food pyramid is crumbling



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http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0119/p14s02-lifo.htm

The food pyramid is crumbling, but will most Americans notice?
By Clayton Collins | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
Uncle Sam would like you to finish your vegetables - 2-1/2 cups a day,
along with two cups of fruit for an average 2,000-calorie-per-day diet.
Bonus points if you walk briskly to the store to buy them. Think 90
minutes of exercise, five days a week, if weight loss is a goal.

Last week, as it has every four years since 1980, the US government
handed down a new set of dietary guidelines. Primary purpose: to
provide a foundation for federal nutrition programs. They also are
meant to nudge foodmakers toward providing choices deemed healthier,
and - amid what is often called an obesity "epidemic" - to encourage
Americans to pay more attention to the role of food and exercise in
their lives.

Whether the guidelines will resonate with a culture awash in
flavor-of-the-month diets is unclear. But this time, the government
appears eager to alter old habits. Set to crumble is the vaunted food
pyramid, which has promoted a set of recommended daily servings of
assorted foods largely unchanged since 1992.

Government officials and outside medical advisers who helped shape the
guidelines would not comment on the likely new look of the pyramid
replacement - or "food guidance system," as it is being called - which
is expected to be released in coming months.

But experts say it appears clear that, just as the pyramid represented
a more comprehensive take on the basic four food groups that came
before, whatever emerges next will reflect a fuller awareness of
current nutritional science. Many hope that it also allows for more
dietary flexibility.

For years, critics of the pyramid have hammered away at what they view
as a system either too rigid or simply wrong. An alternative
"Mediterranean" pyramid - with olive oil as a central component - has
been suggested in recent years by such prominent players as Walter
Willet, chairman of the department of nutrition at the Harvard School
of Public Health.

Another critic, the late Dr. Robert Atkins of Atkins diet fame,
endorsed the idea that protein-packed red meat belonged in that big
area at the pyramid's base long occupied by breads and grains - the
dreaded "carbs" in the parlance of many of today's dieters.

One result of all the variations has been public confusion. And despite
the keep-it-simple proclamation Jan. 12 by Tommy Thompson, Health and
Human Services secretary - "You lower your calorie intake, you lower
your fats, your carbs, you eat more fruits and vegetables, more whole
grain, and you exercise," he said in a press conference - some
confusion is likely to remain.

"It's a complicated thing, because from a public- communications
standpoint, the more specific you can be, the better," says Russell
Pate, associate dean for research at the School of Public Health at the
University of South Carolina in Columbia. "But the reality is, there is
no single best diet."

"We can eat in various ways that will all conform to the guidelines,"
adds Professor Pate, who served on the government's advisory committee.

In many cases, others add, different dietary approaches are essential.
"We cannot recommend the same diet to an active 20-year-old male as we
can to a sedentary 70-year-old woman," says Elisabetta Politi,
nutrition manager at the Duke University Diet and Fitness Center.

Health experts applauded the guidelines' new emphasis on physical
activity to offset caloric consumption - and a long-awaited
acknowledgment that nutrition is not an area where one size fits all.
In a shift aimed at lessening confusion, recommended amounts of food
are now expressed in more user-friendly "cups" instead of generic
"servings."

Not everyone is satisfied. Some critics cite too much influence by
corporate interest groups. And the organic-food movement - while
delighted to see mention of "nutrient density" and whole grains - is
disappointed that the quality and origin of food are not given more
official emphasis.

Still others question whether government guidelines will be enough to
alter sedentary lifestyle habits that reflect a culture of convenience
in which a majority of the American populace is overweight.

Target numbers for calorie intake are fine. But "theapplication of
these numbers is where it's going to come into play," says John
Jakicic, director of the Physical Activity and Weight Management
Research Center at the University of Pittsburgh.

Americans should not view the exercise targets - with which he agrees -
as prescribed blocks of time, he says, but as a call for "lifestyle
tweaks." Take the stairs instead of the elevator or escalator, he
suggests. Exercise in multiple short bouts throughout the day.

