Experts say multiple malnutrition forms meet same households as Dietetics president admits public never heard of existing dietary guidelines.
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South Africa’s dietary guidelines, unchanged since 2012, should be revised to show advances in nutrition science, the growing burden of lifestyle diseases and the role food systems play in climate change, the Physicians Association for Nutrition (PAN) South Africa says.
In a new policy brief, PAN recommends building on the existing guidelines by broadening advice on protein sources, strengthening guidance on environmental sustainability, improving transparency during guideline development and helping consumers understand the expanding range of plant-based alternatives now available in supermarkets.
Guidelines must reflect advances nutrition, science, lifestyle, diseases and climate
Dr Nanine Wyma, managing director of PAN International and lead author of the policy brief, said the revision should preserve what works while recognising how much the food landscape has changed over the past decade.
“South Africa already has one of the most comprehensive dietary guidelines in Africa.
“This policy brief is not about replacing what exists, but about building on its strengths and ensuring that our recommendations remain evidence-based, inclusive and fit for the future,” she said.
The proposed changes include retaining advice on obtaining essential nutrients, continuing to recommend at least one meatfree meal a week, grouping plant and animal proteins together, providing clearer guidance for people with food intolerances and including more information on the environmental impact of dietary choices.
PAN SA chief operating officer Dr Heinrich Volmink said dietary guidelines affected far more than individual eating habits because they informed school feeding schemes, health care training and broader public nutrition policy.
He said SA was now confronting multiple forms of malnutrition simultaneously.
Multiple forms of malnutrition
“These are not separate crises. They meet in the same communities, in the same households and, sometimes, the same individual.
“The question before us is no longer simply what constitutes a healthy diet.
“The fuller question is what dietary guidance can help South Africans live healthier lives within the realities of affordability, culture and the inequalities that affect us, while supporting a food system that is sustainable and just.”
Association for Dietetics in South Africa president Maria van der Merwe said SA’s existing guidelines already relied on a strong scientific foundation and that implementation remained the country’s biggest weakness.
“We have to make sure the messages are there and it’s appropriate, it’s affordable, that we promote equity, that we promote access,” she said.
She added that in more than two decades, she had “never met a member of the public who’s ever heard of the dietary guidelines”.
Guidance must help lead healthier lives within affordability
Durban University of Technology professor Ashika Naicker said affordability could not be omitted from the discussion, particularly as many commercially available plant-based products were out of reach of ordinary consumers.
Western Cape Government climate change expert Jody Frank said the revision was an opportunity to connect nutrition policy with climate policy.
“It can become much more than a health document,” he said.
“It can become a practical tool for building healthier people and more sustainable food systems, and ultimately a more resilient South Africa.”
