Because there were so few individuals who followed a healthy diet, the data provided the least certainty, the study authors said.
“In our analyses, we don't just use groups that follow each aspect of the guidelines, but rather compare all parts of the population that more or less follow each of these recommendations, and then see how much health benefit each recommendation contributes. and how to put it together," added prof. Lars.
“For some food groups, it is not possible to divide them equally between five different ranges of intake – what we refer to as quintiles. So some income categories may have fewer people than others. The more people within the income increase precision and certainty, the fewer people contribute to more uncertainty,” he noted.
The authors said their results supported long-term, multi-sectoral action to improve people's diets in the UK, including taxes on unhealthy foods while reducing the cost of healthy foods.
Dr. Linia Patel, a dietician and spokeswoman for the British Dietetic Association, who was not involved in the research, told MNT that her own research has shown that socioeconomic factors are the biggest determinants of whether patients can follow a healthy diet — in this case, she studied the DASH diet, which is designed to lower blood pressure and reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease.
The results were not surprising and the Eatwell guide was backed by evidence showing it supports a healthy diet, she said:
“We know that eating more whole grains, eating more legumes, eating more plant-based foods, all have plant-based goodness that's good for us. So it's not necessarily new. What was nice was that they did a different model to actually quantify the number of years, which is good to see.”
Dr. However, Patel also noted that the Eatwell Guide has drawn some criticism for not including South Asian diets and diets typically followed by black people in the UK.
She also warned that the UK Biobank cohort may not be fully representative of the country's population.
“If you look at the UK Biobank data in general – although I'm working on it myself at the moment – it's not very representative. […] [I]t's not telling the story, but it's not necessarily telling the most representative story because the population group is […] predominantly Caucasian people who don't really come from a low socio-economic background. So it gives us part of the story, but not the whole story.”
She said that while data like these are useful, they still don't indicate the best approach to designing policies to help people eat better for their health.
Dr. Pointing out the low levels of compliance with the Eatwell Guide, Patel said the policy should make the diet achievable for people to follow. In addition to the policy proposals of the authors and others, they believe that education is the key to ensuring a healthy diet.
“We know that beans and lentils aren't necessarily that expensive, but for some reason people don't use them. Why don't people use them? What are the obstacles? I think the more questions like this need to be asked to fully understand how we can incorporate this kind of research into practical policy application."
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