be a sign of a health problem.
• Eating that has become frightening, rigid or secret, such as distress when a meal does not match the picture or skipping meals to stay within it; this goes through the coach’s own referral process, or to the client's clinician under an existing care plan.

Special populations

Pregnancy and breastfeeding

No trial found for this page tested MyPlate itself in pregnancy or while breastfeeding. In a small study of 22 pregnant adolescents and adult women who received weekly social media messages about prenatal nutrition, knowledge of MyPlate guidance stayed limited (Vander Wyst et al., 2019). Eating in pregnancy is planned with the prenatal care team.

Children and adolescents

The studies of MyPlate in children found for this page measured knowledge or reported intake, not health outcomes (Kocyigit et al., 2025; D'Adamo et al., 2016; section 4). A child's individual eating plan is set by their pediatric care team or a dietitian.

Older adults

A community workshop built partly on MyPlate led to more self-reported healthy eating behaviors in adults aged 60 and over than no program (Barnett & Zeng, 2022); section 4 describes its limits. An older adult's individual needs are set with their clinician or a dietitian.

Athletes and people with high activity

No trial of MyPlate in athletes was found for this page. The closest, an 8-week trial in 20 sedentary young women, compared MyPlate advice with Paleolithic diet advice, with and without exercise, and measured fitness (Popp et al., 2018). A person with high training needs has amounts set individually by a dietitian.

People taking medication for diabetes, blood pressure, or blood thinning

No study found for this page tested MyPlate in people taking these medicines. The program's standing rule applies: a client on these medicines keeps the prescriber informed before a substantial change in eating, rather than asking permission for every food choice.

People with kidney disease

Needs depend on the stage of kidney disease, lab results and dialysis, and the kidney care team sets the eating plan. One national survey found that adults with chronic kidney disease were less often aware of MyPlate than adults without it (Thule et al., 2024); no trial of MyPlate in kidney disease was found.

People with a history of disordered eating

In one randomized experiment, a weight-centered nutrition video that used MyPlate raised young women's worry about eating and weight more than an intuitive eating video did (Skubisz et al., 2026; section 4). No study of MyPlate in people with a history of disordered eating was found. A coach who notices distress around eating uses their own referral process, or works within the client's existing care plan.

Client misconceptions

• "MyPlate is the government's current advice." It was the federal icon from 2011 to January 2026; the 2025-2030 guidelines came with a new food pyramid (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services & U.S. Department of Agriculture, n.d.-a).
• "Potatoes don't count as a vegetable on MyPlate." That rule belongs to the Harvard Healthy Eating Plate; MyPlate counted white potatoes as a starchy vegetable (Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, n.d.-a; U.S. Department of Agriculture, n.d.-e).
• "Research proves MyPlate works." The picture by itself has not been tested in the trials found for this page; the teaching programs built around it have small trials with low or very low certainty (section 4).

🤝 COACHING CONNECTION

Angela tells her coach, "I saw on the news that MyPlate is gone and there's some new pyramid. I've been doing half my plate vegetables for years. Was that all wrong?" The coach reflects that she sounds unsettled about something she has worked at, and asks what the habit has meant for her. Angela says it made family dinners feel manageable. With her permission, the coach explains in a sentence that the federal picture changed in January 2026. Angela decides to keep the vegetable habit and, because she takes blood pressure medicine, to keep her nurse practitioner informed before a substantial change in eating. The coach gives no advice about her food.

4. The evidence

(select the heading to open or close this section)

MyPlate was a communication icon, and the evidence about it is mostly about teaching programs that used it, plus surveys of who knew it. The randomized trials found for this page are few, small or short, and each tested a whole program, never the picture handed over on its own. Separately, long cohort studies link diets that score well on the Healthy Eating Index, a measure of how closely a diet follows the federal guidelines that MyPlate pictured, with fewer deaths; those studies measured diet quality, not whether anyone used MyPlate. The certainty ratings are in the review record at the end of the page.

Evidence from randomized controlled trials

A trial assigns people to a program or to something else by chance, which is the strongest way to test whether the program itself causes a result. The trials found for this page enrolled 20 to 300 people each, in the United States and Iran, and followed them for the same day to 12 months.

Body measures and eating experience

The Long Beach trial, in California, randomized 261 adults with overweight and low income, 95 percent women and 86 percent Latine, to 6 months of MyPlate-based coaching or calorie-counting coaching. Both programs used the same schedule of 2 home visits, 2 group sessions and 7 telephone calls with community health workers trained in motivational interviewing. The MyPlate version taught people to make minimally processed fruits and vegetables half of their daily food and whole grains and quality protein a quarter each, following a DASH-style pattern, without counting calories (McCarthy et al., 2023).

