FAO/WHO Scientific Update on carbohydrates in human nutrition: conclusions

The Scientific Update involved consideration of a number of key issues that have arisen since the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Consultation on Carbohydrates in Human Nutrition was held in 1997 (FAO, 1998) or where new data may have altered conclusions drawn some 10 years ago. The Scientific Update enabled some firm conclusions to be drawn and identified a number of areas where more research is required to enable definitive recommendations. The review papers prepared as part of this Scientific Update applied the criteria used by the 2002 WHO/FAO Expert Consultation on Diet, Nutrition and the Prevention of Chronic Diseases to describe strength of evidence for drawing the conclusions of the scientific review (WHO, 2003). The following are agreedupon summaries of both the review papers, and discussions from the authors’ meeting (Geneva, 17–18 July 2006) on each issue area. The experts who participated at the authors meeting were: John H Cummings, Hans Englyst Timothy Key, Simin Liu, Jim Mann (Chairman), Rob van Dam, Bernard Venn, Carolyn Summerbell (Rapporteur), Gabriele Riccardi, Ricardo Uauy, HH Vorster (Rapporteur) and Martin Wiseman. The FAO Secretariat members were Kraisid Tontisirin and Frank Martinez Nocito and the WHO Secretariat members were Chizuru Nishida and Denise Costa Coitinho.