Consuming a healthy diet is crucial throughout life, acting as a powerful tool to prevent malnutrition in all its forms and reducing the risk of various noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) and conditions. However, the modern food landscape, marked by increased processed food production, rapid urbanization, and evolving lifestyles, has significantly altered dietary patterns. Globally, there’s a noticeable rise in the consumption of energy-dense foods, high in unhealthy fats, free sugars, and excessive salt or sodium. Simultaneously, many individuals are not consuming enough fruits, vegetables, and essential dietary fiber found in whole grains.
The precise composition of a varied, balanced, and healthy diet is personalized, depending on individual factors such as age, gender, lifestyle, physical activity levels, cultural backgrounds, locally available food options, and established dietary customs. Despite these variations, the fundamental principles defining a healthy diet remain consistent and universally applicable.
For adults, a cornerstone of healthy eating is incorporating a wide array of nutrient-rich foods. This includes a generous intake of fruits, vegetables, legumes such as lentils and beans, nuts, and whole grains like unprocessed maize, millet, oats, wheat, and brown rice. A key recommendation is to consume at least 400 grams, or five servings, of fruits and vegetables daily. It’s important to note that this excludes starchy roots like potatoes, sweet potatoes, and cassava, which, while nutritious, are categorized differently due to their higher carbohydrate content.
Limiting the intake of free sugars is another vital aspect of a healthy diet. Ideally, free sugars should constitute less than 10% of total daily energy intake. For someone consuming approximately 2000 calories a day, this translates to a maximum of 50 grams, or about 12 level teaspoons. For even greater health benefits, aiming for less than 5% of total energy intake from free sugars is recommended. Free sugars encompass all sugars added to foods or drinks during manufacturing, cooking, or by the consumer, as well as sugars naturally present in honey, syrups, fruit juices, and fruit juice concentrates.
Managing fat intake is equally important. A healthy dietary pattern suggests that less than 30% of total energy intake should come from fats. Within this, the type of fat consumed is critical. Unsaturated fats, predominantly found in fish, avocados, nuts, and plant-based oils like sunflower, soybean, canola, and olive oil, are preferable to saturated fats and trans-fats. Saturated fats, commonly found in fatty meats, butter, palm and coconut oil, cream, cheese, ghee, and lard, should be limited. Trans-fats, both industrially produced (present in baked and fried foods, pre-packaged snacks such as frozen pizza, pies, cookies, and certain cooking oils) and ruminant trans-fats (found in meat and dairy from animals like cows and sheep), should be minimized or avoided altogether. Specifically, it’s advised to reduce saturated fat intake to below 10% and trans-fat intake to less than 1% of total energy intake, with industrially-produced trans-fats having no place in a healthy diet.
Controlling salt intake is also essential for maintaining good health. The recommendation is to consume less than 5 grams of salt per day, roughly equivalent to one teaspoon. It is beneficial to use iodized salt to ensure adequate iodine intake.
For infants and young children, nutrition in the first two years of life is particularly critical. Optimal nutrition during this period supports healthy growth, enhances cognitive development, and reduces the long-term risk of overweight, obesity, and NCDs later in life.
Dietary advice for infants and children aligns with adult guidelines but with specific emphasis on certain elements. Exclusive breastfeeding is recommended for the first six months of life. Breastfeeding should continue up to two years of age and beyond, complemented with appropriate foods. From six months onward, breast milk should be supplemented with a variety of adequate, safe, and nutrient-dense complementary foods. Crucially, salt and sugars should not be added to these complementary foods for infants and young children.
To practically maintain a healthy diet, several actionable steps can be taken. Increasing fruit and vegetable intake is paramount. Strive to include vegetables in every meal and choose fresh fruits and raw vegetables as convenient and nutritious snacks. Opt for fruits and vegetables that are in season for better flavor and potentially lower cost. Embrace variety in your fruit and vegetable choices to ensure a broad spectrum of nutrients.
When it comes to fats, focus on reducing total fat intake to less than 30% of daily energy. Prioritize healthier fat choices by reducing saturated and trans-fats, and replacing them with unsaturated fats, especially polyunsaturated fats. Cooking methods matter – steaming or boiling are preferable to frying. Substitute butter, lard, and ghee with polyunsaturated-rich oils like soybean, canola, corn, safflower, and sunflower oils. Choose reduced-fat dairy products and lean meats, or trim visible fat from meat before cooking. Limit consumption of baked and fried foods, as well as pre-packaged snacks that often contain industrially produced trans-fats.
Regarding salt, sodium, and potassium, most people consume excessive sodium through salt and insufficient potassium. This imbalance contributes to high blood pressure, significantly increasing the risk of heart disease and stroke. Reducing salt intake to the recommended level of less than 5 grams per day can have a substantial impact on global health. Be mindful of hidden salt in processed foods like ready meals, processed meats, cheese, and salty snacks. Salt is also commonly added during cooking or at the table. To reduce salt intake, limit salt and high-sodium condiments during cooking and at the table. Reduce consumption of salty snacks and actively choose products with lower sodium content by checking nutrition labels. Conversely, increase potassium intake by consuming more fresh fruits and vegetables, which helps mitigate the negative effects of sodium on blood pressure.
Controlling sugar intake is equally important. Reducing free sugar intake to less than 10% of total energy, and ideally below 5%, offers significant health benefits. Excessive free sugar consumption is strongly linked to dental caries and contributes to unhealthy weight gain, potentially leading to overweight and obesity. Furthermore, recent research indicates that free sugars can negatively impact blood pressure and serum lipids, increasing the risk of cardiovascular diseases. To reduce sugar intake, limit sugary foods and drinks like sugary snacks, candies, and sugar-sweetened beverages (including sodas, fruit juices, energy drinks, and flavored milk). Opt for fresh fruit and raw vegetables as snacks instead of sugary alternatives.
Promoting healthy diets requires a multi-faceted approach. Dietary habits are shaped by complex interactions of social and economic factors, including income, food prices, personal preferences, cultural norms, and environmental influences. Creating a healthy food environment necessitates collaboration across various sectors, including government, public, and private entities.
Governments play a central role in shaping a healthy food environment. Effective policy actions include aligning national policies and investment plans across trade, food, and agriculture to prioritize public health and promote healthy diets. This involves incentivizing the production and sale of fresh fruits and vegetables, while reducing incentives for the processed food industry to produce foods high in unhealthy fats, sugars, and salt. Encouraging food product reformulation to reduce these unhealthy components, implementing WHO guidelines on marketing foods to children, establishing nutrition standards in public institutions, exploring regulatory and economic tools to promote healthy diets, and encouraging food services to improve nutritional quality are all crucial steps.
Fostering consumer demand for healthy foods is equally important. This can be achieved through public awareness campaigns promoting healthy diets, developing school programs to encourage healthy eating habits in children, educating people about nutrition, promoting culinary skills, supporting point-of-sale information like clear nutrition labeling, and providing nutrition counseling in healthcare settings.
Promoting appropriate infant and young child feeding practices is also vital, including implementing the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes, supporting working mothers to breastfeed, and promoting breastfeeding through health services and community initiatives like the Baby-friendly Hospital Initiative.
By understanding what constitutes healthy foods and implementing these practical strategies, individuals and societies can move towards healthier dietary patterns, preventing disease and promoting well-being for all.
