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A Review of the Canadian "Nutrition Recommendations Update: Dietary Fat and Children"¹

Division of Gastroenterology and Nutrition, Departments of Paediatrics and Nutritional Sciences, University of Toronto, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5G 1X8

A joint Working Group from the Canadian Paediatric Society and Health Canada met in the early 1990s to consider the applicability of recommendations to restrict total and saturated fat in children 2 y of age. The Group weighed information from the literature on the nutritional needs for growth and development against evidence relating diet to risk of nutrition-related diseases. The Group concluded that the efficacy of the fat-restricted diet could not be assumed. There was no evidence that implementation of the diet would reduce illness in later life or provide benefit to children as children. Regarding safety, some children consuming self-selected diets with low fat intakes have lower energy intakes and food patterns that may compromise the intake of certain key nutrients. The primary recommendations of the Group were that the provision of adequate energy and nutrients to ensure adequate growth and development remains the most important consideration in the nutrition of children and that during the preschool and childhood years, nutritious food choices should not be eliminated or restricted because of fat content. Once linear growth has stopped, fat intake as currently recommended (30:10) is appropriate.

KEY WORDS: • fat • saturated fat • children • adolescents

¹ Presented as part of the symposium "Dietary Guidelines for Children: A Focus on Fat" given at the Experimental Biology '95 meeting, Atlanta, GA, on April 10, 1995. This symposium was sponsored by the American Institute of Nutrition and was supported by a grant from the National Dairy Council. Guest editor for the symposium was Gregory D. Miller, National Dairy Council, Rosemont, IL.

² To whom correspondence should be addressed: Hospital for Sick Children, 555 University Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5G 1X8.