World Health Organization Dietary Recommendations

“The development of global guidelines ensuring the appropriate use of evidence represents one of the core functions of the World Health Organization (WHO). Recommendations that can impact upon health policies or clinical interventions are considered guidelines for WHO purposes.”  This is a quotation from the website of the WHO, which is tasked with providing global oversight to health care especially in under-resourced countries of the world.  Experts from many different countries are brought together to develop various guidelines – whether dealing with infectious diseases, or chronic lifestyle diseases.

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National Guidelines can more easily be influenced by political and financial interests, whereas  WHO guidelines are not developed in the halls of political power so hopefully are less prone to the influence of vested interests.

The following information is garnered from Fact sheet no 394, updated in September 2015, so is relatively recent.  Of course information is constantly being updated, and many deeply ingrained ideas change as knowledge increases, but the following provides sound scientific information.  Here is the full article.

Guidelines are there to make recommendations to be adapted to our specific needs.

The guidelines begin with an important statement: “A healthy diet helps protect against malnutrition in all its forms, as well as non-communicable diseases (NCD’s), including diabetes, heart disease, stroke and cancer.”  Of course there is much controversy about what is a healthy diet.  These guidelines present a consensus by many of the world’s experts.  They support what we have been saying in the pages of these blogs over the last year and a half:

• Fruits, vegetables, legumes (like lentils and beans), nuts and whole grains (like unprocessed maize, millet, oats, wheat, brown rice).
• At least 400 g (5 portions) of fruits and vegetables daily (I believe this is a minimum).
• Less than 10% of total energy intake from free sugars (12 level tsp), but ideally less than 5% of total energy intake, for additional health benefits.
• Less than 30% of total energy intake from fats, and avoid trans fats and minimise saturated fats.
• Less than 5 g (1 tsp) of salt per day.

How do we implement these recommendations.  It is all very well to give scientific recommendations, but how do we do this practically.

Most people I speak to say they eat fruit regularly.  On closer questioning this usually means 1 or two fruits per day, but sometimes only 1 or 2 fruits per week.  We would do well to eat 4-5 fruits per day, and this can include apples, pears and bananas most of the year around, citrus, grapes, peaches, nectarines, mangoes, paw-paws, watermelon and sweet melons, in season, and berries like blue-berries, strawberries, and raspberries in season.

The berries can be frozen as and used off season all year round.  If cost is a factor, choose fruits in season.  You can also buy second or third grade fruits at considerable savings.

Vegetables can be raw or cooked and include tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, squash, potatoes, sweet potatoes, spinach and Swiss chard, beetroot, turnips, cabbage, Chinese cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, Brussel sprouts, pumpkin, butternut, carrots, celery, green beans, lettuce, cucumber, onion, garlic, leeks, “madumbis” and “mfino” (wild vegetables).

Whole grains include brown rice, oats, mielies, whole-wheat pasta, whole-wheat bread, mnqushu (samp), coarse meiliemeal, millet, sorghum and barley. Legumes like dry beans (haricot beans, brown beans, lima beans, sugar beans, black beans), peas, split peas, lentils, chick-peas, dhal, peanuts. Daily small amount of seeds like sunflower, linseeds, pumpkin seeds, chia seeds, poppy seeds, sesame seeds. Some nuts like almonds, cashew nuts, pecans and walnuts, but not more than a tablespoon per day. Herbs and spices – like turmeric or cumin, parsley, sweet basil, ginger, cinnamon, small amount of pepper – can be very beneficial.

Oil, which is the most refined food on the planet, needs to be used sparingly.  Saturated fats need to be drastically limited, as in spite of modern nay-sayers, there is plenty of sound scientific evidence to support the connection between saturated fats and heart disease, as well as dementia and Alzheimer’s disease and cancer.  Main sources of saturated fats are meat, chicken, fish, eggs, cheese and dairy, but these days palm oil is added to most processed foods and are a common source of saturated fat.  Oil of course is found in fried foods, mayonnaise and salad dressings, and baked goods.

Fruits and vegetables, whole grains, legumes, and seeds and nuts provide plenty of fibre to keep our gut microbiome healthy, but together with spices, hundreds of thousands of phytochemicals and anti-oxidants, so important for a healthy body.

A good tip to increase your consumption of fruits and vegetables is to take raw vegetables and fruits with you for snacks when you are travelling.  My personal favourites include big, firm cherry tomatoes, cucumber wedges, carrot sticks, celery sticks, green and red pepper chunks, sugar snaps, cauliflower and broccoli florets.  Apples, naartjies (tangerines) and grapes go down well too.  This will satisfy your craving to munch on something, usually fed by refined and salty, oil-rich chips, and sweetness other than from chocolates and sweets.  Bottled water will quench your thirst instead of drinking sugary beverages.  You will save a whole lot of money normally spent on expensive snacks at fast-food joints.

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Notice the absence in the guidelines recommendations for consumption of animal products.  There is good scientific support of a plant-based diet, and minimising of animal products like red meat, chicken, fish (perhaps exception for oily fish which are rich in omega-3’s), eggs and dairy.  The longest lived and healthiest populations around the world consume minimal animal products.  WHO has come out strongly against the use of processed red meats like sausages, polony’s and cold meats which have been equated in terms of cause of colon cancer, to smoking and lung cancer.  See this website for more information on the WHO recommendation:

Here is another article expanding on the subject.

Have a great week, increasing your ‘healthy” foods to promote health and well-being,

Dave Glass

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