People are told to eat more ''whole foods'' - like wholegrain bread and legumes - in new national nutrition guidelines, and warnings against saturated fat remain.
The Ministry of Health guidelines released last week are designed for health practitioners and those who dispense eating advice to New Zealand adults.
They had not been updated for more than a decade. The biggest change is dropping a restriction on overall carbohydrate.
The guidelines were endorsed by the Edgar Diabetes and Obesity Research Centre at the University of Otago, and Prof Jim Mann was chairman of the guideline technical advisory group.
Dr Lisa Te Morenga, a research fellow at the centre, said previous advice had not emphasised differences between whole-grain carbohydrates and the ''white fluffy stuff''.
The benefits of whole foods such as legumes, unsaturated oils, seeds and nuts get a push in the guidelines.
However, the ministry is sticking to the advice that low-fat milk is better for people than the full-fat version.
Dr Te Morenga backed this approach, saying the public was being misled to believe that saturated oils - like coconut oil - were more healthy.
She said scientific evidence still supported the view that saturated fat was associated with cardiovascular disease.
People were vulnerable to marketers pushing the wrong lines on health and nutrition.
''We're obsessed with diets, and everyone's always looking for the magic solution.''
''We are living in an environment where you can dial up information any time of the day from the internet.''
Dr Te Morenga said many of the low-fat and high-sugar products that hit the market in the 1980s and 1990s had proved to be unhealthy, but so were the more recent high-fat fads, like coconut oil.
Asked if people had lost faith in official advice because of the previously over-zealous approach to cholesterol warnings, Dr Te Morenga said industry had been at fault for pushing too many low-fat, high-sugar products, and they had never been part of official advice.
The advice
Food
Eat more: Legumes, vegetables, whole food, nuts, fish.
Eat less: Red meat (less than 500g cooked meat per week), sugary drinks, processed meat, highly processed foods.
Exercise
• At least 2.5 hours moderate exercise per week, or 1.25 hours vigorous exercise.
• Muscle-strengthening activities on at least two days a week.
• Break up long periods of sitting.
