Healthy Eating
Key Facts
A healthy diet helps protect against all forms of malnutrition, as well as non-communicable diseases including diabetes, heart disease, stroke and cancer.
Poor nutrition and lack of exercise are the leading health risks worldwide.
Healthy eating habits begin at an early age: breastfeeding promotes healthy growth and improves cognitive development. It may also have long-term benefits, such as reduced risk of overweight, obesity or non-communicable diseases over the course of a lifetime.
In terms of energy, the intake (in calories) must be adapted to the expenditure. To avoid excessive weight gain, fat should not exceed 30% of total energy intake (1,2,3).
Limiting free sugar intake to less than 10% of total energy intake (2,7) is part of a healthy diet. It is suggested to go even further and go below 5% of total energy intake to increase health benefits (7).
Keeping salt intake below 5 g per day (which corresponds to less than 2 g of sodium per day) helps prevent hypertension and reduces the risk of heart disease and stroke in the adult population (8).
WHO Member States have agreed to reduce salt intake by 30% of the world's population and to halt the rise in diabetes and obesity in adults and adolescents and overweight in children by 2025 (9,10).
General overview
Adopting a healthy diet throughout life helps prevent all forms of malnutrition, as well as a large number of non-communicable diseases and pathologies. However, the increasing production of processed foods, rapid urbanization and changing lifestyles have led to a change in eating habits. People now consume more high-calorie foods that are high in fat, free sugars or salt/sodium, and many do not eat enough fruits, vegetables and dietary fibre, such as that provided by whole grains.
The exact composition of a diverse, balanced and healthy diet varies according to individual needs (e.g. age, gender, lifestyle and exercise), cultural context, locally available foods and eating habits. But the basic principles of what constitutes a healthy diet remain the same.
For Adults
A healthy diet consists of the following elements:
fruits, vegetables, legumes (e.g., lentils and peas), dried fruits and whole grains (e.g., unprocessed corn, millet, oats, wheat and brown rice).
at least 400 g (or 5 servings) of fruits and vegetables per day (2); potatoes, sweet potatoes, cassava and other starchy roots are not included.
less than 10% of total energy intake from free sugars (2,7), equivalent to 50 g (or about 12 level teaspoons) for a person of normal weight consuming about 2,000 calories per day; ideally, to further maintain health, this share should be less than 5% of total energy intake (7). Free sugars are added to foods or beverages by the manufacturer, cook or consumer, but they are also found naturally in honey, syrups, fruit juices or juice concentrates.
less than 30% of total energy intake from fat (1,2,3). Unsaturated fats (found in fish, avocado and nuts, as well as sunflower, soy, canola and olive oils) should be preferred to saturated fats (found in fatty meat, butter, palm and coconut oil, cream, cheese, clarified butter and lard) and trans fatty acids of all kinds. These include industrial trans fatty acids (found in baked and fried foods as well as in snacks and pre-packaged foods such as frozen pizzas, pies, cookies, cookies, waffles, cooking oils and spreads), as well as ruminant trans fatty acids (found in meat and dairy products from ruminant animals such as cows, sheep, goats and camels). It is proposed that saturated fat intake be reduced to less than 10% of total energy intake and trans fatty acid intake be reduced to less than 1% (5). Industrial trans fatty acids, in particular, cannot be part of a healthy diet and should be excluded (4,6).
less than 5 g of salt (about one teaspoon) per day (8), with a preference for iodized salt.
For infants and young children
During the first two years of a child's life, optimal nutrition promotes healthy growth and improves cognitive development. It also reduces the risk of overweight, obesity or NCDs later in life.
The advice for a healthy diet for infants and children is the same as for adults, with the addition of the following important elements:
infants should be exclusively breastfed for the first six months of life.
Continuous breastfeeding should be continued until the age of two years and beyond.
from the age of six months, breast milk should be supplemented with varied, appropriate, safe and nutrient-rich foods. Salt and sugar should not be added to complementary foods.
Practical advice for a healthy diet
Fruits and vegetables
The consumption of at least 400 g, or five portions, of fruit and vegetables per day reduces the risk of non-communicable diseases (2) and ensures an adequate daily intake of dietary fibre.
Here are some ways to increase fruit and vegetable consumption:
Eat vegetables at every meal;
eating fresh fruit and raw vegetables as a snack;
eating fresh seasonal fruits and vegetables; and
diversify the fruits and vegetables consumed.
Similar advice :
Physical activity
0 Commentaires