Food-Based dietary guidelines around the World: Eastern Mediterranean and Middle Eastern Countries

In EasternMediterranean countries, undernutrition andmicronutrient deficiencies coexistwith overnutrition-related diseases, such as obesity, heart disease, diabetes and cancer. Many Mediterranean countries have produced Food-BasedDietaryGuidelines (FBDGs) to provide the general populationwith indications for healthy nutrition and lifestyles. This narrative review analyses Eastern Mediterranean countries’ FBDGs and discusses their pictorial representations, food groupings and associatedmessages on healthy eating and behaviours. In 2012, both theWHO and the Arab Center for Nutrition developed specific dietary guidelines for Arab countries. In addition, seven countries, representing 29% of the EasternMediterranean Region population, designated their national FBDGs. At the moment several of these guidelines are available only in the English language. In summary, Eastern Mediterranean FBDGs mainly focus on food safety, not all are available in the local Arabic language, and they do not provide specific suggestions for the large number of foreign workers and migrants.