At 12 months, waist size had decreased within each group, by 1.86 cm in the MyPlate group (95 percent confidence interval 0.46 to 3.26) and 1.71 cm in the calorie-counting group (0.26 to 3.16), and no clear difference between the groups was detected. Neither group's body weight changed clearly: 0.34 kg lower in the MyPlate group (1.27 lower to 0.59 higher) and 0.75 kg lower with calorie counting (1.72 lower to 0.23 higher). Fullness and meal satisfaction improved in both groups; hunger scores also fell, although the MyPlate hunger change was not significant after adjustment for multiple testing. No clear between-group differences were detected. Systolic blood pressure in the MyPlate group was about 3 mm Hg lower at 6 months but not at 12 (McCarthy et al., 2023).

The trial was designed to show that the 2 approaches did about equally well on body measures, but the report gives no margin for that comparison, so this page reads it as not demonstrating a difference rather than as showing the 2 are equivalent. Participants knew which program they were in, the 2 community health workers in each program delivered only that program, and about a quarter of participants missed the 12-month measurement (McCarthy et al., 2023).

Blood sugar and other markers in the blood

In Ahvaz, Iran, 44 adults aged 30 to 50 with type 2 diabetes who were not on insulin were randomized to 12 weeks of MyPlate-based classes or to standard diabetes education. The MyPlate group attended a 2-hour class every week for 3 months and received weekly telephone follow-up; the comparison group had one 2-hour class on macronutrients, food exchange lists and carbohydrate counting at the start. The classes taught a version of MyPlate adapted for diabetes: at lunch and dinner, half the plate non-starchy vegetables and the other half split equally between protein foods and grains, with a serving of fruit and a serving of skim or reduced-fat dairy added (Zakerkish et al., 2022).

At the end, HbA1c averaged 6.78 percent in the MyPlate group and 8.47 percent in the comparison group, a difference that remained after adjustment (p = 0.012); fasting blood sugar was also lower. After adjustment, no clear difference between the groups was detected in blood lipids or in the inflammatory markers measured, although some fell within the MyPlate group. HbA1c is a marker of average blood sugar, not a disease outcome. The comparison group started with a higher HbA1c (8.17 against 7.49 percent), and the 2 groups received very different amounts of teaching, so the trial cannot separate MyPlate from the extra contact. The report's conclusion lists a fall in one inflammatory marker, TNF-alpha, that its own table does not show as statistically significant, so this page uses the table (Zakerkish et al., 2022).

A U.S. trial of 63 African American adults at risk of type 2 diabetes randomized them to the 3 eating patterns in the federal guidelines, each taught in weekly online classes built from federal guideline and MyPlate materials, for 12 weeks. No clear differences between the patterns were detected in HbA1c, blood pressure or body weight (Turner-McGrievy et al., 2023). That trial compares patterns taught with MyPlate materials, not MyPlate against something else.

Food knowledge and eating behavior

In a proof-of-concept trial, 174 college students with complete data were randomized to read a one-page MyPlate flyer, the same flyer plus a page on food processing (the NOVA system), or nothing, and then took the same food-sorting test again. The MyPlate-only group improved slightly on identifying foods to limit, 3.6 percentage points (0.6 to 6.7), but no clear improvement in sorting foods into MyPlate groups was detected (2.2 points, 1.3 lower to 5.7 higher). The group that also read about processing improved on all 3 tests. The test followed the reading on the same day, and whether students studied the flyer was not known (Nazmi et al., 2019).

In a cluster randomized trial, 29 community sites with 292 adults aged 60 and over in 5 states were assigned to a 6-week healthy eating workshop that used MyPlate and the 2015-2020 federal guidelines, or to no program. Two weeks after the workshop, the program group reported more healthy eating behaviors, and at 6 months several remained, including using MyPlate tools for food choices and reading nutrition labels, and waist-to-hip ratio had decreased at 6 months (Barnett & Zeng, 2022). The behaviors were self-reported, the comparison group received nothing, and about 43 percent of the program group and 23 percent of the comparison group were lost to follow-up.

Studies in children measured knowledge and reported intake rather than health. A 4-week program for 45 preschool children in Türkiye, with no comparison group, improved their ability to name food groups and pick healthy foods (Kocyigit et al., 2025). In a nonrandomized trial of 110 students in 2 Baltimore high schools, adding a cooking curriculum with spices and herbs to standard MyPlate lessons led to modestly higher reported whole-grain and protein-food intake than MyPlate lessons alone (D'Adamo et al., 2016).

Eating behavior and wellbeing

In the Long Beach trial, health-related quality of life and emotional wellbeing scores rose in both the MyPlate and the calorie-counting groups, and 92 percent of participants were satisfied with their program (McCarthy et al., 2023). In a randomized experiment, 300 young adult women watched either a weight-centered nutrition education video, built on MyPlate and calorie balance, or an intuitive eating video. The weight-centered video raised negative mood and worry about eating and weight, and lowered positive mood, more than the intuitive eating video, with no clear difference in heart rate variability (Skubisz et al., 2026). That experiment measured short-term reactions to a message, read here from its abstract.

Heart disease, cancer and death

The MyPlate trials found for this page did not report heart attacks, strokes, cancer or deaths, so they do not establish effects on those outcomes.

