The Netherlands Updates its ‘Wheel of Five’: A Stronger Shift Toward Plant-Based, Sustainable Dietary Guidance
Dr Roberta Alessandrini, PAN’s Director of the Dietary Guidelines Initiative, reflects on why the Netherlands’ updated Wheel of Five marks an important step for healthcare professionals, evidence-based nutrition and more sustainable dietary guidance.
On 9 April 2026, the Netherlands Nutrition Centre updated the Schijf van Vijf or “Wheel of Five”, the country’s national food-based dietary guidance. The update reflects an important shift in how healthy eating is being defined in practice: not only by nutrient adequacy and disease prevention, but also by environmental impact and food safety.
The Wheel of Five retains its familiar five food groups, but the most notable changes are found in the segment that includes meat, fish, eggs, legumes, nuts and dairy products.
For PAN, this update is notable because it shows how national dietary guidance is increasingly moving toward an integrated understanding of nutrition, one that considers human health, planetary health and practical implementation together. It also provides a useful example of how plant-forward guidance can be presented as inclusive and adaptable, rather than restrictive.
What is the Wheel of Five?
The Wheel of Five is the Netherlands’ official food guide. It provides practical recommendations across five food groups to help people eat in a way that supports long-term health.
The updated version keeps this familiar structure, but recalculates several recommendations based on the latest evidence around health, sustainability and food safety. The most notable changes are found in the segment that includes meat, fish, eggs, legumes, nuts and dairy products.
Together, these changes signal a clear shift toward a more plant-forward dietary pattern, while still recognising that people follow different eating styles and need practical, achievable guidance.
Key changes in the updated guidance
More legumes and plant-based protein sources
One of the clearest changes is the increased role of legumes and plant-based protein sources.
For adults who eat both meat and fish, the recommendation for legumes has increased from 120–180 g to 250 g per week. This category also includes tofu, tempeh, falafel and hummus, giving legumes and legume-based foods a more visible place in everyday dietary guidance.
This is important because legumes can help support healthier dietary patterns. They provide plant protein, fibre, iron and other important nutrients, and can be used to replace some meat-based meals in a practical and affordable way.
The updated guidance also provides specific advice for people following plant-based diets. Notably, this group is advised to consume a higher amount of legumes: 430 g per week compared with 250 g per week for adults who eat both meat and fish. This is a positive step, as it moves beyond simply allowing for plant-based eating and begins to offer clearer support for how these diets can be followed well.
Less meat, especially red and processed meat
The maximum recommendation for meat has been reduced from 500 g to 300 g per week, with no more than 100 g from red meat and as little processed meat as possible. This 300g threshold aligns with the EAT-Lancet recommendations from other European countries such as Germany and Austria.
Importantly, the guidance also makes clear that meat is not essential and can be replaced with other foods.
This change reflects the broader evidence base linking high intakes of red and processed meat with increased risk of chronic disease, including cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes and colorectal cancer. It also recognises meat’s comparatively high environmental impact, particularly when compared with plant-based protein sources.
A reduced recommendation for cheese
Cheese has a strong place in Dutch food culture, which makes this change particularly notable.
The recommended amount of cheese has been reduced from 40 g to 20 g per day. This reflects the guideline’s wider effort to balance nutritional value with environmental impact, as dairy products contribute substantially to the environmental footprint of the diet.
Alternating between dairy and fortified dairy alternatives
The updated guidance also recommends alternating between dairy products and fortified plant-based alternatives, such as fortified soy drinks or soy-based yoghurt alternatives.
This is a practical and balanced approach. It recognises that dairy can contribute nutrients such as calcium, vitamin B2 and vitamin B12, while also acknowledging the environmental impact of dairy production. By encouraging fortified alternatives, the guidance helps people reduce the environmental footprint of their diet while still paying attention to nutrient adequacy.
The Nutrition Centre also provides practical label-reading guidance, helping people choose alternatives that are fortified with key nutrients.
Practical support for behaviour change
What is particularly positive about the updated Wheel of Five is that it does not only provide new targets. It also recognises that changing dietary habits can be challenging.
The Nutrition Centre offers several practical tools to support gradual change, including food swaps, a food diary app and an “if-then” planning strategy. This matters because dietary guidance is most useful when it can be translated into everyday decisions: what to buy, what to cook, what to replace and how to build new habits over time.
For healthcare professionals, this is especially relevant. Patients do not only need information about what to eat. They often need realistic, culturally appropriate and manageable steps that help them move from intention to action.
Why this matters
The significance of this update lies not only in the numbers themselves, but in the direction of travel.
The Netherlands is showing how dietary guidance can better reflect the realities of today’s health challenges: chronic disease prevention, sustainable food systems, food safety and behaviour change.
For health professionals, this offers a useful example of how nutrition guidance can move beyond individual nutrients and towards practical, evidence-informed dietary patterns that support both people and the planet.
At PAN, we welcome this kind of integrated approach. It aligns closely with our work to advance nutrition as an essential part of healthcare, while recognising the powerful connection between dietary patterns, disease prevention and planetary health.
The full updated guidance and related tools are available on the Voedingscentrum website.