Key healthy diet facts
- A healthy diet helps to protect against
malnutrition in all its forms, as well as noncommunicable diseases
(NCDs), including such as diabetes, heart disease, stroke and cancer.
- Unhealthy diet and lack of physical activity are leading global risks to health.
- Healthy dietary practices start early in life –
breastfeeding fosters healthy growth and improves cognitive development,
and may have longer term health benefits such as reducing the risk of
becoming overweight or obese and developing NCDs later in life.
- Energy intake (calories) should be in balance
with energy expenditure. To avoid unhealthy weight gain, total fat
should not exceed 30% of total energy intake (1, 2, 3). Intake of
saturated fats should be less than 10% of total energy intake, and
intake of trans-fats less than 1% of total energy intake, with a shift
in fat consumption away from saturated fats and trans-fats to
unsaturated fats (3), and towards the goal of eliminating
industrially-produced trans-fats (4, 5, 6).
- Limiting intake of free sugars to less than 10%
of total energy intake (2, 7) is part of a healthy diet. A further
reduction to less than 5% of total energy intake is suggested for
additional health benefits (7).
- Keeping salt intake to less than 5 g per day
(equivalent to sodium intake of less than 2 g per day) helps to prevent
hypertension, and reduces the risk of heart disease and stroke in the
adult population (8).
- WHO Member States have agreed to reduce the
global population’s intake of salt by 30% by 2025; they have also agreed
to halt the rise in diabetes and obesity in adults and adolescents as
well as in childhood overweight by 2025 (9, 10).
Overview
Consuming
a healthy diet throughout the life-course helps to prevent malnutrition
in all its forms as well as a range of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs)
and conditions. However, increased production of processed foods, rapid
urbanization and changing
lifestyles have led to a shift in dietary patterns. People are
now consuming more foods high in energy, fats, free sugars and
salt/sodium, and many people do not eat enough fruit, vegetables and
other dietary fibre such as whole grains.
The exact make-up of a
diversified, balanced and healthy diet will vary depending on individual
characteristics (e.g. age, gender, lifestyle and degree of physical
activity), cultural context, locally available foods and dietary
customs. However,
the basic principles of what constitutes a healthy diet remain
the same.
For adults
A healthy diet includes the following:
- Fruit,
vegetables, legumes (e.g. lentils and beans), nuts and whole grains
(e.g. unprocessed maize, millet, oats, wheat and brown rice).
- At least 400 g (i.e. five portions) of fruit and vegetables per day (2), excluding potatoes, sweet potatoes, cassava and other starchy roots.
- Less than 10% of total energy intake from free sugars (2, 7),
which is equivalent to 50 g (or about 12 level teaspoons) for a person
of healthy body weight consuming about 2000 calories per day, but
ideally is less than 5% of total
energy intake for additional health benefits (7).
Free sugars are all sugars added to foods or drinks by the manufacturer,
cook or consumer, as well as sugars naturally present in honey, syrups,
fruit juices and fruit juice concentrates.
- Less than 30% of total energy intake from fats (1, 2, 3).
Unsaturated fats (found in fish, avocado and nuts, and in sunflower,
soybean, canola and olive oils) are preferable to saturated fats (found
in fatty meat, butter, palm and coconut
oil, cream, cheese, ghee and lard) and trans-fats of all kinds, including both industrially-produced trans-fats (found in baked and fried foods, and pre-packaged snacks and foods, such as frozen pizza, pies, cookies, biscuits,
wafers, and cooking oils and spreads) and ruminant trans-fats
(found in meat and dairy foods from ruminant animals, such as cows,
sheep, goats and camels). It is suggested that the intake of saturated
fats be reduced to less than
10% of total energy intake and trans-fats to less than 1% of total energy intake (5). In particular, industrially-produced trans-fats are not part of a healthy diet and should be avoided (4, 6).
- Less than 5 g of salt (equivalent to about one teaspoon) per day (8). Salt should be iodized.
For infants and young children
In
the first 2 years of a child’s life, optimal nutrition fosters healthy
growth and improves cognitive development. It also reduces the risk of
becoming overweight or obese and developing NCDs later in life.
Advice on a healthy diet for infants and children is similar to that for adults, but the following elements are also important:
- Infants should be breastfed exclusively during the first 6 months of life.
- Infants should be breastfed continuously until 2 years of age and beyond.
- From
6 months of age, breast milk should be complemented with a variety of
adequate, safe and nutrient-dense foods. Salt and sugars should not be
added to complementary foods.
Practical advice on maintaining a healthy diet
Fruit and vegetables
Eating at least 400 g, or five portions, of fruit and vegetables per day reduces the risk of NCDs (2) and helps to ensure an adequate daily intake of dietary fibre.
