Nutritionists point out errors in Pakistan Dietary Guidelines issued by Planning Commission, FAO

An apple a day may keep the doctor away but neither an apple is too rich in iron nor milk contains vitamin C as it is mentioned in the recently-launched ‘Pakistan Dietary Guidelines for Better Nutrition’.

Leading nutritionists affiliated with the Pakistan Nutrition and Dietetic Society (PNDS) said this while pointing out to The News various mistakes in the dietary guidelines that have been prepared by the nutrition section of the Planning Commission of Pakistan in collaboration with the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations.

“The government of Pakistan has recently published national dietary guidelines in collaboration with the FAO but this document is full of mistakes. If an average Pakistani follows these guidelines, it is feared that he or she may face more nutritional deficiencies as many recommendations and suggestions are scientifically and factually incorrect,” said Prof Rubina Hakim, one of the veteran nutritionists in the country.

The PNDS, which is the representative body of nutritionists and dietitians in the country, has also officially written to the FAO, asking it to review the document as it could result in promoting misconceptions about diet and food.

Pakistan is facing serious nutritional issues as millions of children under five are anaemic, under-weight and stunted due to unbalanced diet, while at the same time, obesity is also on the rise among children in the urban areas due to consumption of junk food and sedentary lifestyle.

Prof Hakim, who had managed to acquire a copy of the dietary guidelines a couple of weeks ago before they were formally launched in Islamabad, claimed that the document was ‘full of mistakes and errors’ and called for retracting it so that it could be reviewed and republished after the correction of mistakes.

The nutritionist went on to say that the document was an embarrassment to the nutritionists and dietitians of the country. “Everybody knows that apple is not an iron-rich fruit but this document says so,” she maintained, adding that the guidelines could misguide pregnant women as after reading them, they might consume apples to deal with iron deficiency, which would not resolve their health issue.

“Similarly milk does not contain Vitamin C and it also lacks iron as it has been mentioned otherwise in these guidelines,” Prof Hakim said. She also criticised the BMI (body mass index) cut-off for Asians given in the guidelines, saying that the healthy BMI cut-off for Asians is lesser compared to international cut-offs as Asians develop diabetes and other non-communicable diseases at lower BMI than Western populations.

“These guidelines also promote ghee as a healthy food as it is evident from the display of ghee in the title picture, which is quite ridiculous and misleading,” Prof Hakim said. She voiced her suspicion that ghee was added in the title picture to promote its consumption to benefit its manufacturers.

PNDS President Rabia Anwar and a senior member, Salma Badruddin, have also criticised the guidelines for being erroneous. They have demanded that the FAO retract it immediately so that its mistakes could be rectified. In a letter to FAO Pakistan, they said food prices, servings, nutritional values and many other facts and even terminologies in the guidelines were incorrect and needed a review.