Perspective: Food-Based Dietary Guidelines in Europe—Scientific Concepts, Current Status, and Perspectives

Abstract

Food-based dietary guidelines (FBDGs) are important tools for nutrition policies and public health. FBDGs provide guidelines on healthy food consumption and are based on scientific evidence. In the past, disease prevention and nutrient recommendations dominated the process of establishing FBDGs. However, scientific advances and social developments such as changing lifestyles, interest in personalized health, and concerns about sustainability require a reorientation of the creation of FBDGs to include a wider range of aspects of dietary behavior. The present review evaluates current European FBDGs with regard to the concepts and aspects used in their derivation, and summarizes the major aspects currently discussed to be considered in future establishment or updates of FBDGs. We identified English information on official European FBDGs through an Internet search (FAO, PubMed, Google) and analyzed the aspects used for their derivation. Furthermore, we searched literature databases (PubMed, Google Scholar) for conceptional considerations dealing with FBDGs. A total of 34 out of 53 European countries were identified as having official FBDGs, and for 15 of these, documents with information on the scientific basis could be identified and described. Subsequently, aspects underlying the derivation of current FBDGs and aspects considered in the literature as important for future FBDGs were discussed. Eight aspects were identified: diet-health relations, nutrient supply, energy supply, dietary habits, sustainability, food-borne contaminants, target group segmentation, and individualization. The first 4 have already been widely applied in existing FBDGs; the others have almost never been taken into account. It remains a future challenge to (re)conceptionalize the development of FBDGs, to operationalize the aspects to be incorporated in their derivation, and to convert concepts into systematic approaches. The current review may assist national expert groups and clarifies the options for future development of local FBDGs.

The healthiness and sustainability of national and global food based dietary guidelines: modelling study

“…We carried out a quantitative assessment of most of the existing FBDGs against a comprehensive set of health and environmental indicators. Previous studies have either compared FBDGs on key messages without attempting a quantitative analysis,1516171819202122 or quantitatively analysed some of the environmental implications of a few FBDGs 121314. Our analysis is most similar to those latter studies.…”

Evaluation of Food-Intake Behavior in a Healthy Population: Personalized vs. One-Size-Fits-All

“…Changing everyday nutritional choices to meet dietary guidelines is one of the major leading modifiable actions in prevention of chronic noncommunicable diseases [7,8]. For example, Current eating patterns in the USA and Europe, often do not align with dietary guidelines [9,10]. This emphasizes the need for changing food-intake behavior.…”

The healthiness and sustainability of food based dietary guidelines

“…Non-communicable diseases contributed to more than 70% of total deaths worldwide in 2017,1 with suboptimal diet accounting for 15% of disability adjusted life years 2. Food based dietary guidelines inform consumers on adequate nutrition and health promotion and aim to reduce the burden of non-communicable diseases in a population by modifying food intake 34. They also guide optimal nutrient and energy supply in the context of dietary and cultural differences between countries 4…”

“…Food based dietary guidelines inform consumers on adequate nutrition and health promotion and aim to reduce the burden of non-communicable diseases in a population by modifying food intake 34. They also guide optimal nutrient and energy supply in the context of dietary and cultural differences between countries 4…”

“…High adherence to recommended diets such as the Healthy Eating Index is usually associated with lower risk of non-communicable diseases and early death 5. But analysis of 34 European such guidelines found nothing on sustainability,4 and it is only recently that updates have started to also include environmental aspects of food production and consumption 6. Now, in a linked study, Springmann and colleagues (doi:10.1136/bmj.m2322) have modelled both the health and the environmental impacts of adopting global and national food based dietary guidelines7 and compared these with targets for global health and environmental outcomes, such as the non-communicable diseases agenda8 and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change 9…”