South African Dietary Guidelines

Abstract

To the Editor: We were surprised to read1 that the South African Food-Based Dietary Guidelines2 have been approved and adopted as national dietary guidelines despite the international consensus to move away from the paradigm that ‘Carbohydrates are good’ and ‘Fat is bad’. Nutritionists have long known that some types of fat are essential to health and can reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. Furthermore, scientists have found little evidence that a high intake of carbohydrates is beneficial. In short, not all fats are bad for you, and by no means are all complex carbohydrates are good for you.