Guideline development

Guideline development process

The revision of the 2013 Australian Dietary Guidelines (the 2013 Guidelines) is being conducted consistent with NHMRC’s guideline development process. NHMRC public health guidelines and advice follow a rigorous evidence-based approach and are informed by the judgement of multidisciplinary committees that incorporate the views of stakeholders and consumers.

Revision of the 2013 Guidelines

Diet is a huge topic, with a large volume of evidence underpinning the guidelines. Given this, a prioritised approach is being taken to review the evidence.

The Dietary Guidelines Evidence Review Strategy outlines the approach to scoping, reviewing the evidence and recommendations informing the revision of the 2013 Guidelines. It provides a consistent approach for applying judgement to the evidence and transparently reporting any factors that influence the process. A PDF version of the Evidence Review Strategy is available for download at the bottom of this page.

A summary of the various stages of the process and anticipated timelines are shown below. A printable flow diagram of the summary is available for download at the bottom of this page.

Scoping and prioritisation (2020–2023)

• Scoping
  • Horizon scan for new evidence (completed)
  • Stakeholder scoping survey (completed).
• Research topic/question prioritisation
  • More detail is available in the Prioritisation Process Report (completed) and Prioritisation Process Report for Older Australians (completed).
• Refine scope
  • Prioritised questions will be addressed as part of the evidence update (in progress)
  • Questions not prioritised for review will be considered under existing evidence (in progress).

Evidence review (2024–2025)

• Update evidence (within limit of review resources) for high priority research questions using:
  • existing high quality, current systematic reviews where available (in progress, see Reviewing the evidence)
  • a limited number of commissioned evidence reviews where existing systematic reviews are not suitable for the highest priority research questions and resources are available (in progress).
• Update evidence for low or moderate priority questions (in progress) using:
  • existing evidence from 2013 Guidelines where the evidence is not likely to have changed enough to change the recommendations since their release
  • systematic reviews published by recognised international groups.

Evidence-to-decision framework (2025–2026)

• Evidence-to-decision process which helps people use evidence in a structured and transparent way to inform decisions for developing recommendations (for example, GRADE or WHO-INTEGRATE )

Guideline development (2024–2026)

• Draft revised Australian Dietary Guidelines
• Public consultation and expert review
• Guidelines revised to address feedback
• Revised Australian Dietary Guidelines published.

Transparency and the Australian Dietary Guidelines review

To enhance transparency throughout the revision process, NHMRC has incorporated additional steps to share information with stakeholders and minimise the risk of bias throughout the process.

Stakeholder consultation

All stakeholders will be invited to participate in the formal consultation processes outlined on Communication.

Communication log

NHMRC will publish a communication log which summarises all external meetings, correspondence and phone calls relating to the revision of the 2013 Guidelines. The communication log will record the contact person/organisation, topic and the outcomes on the NHMRC website. Further information about the communication log can be found on Communication.

Dietary Guidelines Governance Committee

A Governance Committee of independent experts will consider and advise on possible conflicts of interest and potential bias throughout the revision process. For more information, see Dietary Guidelines Governance Committee.

Meeting communiqués

A communiqué will be released following each meeting of NHMRC’s Dietary Guidelines Expert Committee to provide a summary of meeting outcomes.