Examining the relationship between food, diet and health

Examining the relationship between food, diet and healthOne of the fundamental components of dietetics involves the translation of scientific evidence on the effects of food intake on health into forms of dietary guidance.This occurs in the development of dietary guidelines for populations and of nutrition care plans in clinical practice.It is also relevant to establishing evidence for health claims on foods. 1 The exercise of translation, however, is a formal process that emphasises a 'body of evidence' rather than single studies, and outlines how this evidence may be assessed in a transparent and consistent manner.This can be clearly seen in documents that support the development of the most recent Australian Dietary Guidelines, 2 and similar guidelines in the USA. 3 The process by which this evidence is reviewed is developing as a methodology in itself.While this creates transparency on the way in which expert committees arrive at their final conclusions, it also remains the subject of debate, as seen recently in publications around the release of the most recent US Dietary Guidelines. 4 As processes improve with each revision, there is also a need to reflect on the theoretical framework for building the review methodology.