From National Nutrition Guidance to the Vietnamese Kitchen: What Viet Nam’s Ten Recommendations for Proper Nutrition Mean for Everyday Eating and Cooking
GUIDELINES & POLICY
Category: Guidelines & Policy
Last reviewed: 27 September 2026
National nutrition guidance can tell us the direction in which a healthier diet should move. But guidance does not shop at the market, season a pot of soup, plan a family dinner or decide what to do when time is short. Those decisions happen in everyday life.
In November 2024, the Ministry of Health issued the Ten Recommendations for Proper Nutrition toward 2030, the current version of Viet Nam’s Food-based Dietary Guidelines. The recommendations address dietary balance and diversity, vegetables and fruits, protein choices, hydration, maternal and infant nutrition, fried foods and high-fat fast foods, foods high in salt or sugar, sugar-sweetened beverages and alcoholic drinks, food safety, family meals, body weight and physical activity. They also encourage people to read nutrition information on food labels before purchasing and consuming food products. [1]
For Culinary Medicine Vietnam, the important question is not how to rewrite these recommendations. It is how national guidance can be translated responsibly into food choices, cooking practices and meals that make sense in Vietnamese homes, while recognizing that not every recommendation is primarily about cooking.
Key Points
National guidance sets a direction, not a prescriptive meal plan. Viet Nam’s Ten Recommendations are population-level guidance and need to be applied according to age, health, circumstances and food context. Everyday eating is about patterns rather than judging individual foods in isolation. Balance, diversity, adequacy and moderation matter across meals and over time. The kitchen can influence how nutrition guidance is put into practice through food selection, preparation, cooking methods, seasoning and meal composition. Not all ten recommendations should be converted into cooking advice. Pregnancy, breastfeeding, complementary feeding, hydration and physical activity involve wider health considerations and may require specific professional guidance. Finally, important developments in 2026 add context rather than replace the Ten Recommendations, including the updated Recommended Nutrient Intakes for Vietnamese People, updated nutrition-labeling requirements, the Law on Disease Prevention and professional guidance on implementing nutrition in disease prevention. [3–6]
What Are Viet Nam’s Ten Recommendations for Proper Nutrition?
Viet Nam first published its Food-based Dietary Guidelines in 1995, with revised editions in 2001, 2006, 2013 and 2024. The current version, issued with Decision No. 3594/QĐ-BYT dated 29 November 2024, is the Ten Recommendations for Proper Nutrition toward 2030. [1]
Taken together, the recommendations encourage a sufficient, balanced and diverse diet; an appropriate combination of foods from animal and plant sources; regular consumption of micronutrient-rich foods, vegetables and fruits of different colors; appropriate use of protein-rich foods, including fish, poultry and nuts, with red meat consumed in moderation; adequate water intake; appropriate nutrition during pregnancy, breastfeeding and early childhood; limits on fried foods, high-fat fast foods, foods high in salt or sugar, sugar-sweetened beverages and alcoholic drinks; food safety; regular family meals; and maintenance of a healthy weight through an active lifestyle and appropriate physical activity. [1]
That breadth matters. These are recommendations about nutrition across the life course, not simply instructions for preparing healthier recipes.
The recommendations also sit within a broader national policy direction. The National Nutrition Strategy for 2021–2030, with a vision to 2045, approved under Decision No. 02/QĐ-TTg in January 2022, aims to improve nutritional status through appropriate nutrition across different populations, locations and stages of life, while addressing undernutrition, overweight, obesity and nutrition-related noncommunicable diseases. [2]
Guidance Is the Starting Point, Not the Meal
A recommendation such as “eat a sufficient, balanced and diverse diet” is intentionally broad. It cannot tell every household exactly what breakfast should look like tomorrow morning because appropriate diets vary with age, physical activity, physiological status, health needs, affordability, availability and cultural preferences.
This is where practical food skills become relevant. Someone still has to decide which vegetables to buy, which protein foods to prepare, how to season a soup, which packaged sauce to choose, how to use ingredients already available at home or how to make a healthier meal acceptable to children and other family members.
Culinary medicine can help explore this practical layer, but an important boundary should be clear: the interpretations that follow are educational applications developed by Culinary Medicine Vietnam. They are not an official technical interpretation of Decision No. 3594/QĐ-BYT and should not be presented as Ministry of Health guidance.
1. Build Variety and Balance Around Real Meals
The first recommendation emphasizes eating enough and consuming a balanced and diverse range of foods, with an appropriate combination of foods from animal and plant sources. [1]
In practice, this does not mean that every individual plate has to represent a mathematically perfect balance of food groups. It is often more useful to consider the pattern across meals and days. Vietnamese meals already offer many opportunities for this because they commonly combine a staple such as rice with vegetables, soups, protein dishes, herbs and shared dishes.
