A healthy diet helps protect against malnutrition in all its forms, as well as noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), including obesity, diabetes, heart disease, stroke and cancer while unhealthy diet and lack of physical activity are leading global risks to health. Healthy dietary practices start early in life – breastfeeding may have longer-term benefits, like reducing the risk of overweight and obesity in childhood and adolescence. As a rule, energy intake (calories) should balance energy expenditure. Evidence indicates that total fat should not exceed 30% of total energy intake to avoid unhealthy weight gain with a shift in fat consumption away from saturated fats to unsaturated fats, and towards the elimination of industrial trans fats. The intake of sugar & salt should be limited to achieve a healthy diet. Limiting intake of free sugars to less than 10% of total energy is part of a healthy diet. A further reduction to less than 5% of total energy is suggested for additional health benefits. Keeping salt intake to less than 5 g per day helps prevent hypertension and reduces the risk of heart disease and stroke in adult population.

The exact make-up of a healthy, balanced diet will vary depending on the individual needs (e.g. age, gender, lifestyle, degree of physical activity).

Practical advice on how to have a healthy diet

Fruit and vegetables

Eating at least 5 portions, or 400 g, of fruit and vegetables per day reduces the risk of NCDs, and helps ensure an adequate daily intake of dietary fibre. In order to improve fruit and vegetable consumption you can: always include vegetables in your meals; eat fruit and raw vegetables as snacks; eat fresh vegetables in season; vary choices of fruits and vegetables.

Fats

Reducing the amount of total fat intake to less than 30% of total energy helps prevent unhealthy weight gain in adult population. Also, the risk of developing NCDs is lowered by reducing saturated fats to less than 10% of total energy, and trans fats to less than 1% of total energy, and replacing them with unsaturated fats contained in vegetable oils. Fats intake can be reduced by: changing how you cook – remove the fatty part of meat; instead of butter, use vegetable oil (not animal); and boil, steam or bake rather than fry; avoid processed foods containing trans fats; limit the consumption of foods containing high amounts of saturated fats (e.g. cheese, ice creams, fatty meat).

Salt, sodium and potassium

Most people consume too much sodium through salt (corresponding to an average of 9–12 g of salt per day) and not enough potassium. High salt consumption and insufficient potassium intake (less than 3.5 g) contribute to high blood pressure, which in turn increases the risk of heart disease and stroke. Millions of deaths could be prevented each year if people’s salt consumption were reduced to the recommended level of less than 5 g per day.

People are often unaware of the amount of salt they consume. In many countries, most salt comes from processed foods (e.g. ready meals, processed meats like bacon, ham and salami, cheese and salty snacks) or from food consumed frequently in large amounts (e.g. bread). Salt is also added to food during cooking (e.g. bouillon, stock cubes) or at the table (e.g. table salt, soy sauce and fish sauce).

You can reduce salt consumption by: not adding salt, soy sauce or fish sauce during the preparation of food; not having salt on the table; limiting the consumption of salty snacks; choosing products with lower sodium content. Some food manufacturers are reformulating recipes to reduce the salt content of their products, and it is good to check food labels to see how much sodium is in a product.

Potassium, which can mitigate the negative effects of elevated sodium consumption on blood pressure, can be increased with consumption of fruits and vegetables.

Sugars

Evidence indicates that intake of free sugars by adults and children should not exceed 10% of total energyand that a reduction of under 5% of total energy provides additional health benefits. Free sugars are all sugars added to food or drinks by the manufacturer, cook or consumer, as well as sugars naturally present in honey, syrups, fruit juices and concentrates. There is increasing concern that consumption of free sugars, particularly in the form of sugar-sweetened beverages, may result in both reduced intake of foods containing more nutritionally adequate calories and an increase in total caloric intake, leading to an unhealthy diet, weight gain and increased risk of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs).

Also of great concern is the role free sugars play in the development of dental diseases, particularly dental caries. Dental diseases are the most prevalent NCDs globally and though great improvements in prevention and treatment have occurred in the last decades, dental diseases continue to cause pain, anxiety, functional limitation and social handicap through tooth loss, for large numbers of people worldwide. The treatment of dental diseases is expensive—costing between 5 and 10% of health budgets in industrialised countries—and would exceed the financial resources available for the whole of health care for children in the majority of lower-income countries.

Sugars intake can be reduced by: limiting the consumption of foods and drinks containing high amounts of sugars (i.e. sugar-sweetened beverages, sugary snacks and candies); eating fruit and raw vegetables as snacks instead of sugary snacks.