Quantity or quality: understanding the health effects of dietary fats
Strategic vision
This recent task force aims at understanding the effects of the intake of dietary fats on human health, both when they occur as part of food or as individual fatty acids.
Background
Recent data is challenging the old dogma that intake of specific classes of fats must be limited. We now investigate the scientific knowledge on
different dietary fats on health and the apparent discrepancies between effects of different fatty acids within each class.
Objectives
- Provide an evidence-based perspective on future trends for health/risk benefits associated with individual fats.
- Assess country-specific differences in dietary recommendations on dietary fats, some of which are food-based dietary guidelines while others are nutrient-based guidelines.
Expected Scientific Impact
The expected scientific outputs could be used to improve food quality and will pave the way forward for future strategies in food reformulations and the food processing chain in Europe.
For more detailed information, please contact Matthieu Flourakis at mflourakis@ilsieurope.be or Toula Aslanidis at taslanidis@ilsieurope.be
Task Force Members
Prof. Julie Lovegrove – Co-Chair | University of Reading | UK |
Ms Agnès Meheust | Danone Nutricia Research | FR |
Prof. Ronald Mensink* | University of Maastricht | NL |
Dr Matthieu Flourakis | ILSI Europe | BE |
*Scientific Advisor
Expert Groups
Update on Health Effects of Different Dietary Saturated Fats
Background & Objectives
Recent data indicated that both the type of Saturated Fatty Acids (SFA) and the food source of SFA may differentially affect health and especially the development of cardiometabolic diseases.
The objectives of these activities are:
- to evaluate the validity of these recent data;
- to assess if the recent results could indeed be used to adjust current dietary guidelines.
Output
The expert group will develop 2 publications:
- a systematic review on the impact of individual dietary SFAs on traditional and novel biomarkers of cardiometabolic risk, on the one hand, and
associations between dietary intake of individual SFAs and health outcomes, on the other hand; - a publication exploring whether the health effect of SFA depends on the food matrix.
Expert Group Members
Update on Health Effects of Different Dietary Saturated Fats
Prof. Julie Lovegrove – Chair | University of Reading | UK |
Prof. Ronald Mensink – Vice-Chair | University of Maastricht | NL |
Dr Kim Jackson | University of Reading | UK |
Dr Peter Joris | University of Maastricht | NL |
Dr Szimonetta Lohner | University of Pécs | HU |
Ms Agnès Méheust | Danone | FR |
Dr Sabita Soedamah-Muthu | Tilburg University | NL |
Dr Matthieu Flourakis | ILSI Europe | BE |