The five food group system was the basic food guidance tool used until the early 1980's, when the Healthy Eating Pyramid (formerly called Healthy Diet Pyramid) of the Australian Nutrition Foundation also came into use. The Healthy Eating Pyramid is essentially a qualitative food guide which addresses the issue of dietary balance of the total diet through the use of descriptive terms such as "eat more", "eat moderately" and "eat less" in relation to various food groups and the Dietary Guidelines.

Although some attempts have been made to quantify the Healthy Eating Pyramid, thus resulting in many different versions of the original Australian Nutrition Foundation version, this was generally done without any nutritional assessment being made of the resultant recommendations.

The 12345+ Food Pyramid, developed by the CSIRO (Baghurst et al., 1990), is a quantified and nutritionally assessed food guidance system aimed at achieving the current recommended dietary intakes (RDI's) for vitamins, minerals, energy, fibre and macronutrients by different age groups with varying activity levels. 

The basic plan provides 5500 kJ(1300 kcal), 18% energy as protein, 50% carbohydrates (30% complex, 20% refined), 30% fat, 35g fibre, 100mg cholesterol and achieves 70% of the Recommended Dietary Intakes (RDI's) for all vitamins and minerals. This plan is also in line with the dietary guidelines.

The numeric descriptor refers to the recommended servings of portion per day from the various food categories. The basic 12345+ plan provides about 1300 kcal or 5500 kj per day; most people will need more kilojoules than this - extra energy needs should be met by increasing servings from breads and cereals category.

The major difference between the 12345+ plan and the earlier five food group system used in Australia lies in the somewhat reduced amounts recommended for meat and increased recommendations for dairy, fruits, vegetables and cereals. 

Since this food plan is essentially nutrient based it encourages regular consumption of small quantities of red meat in order to achieve the RDI for iron and zinc. In contrast, food guidance systems that are epidemiologically food based tend to advise occasional consumption of red meat and increased consumption of fish. 

Food guidance systems developed in the future will need to address such conflicting messages. In contrast to the 5 food groups, the food group "fats" is not specifically mentioned. This is because an allowance is made for 6 grams of poly or monounsaturated fat spread for each slice of bread eaten. View healthy ranges and maximum desirable daily fat intake.

If individuals do not wish to use this fat allowance, then a similar amount of fats or oils could be used in cooking or as dressings to ensure adequate essential fatty acid intake.

Also, a novel feature of this food plan is that it addresses "indulgences" i.e. the foods or drinks available to the public which, in many cases, are of relatively limited nutrient value but which form an integral part of the western dietary culture.

This food plan has enough leeway in the balance of macronutrients to allow for daily consumption of up to 2 "indulgences" e.g. alcohol, soft drinks, pastries, pies, confectionery, nuts, sweet biscuits, cake, ice-cream. Each of these foods provides about 630 kJ (150 kcal) and it takes only a tiny amount of crisps, cakes, pastries or alcohol to exceed your total energy intake.

While no food is excluded, these foods should be restricted as they are high in fats, sugar or salt; they should be avoided if trying to lose weight. Hunger should be satisfied with more cereals and fruits. If the patient has developed a vitamin or nutrient deficiency or is at risk of developing such a deficiency, the patient should be encouraged to include foods which are good sources of these nutrients by referring to Food Facts (Briggs & Wahlqvist, 1984).

Use: 

1. Assessing person’s overall eating habits 
2. Assessing adequate intake of various nutrients

Limitations: 

1. It is essentially based on meeting the RDI's for nutrients and not other non-nutrient components in foods, such as phytochemicals i.e. it does not give recommendations on the desirable frequency of intake of specific favourable foods, such as fish, legumes, red wine etc which have been linked with protection against chronic diseases. 
2. It has been interpreted into several languages and culture specific foods have been added, but requires further fine tuning to address overall culture-specific food patterns. For example, many traditional food cultures do not consume much red meat, and this food plan recommends between 400-700g per week, which would involve significant changes to overall food patterns. Red meat consumption may assist in preventing iron deficiency anaemia but it is still controversial whether it contributes to the development of chronic diseases 

View the 12345+ pyramid.

Table 1: The 12345+ Food Pyramid (Baghurst et al., 1990)

1. Some citrus/berry jams (100% fruit) and unrefined honeys can be a source of antioxidant phytochemicals and therefore cannot be purely classified as 'indulgences'.

View a Comparison of recommendation for adults (19 years and over) in the 12345+ Food Pyramid and other food selection guides 

View the 12345+ pyramid.

Last Updated: June, 2002