Variety can come from rotating foods rather than continually adding more dishes. Fish on one day, tofu and beans on another, poultry at another meal, different leafy vegetables during the week, and variation among fruits, grains, tubers, nuts and seeds can broaden the diet without making everyday cooking unnecessarily complicated.
Balance also means avoiding the assumption that more of a nutritious food is always better. Nutrient and energy needs vary, and foods need to be considered as part of the overall dietary pattern. WHO’s updated 2026 guidance similarly describes adequacy, balance, moderation and diversity as four core principles of a healthy diet. [7]
For culinary medicine, the useful question is therefore less about finding the next “superfood” and more about asking: What is already in the meal, what may be missing, and how can familiar foods contribute to a better overall pattern?
2. Make Vegetables, Fruits and Micronutrient-Rich Foods Easier to Eat Regularly
The second national recommendation encourages daily consumption of micronutrient-rich foods, including vegetables and fruits of different colors. It also asks consumers to read nutrition information on food labels before purchasing and using foods. [1]
For vegetables and fruits, knowing that they are important is often easier than making them a regular part of everyday meals. The practical question is how to make them available, convenient and enjoyable enough to be eaten consistently.
In a Vietnamese kitchen, that could mean keeping washed and properly stored herbs ready for meals, adding vegetables to soups and noodle dishes, serving boiled or lightly cooked vegetables with an appropriate dipping sauce, increasing the vegetable component of stir-fries, incorporating mushrooms or legumes into familiar dishes, or simply making fruit easy to reach and serve.
Cooking methods matter, but there is no need to assume that raw vegetables are always better than cooked ones. Both can contribute to a healthy dietary pattern, while different preparation methods affect taste, texture, food safety and nutrient retention. The larger objective is to make a variety of vegetables and fruits easier to eat regularly.
The label-reading component of Recommendation 2 has become particularly timely. Circular No. 30/2026/TT-BYT, issued on 9 July 2026 and effective from 10 July 2026, now provides the updated regulatory framework for the content and presentation of nutrition information on food labels within its scope. [4]
That makes nutrition-label literacy an increasingly useful everyday food skill. But a nutrition panel does not tell us everything about a food, and a single nutrient number should not become a verdict that a product is simply “good” or “bad.” How much is consumed, how often it is eaten and how it fits into the rest of the meal still matter.
3. Think About Protein Quality and Variety, Not Just “Animal Versus Plant”
Recommendation 3 advises appropriate consumption of protein-rich foods, including fish, poultry and nuts in daily meals, while red meat should be eaten in moderation. Recommendation 1 also refers to an appropriate combination of animal- and plant-source foods. [1]
An important development since these recommendations were issued is the 2026 Recommended Nutrient Intakes for Vietnamese People. The National Institute of Nutrition states that the 2026 edition no longer continues the previous recommendation for a fixed ratio of animal protein to total protein. Instead, it emphasizes protein quality and a diverse combination of animal and plant sources, including fish, eggs, milk, poultry, beans and bean products. Protein requirements for adults have also been recalculated using the protein quality of the Vietnamese diet, including a Protein Digestibility-Corrected Amino Acid Score, or PDCAAS. [3]
This does not mean that the 2026 nutrient-intake document replaces or contradicts the Ten Recommendations. The documents serve different purposes. The Ten Recommendations provide broad public-facing dietary guidance, while the Recommended Nutrient Intakes are a more technical reference used in areas such as nutrient requirement assessment, menu planning, counseling, research and food labeling. [1,3]
For the kitchen, the practical lesson is not to chase a particular animal-to-plant protein ratio. It is to use a range of appropriate protein foods over time and consider how they fit into the rest of the meal.
Beans, tofu and other soy foods can sit naturally alongside fish, eggs, poultry and other familiar foods. Nuts and seeds can contribute nutrients, texture and flavor. Red meat can remain part of the diet while being consumed in moderation, consistent with the national recommendation.
The 2026 update also places greater emphasis on fat quality. It highlights foods rich in unsaturated fatty acids, including fish, nuts and vegetable oils, and recommends minimizing trans-fat intake and replacing it preferentially with unsaturated fat. The direction is therefore moving away from thinking only about “how much fat” toward also considering what type of fat and what food source. [3]
4. Use Salt, Sugar and Fats More Thoughtfully
Recommendation 7 calls for limiting fried foods, high-fat fast foods, foods high in salt or sugar, sugar-sweetened beverages and alcoholic drinks. [1]
This is an area where cooking and food selection can make a practical difference, but advice that simply tells people to make their food bland or abandon familiar flavors is unlikely to work well.