Evidence from long-term prospective cohort studies

A cohort study follows people who already eat a certain way and records what happens to them. It can show that a pattern goes with an outcome; it cannot by itself show that the pattern caused it. No cohort study comparing people by whether they used MyPlate, and recording disease or death, was found for this page.

What cohorts have measured is the Healthy Eating Index, a score developed to measure how closely a diet follows the federal guidelines. Its 2020 version has 13 components aligned with the 2020-2025 guidelines, the edition MyPlate was based on until it was replaced (Shams-White et al., 2023). In the NIH-AARP study of about 493,000 older adults followed for 15 years, people in the highest fifth of Healthy Eating Index scores had a lower risk of death from any cause than those in the lowest fifth: hazard ratio 0.78 (0.76 to 0.80) in men and 0.77 (0.74 to 0.80) in women (Reedy et al., 2014).

In the Nurses' Health Study and the Health Professionals Follow-up Study, with about 119,000 people followed for up to 36 years, the highest fifth of the 2015 version of the score was associated with a hazard ratio for death from any cause of 0.81 (0.79 to 0.84), and higher scores were also associated with fewer deaths from cardiovascular disease, cancer and respiratory disease (Shan et al., 2023). These are associations with diet quality as scored against federal guidance; they do not test the MyPlate picture, and people with higher scores differ from others in many ways the studies could only partly adjust for.

Highlighted studies

These 4 studies carry the most weight for MyPlate. Each is described so a reader can judge it without opening the paper.

On a narrow screen, scroll the table sideways to see every column.

Highlighted studies for MyPlate

Study	Design	Sample size	Duration	Finding	The limitation that matters
McCarthy et al., 2023 (United States)	Randomized controlled trial: MyPlate-based coaching against calorie-counting coaching	261 adults with overweight and low income, mostly Latine women	6 months of coaching, measured at 12 months	Waist size fell about 1.9 cm and 1.7 cm within the 2 groups; no clear difference between groups detected; body weight did not change clearly in either	Open label, a single clinic population, and no stated margin for judging the 2 programs equivalent
Zakerkish et al., 2022 (Iran)	Randomized trial: MyPlate classes against standard diabetes education	44 adults with type 2 diabetes, not on insulin	12 weeks	HbA1c 6.78 against 8.47 percent at the end (adjusted p = 0.012)	Much more teaching in the MyPlate group, a higher starting HbA1c in the comparison group, and a very small sample
Barnett & Zeng, 2022 (United States)	Cluster randomized trial: 6-week workshop using MyPlate against no program	292 adults aged 60 and over at 29 sites	6 weeks, measured at 6 months	More self-reported healthy eating behaviors; a decrease in waist-to-hip ratio at 6 months	Self-reported outcomes, a no-program comparison, and about 43 percent of the program group lost to follow-up
Shan et al., 2023 (United States)	Prospective cohort studies (Nurses' Health Study and Health Professionals Follow-up Study)	About 119,000 adults	Up to 36 years	Highest against lowest fifth of the Healthy Eating Index: hazard ratio for death from any cause 0.81 (0.79 to 0.84)	Measures diet quality against federal guidance, not use of MyPlate, and cannot rule out confounding

Head to head

The direct comparisons are described above: calorie counting (McCarthy et al., 2023), standard diabetes education (Zakerkish et al., 2022) and a flyer that added food processing (Nazmi et al., 2019). In 20 sedentary young women given MyPlate or Paleolithic diet advice, with or without exercise, the MyPlate-plus-exercise group improved aerobic fitness more than the MyPlate-only and Paleolithic-plus-exercise groups, but the authors caution that low compliance with the exercise advice may confound that result (Popp et al., 2018).

No trial comparing MyPlate with the Harvard Healthy Eating Plate, the Diabetes Plate Method or the Whole Food Plant-Based Plate was found for this page. The nearest comparison comes from cohorts that scored the same diets 2 ways: in NIH-AARP, the Healthy Eating Index, which reflects federal guidance, and the Alternate Healthy Eating Index, which the authors describe as capturing Harvard's Healthy Eating Plate, had similar associations with death from any cause (Reedy et al., 2014), and the same was true in the Harvard cohorts (Shan et al., 2023). A 2025 review comparing plate models from several countries found that MyPlate gives less guidance than the Harvard plate on fats, drinks and physical activity (Jodkiewicz et al., 2025); that review describes one trial as involving 227 people, which is the number that trial screened rather than the 63 it randomized, so this page uses the trial's own report.

Where the evidence is absent

• No trial found for this page tested the MyPlate picture handed over on its own; every trial tested a program, a flyer with a test, or a workshop.
• The MyPlate trials reviewed here do not establish effects on heart attacks, strokes, cancer or deaths; none reported them.
• No cohort study comparing people by whether they used MyPlate was found; the long studies measured a diet-quality score instead.
• No trial of MyPlate in pregnancy, in athletes, in people with kidney disease, in people taking diabetes, blood pressure or blood-thinning medicine, or in people with a history of disordered eating was found for this page; studies in children measured knowledge and reported intake.
• The trials were small, 12 months or shorter, and mostly in single communities.
• No study found for this page compared the food cost or environmental footprint of following MyPlate with a usual diet, or followed people after they deliberately stopped using it.

