NHMRC is revising the Australian Dietary Guidelines with advice from the experts on the Dietary Guidelines Working Committee and funded by the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing.
Drafts of the revised Australian Dietary Guidelines and the Australian Guide to Healthy Eating are now available for public comment at www.eatforhealth.gov.au.
Frequently Asked Questions about the revision of the Australian Dietary Guidelines
What are the Dietary Guidelines about?
The Dietary Guidelines have information about the types and amounts of foods, food groups and dietary patterns that aim to:
- promote health and wellbeing;
- reduce the risk of diet-related conditions, such as high cholesterol, high blood pressure and obesity; and
- reduce the risk of chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and some types of cancers.
The Dietary Guidelines are for use by health professionals, policy makers, educators, food manufacturers, food retailers and researchers, so they can find ways to help Australians eat healthy diets.
The Dietary Guidelines apply to all healthy Australians, as well as those with common health conditions such as being overweight. They do not apply to people who need special dietary advice for a medical condition, or to the frail elderly.
What is the Australian Guide to Healthy Eating?
This is a practical guide on the types and amounts of foods to be consumed every day. It will help average Australians and their clinicians work out the foods they should eat each day based on age, gender and activity level.
Why do we need Dietary Guidelines?
A healthy diet improves quality of life and wellbeing, and protects against chronic diseases. For infants and children, good nutrition is essential for normal growth.
Unfortunately, diet-related chronic diseases are currently a major cause of death and disability among Australians.
To ensure that Australians can make healthy food choices, we need dietary advice that is based on the best scientific evidence on food and health. The Australian Dietary Guidelines and the Australian Guide to Healthy Eating have been developed using the latest evidence and expert opinion. These guidelines will therefore help in the prevention of diet-related chronic diseases, and will improve the health and wellbeing of the Australian community.
How do I make healthy food choices?
There are many things that affect food choices, for example, personal preferences, cultural backgrounds, choices such as vegetarianism. We have taken this into consideration in developing practical and realistic advice. Keeping the Guidelines in mind will help your choice of healthy foods.
There are many ways for you to have a diet that promotes health and the Guidelines will provide many options in their recommendations. The advice focuses on dietary patterns that promote health and wellbeing rather than recommending that you eat – or completely avoid – specific foods.
Many of the health problems due to poor diet in Australia stem from excessive intake of foods that are high in energy, fat, added sugar and/or salt but relatively low in nutrients. These include fried and fatty take-away foods, baked products like pastries, cakes and biscuits, savoury snacks like chips, and sugar-sweetened drinks. If these foods are consumed regularly they can increase the risk of excessive weight gain and other diet-related conditions and diseases.
Many diet-related health problems in Australia are also associated with inadequate intake of nutrient-dense foods, including vegetables, legumes/beans, fruit and wholegrain cereals. A wide variety of these nutritious foods should be consumed everyday to promote health and wellbeing and help protect against chronic disease.
Will the Dietary Guidelines recommend that I only eat certain foods?
No. The Dietary Guidelines will assist by helping you to choose foods for a healthy diet. They will also provide advice on how many serves of these food groups you need to consume everyday depending upon your age, gender, body size and physical activity levels.
Evidence suggests Australians need to eat more:
- vegetables and legumes/beans
- fruits
- wholegrain cereals
- low fat milk, yoghurt, cheese
- fish, seafood, poultry, eggs, legumes and beans (including soy), and nuts and seeds.
- red meat (young females only)
Evidence suggests Australians need to eat less:
- starchy vegetables (e.g. potatoes)
- refined cereals
- high and medium fat dairy foods
- red meats (adult males only)
- Food and drinks high in saturated fat, added sugar, salt, or alcohol (e.g. fried foods, most take-away foods from quick service restaurants, cakes and biscuits, chocolate and confectionery, sweetened drinks).
Where did we get the evidence from?
The Guidelines have been developed using the following sources of scientific information.
- The previous 2003 Dietary Guidelines for Australians series.
- The Nutrient Reference Values for Australia and New Zealand 2006, which identify daily nutrient requirements.
- The report Modelling System to Inform the Revision of the Australian Guide to Healthy Eating, which details the serve sizes and minimum number of serves required to meet nutritional needs.
- A literature review of the evidence on pregnant and breastfeeding women.
- The report A Review of the Evidence to Address Targeted Questions to Inform the Revision of the Australian Dietary Guidelines, which is a review of the evidence on the links between foods/nutrients and health outcomes by a team of nutrition and medical experts. Their analysis was added to some of the evidence that is in the 2003 version of the Dietary Guidelines.
- Other key authoritative reports, such as the World Cancer Research Fund report.
Who have we talked to in developing this work?
In doing this complex work we have consulted with experts in food, nutrition and health around Australia and other parts of the world on the factors influencing dietary choice.
It is important to involve members of the public in this work. We have ensured that an advisory committee has representation of consumer issues and choices, and have involved consumers through two separate consumer focus testing periods. The public consultation period will allow for further consumer input and comment.
We are also interested in hearing from the food industry, government departments, and health professionals about their views on healthy eating and the Australian Dietary Guidelines.
When will the revised Dietary Guidelines be released?
It is anticipated that the review of the Dietary Guidelines will be finalised in the second half of 2012. At this time a suite of resources is expected to be released including the revised Australian Dietary Guidelines, the revised Australian Guide to Healthy Eating, the revised Infant Feeding Guidelines and associated health professional and consumer resources.