The New Dietary Guidelines Are Here. Your Benefits Strategy Should Respond.

How CHROs Can Turn Federal Nutrition Policy Into Employee Wellbeing and Cost Savings

For CHROs and benefits leaders, this isn't just a nutrition story. It's a benefits strategy signal. The 2025-2030 Dietary Guidelines for Americans landed in January 2026 with a clear directive: eat real food. Released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the updated guidance brings back the food pyramid (this time inverted), takes a harder line on added sugars and ultra-processed foods, and emphasizes protein, vegetables, and whole foods over refined carbohydrates.

The federal government is explicitly connecting diet quality to chronic disease prevention, and the implications for employee health benefits, workforce productivity, and healthcare costs are substantial.

According to the Guidelines, nearly 90% of U.S. healthcare spending goes toward treating chronic diseases, many of which are driven by poor nutrition. For employers managing benefits budgets, this creates both urgency and opportunity: invest in evidence-based nutrition programs now, or continue absorbing preventable healthcare costs later.

What Changed in the 2025-2030 Dietary Guidelines

The new Guidelines represent the most significant reset of federal nutrition policy in decades. Here's what shifted and why it matters for your employee population:

• ‍Stronger Limits on Added Sugars: The Guidelines now recommend that children avoid added sugars until age 10, and that no single meal should contain more than 10 grams of added sugar. This is a reduction from the previous 10% of daily calories limit and reflects growing evidence linking excess sugar consumption to obesity, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. What this means for benefits leaders: Your population likely includes employees struggling with prediabetes, metabolic syndrome, or weight-related health risks. Programs that help members reduce added sugars and improve diet quality directly address root causes, not just symptoms.‍

• First Explicit Warning on Ultra-Processed Foods: While previous editions emphasized whole foods, this is the first time the Guidelines explicitly call out "highly processed foods" as a category to avoid. This includes sugar-sweetened beverages, packaged snacks, and ready-to-eat meals high in refined carbohydrates, sodium, and chemical additives. Research from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health shows that ultra-processed food consumption is strongly associated with increased risk of chronic disease, andthe new Guidelines acknowledge this connection at the federal policy level. What this means for benefits leaders: Your employees are navigating food environments saturated with convenient, highly processed options. Nutrition education and behavior change programs can help them make better choices despite those pressures.
  ‍‍
• Increased Protein Recommendations: Daily protein intake recommendations increased to 1.2-1.6 grams per kilogram of body weight, a 50-100% increase from prior guidance. However, the Guidelines do not clearly distinguish between protein sources (plant-based, fish, poultry, red meat),creating potential confusion around saturated fat intake and heart health. What this means forbenefits leaders: Employees need more than a poster about protein. They need personalized nutrition counseling that helps them understand protein quality, portion sizes, and how to balance macronutrients based on their individual health goals.
  ‍
• The Return of the Food Pyramid (Flipped): MyPlate has been replaced with an inverted pyramid that visually emphasizes protein, dairy, healthy fats, and vegetables at the top (wider section) and whole grains at thebottom (narrower section). Nutrition scientists have raised concerns about mixed messaging. Despite the pyramid's visual prominence of red meat, butter, and full-fat dairy, the Guidelines maintain a 10% limit on saturated fat intake. Experts from Harvard and the American Heart Association note this contradiction could confuse consumers. What this means for benefits leaders: Visual simplicity is appealing, but effective behavior change requiresnuance. Your digital health programs should provide individualized guidance that accounts for health conditions, dietary preferences, and cultural context.

The Employee Wellbeing Connection: Why Nutrition Matters Now

For years, workplace wellness programs focused on awareness and education. Bring in a nutritionist for a lunch-and-learn. Offer a health screening. Send an email about healthy eating.

That approach doesn't work. According to CDC research, Americans do not follow the Dietary Guidelines, regardless of how they're packaged. The problem isn't knowledge. It's sustained behavior change, accountability, and personalized support.

This is where modern digital health programs create differentiation. The best programs don't just tell employees what to eat. They provide:

• Personalized health risk assessments that identify employees at risk for prediabetes, obesity, or cardiovascular disease
• One-on-one health coaching with registered dietitians and certified health coaches who tailor recommendations to individual needs
• Behavioral support that addresses emotional eating, stress management, and habit formation
• Ongoing accountability through regular check-ins, progress tracking, and goal-setting
• Clinical integration that connects nutrition programs with primary care, pharmacy, and condition management

These aren't"nice-to-have" wellness perks. They're strategic investments in employee health that reduce long-term benefits costs, improve productivity, and support retention.

