New nutritional recommendations

The food we eat and how it is produced affects not only our health, but also the environment. Food is grown, processed, transported, delivered, prepared and sometimes thrown away. Each of these steps produces greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming and therefore climate change. Around a third of all man-made greenhouse gas emissions are attributable to food production and the resulting diets.

We have updated the food-based dietary recommendations (FBDGs). In addition to nutritional and health effects, environmental and climate aspects were also included for the first time. The revision and further development of the Austrian FBDGs was carried out using mathematical optimisation. With this method, nutrition and health aspects (energy and nutrient intake as well as food-health relationships), environmental effects (greenhouse gas emissions and land use) and common consumption habits in Austria can be taken into account simultaneously.

Based on the modelling results, omnivorous and ovo-lacto-vegetarian dietary recommendations for Austria were derived together with the Austrian Society for Nutrition (ÖGE). The recommendations were then discussed in detail with the experts of the National Nutrition Commission (NEK) and approved by them.

The resulting dietary recommendations are plant-based with a low proportion of animal-based foods. The greenhouse gas emissions and land use associated with the diet are each reduced by more than 50% compared to normal consumption in Austria.

Ministry of Health: Austrian dietary recommendations NEW

General nutritional recommendations

Food group	General recommendations
Non-alcoholic drinks	6 portions / day
Vegetables and fruit	5 portions / day
Cereals and potatoes	4 portions / day
Fats and oils	2 portions / day
Milk and dairy products	2 portions / day
Pulses and products made from them	3 portions / week
Meat and fish	1 portion of meat + 1 portion of fish + optionally 1 portion of meat or fish per week
Eggs	3 portions / week
Fatty, sweet, savoury	rarely

 

Vegetarian dietary recommendations

Food group	Vegetarian recommendations
Non-alcoholic drinks	6 portions / day
Vegetables and fruit	5 portions / day
Cereals and potatoes	5 portions / day
Milk and dairy products	3 portions / day
Fats & oils	2 portions / day
Pulses and products made from them	4 portions / week
Eggs	4 portions / week
Fatty, sweet, savoury	rarely

 

We developed the new Austrian dietary recommendations in collaboration with the Austrian Society for Nutrition (ÖGE) on behalf of the Competence Centre for Climate and Health of Gesundheit Österreich GmbH (GÖG) and the Federal Ministry of Social Affairs, Health, Care and Consumer Protection (BMSGPK).