Approaches to Defining Healthy Diets: A Background Paper for the International Expert Consultation on Sustainable Healthy Diets.

BACKGROUND

Healthy diets promote optimal growth and development and prevent malnutrition in all its forms, including undernutrition, obesity, and diet-related noncommunicable diseases (NCDs).

OBJECTIVE

This background paper for the International Expert Consultation on Sustainable Healthy Diets characterizes healthy diets and their implications for food system sustainability.

METHODS

Three complementary approaches to defining healthy diets are compared: World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines or recommendations developed between 1996 and 2019; 2017 Global Burden of Disease (GBD) risk factor study estimates of diet-related risk-outcome associations; and analyses associating indices of whole dietary patterns with health outcomes in population studies and clinical trials.

RESULTS

World Health Organization dietary recommendations are global reference points for preventing undernutrition and reducing NCD risks; they emphasize increasing intakes of fruits, vegetables (excepting starchy root vegetables), legumes, nuts, and whole grains; limiting energy intake from free sugars and total fats; consuming unsaturated rather than saturated or

CONCLUSIONS

Implied shifts toward plant foods and away from animal foods (excepting fish and seafood), and for changes in food production systems have direct relevance to the sustainability agenda.