Nutrition Guidelines
Nutrition guidelines, such as the Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGAs) and Dietary Reference Intakes (DRIs), provide direction for creating healthy menus for senior nutrition programs. Dive into these guidelines and learn how to meet the basic requirements of Title III-C nutrition programs.
Data and Research
- USDA Databases— Research on supplements and food (USDA)
- Nutrient Recommendations: DRIs— Tables and reports (National Institutes of Health)
Infographics
- Eat Healthy to Be Healthy— Infographic on how the DGAs improve health (USDA & HHS, 2020)
From DietaryGuidelines.gov:
- Sodium— How to reduce sodium intake
Quick Guides
- Quick Tips: Nutrition Guidelines — Information and resources related to common questions about OAA Title III-C nutrient requirements (Nutrition and Aging Resource Center)
- Dietary Reference Intakes: Too Little, Too Much? — Learn about DRIs and how to apply them within the Older Americans Act (OAA) Title III-C programs (Nutrition and Aging Resource Center)
Guides
- Nutrition Requirements of the Older Americans Act — Basics nutrition responsibilities for Title III-C programs (Nutrition and Aging Resource Center)
- Purchasing Foodservice Software Guide — Considerations around nutrient analysis software and comparison of software features (Nutrition and Aging Resource Center)
Fact Sheets
- From the Nutrition and Aging Resource Center:
- Fiber Intake (2020)
- Protein (2020)
- Vitamin D
- Vitamin B-12 (2020)
- Vitamin B6 (2020)
- Calcium— Fact sheet for consumers (National Institutes of Health)
Tools & Toolkits
- Adult Day Care Food Allergy Fact Sheets— Toolkit for managing food allergies in adult day cares operating the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) and common questions about food allergies (Institute of Child Nutrition)
- Food Substitution List — Sample resource list to use when changing menu items (Nutrition and Aging Resource Center)
- Online DRI Calculator— Tool to calculate daily nutrient recommendations (USDA)
- Food Service Guidelines — Implementation toolkit (CDC, 2024)
- FoodData Central— Data system to search for the nutrients a food contains (USDA)
