The Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) has published an updated guide to healthy eating, which aims to help people make the best food choices for their health.

Healthy Eating, Food Safety and Food Legislation - a Guide Supporting the Healthy Ireland Food Pyramid is aimed at everyone over the age of five years. It provides practical advice on how to avoid diet-related ill health.

Topics covered include portion sizes, tips for choosing the healthiest types of foods, eating healthily on a budget, food safety and food law.

According to FSAI chief executive Dr Pamela Byrne, there are so many confusing messages and misinformation about food and nutrition out there, but this guide ‘provides independent and unbiased science-based advice that people can trust'.

"It is a combination of international best practice with up-to-date Irish research to ensure the advice meets the specific dietary needs of the Irish population. It provides food-based advice that protects people from five years of age onwards against diet-related ill health such as heart disease, cancer, obesity and diabetes, which are major causes of ill health in Ireland," she explained.

The guide provides advice across four age groups, with distinct information for those leading active and non-active lifestyles. The guide provides ‘easy access to complex information', the FSAI noted.

Meanwhile, for those wishing to try a vegetarian diet, the guide advises how to do this gradually.

It can be downloaded from the FSAI website here