The Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN) provides independent advice on nutrition and related health matters to UK government organisations. In keeping with its commitment to openness and transparency, SACN follows a set ‘Framework’ to ensure a prescribed and consistent approach is taken in all its evidence evaluations. Following an update of the SACN Framework in 2020, which addressed some straightforward issues, the SACN Framework subgroup was established in 2021 to consider more complex matters that were not addressed in the 2020 update. The SACN Framework subgroup considered 4 main topics for update: 1) the different types of evidence evaluations produced by SACN, 2) interpretation of statistical data, 3) tools for assessment of study quality, 4) tools to assess the certainty of a body of evidence for exposure-outcome relationships. The Framework subgroup agreed clear definitions and processes for the different types of evidence evaluations produced by SACN and agreed that interpretation of p values should be informed by consideration of study size, power and methodological quality. The subgroup recommended use of the AMSTAR 2 tool for quality assessment of evidence from systematic reviews and use of the GRADE approach to assess the certainty of evidence. The updated Framework was published in January 2023. This was followed by publication of a further update in October 2024. As a ‘living’ document, the Framework will be subject to regular review by the Framework subgroup and continue to evolve in line with best practice.

The present report summarises a workshop convened by the UK Food Standards Agency (Agency) on 25 March 2010 to discuss the current Agency's funded research on the use of metabolomics technologies in human nutrition research. The objectives of this workshop were to review progress to date, to identify technical challenges and ways of overcoming them, and to discuss future research priorities and the application of metabolomics in public health nutrition research and surveys. Results from studies nearing completion showed that by using carefully designed dietary and sampling regimens, it is possible to identify novel biomarkers of food intake that could not have been predicted from current knowledge of food composition. These findings provide proof-of-principle that the metabolomics approach can be used to develop new putative biomarkers of dietary intake. The next steps will be to validate these putative biomarkers, to develop rapid and inexpensive assays for biomarkers of food intake of high public health relevance, and to test their utility in population cohort studies and dietary surveys.

The UK Food Standards Agency convened a workshop on 13 May 2009 to discuss recently completed research on diet and immune function. The objective of the workshop was to review this research and to establish priorities for future research. Several of the trials presented at the workshop showed some effect of nutritional interventions (e.g. vitamin D, Zn, Se) on immune parameters. One trial found that increased fruit and vegetable intake may improve the antibody response to pneumococcal vaccination in older people. The workshop highlighted the need to further clarify the potential public health relevance of observed nutrition-related changes in immune function, e.g. susceptibility to infections and infectious morbidity.

This report summarises a workshop convened by the UK Food Standards Agency (FSA) on 11 September 2006 to review the results of three FSA-funded studies and other recent research on effects of the dietary n-6:n-3 fatty acid ratio on cardiovascular health. The objective of this workshop was to reach a clear conclusion on whether or not it was worth funding any further research in this area. On the basis of this review of the experimental evidence and on theoretical grounds, it was concluded that the n-6:n-3 fatty acid ratio is not a useful concept and that it distracts attention away from increasing absolute intakes of long-chain n-3 fatty acids which have been shown to have beneficial effects on cardiovascular health. Other markers of fatty acid intake, that more closely relate to physiological function, may be more useful.

The workshop was organised to discuss the validity and limitations of existing functional markers of Se status in human subjects and to identify future research priorities in this area. Studies presented as part of this workshop investigated: the bioavailability of Se from different dietary sources; potential functional markers of Se status; individual variation in response to Se; the effect of marginal Se status on immune function. The workshop highlighted the need to define the relationship between functional markers of Se status and health outcomes.

Human milk contains a unique mixture of nutrients that meet all the nutritional requirements of the growing infant for the first few months of life. Furthermore, it provides bioactive, non-nutritional substances including anti-microbial and anti-inflammatory factors, growth factors, cytokines, hormones and digestive enzymes which confer protection from bacterial and viral infections, and may aid growth and development of the newborn.