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Food
pyramid needs adjustment
January 30, 03
Suzanne Havala Hobbs
Despite
a spit shine only two years ago, there's
good evidence the government's Dietary
Guidelines for Americans -- as well as
the companion Food Guide Pyramid -- are
already out of date.
The Pyramid is the graphic representation
of the U.S. Dietary Guidelines for
Americans, issued by the U.S. Department
of Agriculture and the U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services and updated
every five years. Its purpose is to tell
Americans how best to eat to be healthy.
Discrepancies between government
nutrition guidelines such as the Food
Guide Pyramid – and current
recommendations by health organizations
and nutrition scientists complicate the
difficult task most of us face in
understanding what we should eat.
A major Harvard study published last
month in the American Journal of Clinical
Nutrition suggests that government
guidelines don't give consumers advice
that is specific enough to be helpful,
findings similar to those found in
research conducted by USDA using focus
groups in years past.
The Harvard study also found that the
guidelines have not kept up with current
scientific knowledge of the relationships
between diet and disease.
While the wording of the Dietary
Guidelines has been modified every five
years since 1980, the Food Guide Pyramid
has never been changed since its debut in
1992.
"The Food Pyramid is tremendously
flawed," says Walter Willett, chair
of the department of nutrition at
Harvard's School of Public Health.
"It says all fats are bad; all
complex carbohydrates are good; all
protein sources offer the same nutrition;
and dairy should be eaten in high
amounts. None of this is accurate."
Instead, the Harvard group thinks
fundamental changes in government
guidelines and the pyramid should pay
particular attention to:
• Fats. Guidelines should more
explicitly discourage people from eating
saturated fats and trans fats found in
processed foods, commercial baked goods
and fried fast foods, most types of
margarine, meat, butter, and dairy
products. Healthy unsaturated fats from
vegetable oils such as olive and canola
oils, nuts, seeds, and avocados should be
recommended.
• Carbohydrates. There should be
less emphasis on grains in general and
refined grains in particular. Whole
grains should be emphasized.
• Proteins. Red meat, poultry, fish,
dry beans, eggs, and nuts should not be
treated equally. Red meats should be
specifically limited, and bacon, sausage,
luncheon meats, and cured meats should be
flagged as being particularly unhealthy.
Dried beans, peas, and other legumes
should be recognized as being superior
sources of protein and associated with
reduced risk of several diseases
including coronary artery disease.
An overhaul of the magnitude proposed by
the Harvard researchers would likely be
politically troublesome for the USDA,
which is tasked with both advising the
public about the healthiest way to eat
while at the same time protecting and
promoting American agriculture.
Willett puts it this way, "Whether
the USDA is capable of doing the revision
without being influenced by meat and
dairy lobbying groups remains to be
seen."
The next revision of the U.S. Dietary
Guidelines for Americans is due out in
2005. Whether that will include a new and
improved pyramid has not yet been
determined.
In the meantime, you can compare the U.S.
Food Guide Pyramid and the Harvard
Healthy Eating Pyramid by checking them
out online at www.nal.usda.gov:8001/py/pmap.htm
and www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/pyramids.html.
The situation of the Food Guide Pyramid
illustrates another point, too. Not only
is science always evolving, causing
recommendations to change over time. But
other factors, too –- including
politics -- influence the clarity and
accuracy of messages that reach the
public.
So, the next time you feel as though
you'll never get it straight, don't be
too hard on yourself. It's not
necessarily you. Food politics are also
conspiring to make the path a little
harder to follow. Being aware of that
fact is a great first step, though, to
finding your way.
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