Rapid Fire Oral Presentation 49th Nutrition Society of Australia Annual Scientific Meeting 2025

Dietary fat guidelines and commentary – a temporal and thematic analysis (130063)

Sophia Jacques 1 , Kara Durante 1 , Jorji Simpson 1 , Timothy Gill 2
  1. Nutrition and Dietetics, Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia
  2. Charles Perkins Centre, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia

Discord has pervaded the discussion of dietary fat guidelines and recommendations since their inception1.  The associations between high fat diets, elevated cholesterol, and cardiovascular disease(CVD), was first highlighted in the ‘Seven Countries Study’ but these findings have consistently been challenged since they were translated into dietary guidelines in the 1970s. Since then, evidence supporting the role of saturated fatty acids in CVD aetiology has continued to evolve but it remains contested. The ongoing arguments around the role of dietary fats in health has created additional challenges to the creation and effective dissemination of dietary recommendations for populations around this issue. The present study aimed to identify key dietary fat recommendations from government agencies and NGOs from 1970-2022. Additionally, we aimed to analyse the prevailing commentary on these recommendations and establish how recommendations and commentary have transformed over time. Systematic searches were undertaken to identify guidelines and the surrounding academic commentary. A content and thematic analysis of commentary was performed, to determine disparities in key themes over time. Dietary fat guidelines have seen some revisions since their creation but many original recommendations persist. The prevailing themes identified in commentaries around these guidelines that were published between 1970-1985 were either that ‘the recommendations may be suitable, but their messaging for the general population is not’, or that the ‘guidelines should be rejected due to insufficient evidence’. From 1986-2022, the leading commentary was that guidelines require a more nuanced approach. The 1977 USA Dietary Guidelines2 remained the most commented upon dietary fat guideline and was mentioned the most in the top ten highest cited publications on this issue.   Some aspects of the guidance around dietary fat intake has changed over the last five decades. Academic commentary has generally become more accepting of the appropriateness of these recommendations since 1970, yet there remains ongoing calls for guidelines to adopt a nuanced approach.

 

  1. 1. Nissen SE. (2016). Annals Intern Med. 2016 164(8):558-9.
  2. 2. Callaway CW. (1997) J Am Coll Nutr16(6):510-6