Lipids - recommendations

Lipids and dietary recommendations

2010, Dietary Reference Intakes reassessed for fatty acids

Apart from being chemically classified as lipids, fatty acids have specific effects and the latest scientific data allow us to distinguish between different fatty acids from the same family on the basis of the biochemical role they play in the body and the effects they have on it.

Different Dietary Reference Intake values (DRIs) have therefore been defined by AFSSA for certain sub-families of fatty acids. To this end, the Agency took an innovative approach by considering both the physiological requirements for lipids, corresponding to what the body needs to ensure that it can function correctly, and the amount of lipids required to prevent certain diseases (metabolic syndrome, diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease, cancer - particularly breast and colon cancer - and other pathologies such as age-related macular degeneration).

Neither too much nor too little

In order to prevent the major potentially diet-related pathologies (cardio-vascular disease, diabetes, obesity, cancer), the main rule is to balance the intake and expenditure of energy.
As with all foodstuffs, excessive consumption of lipids can be harmful to health. The recommended proportion of lipids in energy intake is 35 to 40%. This range covers requirements in polyunsaturated fatty acids while taking account of disease prevention factors. In France, the upper limit of this range is exceeded by 43% of adults and 34% of children.
Attention should be paid to the types of lipids included in the diet, as they are not all equivalent. It is important to distinguish between what are known as "essential" fatty acids and the non-essential kind.

Essential fatty acids

These are not produced by the body, or not in sufficient quantities to cover the body's basic requirements. They must therefore be provided entirely or almost entirely through food intake.

Among the polyunsaturated fatty acids, there are two especially important families: omega-3 fatty acids and omega-6 fatty acids. The precursors of these families are very important to health and must be supplied through the diet.
For linoleic acid, a precursor of the omega-6 family, the DRI has been set at 4% of energy intake.
For alpha-linolenic acid, a precursor of the omega-3 family, the DRI has been set at 1% of energy intake.
For docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), a long-chain omega-3 fatty acid, which is conditionally essential as the human body cannot synthesise it in sufficient quantities, a DRI has been set at 250 mg per day.

Non-essential fatty acids

The body is capable of producing these compounds, which help it function correctly. The diet therefore complements the amounts synthesised by the body (endogenous synthesis).

Eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), like DHA, is a long-chain omega-3 fatty acid, essential for the human body. It plays a role in preventing cardiovascular disease. The DRI of this compound has been set at 250 mg/day.

The saturated fatty acids are made up primarily of lauric, myristic and palmitic acids, which, in excess, are atherogenic (1). AFSSA recommends that the sum of all fatty acids consumed should not exceed 8% of energy intake. However, since other saturated fatty acids, particularly short-chain and medium-chain fatty acids, can have positive effects on health, AFSSA recommends that total intake of saturated fatty acids should not exceed 12% of total energy intake. The population of France currently consumes excessive amounts of them (16% of energy intake on average).

General recommendations

Adopt the right habits:

- make sure to diversify your intake of animal and plant lipids;
- diversify your consumption of vegetable seasoning oils, favouring those rich in alpha-linolenic acid (rapeseed or walnut oil, for example);
- for at least one of the two portions of fish recommended each week, choose fatty fish (salmon, mackerel, herring or sardines) as they are an almost exclusive source of essential long-chain omega-3 fatty acids (DHA(2) and EPA(3) in particular) which are essential for proper functioning of the body.

Foods rich in lipids

> Foods rich in lipids (pdf in French)
> Foods rich in saturated fatty acids (pdf in French)
> Foods rich in mono-unsaturated fatty acids (pdf in French)
> Foods rich in poly-unsaturated fatty acids (pdf in French)
> Foods rich in alpha-linolenic acid (pdf in French)
> Foods rich in linoleic acid (pdf in French)

(1) Said of substances that favour the accumulation of cholesterol-rich plaque on the inner walls of arteries.
(2) Docosahexaenoic acid
(3) Eicosapentaenoic acid

July 2010