Fruit and vegetable intake can be improved by:
- always including vegetables in meals;
- eating fresh fruit and raw vegetables as snacks;
- eating fresh fruit and vegetables that are in season; and
- eating a variety of fruit and vegetables.
Fats
Reducing
the amount of total fat intake to less than 30% of total energy intake
helps to prevent unhealthy weight gain in the adult population (1, 2, 3). Also, the risk of developing NCDs is lowered by:
- reducing saturated fats to less than 10% of total energy intake;
- reducing trans-fats to less than 1% of total energy intake; and
- replacing both saturated fats and trans-fats with unsaturated fats (2, 3) – in particular, with polyunsaturated fats.
Fat intake, especially saturated fat and industrially-produced trans-fat intake, can be reduced by:
- steaming or boiling instead of frying when cooking;
- replacing
butter, lard and ghee with oils rich in polyunsaturated fats, such as
soybean, canola (rapeseed), corn, safflower and sunflower oils;
- eating reduced-fat dairy foods and lean meats, or trimming visible fat from meat; and
- limiting
the consumption of baked and fried foods, and pre-packaged snacks and
foods (e.g. doughnuts, cakes, pies, cookies, biscuits and wafers) that
contain industrially-produced trans-fats.
Salt, sodium and potassium
Most
people consume too much sodium through salt (corresponding to consuming
an average of 9–12 g of salt per day) and not enough potassium (less
than 3.5 g). High sodium intake and insufficient potassium intake
contribute to high
blood pressure, which in turn increases the risk of heart
disease and stroke (8, 11).
Reducing salt intake to the recommended level of less than 5 g per day could prevent 1.7 million deaths each year (12).
People
are often unaware of the amount of salt they consume. In many
countries, most salt comes from processed foods (e.g. ready meals;
processed meats such as bacon, ham and salami; cheese; and salty snacks)
or from foods consumed frequently
in large amounts (e.g. bread). Salt is also added to foods
during cooking (e.g. bouillon, stock cubes, soy sauce and fish sauce) or
at the point of consumption (e.g. table salt).
Salt intake can be reduced by:
- limiting
the amount of salt and high-sodium condiments (e.g. soy sauce, fish
sauce and bouillon) when cooking and preparing foods;
- not having salt or high-sodium sauces on the table;
- limiting the consumption of salty snacks; and
- choosing products with lower sodium content.
Some
food manufacturers are reformulating recipes to reduce the sodium
content of their products, and people should be encouraged to check
nutrition labels to see how much sodium is in a product before
purchasing or consuming it.
Potassium can mitigate the negative
effects of elevated sodium consumption on blood pressure. Intake of
potassium can be increased by consuming fresh fruit and vegetables.
Sugars
In both adults and children, the intake of free sugars should be reduced to less than 10% of total energy intake (2, 7). A reduction to less than 5% of total energy intake would provide additional health benefits (7).
Consuming
free sugars increases the risk of dental caries (tooth decay). Excess
calories from foods and drinks high in free sugars also contribute to
unhealthy weight gain, which can lead to overweight and obesity. Recent
evidence also shows that
free sugars influence blood pressure and serum lipids, and
suggests that a reduction in free sugars intake reduces risk factors for
cardiovascular diseases (13).
Sugars intake can be reduced by:
- limiting
the consumption of foods and drinks containing high amounts of sugars,
such as sugary snacks, candies and sugar-sweetened beverages (i.e. all
types of beverages containing free sugars – these include carbonated or
non‐carbonated
soft drinks, fruit or vegetable juices and drinks, liquid
and powder concentrates, flavoured water, energy and sports drinks,
ready‐to‐drink tea, ready‐to‐drink coffee and flavoured milk drinks);
and
- eating fresh fruit and raw vegetables as snacks instead of sugary snacks.
How to promote healthy diets
Diet
evolves over time, being influenced by many social and economic factors
that interact in a complex manner to shape individual dietary patterns.
These factors include income, food prices (which will affect the
availability and affordability of
healthy foods), individual preferences and beliefs, cultural
traditions, and geographical and environmental aspects (including
climate change). Therefore, promoting a healthy food environment –
including food systems that promote a diversified,
balanced and healthy diet – requires the involvement of multiple
sectors and stakeholders, including government, and the public and
private sectors.
