Commodity Groups and Nutritional Content

You eat foods, not nutrients

It is easy to revise nutrition as a list of nutrients, protein here, calcium there, and then freeze in the exam when the question is about a plate of food. The fix is to think the way you actually eat. Nobody eats a spoonful of protein. They eat a food, and every food belongs to a commodity group that supplies a characteristic set of nutrients as a package. Learn the groups by what each one mainly brings. Meat, fish, poultry and eggs bring protein and iron. Milk and dairy bring protein and calcium. Bread, cereals and starchy foods such as potatoes bring starchy carbohydrate and some fibre. Fruit and vegetables bring vitamins, minerals and fibre. Fats and oils bring fat and concentrated energy. And an alternative-protein group, soya, tofu, beans, pulses, nuts and seeds, brings protein and fibre, and matters most for people who eat little or no meat. Balance is not chasing one nutrient. It is combining groups whose packages complete each other. A meal strong in one group is usually short on what another group supplies, so you ask what is missing and reach for the group that brings it. The Eatwell Guide is the government picture of this balance. It shows fruit and vegetables and starchy foods making up the largest parts of what we eat, protein foods and dairy a moderate part, and fats, oils and sugary foods the smallest part. You do not need its numbers; you need its shape. This module is about the groups and what they supply. What each nutrient does inside the body, and the diseases and energy budgets, are the work of the other nutrition modules. Carry one question through everything that follows: what does this commodity group mainly supply, and what does the meal still need from another group?

Words for the food groups

Five terms, each defined by what it is. They frame every question about balancing a meal.

Tap the two about what a group supplies

Tap the TWO statements that say what a commodity group mainly supplies, rather than an unrelated claim.

• Milk and dairy foods are a main source of protein and calcium
• Fruit and vegetables are a main source of vitamins, minerals and fibre
• Foods on a plate look better when they are different colours
• Some foods cost more in winter than in summer

What is this meal missing

A meal is a plate of pasta with a tomato and vegetable sauce, and nothing else. Which commodity group would most improve its balance, and why?

• A protein group such as meat, fish, eggs or beans, because the meal has plenty of starchy carbohydrate and vegetables but little protein
• More pasta, to make it larger
• A large amount of fats and oils
• A sugary food, to add energy

Two ways to get protein

Two commodity groups both supply protein, but the rest of their package differs, which is why both are useful.

Match each group to what it mainly supplies

Two that follow from foods being packages

Select the TWO statements that follow from each commodity group supplying a set of nutrients as a package.

• A balanced meal usually needs foods from more than one group, so their packages complete each other
• A person who eats no meat can still get protein from beans, pulses, nuts or soya
• Eating a large amount of a single group is the best way to a balanced diet
• Fats and oils should make up the largest part of the diet

Checking a meal for balance

A method for any question that asks you to judge or improve a meal. Name the groups already on the plate. Go through the meal and label each food by its commodity group. Seeing the groups, not the dishes, is what makes the gaps show. Ask what each group supplies. Say what the groups present are bringing, protein and iron, starchy carbohydrate, vitamins and fibre, and so on. That tells you what the meal already has. Find the gap. Compare against a balanced plate, which leans on fruit and vegetables and starchy foods, with a moderate amount of protein and dairy and only a little fat and sugar. Whatever is thin or missing is the gap. Add the group that fills it. Reach for the commodity group whose package supplies what is missing, and say why it fits, rather than just adding more of what is already there. Keep the proportions in mind. Improving balance is not only adding a group; it can be shrinking one that dominates, such as cutting back a large amount of fatty or sugary food. Two habits cost marks. The first is judging a meal by how it looks or tastes rather than by its groups. The second is adding more of a group already well covered instead of filling the real gap.

Order how to balance a meal

Put the steps of checking and improving the balance of a meal into a sensible order.

• Label each food on the plate by its commodity group
• Say what each group present supplies
• Compare against a balanced plate to find the gap
• Add the group whose package fills the gap
• Adjust the proportions so no one group dominates

Build the balance rule

This is the idea the whole module rests on. Assemble it.

The commodity groups quick-fire

Five questions on the groups and what they supply. Three lives.

One meal, read by its groups

Here is the method worked through on one meal. The meal is an ordinary example, and no figures are used. Picture a jacket potato with grated cheese and a side of salad. Read it by its groups. The potato is a starchy food, so it brings starchy carbohydrate and some fibre. The cheese is from milk and dairy, so it brings protein and calcium, and some fat. The salad is fruit and vegetables, so it brings vitamins, minerals and more fibre. So what does this meal already have? A starchy food, a protein-and-calcium food, and a vegetable food. That is three groups working together, and their packages overlap usefully: the cheese covers protein, the potato and salad cover fibre, and the salad covers vitamins. Is anything thin? The meal is reasonably balanced, which is worth saying, but the protein comes only from cheese, which also carries fat. A cook wanting more protein without more fat could add a spoonful of beans to the potato, bringing protein and extra fibre from the alternative-protein group, without leaning further on dairy fat. Notice the moves. Label each food by its group, say what each group supplies, judge what is covered and what is thin, then name the group that would fill any gap. That is the same routine whatever the meal, and it is what turns a plate of food back into the nutrition you have revised.

Complete the food group facts

A family of foods that supply a similar set of nutrients, such as milk and dairy, is a _____. A food that provides a good amount of a particular nutrient is a _____ of it. Eating from the groups in the right proportions so the body gets what it needs is a _____. Meat, fish and eggs are a main source of protein and _____.

Three meals to balance

Three meals, each short of something. In each case pick the change that best improves the balance.

• A breakfast is white toast with jam and a glass of orange juice. What would most improve its balance?
• A dinner is fried sausages with chips and nothing else. What is the best single improvement?
• A packed lunch for a vegetarian is a salad with bread and an apple, but the parent worries there is no protein. What fits best?

Explain how to build a balanced meal

A student in the year below can name nutrients but freezes when asked to judge a plate of food. Explain how to use the commodity groups to build and check a balanced meal.

• Explain the idea that you eat foods, and each commodity group supplies a set of nutrients as a package
• Name the main commodity groups and say what each one mainly supplies
• Explain how to spot what a meal is missing by reading it as groups
• Explain how someone who eats no meat can still get enough protein
• Explain how the Eatwell Guide shows the proportion each group should take
• Finish with the one question to ask of any plate of food