5. Mechanisms

(optional reading; select the heading to open or close this section)

This section explains how MyPlate is thought to work. You can skip it. Nothing in the coaching sections depends on it.

Established mechanisms

MyPlate has no mechanism of its own in the body; it is a reminder about which foods to eat. What the evidence supports concerns the foods it points to: the American Heart Association reports that feeding trials replacing refined grains with whole grains improved cardiovascular risk factors, and that replacing sources of saturated fat with sources of unsaturated fat lowers LDL cholesterol (Lichtenstein et al., 2026). MyPlate's whole-grain and low-fat dairy messages point in those directions; its icon says nothing about oils.

Proposed mechanisms

Explanations for how the picture might help were not tested directly in the studies found for this page. The Department of Agriculture chose a plate because its consumer testing found it "a familiar mealtime symbol" (U.S. Department of Agriculture, 2018); whether the picture works as a reminder at mealtimes was not measured in the studies found. The authors of the Long Beach trial expected that a MyPlate approach, being cognitively simpler than calorie counting, would work through greater fullness from fiber-rich foods, but fullness and hunger changed about equally in both groups (McCarthy et al., 2023). A proposed mechanism never supports a claim in section 4.

6. Risks, contraindications and myths

(select the heading to open or close this section)

None of the sources opened for this page carries a warning about MyPlate from a professional or regulatory body, so this section has no heading for one. The closest is professional comment on the guidelines that replaced it: on the day the 2025-2030 guidelines were released, the American Heart Association said it was concerned that their advice on salt seasoning and red meat could lead people to exceed limits for sodium and saturated fat, and it encouraged low-fat and fat-free dairy where the new guidelines highlight whole-fat dairy (American Heart Association, 2026).

Nutrient gaps

MyPlate includes all 5 food groups and excludes none. That does not by itself guarantee that a particular person's intake is adequate; the trials found for this page measured some nutrient intakes, but they do not establish that following MyPlate meets every person's needs. People with higher needs or medical diets, such as pregnancy, kidney disease or heavy training, need individual amounts that a general picture does not give.

Who should not follow it without medical supervision

People with an individual eating plan for a medical condition, whose plan comes first; people who are pregnant or breastfeeding, and children with medical conditions, whose care teams set their plans; and anyone with a history of disordered eating, for whom any set of food rules can become rigid.

Medication interactions

No interaction between MyPlate and any medicine was found in the sources opened for this page; MyPlate is a picture, not a substance. What matters is that following it can change what and how much a person eats. A client on warfarin, insulin, a sulfonylurea or blood pressure medicine keeps the prescriber informed before a substantial change in eating, and the prescriber works out whether anything needs adjusting. A coach never adjusts or comments on a dose.

Signs it is going wrong

Physical signs. Weight a client loses without meaning to is a reason to involve their clinician, because it can signal a health problem; it is never a goal or a sign that the plate is working.

Eating behaviors. A coach or a family member might notice distress when a meal does not match the picture, skipping meals or whole food groups to stay within it, pulling away from family meals, or rules that keep getting stricter. The coach asks what the behavior is for, whether it causes distress, whether it narrows what the client eats, and whether it interferes with daily life. Missed meals or eating apart from family can also reflect shift work, food access or household preferences. When that exploration identifies a concern, the coach uses their own referral process or the client's existing clinical care plan. A behavior on its own is not a diagnosis.

Myths and where they came from

Myth: "MyPlate is still the government's healthy eating guide."

Where it came from: MyPlate was the federal icon for 15 years and is still printed on many handouts. What is true: the federal guidelines website lists MyPlate as the icon from 2011 to 2026, and the 2025-2030 edition was published with a new food pyramid (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services & U.S. Department of Agriculture, n.d.-a; U.S. Department of Agriculture, n.d.-c).

Myth: "On MyPlate, potatoes don't count as vegetables."

Where it came from: the Harvard Healthy Eating Plate, which looks similar, says "Potatoes and French fries don't count," and the 2 plates look alike. What is true: MyPlate counted white potatoes in its starchy vegetables subgroup (Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, n.d.-a; U.S. Department of Agriculture, n.d.-e).

Myth: "MyPlate was proven to make people healthier."

Where it came from: the Department of Agriculture described MyPlate as "based on science" (U.S. Department of Agriculture, n.d.-f), meaning the guidelines behind it. What is true: the picture itself has not been tested on its own in the studies found for this page, and the teaching programs built around it have small trials with low or very low certainty (section 4).

7. Key terms

MyPlate

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's icon from 2011 to 2026: a plate divided into fruits, vegetables, grains and protein foods, with a circle for dairy.