In Vietnamese meals, sodium can come from more than table salt. Fish sauce, soy sauce, seasoning powders, stock products, dipping sauces and packaged foods can all contribute. WHO’s 2026 healthy-diet guidance specifically identifies soy sauce, fish sauce and bouillon among high-sodium ingredients that can add salt during cooking and recommends limiting high-sodium condiments where appropriate. WHO continues to recommend that adults consume less than 2,000 mg of sodium per day, equivalent to less than 5 g of salt per day, as a population-level recommendation. [7,8]
The culinary response does not have to be the removal of familiar seasoning. Flavor can also be built through herbs, aromatics, spices, acidity, texture, appropriate browning and other cooking techniques. Sodium reduction can therefore involve looking at how much, how often and at which stage salty ingredients are used, rather than making meals culturally unrecognizable.
Sugar deserves the same kind of context. The 2026 Recommended Nutrient Intakes for Vietnamese People recommend keeping free sugars below 10% of total dietary energy, with a further reduction to below 5% suggested for additional health benefit. This is consistent with current WHO guidance. [3,7]
This does not require treating every sweet food as forbidden. Frequency, portion, context and the overall dietary pattern matter. Sugar-sweetened beverages and foods that make it easy to consume substantial amounts of free sugar without much satiety deserve particular attention.
The same nuance is useful with fats. Fried foods and high-fat fast foods are specifically addressed in the national recommendations, but this should not be interpreted as meaning that all dietary fat is undesirable. The 2026 Vietnamese recommendations emphasize fat quality, while WHO likewise favors unsaturated fats over saturated and trans fats. [3,7]
5. Food Safety Is Part of Healthy Eating
Recommendation 8 is straightforward but fundamental: food safety needs to be ensured in the selection, preparation and storage of food. [1]
Nutrition and food safety should not be treated as separate ideas. A nutritionally balanced meal is not a healthy meal if it carries an avoidable food-safety risk. WHO’s updated 2026 food-safety information similarly emphasizes that food safety, nutrition and food security are closely connected. [9]
For culinary education, this means food handling should sit alongside conversations about ingredients and cooking. Safe sourcing, appropriate preparation, avoiding cross-contamination where relevant, adequate cooking and appropriate storage all belong within practical food skills.
It also means avoiding the assumption that “fresh,” “natural,” “homemade” or “traditional” automatically means safe. Culinary medicine should respect food culture without romanticizing practices that can introduce preventable food-safety risks.
6. Family Meals Matter, but Real Life Matters Too
Recommendation 9 promotes regular family meals, adequate breakfast, lunch and dinner appropriate to age, and avoiding overeating or skipping meals. [1]
Family meals can offer structure and social connection and, in Viet Nam, carry cultural meaning beyond the nutritional composition of the food itself. But this recommendation should not become a moral judgment about families who cannot sit together for every meal.
Long working hours, commuting, school schedules, caregiving responsibilities and economic circumstances can all shape how households eat. A practical approach is to improve the meals that are realistically possible. For one household, that might mean a regular shared dinner. For another, it could mean preparing some meal components in advance, keeping simple foods available for busy mornings, or finding safe and useful ways to use leftovers.
Culinary medicine should work with people’s lives, not against them.
Some Recommendations Go Beyond the Kitchen
It would be misleading to force all ten recommendations into culinary advice.
Recommendation 4 addresses adequate hydration. Recommendations 5 and 6 cover pregnancy, breastfeeding and complementary feeding. Recommendation 10 addresses healthy weight, an active lifestyle and physical activity appropriate to age and health status. [1]
These areas need to be respected on their own terms. For example, the national recommendation that pregnant and breastfeeding women follow an appropriate diet and use iron, folic acid or multiple micronutrient supplementation as instructed should not be reinterpreted to suggest that food can always replace indicated supplementation. Likewise, breastfeeding guidance should not be reduced to advice about what a mother cooks or eats.
Culinary medicine is therefore best understood as one practical layer within nutrition and health, not as a framework that absorbs every aspect of nutrition, prevention or clinical care.
What Has Changed Since the Ten Recommendations Were Issued?
The Ten Recommendations remain the current national Food-based Dietary Guidelines. Several developments in 2026, however, provide additional technical, regulatory and legal context for how nutrition guidance may be implemented.
