Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Mar 23;13(3):1038.
doi: 10.3390/nu13031038.

Adherence to Food-Based Dietary Guidelines: A Systemic Review of High-Income and Low- and Middle-Income Countries

Ana Carolina B Leme  1   2 , Sophia Hou  1 , Regina Mara Fisberg  3 , Mauro Fisberg  2 , Jess Haines  1
Affiliations

Adherence to Food-Based Dietary Guidelines: A Systemic Review of High-Income and Low- and Middle-Income Countries

Ana Carolina B Leme et al. Nutrients. .

Abstract

Research comparing the adherence to food-based dietary guidelines (FBDGs) across countries with different socio-economic status is lacking, which may be a concern for developing nutrition policies. The aim was to report on the adherence to FBDGs in high-income (HIC) and low-and-middle-income countries (LMIC). A systematic review with searches in six databases was performed up to June 2020. English language articles were included if they investigated a population of healthy children and adults (7-65 years), using an observational or experimental design evaluating adherence to national FBDGs. Findings indicate that almost 40% of populations in both HIC and LMIC do not adhere to their national FBDGs. Fruit and vegetables (FV) were most adhered to and the prevalence of adhering FV guidelines was between 7% to 67.3%. HIC have higher consumption of discretionary foods, while results were mixed for LMIC. Grains and dairy were consumed below recommendations in both HIC and LMIC. Consumption of animal proteins (>30%), particularly red meat, exceeded the recommendations. Individuals from HIC and LMIC may be falling short of at least one dietary recommendation from their country's guidelines. Future health policies, behavioral-change strategies, and dietary guidelines may consider these results in their development.

Keywords: adherence; diet intake; dietary guidelines; high-income countries; low- and middle-income countries.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flowchart of the included studies in the systematic review.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Risk of bias of the included studies based on the Effective Public Health Practice Project: ratings for each component.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Lobstein T., Brinsden H. Obesity: Missing the 2025 Global Targets. World of Obesity; London, UK: 2020.
    1. Grech A., Sui Z., Siu H.Y., Zheng M., Allman-Farinelli M., Rangan A. Socio-Demographic Determinants of Diet Quality in Australian Adults Using the Validated Healthy Eating Index for Australian Adults (HEIFA—2013) Healthcare. 2017;5:7. doi: 10.3390/healthcare5010007. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Darmon N., Drewnowski A. Does social class predict diet quality? Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 2008;87:1107–1117. doi: 10.1093/ajcn/87.5.1107. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Leme A.C., Muszynski D., Mirotta J.A., Jewell K., Caroll N., Hogan J., Yu J., Fisberg R.M., Ma D.W.L., Duncan A.M., et al. Diet quality of Canadian pre-school children at two to five years old from the Guelph Family Health Study: Family-based study. Can. J. Diet. Pract. Res. 2020 doi: 10.3148/cjdpr-2021-009. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Mello A.V., Pereira J.L., Leme A.C.B., Goldbaum M., Cesar C.L.G., Fisberg R.M. Social determinants, lifestyle and diet quality: A population-based study from the 2015 Health Survey of Sao Paulo, Brazil. Public Health Nutr. 2019:1–12. doi: 10.1017/S1368980019003483. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources