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According to Health experts, consuming a healthy diet throughout the life-course helps to prevent malnutrition in all its forms as well as a range of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) and conditions. However, increased production of processed foods, rapid urbanization and changing lifestyles have led to a shift in dietary patterns. People are now consuming more foods high in energy, fats, free sugars and salt/sodium, and many people do not eat enough fruit, vegetables and other dietary fibre such as whole grains.Did You Know?
Fruit and vegetables:Practical advice on maintaining a healthy diet (according to WHO) -
- Always including vegetables in meals.
- Eating fresh fruit and raw vegetables as snacks.
- Eating fresh fruit and vegetables that are in season.
- Eating a variety of fruit and vegetables.
Fat intake, especially saturated fat and industrially produced trans-fat intake, can be reduced by:
- Steaming or boiling instead of frying when cooking.
- Replacing butter, lard and ghee with oils rich in polyunsaturated fats, such as soybean, canola (rapeseed), corn, safflower and sunflower oils.
- Eating reduced-fat dairy foods and lean meats, or trimming visible fat from meat; and
- Limiting the consumption of baked and fried foods, and pre-packaged snacks and foods (e.g. doughnuts, cakes, pies, cookies, biscuits and wafers) that contain industrially produced trans-fats.
High sodium intake and insufficient potassium intake contribute to high blood pressure, which in turn increases the risk of heart disease and stroke.
Reducing salt intake to the recommended level of less than 5 g per day could prevent 1.7 million deaths each year.
Salt intake can be reduced by:
- Limiting the amount of salt and high-sodium condiments (e.g. soy sauce, fish sauce and bouillon) when cooking and preparing foods.
- Not having salt or high-sodium sauces on the table.
- Limiting the consumption of salty snacks.
- Choosing products with lower sodium content.
Consuming free sugars increases the risk of dental caries (tooth decay). Recent evidence also shows that free sugars influence blood pressure and serum lipids and suggests that a reduction in free sugars intake reduces risk factors for cardiovascular diseases.
Sugars intake can be reduced by:
- Limiting the consumption of foods and drinks containing high amounts of sugars, such as sugary snacks, candies and sugar-sweetened beverages (i.e. all types of beverages containing free sugars – these include carbonated or non‐carbonated soft drinks, fruit or vegetable juices and drinks, flavored water, energy and sports drinks, ready‐to‐drink tea, ready‐to‐drink coffee and flavored milk drinks).
- Eating fresh fruit and raw vegetables as snacks instead of sugary snacks.
