Practical experience in development and promotion of food-based dietary guidelines in Thailand

Abstract

Although under-nutrition problems have been decreasing in Thailand, non-communicable diseases have become leading causes of death and disability. Food-Based Dietary Guidelines (FBDGs) is a key strategy to promote healthy daily food consumption and appropriate lifestyles. The development consists of qualitative and quantitative parts. The purposes were 1) to assist consumers in making healthy dietary choices and disease prevention; 2) to guide governmental agencies in nutrition implementations, promotion of healthy food products and education programs; 3) to assist national and local agencies in policy formulations and implementations; 4) to assist healthcare providers in primary diseases prevention efforts. The procedures to develop FBDGs specifically were to 1) set nutritional goals based on Thai DRI and RDI; 2) assign the units used for one portion of each food group; 3) quantify the size and number of servings of the major food groups, using the nutritive value calculated by the popularity vote method from secondary data; 4) evaluate the nutritive value of recommended amounts from combinations; 5) develop and test several food guide models based on Thai people's understanding and cultures; 6) implement through educational tools for the nationwide public units; 7) offer training programs, monitoring and evaluation in various populations to be performed by Ministry of Public Health (MOPH) and other academic sections. In long run successful FBDGs, there must not only be support from policy makers and cooperation between nutritionists from universities and the MOPH, but also application of ongoing activities such as "Sweet Enough Campaign Network" or "School Lunch Program".