Food group

Grains, the largest food group in many nutrition guides, includes oats, barley and bread. Cookies, however, are categorized as sugar.
Vegetables, the second largest food group in many nutrition guides, come in a wide variety of shapes, colors and sizes.

Food groups categorise foods for educational purposes, usually grouping together foods with similar nutritional properties or biological classifications. Food groups are often used in nutrition guides, although the number of groups used can vary widely.[1]

Food groups were a public health education concept invented to teach people eating very restricted, unvaried diets how to avoid becoming deficient in specific nutrients. They have since been adapted to also address diseases of affluence related to diet, such as obesity, diabetes and heart disease.[2]

  1. ^ Nestle, Marion (2013) [2002]. Food Politics: How the Food Industry Influences Nutrition and Health. University of California Press. pp. 36–37. ISBN 978-0-520-27596-6.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference Lancet_NACNE was invoked but never defined (see the help page).