Dietary Guidelines for Americans

Federal advice on eating, issued every 5 years by the U.S. Departments of Health and Human Services and Agriculture; named in this program so coaches recognize it, not used as the source behind health claims.

Food Guide Pyramid and MyPyramid

The federal icons before MyPlate, used from 1992 to 2005 and from 2005 to 2011.

New food pyramid

The upside-down pyramid published with the 2025-2030 Dietary Guidelines in January 2026, which replaced MyPlate as the federal icon.

Starchy vegetables

A vegetable subgroup on MyPlate that includes white potatoes, corn, green peas and plantains.

MyPlate Plan

The personalized daily amounts by food group that the MyPlate website calculated from age, sex, height, weight and activity.

Healthy Eating Index

A score of how closely a diet follows the federal Dietary Guidelines, used in research to measure diet quality.

Harvard Healthy Eating Plate

A plate picture from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, launched in 2011 as an alternative to MyPlate; the tool this program shows first.

Cluster randomized trial

A trial that assigns whole groups, such as community sites, rather than individual people, to a program or a comparison.

8. Review questions

1. Describe MyPlate: its sections, its dairy circle and its main messages. What happened to it in January 2026, and what replaced it as the federal icon?
2. For readers who open section 4: in the Long Beach trial, what was MyPlate-based coaching compared with, what was measured, and what did the trial find? Why does this page say the trial did not demonstrate a difference rather than that the 2 approaches are equal?
3. A client says, "My daughter learned MyPlate at school, and now I hear it's been replaced. Should we stop using it?" What does the coach explore, what might the coach share with permission, and where is the referral line?
4. For readers who open section 6: where did the belief that potatoes do not count as vegetables on MyPlate come from, and what does MyPlate's own guidance say?

9. References and Resources

American Heart Association. (2026, January 7). New dietary guidelines underscore importance of healthy eating [Press release]. newsroom.heart.org/news/releases-20260107-6915862

Barnett, J. B., & Zeng, W. (2022). Healthy Eating for Successful Living in Older Adults™ community education program-evaluation of lifestyle behaviors: A randomized controlled trial. Frontiers in Aging, 3, Article 960986. https://doi.org/10.3389/fragi.2022.960986

Blackstone, N. T., El-Abbadi, N. H., McCabe, M. S., Griffin, T. S., & Nelson, M. E. (2018). Linking sustainability to the healthy eating patterns of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans: A modelling study. The Lancet Planetary Health, 2(8), e344-e352. https://doi.org/10.1016/s2542-5196(18)30167-0

Clark, R. L., Famodu, O. A., Barr, M. L., Hagedorn, R. L., Ruseski, J., White, J. A., Warner, C. M., Morrell, A. M., Murray, P. J., Olfert, I. M., McFadden, J. W., Downes, M. T., Colby, S. E., & Olfert, M. D. (2019). Monetary cost of the MyPlate diet in young adults: Higher expenses associated with increased fruit and vegetable consumption. Journal of Nutrition and Metabolism, 2019, Article 2790963. https://doi.org/10.1155/2019/2790963

D'Adamo, C. R., McArdle, P. F., Balick, L., Peisach, E., Ferguson, T., Diehl, A., Bustad, K., Bowden, B., Pierce, B. A., & Berman, B. M. (2016). Spice MyPlate: Nutrition education focusing upon spices and herbs improved diet quality and attitudes among urban high school students. American Journal of Health Promotion, 30(5), 346-356. https://doi.org/10.1177/0890117116646333

Garcia, V., Sklyar, L., Caldwell, J. I., Shah, D., Prudencio, J. M., & Kuo, T. (2022). MyPlate and urban low-income Asian Americans in the United States: A study to improve nutrition education. Journal of Public Health Policy, 43(4), 621-639. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41271-022-00377-3

Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. (n.d.-a). Healthy Eating Plate. The Nutrition Source. nutritionsource.hsph.harvard.edu/healthy-eating-plate

Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. (n.d.-b). Healthy Eating Plate vs. USDA's MyPlate. The Nutrition Source. nutritionsource.hsph.harvard.edu/healthy-eating-plate-vs-usda-myplate

Jodkiewicz, M., Malinowska, J., & Marek-Woźny, K. (2025). A comparative analysis of graphic models for enhancing nutrition education. Nutrients, 17(12), Article 1947. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu17121947

Kinderknecht, K. L., The, N. S., & Slining, M. M. (2024). Whose plate is it? Awareness of MyPlate among US adults over time since implementation. Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, 124(9), 1214-1221. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jand.2024.03.011

Kindamo, B. O. (2026, April 17). The plate method. UGA Extension Nutrition and Health: Diabetes, University of Georgia Cooperative Extension. site.extension.uga.edu/diabetes/2026/04/the-plate-method

Kocyigit, E., Bozkurt, O., Kocaadam-Bozkurt, B., & Us Altay, D. (2025). Impact of MyPlate and the healthy highway program-based nutrition education intervention on preschoolers' knowledge and food choice. BMC Public Health, 25(1), Article 3929. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-025-25046-4

