TABLE 1.

Eligibility criteria for guidance documents included in this meta-epidemiologic study

Category	Inclusion criteria	Exclusion criteria
Study design	Any guidance documents with nutrition recommendations1 •Clinical practice guidelines •Food-based dietary guidelines •Official position statements •Consensus statements Latest version of any regularly updated guidance documents (final search date for updates was 11 February 2022)	Any clinical study or case study Letters to the editor Protocols Background reading Any reviews: •Meta-analyses •Systematic reviews •Narrative reviews
Date of publication	January 2010–February 2022	Before 2010
Publication status	Articles published in peer-reviewed journals Guidance documents published on websites of major medical professional societies, governments, or large health stakeholder associations	Articles not published in peer-reviewed journals or on websites of major medical professional societies, governments, or large health stakeholder associations
Authors/publishers	Major medical professional societies Governments Large health stakeholder associations	Individual authors Small or niche organizations
Language of publication	English language	Non-English languages
Country	No restriction	NA
Population	Free-living humans	Non–free-living humans (for example, residential care) Animals
Age of study participants	Adults (18+ y)	Infants/young children (0–3 y) Children/adolescents (>3 to <18 y)
Health status of population	Generally healthy (document focus is on general health promotion) Chronic diseases or specific health conditions limited to the following: •CVD •Type 2 diabetes •Any cancer •Autoimmune diseases such as (but not limited to) type 1 diabetes, multiple sclerosis, Crohn disease, lupus, inflammatory bowel disease, rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, Graves disease, Guillain-Barré syndrome, and celiac disease •Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease •Digestive diseases such as irritable bowel syndrome •Weight-related conditions or diseases including overweight, obesity, weight loss, or healthy weight maintenance	Pregnant or lactating women Illness other than the specified chronic diseases Other health conditions (for example, sepsis) Accident victims
Intervention or exposure	Guidance or recommendations (for example, increase, decrease, exclude, or include specific quantities) for the following: •Dietary patterns (for example, vegetarian, Mediterranean, and DASH) •Foods (for example, bread, juice, and milk) •Food groups (for example, meat, vegetables, and dairy) •Food components (for example, refined flours, confections, and sugar-sweetened beverages) •Ingredients (for example, vegetable oils and added sugars)	No real guidance or recommendation for diet Only talks about micronutrients (for example, sodium and fiber) without any mention of the inclusion criteria Only talks about macronutrients without any mention of the inclusion criteria Only talks about supplements or enteral/parenteral nutrition Primary focus is nutrients only (even if specific foods are mentioned)

¹Only the clinical practice guidelines found eligible for this meta-epidemiological study are within the scope of this report.