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Proposed
food pyramid targets the overweight
Sept. 18, 03
Suzanne Havala Hobbs
The
U.S. Department of Agriculture has an eye
on your waistline.
The USDA has begun the process of
revamping its Food Guide Pyramid, the
picture tool that the government uses to
help coach us on what we should eat to be
healthy. The Pyramid debuted in 1992 but
hasn't been revised since.
Last week, the department proposed
changes to the Pyramid that reflect
growing acceptance of the fact that most
of us eat too much and don't get enough
exercise.
The original Pyramid targeted healthy,
active people 2 years of age and older.
The proposed changes now assume the
public is sedentary. As a result, the
guide is based on lower daily calorie
intakes. Calorie levels range from 1,000
to 3,200 and vary by gender and age.
Information is given to help individuals
make adjustments for higher or lower
levels of physical activity.
For example, a 55-year-old male couch
potato needs 2,000 calories a day, and
his female counterpart only needs 1,600
calories per day. That’s a drop of
several hundred calories per day from
previous recommendations — the
equivalent of cutting out a small meal or
two snacks.
Other proposed changes:
* More whole grains. At least half of all
bread and cereal choices should be made
from whole grain flour.
* More vitamin E. Emphasis is on eating
more dark green vegetables, legumes, and
vegetable oils and replacing some solid
fats such as butter with soft margarines.
* Higher intakes of total fiber. A goal
of 14 grams per 1,000 calories has been
proposed.
In January, I discussed criticism of the
Pyramid by nutrition advocates who say it
promotes too many foods high in nutrients
most Americans get in excess — such
as saturated fat and cholesterol —
and not enough of the foods that contain
more of what we need, including
fiber-rich fruits and vegetables.
This month's proposed changes still fall
short of this goal. That’s largely
because a guiding philosophy of the USDA
regarding the Pyramid is that the
recommendations must be "realistic
and practical" for Americans given
their current attitudes toward diet.
For instance, the proposed new eating
patterns do not meet current guidelines
for vitamin E intake. To meet the
recommended intakes for vitamin E,
Americans would have to eat substantially
more vegetables and beans than is typical
and replace animal fat and solid
shortenings with vegetable oil.
USDA's position is that that’s too
great a change to ask the public to make.
The proposed changes are only a baby step
in the right direction. That's not good
enough.
More substantial changes should be made
to the Pyramid to give consumers a
clearer picture of what's best for their
health.
The Pyramid as proposed, for example,
still fails to differentiate between
high-fat and nonfat dairy products. It
also does not distinguish between red
meat, which is high in saturated fat and
cholesterol, and healthier protein-rich
foods such as beans, nuts and fish.
Other nutrition advocates agree. As
Bonnie Liebman, director of nutrition at
the Center for Science in the Public
Interest, told The New York Times:
"To cover up these deficiencies with
minor changes is a waste of
taxpayers’ money and a missed
opportunity."
What happens next?
The Department of Agriculture is seeking
comments on the proposed changes until
late next month. A revised proposal will
then be released for another round of
comments. The final release of the
updated Food Guide Pyramid is expected in
early 2005.
More information about the proposed
changes is available online at www.cnpp.usda.gov.
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