Lichtenstein, A. H., Khera, A., Anderson, C. A. M., Appel, L. J., DeSilva, D. M., Gardner, C., Hu, F. B., Jones, D. W., Petersen, K. S., & American Heart Association. (2026). 2026 dietary guidance to improve cardiovascular health: A scientific statement from the American Heart Association. Circulation, 153(18), e1285-e1295. https://doi.org/10.1161/CIR.0000000000001435

McCarthy, W. J., Rico, M., Chandler, M., Herman, D. R., Chang, C., Belin, T. R., Love, S., Ramirez, E., & Gelberg, L. (2023). Randomized comparative effectiveness trial of 2 federally recommended strategies to reduce excess body fat in overweight, low-income patients: MyPlate.gov vs calorie counting. Annals of Family Medicine, 21(3), 213-219. https://doi.org/10.1370/afm.2964

Nazmi, A., Tseng, M., Robinson, D., Neill, D., & Walker, J. (2019). A nutrition education intervention using NOVA is more effective than MyPlate alone: A proof-of-concept randomized controlled trial. Nutrients, 11(12), Article 2965. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu11122965

Popp, C. J., Bohan Brown, M. M., Bridges, W. C., & Jesch, E. D. (2018). The effectiveness of MyPlate and Paleolithic-based diet recommendations, both with and without exercise, on aerobic fitness, muscular strength and anaerobic power in young women: A randomized clinical trial. International Journal of Exercise Science, 11(2), 921-933. https://doi.org/10.70252/shuv3305

Reedy, J., Krebs-Smith, S. M., Miller, P. E., Liese, A. D., Kahle, L. L., Park, Y., & Subar, A. F. (2014). Higher diet quality is associated with decreased risk of all-cause, cardiovascular disease, and cancer mortality among older adults. The Journal of Nutrition, 144(6), 881-889. https://doi.org/10.3945/jn.113.189407

Restrepo, B. J. (2025). Awareness and use of MyPlate among U.S. adults: Evidence from nationally representative data, 2024. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 69(5), Article 108018. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amepre.2025.108018

Schünemann, H., Brożek, J., Guyatt, G., & Oxman, A. (Eds.). (2013). GRADE handbook: Handbook for grading the quality of evidence and the strength of recommendations using the GRADE approach (Updated October 2013). The GRADE Working Group. gdt.gradepro.org/app/handbook/handbook.html

Shams-White, M. M., Pannucci, T. E., Lerman, J. L., Herrick, K. A., Zimmer, M., Meyers Mathieu, K., Stoody, E. E., & Reedy, J. (2023). Healthy Eating Index-2020: Review and update process to reflect the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2020-2025. Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, 123(9), 1280-1288. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jand.2023.05.015

Shan, Z., Wang, F., Li, Y., Baden, M. Y., Bhupathiraju, S. N., Wang, D. D., Sun, Q., Rexrode, K. M., Rimm, E. B., Qi, L., Tabung, F. K., Giovannucci, E. L., Willett, W. C., Manson, J. E., Qi, Q., & Hu, F. B. (2023). Healthy eating patterns and risk of total and cause-specific mortality. JAMA Internal Medicine, 183(2), 142-153. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamainternmed.2022.6117

Skubisz, C., Vizthum, D., Katcher, J. A., & Pacanowski, C. R. (2026). Communicating about nutrition without causing disordered eating: The role of affect, worry, and heart rate variability. Journal of Communication in Healthcare, 19(2), 163-172. https://doi.org/10.1080/17538068.2026.2635198

Thule, J., Yu, X., Montez-Rath, M. E., & Chertow, G. M. (2024). MyPlate awareness and engagement and perceived and objective diet quality in US adults with chronic kidney disease. Journal of Renal Nutrition, 34(6), 493-499. https://doi.org/10.1053/j.jrn.2024.04.007

Turner-McGrievy, G. M., Wilson, M. J., Carswell, J., Okpara, N., Aydin, H., Bailey, S., Davey, M., Hutto, B., Wilcox, S., Friedman, D. B., Sarzynski, M. A., & Liese, A. D. (2023). A 12-week randomized intervention comparing the Healthy US, Mediterranean, and vegetarian dietary patterns of the US Dietary Guidelines for changes in body weight, hemoglobin A1c, blood pressure, and dietary quality among African American adults. The Journal of Nutrition, 153(2), 579-587. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tjnut.2022.11.020

U.S. Department of Agriculture. (n.d.-a). Dairy. MyPlate.gov. Archived January 2, 2026, at the Internet Archive. web.archive.org/web/20260102152123/https://www.myplate.gov/eat-healthy/dairy

U.S. Department of Agriculture. (n.d.-b). Eat healthy with MyPlate. MyPlate.gov. Archived January 7, 2026, at the Internet Archive. web.archive.org/web/20260107033106/https://www.myplate.gov