First, the 2026 Recommended Nutrient Intakes for Vietnamese People updated the technical reference for energy, protein, fat, carbohydrates, fiber, free sugars, vitamins, minerals and other nutritional requirements. The National Institute of Nutrition explains that the revision reflects changes in Vietnamese dietary habits, lifestyles, working conditions, physical activity and population characteristics since the 2016 edition. It was also developed in the context of Viet Nam’s continuing double burden of malnutrition, with overweight, obesity and nutrition-related noncommunicable diseases increasing while undernutrition and micronutrient deficiencies remain important in some disadvantaged areas. [3]
Second, Circular No. 30/2026/TT-BYT created an updated framework for nutrition information on food labels, making the label-reading element of Recommendation 2 increasingly actionable for prepackaged foods within the Circular’s scope. [4]
Third, the Law on Disease Prevention No. 114/2025/QH15, effective from 1 July 2026, gives nutrition a specific statutory place within disease prevention. Article 34 provides that nutrition in disease prevention should be implemented throughout the life course, according to age and population group, and should be appropriate to the physical characteristics, culture and economic conditions of Vietnamese people. The measures specified include screening, assessment and monitoring of nutritional status; nutrition counseling and guidance; nutrition information, education and communication; and nutrition interventions appropriate to age, population group and nutritional status. [5]
The implementation framework became more concrete on the same date. On 1 July 2026, the Ministry of Health issued Decision No. 1982/QĐ-BYT, together with professional guidance on measures for implementing nutrition in disease prevention. The document covers nutritional screening, assessment and monitoring; nutrition counseling and guidance; nutrition information, education and communication; selected interventions for pregnant women, breastfeeding mothers and children; and nutritionally appropriate, food-safe shift meals for workers. [6]
These developments are important, but they should not be overstated. Neither the Law on Disease Prevention nor Decision No. 1982/QĐ-BYT establishes culinary medicine as a recognized Vietnamese medical specialty, professional title or officially endorsed intervention. Rather, they provide a stronger national framework for nutrition in disease prevention, education, counseling and culturally appropriate implementation.
Where Can Culinary Medicine Add Value?
National dietary guidance answers an essential question: What broad direction should healthier eating take? Culinary medicine can help with a different one: How can some of that guidance become practical, acceptable food behaviors in everyday life?
That may involve learning how to compare similar products using nutrition information, how to prepare vegetables in ways a family enjoys, how to build flavor with less sodium, how to use legumes more often, how to vary protein sources, how to plan meals around a realistic budget or how to adapt familiar Vietnamese dishes without assuming that healthier eating requires abandoning Vietnamese cuisine.
There may also be value in professional education. A physician, nurse or other healthcare professional may understand a dietary recommendation academically but still benefit from seeing how that recommendation interacts with ingredients, cost, cooking skills, taste, family preferences and the practical constraints of daily life.
The kitchen, in other words, can become one place where guidance meets reality.
What Should Culinary Medicine Not Add?
Culinary medicine should not invent new nutrient targets when authoritative Vietnamese guidance already exists. It should not turn broad population recommendations into restrictive diets without evidence. It should not classify individual foods as inherently “clean,” “toxic,” “good” or “bad,” and it should not assume that a dish is healthy simply because it is traditional.
Nor should culinary education be presented as individualized treatment when a person requires clinical assessment or specialized nutrition care. In Viet Nam, activities that constitute medical examination or treatment remain governed by the Law on Medical Examination and Treatment No. 15/2023/QH15, effective since 1 January 2024, together with applicable implementing regulations and professional requirements. [10]
The same caution applies in the opposite direction. Vietnamese food does not need to be replaced by a Western dietary template in order to become healthier. International evidence can inform practice, but local foods, culinary traditions, affordability, availability and household realities all matter.
This approach is also consistent with the direction of Viet Nam’s current prevention law, which specifically recognizes the need for nutrition to fit the physical characteristics, culture and economic conditions of Vietnamese people. [5]
Putting the Guidance into Everyday Practice
A practical interpretation of the Ten Recommendations can begin by looking at the whole meal rather than one ingredient. Consider whether there is reasonable variety across staple foods, vegetables, protein sources and other foods over the day or week. Make vegetables and other nutrient-rich foods easy to use rather than simply buying them with good intentions. Vary protein sources among fish, poultry, eggs, beans, soy foods, nuts and other suitable foods, while keeping red meat in moderation consistent with national guidance.
Flavor also deserves attention. Salt, fish sauce, soy sauce, seasoning products, sugar and cooking fats all contribute to the finished meal. Using them deliberately and understanding their role can be more realistic than trying to remove familiar flavors altogether. When packaged foods are used, nutrition labels can help compare similar products, but they should be interpreted alongside portion size, frequency of use and the rest of the meal.