The Business Case: Nutrition Programs Drive Measurable ROI

Benefits leaders operate under intense financial pressure. CFOs want to see ROI. Finance teams scrutinize every line item. Employees expect comprehensive benefits without premium increases. How do you justify investment in nutrition programs when budgets are already stretched?

The answer is outcomes data. Well-designed digital health programs, including diabetes prevention, weight management, and nutrition coaching, deliver measurable returns:

• ‍Cost Savings: Analysis of over 60 million claimsshows that members who engage in evidence-based digital health programs achieve 2.3-3.1% reductions in total cost of care. For a 10,000-employee organization with $70 million in annual healthcare spend, that translates to $1.6-2.2million in annual savings.‍
• Chronic DiseasePrevention: The National Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP), recognized by the CDC, has been shown to reduce type 2 diabetes incidence by 58% in high-risk populations. For employers, this means fewer employees progressing to costly chronic conditions that require ongoing medication, specialist care, and potential complications.‍
• Productivity Gains: Employees managing chronic conditions report higher rates of absenteeism and presenteeism. Programs that help employees improve diet quality, lose weight, and manage conditions like prediabetes can improve energy levels, reduce sick days, and enhance overall job performance.‍
• Employee Retention: Research from the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) shows that comprehensive health benefits, including wellness andp revention programs, are key drivers of employee satisfaction and retention. Intight labor markets, investing in employee wellbeing is a competitive advantage.

From Guidelines to Action: Why Nutrition Can't Stand Alone

The 2025-2030 Dietary Guidelines set the policy direction. But policy alone doesn't change behavior. For benefits leaders, the question is: how do we translate national nutrition recommendations into individual employee action?

More importantly, how do we avoid the trap of treating nutrition as a standalone issue?

The Point Solution Problem

Many employers have tried the point solution approach: add a nutrition app here, a weight loss challenge there, maybe a diabetes prevention program as a separate offering.The result? Fragmented experiences, low engagement, and minimal sustained behavior change.

Here's why single-issue point solutions fall short:

• ‍Nutrition doesn'texist in isolation. An employee struggling with poor diet quality may also be dealing with chronic stress, inadequate sleep, depression, or anxiety. According to the American Psychological Association, stress significantly impacts eating behaviors, and telling employees to "eat more vegetables" without addressing the behavioral health factors driving their food choices is like treating the symptom while ignoring the disease.‍
• Health conditions are interconnected. An employee with prediabetes isn't just at risk for type 2 diabetes. Research from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases shows they're also at elevated risk for cardiovascular disease, hypertension, kidney disease, and mental health challenges. Nutrition interventions that don't coordinate with broader health management miss opportunities for compounding benefits.‍
• Behavior change requires multidimensional support. Sustainable dietary change isn't just about nutrition education. According to behavior change research, it requires stress management tools, behavioral health support, physical activity guidance, sleep optimization, social connection, and ongoing accountability. No single point solution can deliver all of that.‍
• Data fragmentation undermines outcomes. When nutrition programs operate separately from other health interventions, employers lose visibility into the full picture. Research from the Healthcare Information andManagement Systems Society (HIMSS) demonstrates that data interoperability is essential for measuring true health outcomes. You can't measure true ROI when half your data lives in a weight loss app, another portion sits with your diabetes vendor, and behavioral health outcomes are tracked in yet another system.

The Integrated Care Model: Nutritionas Part of Whole Person Health

Effective digital health programs treat nutrition as one dimension of comprehensive, coordinated care. This is the whole person care model, and according to research from the Commonwealth Fund, it's the only approach that delivers sustained outcomes and reduces healthcare costs.

