Mediterranean. Nordic. Plant-based. Low-carb. With so many approaches to healthy eating, it's easy to wonder whether nutrition experts agree on anything. But a new international food pyramid suggests there's more common ground than all the competing advice might lead us to believe.
A team of international nutrition scientists has developed an International Food Guide Pyramid that brings together recommendations from several countries. It emphasizes vegetables, fruits, whole grains, beans and other plant foods while making room for different food traditions and personal preferences.
The proposed pyramid, published in Advances in Nutrition, draws on existing research rather than a new experiment. It's also a proposal from an international group of researchers, not an official set of global dietary guidelines.
“Despite what people often hear, there’s actually substantial agreement in nutrition science about the foundations of healthy eating,” said Karen Della Corte, a nutrition scientist at Brigham Young University who led the project.
To develop the guide, researchers compared dietary recommendations from the United States, Canada, Australia, China and several European countries. They also drew on the EAT-Lancet Planetary Health Diet, which considers both human health and the environmental impact of food production.
The new pyramid highlights three main ideas: Eat plenty of plant foods, choose healthier sources of fats and protein and pay attention to the quality of carbohydrates.
In practical terms, that means building more meals around vegetables, fruits, beans, lentils and whole grains. It also means choosing foods such as nuts, seeds and plant oils more often than foods high in saturated fat, including butter.
Animal foods aren't off the table. Fish, poultry, eggs and dairy can all fit into the eating pattern, although the guide places greater emphasis on plant proteins and recommends limiting red and processed meat.
The proposed pyramid also arrives in the same year that the Trump administration introduced a new U.S. food pyramid as part of the 2025–2030 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Both approaches encourage vegetables, fruits, whole grains and limiting added sugars, but they differ in what they emphasize. The American guidelines give greater prominence to protein, including meat and full-fat dairy, while the international version places plant proteins more firmly at the center of healthy eating. The differences reflect broader debates among nutrition experts about how the latest American recommendations should be interpreted.
The two approaches also differ on fats. Although both recommend limiting saturated fat, the U.S. guidelines include butter and beef tallow among cooking options. The international researchers favor unsaturated plant oils, such as olive and canola oil, over fats high in saturated fat.
Another notable difference is how the international pyramid approaches carbohydrates.
Rather than treating all carbs as good or bad, the researchers encourage foods that provide fiber and other nutrients. Whole grains are emphasized, but familiar staples such as pasta, basmati rice, bulgur and tortillas can also fit into a healthy diet.
That matters because eating well doesn't have to mean abandoning traditional foods. A healthy meal in Mexico might look very different from one in Italy, India or Japan, even when both follow similar nutritional principles.
The pyramid also doesn't assume that all processed foods are unhealthy. The researchers point out that freezing, canning and fermenting can make nutritious foods safer, more convenient and easier to keep on hand. What matters is the nutritional quality of the food and how it fits into someone's overall diet.
Much of this advice will sound familiar. Diets such as the Mediterranean and DASH approaches already encourage many of the same habits. What's different is the effort to bring those shared recommendations into one guide that people around the world could adapt to their own food traditions.
There are limitations. The researchers compared guidelines from selected countries, not every region of the world, and the proposed pyramid hasn't been tested in a clinical trial. It also isn't meant to replace nutrition advice tailored to someone's age, health conditions or individual needs.
Still, the new framework offers a useful perspective on what can feel like an endless debate over the healthiest way to eat. Different cultures and dietary patterns may take different approaches, but many share the same foundations.
The researchers reported no funding specifically for this project. Several authors disclosed outside research funding, consulting work or advisory relationships with food, nutrition and health organizations, including food industry and agricultural groups.