European Food Safety Authority; Outcome of the Public consultation on the Draft Opinion of the Scientific Panel on Dietetic products, Nutrition, and Allergies (NDA) on Dietary Reference Values for carbohydrates and dietary fibre

On 13 March 2009, the EFSA Panel on Dietetic products, Nutrition and Allergies (NDA) endorsed a draft Opinion on Dietary Reference Values for carbohydrates and dietary fibre to be released for public consultation. This Scientific Report summarises the comments received through the public consultation and outlines how these were taken into account in the final opinion.

EFSA had received 100 contributions from 24 interested parties (individuals, non-governmental organisations, industry organisations, academia, national assessment bodies and Member States). The main comments which were received during the public consultation related to: total and glycaemic carbohydrates, possible adverse health effects of excessive consumption of sugar(s), sugar-sweetened beverages, the definition of dietary fibre, and the available updated evidence on the glycaemic index/glycaemic load.

All the public comments received that related to the remit of EFSA were assessed and the Opinion on Dietary Reference Values for carbohydrates and dietary fibre has been revised taking relevant comments into consideration.