Women's dietary fat and sugar intakes: implications for food based guidelines

To examine how women's dietary data can be used to formulate food based dietary guidelines for fat.

Dietary intake data was assessed cross-sectionally using the 7 d diet history method. Subjects were divided into quartiles on the basis of their intakes of total fat and saturated fatty acids (% energy) and the diets of those in the lowest and highest quartiles were compared.

Subjects studied were socially advantaged and disadvantaged women (n = 83, mean age 35 years) recruited from their workplaces.

The inverse relationship between intakes of sugar and total fat (P < 0.0001) found in this study also extended to saturated fatty acids (P = 0.0007). Women in the lowest quartile of total fat, in common with those in the lowest quartile of saturated fatty acids, were found to have higher intakes of fibre (P < 0.005), vitamin C (P < 0.01), folate (P < 0.005) and vitamin B6 (P < 0.05) while their intakes of vitamin A were lower (P = 0.01). Most (76%) of the differences in sugars intake between women of low and high total fat consumption were accounted for by added sugars, particularly non-fat containing confectionery/drink food sources where median daily intake values were 15 g vs 7 g sugars (P = 0.05) respectively. The finding that at best only 62% of the women had total fat and saturated fatty acids intake in similar quartiles, together with the differences that emerged in their food intake patterns, indicate that the goals for these nutrients may be separately achieved.

Existing dietary data can be useful for the formulation of specific food based dietary guidelines and diets higher in sugar are not necessarily more dilute in micronutrients.