Governments have a central role in creating a
healthy food environment that enables people to adopt and maintain
healthy dietary practices. Effective actions by policy-makers to create a
healthy food environment include the following:
- Creating
coherence in national policies and investment plans – including trade,
food and agricultural policies – to promote a healthy diet and protect
public health through:
- increasing incentives for producers and retailers to grow, use and sell fresh fruit and vegetables;
- reducing
incentives for the food industry to continue or increase production of
processed foods containing high levels of saturated fats, trans-fats, free sugars and salt/sodium;
- encouraging reformulation of food products to reduce the contents of saturated fats, trans-fats, free sugars and salt/sodium, with the goal of eliminating industrially-produced trans-fats;
- implementing the WHO recommendations on the marketing of foods and non-alcoholic beverages to children;
- establishing
standards to foster healthy dietary practices through ensuring the
availability of healthy, nutritious, safe and affordable foods in
pre-schools, schools, other public institutions and the workplace;
- exploring
regulatory and voluntary instruments (e.g. marketing regulations and
nutrition labelling policies), and economic incentives or disincentives
(e.g. taxation and subsidies) to promote a healthy diet; and
- encouraging
transnational, national and local food services and catering outlets to
improve the nutritional quality of their foods – ensuring the
availability and affordability of healthy choices – and review portion
sizes and
pricing.
- Encouraging consumer demand for healthy foods and meals through:
- promoting consumer awareness of a healthy diet;
- developing school policies and programmes that encourage children to adopt and maintain a healthy diet;
- educating children, adolescents and adults about nutrition and healthy dietary practices;
- encouraging culinary skills, including in children through schools;
- supporting
point-of-sale information, including through nutrition labelling that
ensures accurate, standardized and comprehensible information on
nutrient contents in foods (in line with the Codex Alimentarius
Commission guidelines), with
the addition of front-of-pack labelling to facilitate
consumer understanding; and
- providing nutrition and dietary counselling at primary health-care facilities.
- Promoting appropriate infant and young child feeding practices through:
- implementing
the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes and
subsequent relevant World Health Assembly resolutions;
- implementing policies and practices to promote protection of working mothers; and
- promoting,
protecting and supporting breastfeeding in health services and the
community, including through the Baby-friendly Hospital Initiative.
WHO response
The “WHO Global Strategy on Diet, Physical Activity and Health” (14)
was adopted in 2004 by the Health Assembly. The strategy called on
governments, WHO, international partners, the private sector and civil
society to take action
at global, regional and local levels to support healthy diets
and physical activity.
In 2010, the Health Assembly endorsed a set
of recommendations on the marketing of foods and non-alcoholic
beverages to children (15). These recommendations guide
countries in designing new policies and improving existing ones to
reduce the
impact on children of the marketing of foods and non-alcoholic
beverages to children. WHO has also developed region-specific tools
(such as regional nutrient profile models) that countries can use to
implement the marketing recommendations.
In 2012, the Health
Assembly adopted a “Comprehensive Implementation Plan on Maternal,
Infant and Young Child Nutrition” and six global nutrition targets to be
achieved by 2025, including the reduction of stunting, wasting and
overweight
in children, the improvement of breastfeeding, and the reduction
of anaemia and low birthweight (9).
In 2013, the Health
Assembly agreed to nine global voluntary targets for the prevention and
control of NCDs. These targets include a halt to the rise in diabetes
and obesity, and a 30% relative reduction in the intake of salt by 2025.
The “Global
Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Noncommunicable
Diseases 2013–2020” (10) provides guidance and policy options for Member States, WHO and other United Nations agencies to achieve the targets.
With
many countries now seeing a rapid rise in obesity among infants and
children, in May 2014 WHO set up the Commission on Ending Childhood
Obesity. In 2016, the Commission proposed a set of recommendations to
successfully tackle childhood and adolescent
obesity in different contexts around the world (16).
In
November 2014, WHO organized, jointly with the Food and Agriculture
Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the Second International
Conference on Nutrition (ICN2). ICN2 adopted the Rome Declaration on
Nutrition (17), and the Framework
for Action (18) which recommends a set of policy
options and strategies to promote diversified, safe and healthy diets at
all stages of life. WHO is helping countries to implement the
commitments made at ICN2.
In May 2018, the Health Assembly
approved the 13th General Programme of Work (GPW13), which will guide
the work of WHO in 2019–2023 (19). Reduction of salt/sodium intake and elimination of industrially-produced trans-fats
from
the food supply are identified in GPW13 as part of WHO’s
priority actions to achieve the aims of ensuring healthy lives and
promote well-being for all at all ages. To support Member States in
taking necessary actions to eliminate industrially-produced
trans-fats, WHO has developed a roadmap for countries (the REPLACE action package) to help accelerate actions (6).
Rference:
- https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/healthy-diet
- https://www.google.com/search?q=healthy+diet&client=firefox-b-d&sxsrf=ALeKk00eAurS13kOwG0zyOQ_60140TgNEw:1611389866077&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjRob-Ez7HuAhUGEBQKHYYZAdwQ_AUoAXoECBgQAw&biw=1366&bih=654
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