The Finnish Food Authority published a set of national nutritional guidelines on Wednesday, advising people to eat less meat, more vegetables and to cut down on the consumption of coffee and alcohol.
The guidelines caused a stir even before their publication, as some details — in particular the recommendation to eat less meat and more veg — were leaked in advance and reported by Finnish media.
Based on the authority's new guidelines, people in Finland should ideally consume around 500-800 grams of vegetables, fruits and berries per day, up from the previous recommendation — issued in 2014 — of about 500 grams each day.
"Ultimately, how one eats is a personal choice, but it is good to be aware that a more plant-based diet not only reduces health risks but also mitigates the effects of climate change," according to Juha-Matti Katajajuuri, a specialist researcher at the Natural Resources Institute Finland.
The updated advice also recommends eating no more than 350 grams of red meat (meaning beef, pork and lamb) per week, of which the proportion of processed meat should be as low as possible. This is a significant drop on the 500 grams previously recommended when the guidelines were last published a decade ago.
"Almost all Finns consume too much salt and there is too much hard fat in their diet, which exposes them to heart disease, among other things," Professor Ursula Schwab wrote in a press release.
The release further noted that it would be better for environmental as well as health reasons if people consumed significantly less than the recommended 350 grams of meat per week.
This is the food authority's first national nutritional guideline that also takes environmental factors into account when issuing its recommendations on meat consumption.
The National Nutrition Council led a working group of ministries, universities, consumer groups, the food industry and NGOs in the compiling of the guidelines.
Authority: Drink as little alcohol as possible
With regard to alcohol, the authority did not set a minimum figure as it said a safe amount was not possible to define.
However, the recommendations suggest that if a person does drink alcohol, they should consume as little as possible. Previously, the authority has provided guidance on the maximum daily amount of alcohol that an adult should consume.
In the 2014 report, the maximum recommended daily intake of alcohol was 10 grams for women and 20 grams for men. In practice, this meant one drink for women and two drinks for men per day — although the authority emphasised that it does not recommend consuming alcohol every day.
Cut down on caffeine
With Finns' reputation as coffee-lovers well established, the food authority included recommendations on caffeine consumption for the first time.
According to the guideline, people should in general cut down on their intake of unfiltered coffee as well as of sugary and energy drinks.
Unfiltered coffees include, for example, Greek and Turkish -style coffees as well as espresso-based lattes and cappuccinos.
The authority said it was issuing this recommendation because unfiltered coffee can lead to high blood pressure and increased cholesterol levels.
According to the guideline, an adult should drink no more than 400 milligrams of caffeine per day, taking into account all possible sources.
This amount, 400 milligrams, is the equivalent of about four cups of filtered coffee.
Pregnant and breastfeeding women are recommended to consume half this amount of caffeine, while the safe limit for caffeine intake for children and adolescents is no more than 3 milligrams per kilogram of body weight per day.
The authority's guidelines also noted that reducing coffee consumption is good for the environment, as coffee is one of the products in the Finnish diet that most negatively affects global biodiversity.
Article updated at 10:25 on 28.11 to clarify that the recommendation is to consumer no more than 350g of red or processed meat per week.
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