Skip to main content
2015 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee Systematic Reviews

Dietary Patterns, Foods and Nutrients, and Health Outcomes Subcommittee

  • Dietary Patterns, Foods and Nutrients, and Health Outcomes Subcommittee Members

    •    Anna Maria Siega-Riz, PhD, RD, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (Chair)
    •    Alice H. Lichtenstein, Dsc, Tufts University (Chair/Vice Chair Representative)
    •    Cheryl Anderson, PhD, MPH, University of California – San Diego
    •    J. Thomas Brenna, PhD, Cornell University 
    •    Steven Clinton, MD, PhD, The Ohio State University
    •    Frank Hu, MD, PhD, MPH, Harvard School of Public Health
    •    Rafael Pérez-Escamilla, PhD, Yale School of Public Health 
    •    Marian Neuhouser, PhD, RD, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center

    Nutrition Evidence Library Team

    •    Julie E. Obbagy, PhD, RD
    •    Yat Ping Wong, MLS, MPH
    •    Eric Calloway, PhD

    Dietary Guidelines Management Team

    •    Eve Essery Stoody, PhD 
    •    Rachel Fisher, MS, MPH, RD 
    •    Margaret McDowell, PhD, MPH, RD
    •    Kellie Casavale, PhD, RD

Overview

Dietary patterns and their food and nutrient characteristics are at the core of the conceptual model that has guided the 2015 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee’s work (see Scientific Report of the 2015 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee: Part B. Chapter 2: 2015 DGAC Themes and Recommendations: Integrating the Evidence), and the relationship of dietary patterns to health outcomes is the centerpiece of this section. The Committee considered evidence about the relationship of diet with several health outcomes that are listed as major public health outcomes of concern in Scientific Report of the 2015 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee: Part D. Chapter 1: Food and Nutrient Intakes, and Health: Current Status and Trends. Several of these outcomes—cardiovascular disease, overweight and obesity, type 2 diabetes, congenital anomalies, and bone health—also were addressed by the 2010 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee.  Others—cancers (lung, colon, prostate and breast) and neurological and psychological illness—while previously addressed, are considered here in more depth and represent an expanded list of health outcomes for which there is growing evidence of a diet-disease relationship.
 
Below are links to the questions this Subcommittee answered using a NEL systematic review approach.

Systematic Review Questions

Dietary Patterns and Cancer

What is the relationship between dietary patterns and risk of breast cancer?

What is the relationship between dietary patterns and risk of colorectal cancer?

What is the relationship between dietary patterns and risk of prostate cancer?

What is the relationship between dietary patterns and risk of lung cancer?

Dietary Patterns and Neurological and Psychological Illnesses

What is the relationship between dietary patterns and risk of depression?

What is the relationship between dietary patterns and risk of dementia/cognitive decline/Alzheimer’s disease?

Dietary Patterns and Congenital Anomalies

What Is the relationship between dietary patterns and risk of congenital anomalies (neural tube defects, congenital heart defects, cleft lip/palate)?

Dietary Patterns and Bone Health

What is the relationship between dietary patterns and bone health?

For additional information, see Scientific Report of the 2015 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee: Part D. Chapter 2: Dietary Patterns, Foods and Nutrients, and Health Outcomes.  Information in the report was vetted by the full committee and presented at public meetings; however, more detailed supporting information on each specific systematic review is available on the NEL website.

For 2015 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Subcommittee work structure and member organization, see Scientific Report of the 2015 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee Appendix E-9.

For 2015 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee and support staff membership and acknowledgments lists, see: Membership and Appendix E-10: Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee Report Acknowledgments.