WASHINGTON (Jan. 30, 2023) -- A researcher with the George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health has been named to the 2025 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee. The committee makes recommendations to the U.S. Departments of Agriculture and Health and Human Services with the goal of releasing an updated version of The Dietary Guidelines for Americans.
Sameera Talegawkar, an associate professor of exercise and nutrition sciences, and epidemiology at the GW Milken Institute School of Public Health, was appointed to the 2025 committee along with other experts from around the country.
The committee will review the scientific evidence with a focus on diet and health outcomes across the lifespan, including the relationship between diet and risk of obesity. The 2025 committee will also apply a health equity lens to their review.
Talegawkar, who earned her PhD in nutritional epidemiology, focuses her research at GW on how dietary patterns affect age-related changes in physical function, and how they impact health disparities experienced by under-served and minority populations.
She predicts that both areas will be relevant to her work on the committee, whose first meeting is in February.
“I am thrilled to use my expertise related to dietary patterns, food pattern modeling and health related outcomes to inform the dietary guidelines,” Talegawkar said.
The Dietary Guidelines for Americans gives people advice on what to eat and drink to promote good health and prevent diseases. According to the committee, more than half of all adults in the United States have one or more preventable chronic disease related to a poor diet and do not get enough physical activity.
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