U.S. Department of Agriculture. (n.d.-c). Prioritize whole, healthy, and nutritious foods with the new Dietary Guidelines for Americans! MyPlate.gov. Archived January 8, 2026, at the Internet Archive. web.archive.org/web/20260108000512/https://www.myplate.gov

U.S. Department of Agriculture. (n.d.-d). Protein foods. MyPlate.gov. Archived January 6, 2026, at the Internet Archive. web.archive.org/web/20260106030817/https://www.myplate.gov/eat-healthy/protein-foods

U.S. Department of Agriculture. (n.d.-e). Vegetables. MyPlate.gov. Archived January 7, 2026, at the Internet Archive. web.archive.org/web/20260107015617/https://www.myplate.gov/eat-healthy/vegetables

U.S. Department of Agriculture. (n.d.-f). What is MyPlate? MyPlate.gov. Archived December 31, 2025, at the Internet Archive. web.archive.org/web/20251231002313/https://www.myplate.gov/eat-healthy/what-is-myplate

U.S. Department of Agriculture. (2018, November 30). A brief history of USDA food guides. ChooseMyPlate.gov. Archived September 8, 2019, at the Internet Archive. web.archive.org/web/20190908140932/https://www.choosemyplate.gov/brief-history-usda-food-guides

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services & U.S. Department of Agriculture. (2026). Dietary guidelines for Americans, 2025-2030. cdn.realfood.gov/DGA.pdf

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services & U.S. Department of Agriculture. (n.d.-a). History of dietary guidance development in the United States: A timeline. DietaryGuidelines.gov. dietaryguidelines.gov/history

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services & U.S. Department of Agriculture. (n.d.-b). Eat real food. RealFood.gov. realfood.gov

Vander Wyst, K. B., Vercelli, M. E., O'Brien, K. O., Cooper, E. M., Pressman, E. K., & Whisner, C. M. (2019). A social media intervention to improve nutrition knowledge and behaviors of low income, pregnant adolescents and adult women. PLOS ONE, 14(10), Article e0223120. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0223120

Zakerkish, M., Shahmoradi, S., Haidari, F., Latifi, S. M., & Mohammadshahi, M. (2022). The effect of nutrition education using MyPlate on lipid profiles, glycemic indices, and inflammatory markers in diabetic patients. Clinical Nutrition Research, 11(3), 171-182. https://doi.org/10.7762/cnr.2022.11.3.171

Evidence rating and review record

Each row identifies the method, source, outcome and comparison being rated. Ratings from different tools are not interchangeable. A rating may come from a named published review or from this page's own judgment. Every row on this page uses GRADE, and no published GRADE rating of MyPlate was found, so every row here is this page's own judgment.

Rows rated with GRADE use the same 4-level scale as the clinical guidelines you will meet in practice. High means further research is very unlikely to change the conclusion. Moderate means further research may change it. Low means further research is likely to change it. Very low means the conclusion is uncertain. GRADE rates each outcome separately, so a tool can be high for one outcome and very low for another.

The banner gives no single rating for MyPlate, because the studies found for this page tested particular teaching programs or materials rather than establishing an effect of the icon as a whole. A high rating means the research is solid; it does not mean a tool is right for everyone, and it does not mean a coach should recommend it.

On a narrow screen, scroll the table sideways to see every column.

