Highlights of current dietary guidelines in five continents

Abstract

The dietary guidelines as well as the organizations that establish the recommendations are not homogeneous across regions of the world. Each country utilizes specific icons to better describe to the public easy ways to follow specific recommendations, including the use of pyramids, plates, and other forms of presenting key information. All dietary guidelines are updated within certain periods to ensure that new findings or specific changes are communicated to the public. The purpose of this commentary is to describe the most updated information as well as some history on how these symbols are utilized in different countries or areas of the world. The updated Mediterranean pyramid as well as MyPlate and the Pyramids utilized in South Africa, Japan, and Argentina are discussed in this commentary.