Food safety should remain part of every stage, from selection and preparation to cooking and storage. Above all, the goal should be an eating pattern that people can realistically maintain. A theoretically ideal diet that does not fit a person’s culture, budget, skills or daily life is unlikely to remain ideal for long.
From Guidance to the Vietnamese Kitchen
The Ten Recommendations for Proper Nutrition toward 2030 provide an important national framework. They are intentionally broad because they are designed for population education across different ages, needs and circumstances. Their value does not depend on turning every recommendation into a recipe.
The opportunity for culinary medicine lies somewhere between the policy document and the dinner table. It can help us ask practical questions about what people buy, how ingredients are prepared, how flavors are built, how meals are organized and how nutrition guidance can fit into Vietnamese food culture without losing either scientific integrity or the pleasure of eating.
That translation needs to remain responsible. National guidance should remain national guidance. Individual clinical needs should remain within appropriate professional care. New evidence should be incorporated thoughtfully rather than casually replacing existing recommendations.
Within those boundaries, however, there is considerable room for practical innovation.
Healthier eating in Viet Nam does not have to mean making Vietnamese food less Vietnamese. It means understanding the evidence and the guidance, then finding practical ways to apply both in the kitchen and in everyday life.
That is one of the roles Culinary Medicine Vietnam seeks to explore.
References
National Institute of Nutrition, Viet Nam / Ministry of Health. Ten Recommendations for Proper Nutrition toward 2030. Issued together with Decision No. 3594/QĐ-BYT dated 29 November 2024. Viện Dinh Dưỡng Quốc Gia
Prime Minister of Viet Nam. Decision No. 02/QĐ-TTg dated 5 January 2022, approving the National Nutrition Strategy for 2021–2030, with a vision to 2045. Văn Bản Chính Phủ
National Institute of Nutrition, Viet Nam. Những điểm cập nhật về nhu cầu dinh dưỡng khuyến nghị cho người Việt Nam [Updates to the Recommended Nutrient Intakes for Vietnamese People]. 3 August 2026. Viện Dinh Dưỡng Quốc Gia
Ministry of Health of Viet Nam. Circular No. 30/2026/TT-BYT dated 9 July 2026, Guidance on the content and presentation of nutritional components and nutritional values on food labels. Effective 10 July 2026. Văn Bản Chính Phủ
National Assembly of Viet Nam. Law on Disease Prevention No. 114/2025/QH15, dated 10 December 2025, effective 1 July 2026. See particularly Article 34 and Chapter IV on nutrition in disease prevention. Văn Bản Chính Phủ
Ministry of Health of Viet Nam. Decision No. 1982/QĐ-BYT dated 1 July 2026, issuing the Professional Guidance on Measures for Implementing Nutrition in Disease Prevention. THƯ VIỆN PHÁP LUẬT
World Health Organization. Healthy diet. Updated 26 January 2026. World Health Organization
World Health Organization. Sodium reduction. Updated 11 May 2026. World Health Organization
World Health Organization. Food safety. Updated 4 June 2026. World Health Organization
National Assembly of Viet Nam. Law on Medical Examination and Treatment No. 15/2023/QH15, dated 9 January 2023, effective 1 January 2024. Văn Bản Chính Phủ
Disclaimer
This article is intended for general education and information. It explains Viet Nam’s national nutrition guidance and explores how some of that guidance may be translated into everyday food selection, cooking and eating. The practical interpretations presented by Culinary Medicine Vietnam are our educational interpretations and should not be understood as official technical guidance or endorsement by the Ministry of Health, the National Institute of Nutrition or another government authority.
This article does not provide individualized medical, nutrition, legal or other professional advice and does not replace appropriate assessment, diagnosis, treatment, medical nutrition therapy or individualized nutrition care by suitably qualified and, where required, appropriately authorized professionals. Nutritional needs can vary substantially according to age, growth, pregnancy or breastfeeding, physical activity, health status, medication use and other individual circumstances.
Culinary medicine should not be interpreted as a substitute for medicines, medical procedures, clinical nutrition care or other evidence-based treatments when these are indicated. Use of the term culinary medicine does not itself create or expand a professional scope of practice in Viet Nam. Organizations and professionals developing related educational, clinical or commercial activities should ensure compliance with applicable Vietnamese laws, regulations, professional requirements and official guidance.
Scientific evidence, nutrition recommendations and legal requirements may change over time. Culinary Medicine Vietnam aims to review and update this resource as relevant evidence, national guidance and regulatory requirements evolve.