Is the Ernährungskreis still current?

Yes. The DGE revised it in 2024, promoting legumes and nuts to a group of their own. Overall the diet should be more than three-quarters plant foods and just under a quarter animal foods.

Why does the DGE no longer give percentages?

Since the 2024 revision the circle deliberately gives no fixed percentages per segment. What matters is the weekly balance, not the single meal. Older percentage figures date from before 2024 and are out of date.

What does “more than three-quarters plant-based” mean?

The DGE sums up the proportion this way: a healthy and environmentally sound diet is more than three-quarters plant foods and just under a quarter animal foods.

How does the circle differ from the food pyramid?

The circle shows the proportion of the groups via segment size (the reference); the BZfE food pyramid turns the same into 22 countable blocks for a day (the everyday tool). They agree on the substance.

The DGE Ernährungskreis (Nutrition Circle) — Groups & Proportions

Q: What is the DGE Ernährungskreis?

The Ernährungskreis of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Ernährung (DGE) shows the food groups as segments of a circle. The larger a segment, the more you can eat from that group. It applies to healthy adults needing around 2,000 kcal.

Q: How many groups does the Ernährungskreis have?

Seven: drinks at the centre, then fruit and vegetables, grains and potatoes, legumes and nuts, milk and dairy, oils and fats, and fish, meat, cold cuts and eggs.

The DGE Ernährungskreis explained: seven food groups shown as segments of a circle, with a predominantly plant-based emphasis. How the circle relates to the food pyramid.

The DGE Ernährungskreis (nutrition circle)

The DGE Ernährungskreis shows the food groups as segments of a circle. The larger a segment, the more you can eat from that group — the whole adding up to more than three-quarters plant foods and just under a quarter animal foods.

Seven groups, one proportion

The circle divides all foods into seven groups: drinks at the centre, then fruit and vegetables, grains and potatoes, legumes and nuts, milk and dairy, oils and fats, and fish, meat, cold cuts and eggs.

The message is in the areas: the bigger a group, the more you can eat from it. Since the 2024 revision the DGE deliberately gives no fixed percentages — what matters is the weekly balance, not the single meal.

Legumes and nuts: new since 2024

In the 2024 version legumes and nuts got a segment of their own — a clear signal to promote plant protein. The circle applies to healthy adults needing around 2,000 kcal a day, with drinks (about 1.5 litres) at the centre.

Older depictions named fixed percentages per segment. Those numbers date from before 2024 and are now out of date; this page does not present them as current advice.

Circle or pyramid?

	DGE Ernährungskreis	BZfE Ernährungspyramide
Shape	circle of 7 segments	pyramid of 22 blocks
Publisher	DGE (learned society)	BZfE / BLE (federal body)
Core question	in what proportion?	how many portions a day?
How amounts are given	share via segment size	countable portions (blocks)
The measure	relative area	the hand as portion measure

The circle and the pyramid both come from Germany and agree on the substance — they simply answer different questions.

From reference to practice

In short: the circle gives the principle, the food pyramid the practice. Both rest on the same DGE recommendations.

To turn the proportions into concrete portions for your own day, use the portion calculator — it estimates your energy needs and maps the groups accordingly.