Dietary recommendations
Dietary recommendations help people to choose foods for a healthy diet. A healthy diet meets our nutritional needs to support optimal health and wellbeing, at the same time protecting us against the development of chronic diseases.
Dietary recommendations for fat intake consider both fat quantity and fat quality.
The quantity of fat we consume contributes to our total energy intake. Energy intake should be balanced by energy expenditure, mostly physical activity, to avoid overweight.
- All
- Adults
- Children
- 6-24 months
- 0-6 months
The quality of fat in the diet, i.e. the relative amounts of saturated, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids (from both omega-6 and omega-3), is important for normal growth and development. It affects blood cholesterol levels and the risk of several non-communicable diseases such as cardiovascular disease, metabolic syndrome, diabetes and possibly hypertension.
In line with authoritative international health bodies (WHO/FAO) and current evidence, the IEM supports the following recommendations for optimal lifelong health from the age of two years though to adulthood:
- Fat may provide from 20% up to 30-35% of the daily energy intake
- Saturated fatty acids should provide no more than 10% of the daily energy intake
- Essential polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) (omega-3 and omega-6) should contribute to 6-11 % of the daily energy intake
- The omega-3 polyunsaturated alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) should provide 0.5%-2% of the daily energy intake
- Adults should consume at least 250mg/day of the long-chain omega-3 fatty acids eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA)
- The intake of trans fatty acids should be kept to a minimum and not exceed 1% of the daily energy intake
- The remainder of the energy from fat can be provided by monounsaturated fatty acids
Also, a recent consensus recommendation is that pregnant and lactating women should aim at achieving adequate intakes of the parent essential PUFA LA and ALA as well as an average DHA intake of at least 200 mg/day. This can usually be reached with 1 or 2 portions of ocean fish per week if fatty fish is included. For infants, DHA supply (100 mg/day) should persist after breastfeeding for up to 2 years.