Here's what integration looks like in practice:

• ‍Unified Assessment and Risk Stratification: Rather than asking employees to complete separate health risk assessments for nutrition, mental health, chronic disease, and wellness programs, integrated platforms conduct a single comprehensive assessment. Research from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) demonstrates that comprehensive health assessments improve care coordination and clinical outcomes. This assessment identifies not just nutritional risk factors, but the behavioral, psychological, and clinical factors that influence eating patterns. Employees identified as high-risk for prediabetes don't just get enrolled in a standalone diabetes prevention program. They receive coordinated support that addresses nutrition, physical activity, stress management, sleep quality, and any underlying behavioral health challenges that may be contributing to their risk profile.‍
• Coordinated Intervention Across Conditions: An employee managing prediabetes and anxiety doesn't need two separate apps with two separate coaches working in isolation. They need an integrated care team where the nutrition coach, behavioral health provider, and health coach are coordinating interventions, sharing data, and aligning on goals.According to the National Academy ofMedicine, this type of care coordination is essential for managing complex chronic conditions. When the behavioral health provider identifies stress-related eating as a barrier, that insight informs the nutrition coaching strategy. When the nutrition coach observes improved dietary habits but persistent weight challenges, that signals a potential need for deeper behavioral intervention or medical evaluation.‍
• Continuous Data Flowand Clinical Coordination: Integrated platforms don't just coordinate across digital health programs. They connect with primary care, pharmacy benefits, biometric screening data, and claims information. Research from The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) shows that digital health interventions integrated with clinical care deliver superior outcomes compared to standalone programs. This means nutrition interventions aren't happening in a vacuum. They're informed by lab results, medication adherence, healthcare utilization patterns, and real-world outcomes. When an employee's A1C levels improve after participating in a diabetes prevention program, that data flows back to their primary care provider, potentially enabling medication reduction and lower pharmacy costs. When behavioral health support leads to better stress management and improved eating habits, those outcomes are visible across the care continuum.

The Solera Difference: Network Integration, Not Point Solution Fatigue

This is where Solera Health's model creates fundamental differentiation. We don't offer a single nutrition app or a standalone diabetes prevention program. We deliver an integrated digital health network that treats nutrition as one dimension of comprehensive member support.

The HALO Platform:One Front Door, Coordinated Care Employees access the Solera network through a unified digital front door. Based on their health risk assessment, they're connected with the mostappropriate combination of programs, which may include:

• CDC-recognized Diabetes Prevention Program for employees at risk of type 2 diabetes
• Medical Nutrition Therapy and health coaching for employees managing existing chronic conditions
• Weight management programs that integrate nutrition counseling, behavioral support, and physical activity guidance
• Behavioral health services including cognitive behavioral therapy, stress management, and emotional eating support
• Condition management programs for hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and metabolic conditions
• Musculoskeletal and physical therapy programs that address mobility barriers to physical activity
• Sleep and wellness coaching that addresses foundational health behaviors

These aren't separate point solutions. They're curated programs within a coordinatednetwork, backed by unified data, shared care plans, and outcomes-based accountability.

Care Coordination Across the Network: When an employee engages with multiple programs, their care team collaborates. The nutrition coach knows the employee is also working with abehavioral health provider. The diabetes prevention coach is aware of medication changes flagged by the condition management program. The health coach can see biometric improvements and adjust goals accordingly.

This level of coordination is impossible with standalone point solutions. It requires network infrastructure, unified data architecture, and care coordination protocols thattreat the employee as a whole person, not a collection of isolated healthrisks.

Outcomes MeasurementAcross the Continuum: Because Solera bills through medical claims and integrates withpharmacy, lab, and utilization data, employers can measure outcomes across theentire care continuum. You don't just see whether employees engaged with a nutrition app. You see whether engagement correlated with:

• Reduced healthcare utilization (fewer ER visits, lower inpatient admissions)
• Improved biometric markers (A1C, blood pressure, cholesterol, BMI)
• Lower pharmacy costs (medication reduction or elimination)
• Better chronic disease management (fewer complications, better adherence)
• Sustained behavior change (longitudinal engagement, program completion)

This is the accountability that CHROs and CFOs demand. Not engagement metrics orself-reported data, but claims-validated outcomes that prove ROI.

Why Integrated Care Matters More Than Ever

The 2025-2030 Dietary Guidelines emphasize nutrition's role in chronic disease prevention. But chronic diseases don't develop in isolation, and they can't be preventedwith nutrition alone.

Research from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows that 6 in 10 U.S. adults have at least one chronic disease, and 4 in 10 have two or more. These conditions are interconnected, requiring coordinated intervention across multiple health domains.

An employee at risk for type 2 diabetes needs more than a meal plan. According to research published in Diabetes Care, they need stress management tools to address cortisol-driven cravings. They need behavioral health support to unpack emotional eating patterns. They need physical activity guidance tailored to their mobility and fitness level. Research from the National Sleep Foundation demonstrates they need sleep optimization strategies because poor sleep disrupts glucose metabolism. And they need all of this delivered in a coordinated way, not through five separate apps with five separate logins and zero integration.