In recent years Ms. Politi has discarded the pyramid as a teaching tool
because it did not encompass the degree of detail that new nutrition
research had revealed.

Carbohydrates are useful fuel for active adults, she says. Distinctions
must also be made between foods traditionally lumped into that one
maligned category. The nutritional value of a highly refined white
bagel, she says, does not approach that of a fiber-packed sweet potato.

The new government guidelines indicate growing attention to such
qualitative differences, its supporters say, pointing out that positive
response by the food industry - already in motion - should trickle down
to a growing number of mainstream consumers.

For example, in light of more detail on grains - the guidelines
recommend that half of all grains consumed be whole grains - General
Mills, a major cereal producer, recently introduced more whole-grain
products. Sara Lee, the baked-goods giant most people probably
associate with coffeecake, just launched a "bread nutrition" website.

Along with some other major firms, Kraft has reportedly taken action on
fats in its products. (The new US guidelines distinguish among
saturated fats, trans fats, and the "good" fats found in fish and
nuts.)

Trans fats - artificial fats made when hydrogen gas reacts with oil -
have already made it onto food labels required by the Food and Drug
Administration. That kind of attention to nutritional science was built
into the guidelines process.

"This was the first time the advisory committee was tasked with making
evidence-based recommendations," says Pate. "Everything in our report
had to pass the test of being adequately supported by scientific
evidence."

Pate - the first expert on physical activity to land a spot on a
guidelines-advisory committee - recalls a very public process of
compiling and reviewing such evidence. The result, he says, was group
interpretation, not a clamoring to advance viewpoints or give special
interests sway.

"There was no direct contact between any industry or trade group and
any member of the committee during the process," he says. He allows
that the views of industry representatives did show up in the "boxload"
of documents that arrived every couple of weeks - shipments that also
included public input and the positions of such groups as the American
Heart Association.

But critics still maintain that some of the recommendations point to
the enduring power of lobbies.

"The USDA must take the Big Meat, Big Sugar, and Big Dairy industries'
money and influence out of the guidelines process," said Neal Barnard,
president of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, in a
release hours after the guidelines were announced.

The group, which promotes a diet of food only from plant sources,
maintains that the federal guidelines should "specifically recommend
Americans avoid meat, dairy, and fish."

Less hard-line critics have other concerns. The recommendations that
preceded the guidelines included some discussion of the trade-off
between the positive aspects of Omega 3 fats in fish and the danger of
pollutants in wild fish, for example. But that concern was not
prominent in the guidelines.

The guidelines' recognition of the value of whole grains is a good
start, says Sara Tedeschi of the Organic Valley Family of Farms in La
Farge, Wis., but she would like to see federal incentives for the
eventual use of organic produce in, for example, school lunches.

"[The government is] so careful to never cross that line and talk about
organics even in the same realm as nutrition," she says.

"I do think there's a movement in society now toward knowing more about
the foods you eat, and eating well," says Yvonne Bronner, director of
the public-health program at Morgan State University in Baltimore and
another advisory committee member.

"What [the new set of guidelines] does is clearly lay out foods that a
person could choose from to have a diet at different calorie levels,"
she says. They introduce choice, she says, and stress balance.

Given Americans' fondness for convenience and leisure, Pate doubts the
new guidelines are going to motivate most people to push back from
computers and television sets and return to the eating habits and hard
work of their ancestors. But he's hopeful.

"The solutions here are going to have to be more involved than just
saying we have to get back to where we came from," he says. "On the
other hand, we're pretty good at figuring out solutions to problems
once we recognize that they exist - and that they are a threat to our
well-being."

********

TC
 
"TC" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0119/p14s02-lifo.htm
>
> The food pyramid is crumbling, but will most Americans notice?


We're grateful for your compassionate concern
for us.

