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Review
. 2019 Jun 13;11(6):1325.
doi: 10.3390/nu11061325.

Food-Based Dietary Guidelines around the World: Eastern Mediterranean and Middle Eastern Countries

Concetta Montagnese  1 , Lidia Santarpia  2   3 , Fabio Iavarone  4 , Francesca Strangio  5 , Brigida Sangiovanni  6 , Margherita Buonifacio  7 , Anna Rita Caldara  8 , Eufemia Silvestri  9 , Franco Contaldo  10   11 , Fabrizio Pasanisi  12   13
Affiliations
Review

Food-Based Dietary Guidelines around the World: Eastern Mediterranean and Middle Eastern Countries

Concetta Montagnese et al. Nutrients. .

Abstract

In Eastern Mediterranean countries, undernutrition and micronutrient deficiencies coexist with overnutrition-related diseases, such as obesity, heart disease, diabetes and cancer. Many Mediterranean countries have produced Food-Based Dietary Guidelines (FBDGs) to provide the general population with indications for healthy nutrition and lifestyles. This narrative review analyses Eastern Mediterranean countries' FBDGs and discusses their pictorial representations, food groupings and associated messages on healthy eating and behaviours. In 2012, both the WHO and the Arab Center for Nutrition developed specific dietary guidelines for Arab countries. In addition, seven countries, representing 29% of the Eastern Mediterranean Region population, designated their national FBDGs. At the moment several of these guidelines are available only in the English language. In summary, Eastern Mediterranean FBDGs mainly focus on food safety, not all are available in the local Arabic language, and they do not provide specific suggestions for the large number of foreign workers and migrants.

Keywords: Eastern Mediterranean countries; dietary guidelines; food safety; healthy diet; non-communicable diseases; public health.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
WHO Regions: WHO Member States are grouped into six regions. Each region has a regional office. The map shows the WHO regions and the location of the regional offices (https://www.who.int/about/regions/en/).
Figure 2
Figure 2
The Food Dome: dietary guidelines for Arab countries.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Food guide illustration shapes used for some Eastern Mediterranean FBDGs. (a) Qatar; (b) Afghanistan; (c) Iran; (d) Oman; (e) Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; (f) Lebanon.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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