The American College of Lifestyle Medicine emphasizes that sustainable health outcomes require addressing six pillars of lifestyle medicine: nutrition, physical activity, stress management, sleep, social connection, and avoidanceof risky substances. Treating any of these domains in isolation dramatically reduces effectiveness.

This is what employers should demand from their digital health partners: not more point solutions, but true integration. Programs that talk to each other. Data that flows seamlessly. Care teams that coordinate. And outcomes measurement that captures the full picture.

Solera Health has spent over a decade building this infrastructure. Our network approach replaces point solution fatigue with coordinated care. Our claims-based billing model ensures accountability. And our outcomes data, validated through analysis of over 60 million claims, proves that integration works.

What CHROs Should Do Now

The release of the 2025-2030 Dietary Guidelines creates a strategic moment for benefits leaders. But the real opportunity isn't just about nutrition programs. It's about rethinking how you deliver employee health benefits in an integrated,coordinated way. Here's how to respond:

1. ‍Evaluate Integration, Not JustIndividual Programs: Don't just ask whether you have a nutrition program or a diabetes prevention offering. Ask whether your programs work together. Do employees need multiple logins, redundant assessments, and uncoordinated interventions? Or do they have a unified experience with coordinated care teams and shared data? If your digital health stack is a collection of disconnected point solutions, you're creating friction, duplication, and missed opportunities for compounding benefits.‍
2. Demand Whole Person Care Models: When evaluating digital health vendors, ask how they coordinate nutrition interventions with behavioral health, chronic disease management, physical activity programs, and clinical care. Ask to see care coordination protocols. Ask how data flows between programs. Ask whether their model treats employees as whole people oras isolated health risks. Vendors who can'tarticulate an integrated care model are selling point solutions, not comprehensive employee health support.‍
3. Prioritize Outcomes Data, Not Engagement Metrics: Engagement rates don't pay medical claims. Ask vendors for outcomes data tied to healthcare utilization, biometric improvements, pharmacy costs, and total cost of care. Look for programs with CDC recognition, peer-reviewed research, and claims-validated ROI. If a vendor can'tshow you how program participation correlates with reduced healthcare spend,they're not delivering accountability.‍
4. Use Predictive Analytics to Prioritize High-Risk Employees: Rather than broadcasting programs to your entire population, use data to identify employees at highest risk for chronic disease and target them with coordinated interventions. Predictive models can stratify risk based on claims history, biometric data, pharmacy utilization, and demographics. Employees identifiedas high-risk for prediabetes should receive proactive outreach connecting themwith diabetes prevention, nutrition counseling, and behavioral health supportas a coordinated package, not three separate program invitations.‍
5. Align Your Communication Strategy with Whole Person Health: The new Dietary Guidelines provide a timely communication hook, but your messaging should emphasize integrated support, not standalone nutrition tips. Position your benefits offerings as comprehensive employee wellbeing resources that address physical health, mental health, chronic disease prevention, and lifestyle factors in a coordinated way. Employees should understand that accessing one program doesn't preclude others. In fact, the programs work better together.

The Bottom Line: Whole Person Care, Not Point Solution Fatigue

For too long, employers have treated nutrition as a standalone wellness offering. Add a meal planning app. Offer a diabetes prevention program. Send an email about the new food pyramid.

But the 2025-2030 Dietary Guidelines make clear that nutrition is foundational to chronic disease prevention. And chronic disease prevention requires comprehensive, coordinated intervention across nutrition, behavioral health, physical activity, sleep, stress management, and clinical care.

Employees don't need more apps. They need integrated support that treats them as whole people. Theyneed care teams that coordinate interventions, data systems that talk to eachother, and outcomes measurement that captures the full picture.

The point solution era is over. The future of employee health benefits is integrated, accountable, and outcomes-driven.

Ready to move beyond point solutions and build an integrated digital health strategy?

Solera Health delivers coordinatedemployee wellbeing through our curated network of 30+ evidence-based programs, unified HALO Platform, and claims-based outcomes measurement. Our model replaces fragmented point solutions with whole person care, proven ROI, andsustainable behavior change. Contact Solera Health to explore how we help CHROs reducecosts, improve employee outcomes, and demonstrate measurable value.