Evidence ratings, their sources and reasons

Outcome	Certainty	Who rated it, and for which comparison	Why it is rated this way
Waist circumference at 12 months	Low	GRADE; this page's own judgment. Adults with overweight and low income, mostly Latine women; 6 months of MyPlate-based coaching against calorie-counting coaching with the same contact schedule; waist circumference at 12 months. Trial: McCarthy et al., 2023.	Randomized trials start high. Lowered 1 level for risk of bias: the programs were open label, the community health workers in each program delivered only that program, and about a quarter of participants missed the 12-month measurement. Lowered 1 level for imprecision: a single trial of 261 people, below the roughly 400 that the GRADE handbook gives as a guide for an outcome of this kind (Schünemann et al., 2013), with no confidence interval for the difference between groups and no stated margin for equivalence. Not lowered for indirectness: the trial taught MyPlate itself, in one population. Inconsistency and publication bias could not be judged with 1 trial. The rating is for the finding that no clear difference between the 2 approaches was detected, not for equivalence.
Body weight at 12 months, as measured	Low	GRADE; this page's own judgment. Same trial and comparison as the row above; body weight at 12 months.	Randomized trials start high. Lowered 1 level for risk of bias and 1 for imprecision, for the same reasons as the waist row. Neither group's weight changed clearly, and the between-group comparison did not demonstrate a clear difference. Weight is reported here as a study measurement, not as a goal.
Hunger, fullness and meal satisfaction at 12 months	Low	GRADE; this page's own judgment. Same trial and comparison; self-rated scales.	Randomized trials start high. Lowered 1 level for risk of bias: self-rated outcomes in an open-label trial, where participants knew their program, plus missed follow-up. Lowered 1 level for imprecision: a single trial of 261 people. Indirectness not lowered. Inconsistency and publication bias could not be judged.
HbA1c in adults with type 2 diabetes	Very low	GRADE; this page's own judgment. What is rated: applying this evidence to MyPlate-based education itself, for adults with type 2 diabetes not on insulin. The direct evidence: 12 weeks of weekly MyPlate classes adapted for diabetes, with telephone follow-up, against one session of standard diabetes education; HbA1c at 12 weeks. Trial: Zakerkish et al., 2022.	Randomized trials start high. Lowered 1 level for risk of bias: how the random sequence was made and whether allocation was concealed are not reported, no blinding was described, the comparison group started with a higher HbA1c, and the report's conclusion lists a result its table does not show. Lowered 1 level for indirectness: the classes taught a version of MyPlate adapted for diabetes and gave far more teaching and support than the comparison, so the result cannot be credited to ordinary MyPlate education. The extra contact is counted here once, not also as bias. Lowered 1 level for imprecision: 44 people in 1 trial, with no confidence interval for the adjusted difference. Inconsistency and publication bias could not be judged with 1 trial. HbA1c is a marker, not a disease outcome.
Self-reported healthy eating behaviors in adults aged 60 and over	Very low	GRADE; this page's own judgment. What is rated: applying the workshop's results to MyPlate itself. The direct evidence: a 6-week community workshop built partly on MyPlate against no program; a self-reported healthy behavior index at 6 months. Trial: Barnett & Zeng, 2022.	Randomized trials start high. Lowered 2 levels for risk of bias: self-reported outcomes in an unblinded trial, and about 43 percent of the program group and 23 percent of the comparison group lost to follow-up. Lowered 1 level for indirectness: MyPlate was one part of a workshop compared with no program, so the result cannot be credited to MyPlate. Imprecision not lowered further; the rating is already at the floor. Inconsistency and publication bias could not be judged with 1 trial.
Death from any cause, associated with a higher Healthy Eating Index score	Low	GRADE; this page's own judgment about the association between diet quality scored against federal guidance and death, highest against lowest fifth of the score, in U.S. adults followed 15 to 36 years. Cohorts: Reedy et al., 2014; Shan et al., 2023. This row does not rate the use of MyPlate, which these studies did not measure.	Cohort studies start low. Not lowered further: the 2 reports, covering more than 600,000 people, agree in direction and size (hazard ratios 0.77 to 0.81) with narrow intervals. Not raised: although higher scores went with steadily lower risk, people who eat this way differ in many ways the studies could only partly adjust for. Publication bias was not assessed; this page did not search systematically for cohorts.
Heart attacks, strokes, cancer and deaths among people taught MyPlate	Not rated	The MyPlate trials found for this page did not report these outcomes. The searches for this page found no cohort comparing people by whether they used MyPlate.	The searches for this page found no evidence to rate.

How this archive talks about weight. This page reports what studies measured, including body weight, and does not treat weight change as a goal or as a measure of a tool's success. Weight a person loses without meaning to can be a sign of a health problem, and where it is, the page names it as a reason to see a clinician. People are described the way the study described them.

Status: reviewed and approved by James Peth, MS, MPH, PhD, on October 6, 2026, after a combined final review and a limited recheck. Written October 2, 2026. An outside combined final review of the 3 plate pages was completed October 4, 2026, and the page was repaired the same day; one citation date was corrected after the limited recheck. The ratings are this page's own, assigned from the evidence.

What changed: First version October 2, 2026. Repairs October 4, 2026, sources: the archived U.S. Department of Agriculture pages behind the food group messages, amounts and history were opened again and checked; the January 8, 2026 MyPlate notice is now cited to its archived copy, with a separate link to the current site; the food-cost paragraph now says what the cost study could and could not show; the Long Beach trial's hunger result and between-group wording were qualified; the diabetes trial's adapted plate is described.

Repairs October 4, 2026, ratings and coaching: the HbA1c and older-adult rows now say what they rate, with the HbA1c row's reasons rebalanced and its label unchanged; the opening of this record now explains that ratings from different tools are not interchangeable, and each row names its tool; the banner wording was tightened; Signs it is going wrong now separates a physical sign from eating behaviors and says how a coach explores a behavior before any referral; the coaching example now keeps the prescriber informed before a substantial change; 2 absence statements were narrowed and 1 removed; related archive pages are named by their current titles, and live pages are linked. No rating label changed.

Updated October 21, 2026: The American Heart Association is now named as an author of its 2026 dietary guidance statement (Lichtenstein et al., 2026), as the publisher's citation credits it. No content changed.

Next scheduled review: Each year, because federal food guidance and its websites changed in 2026 and may change again. Pages built on annual guidance are rechecked each year.

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Diet Reference Archive | One James

Prepared by James Peth, MS, MPH, PhD

© 2026–2027 One James. All rights reserved.

This page is for education and coaching practice. It is not medical or dietary advice.