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

In the longer term, the review conducted for the Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2010 foundstrong evidence that dietary SFA was positively associated with increased markers of insulinresistance and increased risk of type 2 diabetes. In addition, it found decreasing dietary SFA andreplacing it with PUFA or MUFA decreases the risk of type 2 diabetes in healthy adults andimproves insulin responsiveness in insulin resistant and type 2 diabetes subjects. PUFA intake wasassociated with a significant decrease in the risk of type 2 diabetes [143].Excess weight: Dietary fat provides a substantial amount of energy (kilojoules) per gram but totaldietary energy is the variable that affects weight. Reducing the amount of dietary fat will notnecessarily reduce dietary energy, but it is prudent to choose low-fat and low energy-densityfoods in a total dietary pattern that seeks to control overall energy intake. Because of this totalenergy effect, there are difficulties in appraising research on the effect of dietary fat alone onweight gain [489] (see Chapter 4).3.1.2.2. CancerThe evidence suggests there is no association between consumption of LCPUFA with total allcausecancer incidence or mortality (Grade C, Section 12.5 in Evidence Report [14]) [495, 520].Other cancers: Evidence of an association between total fat consumption across a range of intakesand breast or endometrial cancer is inconclusive (Section 12.6 & 12.7, Evidence Report [14])3.1.2.3. Other conditionsDementia: The evidence suggests that consumption of higher LCPUFA is associated with areduced risk of dementia (Grade C, Section 12.8 in Evidence Report [14]) [317, 329, 521-524].3.1.3 How limiting intake of foods and drinks containingsaturated and trans fat may improve health outcomesFat is an energy-dense macronutrient, so consumption of excess fat may lead to excess energy(kilojoule) intake and weight gain [489], but an individual’s genetic makeup, physical activity andother dietary factors also play a part [525]. Fat cells secrete compounds that influence appetite,inflammation and possibly also cancer development [526-528]. Insulin resistance, reflected in highinsulin and glucose levels, is linked to obesity, and leads to type 2 diabetes. Other cardiovasculardisease risk factors such as high cholesterol levels and hypertension tend to co-exist with insulinresistance, a phenomenon often referred to as the metabolic syndrome [529].Fatty acids do not only contribute to body fat. Different fatty acids influence disease risk factors.Dietary SFA and dietary TFA have been associated with raised plasma LDL-cholesterol, andDRAFT Australian Dietary Guidelines- December 2011 79