Diet and nutrition: the folly of the reductionist approach

Stanton, Rosemary A

doi:10.5694/mja13.10297

Topics

Diet-related health problems require us to change our food choices rather than emphasise individual nutrients

After almost 4 years of review, in February 2013 the National Health and Medical Research Council released the latest revision of its dietary guidelines for Australians.1 Recognising that people consume foods rather than single nutrients, the new guidelines feature food-based advice, emphasising dietary patterns that are associated with health and wellbeing and are relevant to reducing the risks of obesity and chronic disease.

School of Medical Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW.

Correspondence: rosemary.stanton@westnet.com.au

Competing interests:

No relevant disclosures.

1. National Health and Medical Research Council. Australian Dietary Guidelines. http://www.eatforhealth.gov.au (accessed Mar 2013).
2. Brimblecombe JK, Ferguson MM, Liberato SC, O’Dea K. Characteristics of the community-level diet of Aboriginal people in remote northern Australia. Med J Aust 2013; 198: 380-384.
3. Michaëlsson K, Melhus H, Warensjö Lemming E, et al. Long term calcium intake and rates of all cause and cardiovascular mortality: community based prospective longitudinal cohort study. BMJ 2013; 346: f228. doi: 10.1136/bmj.f228.
4. Xiao Q, Murphy RA, Houston DK, et al. Dietary and supplemental calcium intake and cardiovascular disease mortality: the National Institutes of Health-AARP Diet and Health Study. JAMA Intern Med 2013: 1-8.
5. Bolland MJ, Avenell A, Baron JA, et al. Effect of calcium supplements on risk of myocardial infarction and cardiovascular events: meta-analysis. BMJ 2010; 341: c3691.
6. Curhan GC, Willett WC, Speizer FE, et al. Comparison of dietary calcium with supplemental calcium and other nutrients as factors affecting the risk for kidney stones in women. Ann Intern Med 1997; 126: 497-504.
7. Reid IR, Bolland MJ, Grey A. Does calcium supplementation increase cardiovascular risk? Clin Endocrinol (Oxf) 2010; 73: 689-695.
8. Vivekananthan DP, Penn MS, Sapp SK, et al. Use of antioxidant vitamins for the prevention of cardiovascular disease: meta-analysis of randomised trials. Lancet 2003; 361: 2017-2023.
9. He K, Song Y, Daviglus ML, et al. Accumulated evidence on fish consumption and coronary heart disease mortality: a meta-analysis of cohort studies. Circulation 2004; 109: 2705-2711.
10. Xun P, Qin B, Song Y, et al. Fish consumption and risk of stroke and its subtypes: accumulative evidence from a meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies. Eur J Clin Nutr 2012; 66: 1199-1207.
11. Rizos EC, Ntzani EE, Bika E, et al. Association between omega-3 fatty acid supplementation and risk of major cardiovascular disease events: a systematic review and meta-analysis. JAMA 2012; 308: 1024-1033.
12. Kwak SM, Myung SK, Lee YJ, Seo HG. Korean Meta-analysis Study Group. Efficacy of omega-3 fatty acid supplements (eicosapentaenoic acid and docosahexaenoic acid) in the secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease: a meta-analysis of randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trials. Arch Intern Med 2012; 172: 686-694.
13. Ramsden CE, Zamora D, Leelarthaepin B, et al. Use of dietary linoleic acid for secondary prevention of coronary heart disease and death: evaluation of recovered data from the Sydney Diet Heart Study and updated meta-analysis. BMJ 2013; 346: e8707.

Online responses are no longer available. Please refer to our instructions for authors page for more information.