Draft Australian Dietary Guidelines (PDF, 3MB) - Eat For Health

Executive SummaryDietary patterns which include a wide variety of nutritious foods are more likelyto meet nutrient requirements, promote health and wellbeing and confer healthbenefits than restricted diets.A variety of foods should be consumed from each of the five food groups:vegetables and legumes/beans; fruit; grain (cereal) foods mostly wholegrain; leanmeat and poultry, fish, eggs, nuts and seeds, and/or legumes/beans; and milk,yoghurt, cheese and/or alternatives. Mostly reduced-fat milk, yoghurt and cheeseproducts are recommended for adults, but reduced fat milks are not suitable asthe main milk drink for children under the age of two years.There are many different ways to combine these nutrient-dense foods to producenutritious dietary patterns that suit cultural, economic, social and culinarypreferences, as well as delivering health benefits.There is increasing evidence that current consumption patterns are associated withreduced risk of chronic disease including cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes,and several cancers.Together with adherence to Guideline 2 (on limiting intake of specific foods high insaturated fat, sugar and/or salt) and Guideline 3 (on achieving and maintaining ahealthy weight), consumption of a wide variety of nutritious foods and choosingwater as a drink will substantially reduce the risk of diet-related chronic diseaseand promote health and wellbeing in Australia.This chapter provides information on why the consumption of a wide variety ofnutritious foods is beneficial to health, the evidence for the recommendedapproach, and includes practical advice for the general population and specificsubpopulation groups.DRAFT Australian Dietary Guidelines- December 2011 25