> By Clayton Collins | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
> Uncle Sam would like you to finish your vegetables - 2-1/2 cups a day,
> along with two cups of fruit for an average 2,000-calorie-per-day diet.
> Bonus points if you walk briskly to the store to buy them. Think 90
> minutes of exercise, five days a week, if weight loss is a goal.
>
> Last week, as it has every four years since 1980, the US government
> handed down a new set of dietary guidelines. Primary purpose: to
> provide a foundation for federal nutrition programs. They also are
> meant to nudge foodmakers toward providing choices deemed healthier,
> and - amid what is often called an obesity "epidemic" - to encourage
> Americans to pay more attention to the role of food and exercise in
> their lives.
>
> Whether the guidelines will resonate with a culture awash in
> flavor-of-the-month diets is unclear. But this time, the government
> appears eager to alter old habits. Set to crumble is the vaunted food
> pyramid, which has promoted a set of recommended daily servings of
> assorted foods largely unchanged since 1992.
>
> Government officials and outside medical advisers who helped shape the
> guidelines would not comment on the likely new look of the pyramid
> replacement - or "food guidance system," as it is being called - which
> is expected to be released in coming months.
>
> But experts say it appears clear that, just as the pyramid represented
> a more comprehensive take on the basic four food groups that came
> before, whatever emerges next will reflect a fuller awareness of
> current nutritional science. Many hope that it also allows for more
> dietary flexibility.
>
> For years, critics of the pyramid have hammered away at what they view
> as a system either too rigid or simply wrong. An alternative
> "Mediterranean" pyramid - with olive oil as a central component - has
> been suggested in recent years by such prominent players as Walter
> Willet, chairman of the department of nutrition at the Harvard School
> of Public Health.
>
> Another critic, the late Dr. Robert Atkins of Atkins diet fame,
> endorsed the idea that protein-packed red meat belonged in that big
> area at the pyramid's base long occupied by breads and grains - the
> dreaded "carbs" in the parlance of many of today's dieters.
>
> One result of all the variations has been public confusion. And despite
> the keep-it-simple proclamation Jan. 12 by Tommy Thompson, Health and
> Human Services secretary - "You lower your calorie intake, you lower
> your fats, your carbs, you eat more fruits and vegetables, more whole
> grain, and you exercise," he said in a press conference - some
> confusion is likely to remain.
>
> "It's a complicated thing, because from a public- communications
> standpoint, the more specific you can be, the better," says Russell
> Pate, associate dean for research at the School of Public Health at the
> University of South Carolina in Columbia. "But the reality is, there is
> no single best diet."
>
> "We can eat in various ways that will all conform to the guidelines,"
> adds Professor Pate, who served on the government's advisory committee.
>
> In many cases, others add, different dietary approaches are essential.
> "We cannot recommend the same diet to an active 20-year-old male as we
> can to a sedentary 70-year-old woman," says Elisabetta Politi,
> nutrition manager at the Duke University Diet and Fitness Center.
>
> Health experts applauded the guidelines' new emphasis on physical
> activity to offset caloric consumption - and a long-awaited
> acknowledgment that nutrition is not an area where one size fits all.
> In a shift aimed at lessening confusion, recommended amounts of food
> are now expressed in more user-friendly "cups" instead of generic
> "servings."
>
> Not everyone is satisfied. Some critics cite too much influence by
> corporate interest groups. And the organic-food movement - while
> delighted to see mention of "nutrient density" and whole grains - is
> disappointed that the quality and origin of food are not given more
> official emphasis.
>
> Still others question whether government guidelines will be enough to
> alter sedentary lifestyle habits that reflect a culture of convenience
> in which a majority of the American populace is overweight.
>
> Target numbers for calorie intake are fine. But "theapplication of
> these numbers is where it's going to come into play," says John
> Jakicic, director of the Physical Activity and Weight Management
> Research Center at the University of Pittsburgh.
>
> Americans should not view the exercise targets - with which he agrees -
> as prescribed blocks of time, he says, but as a call for "lifestyle
> tweaks." Take the stairs instead of the elevator or escalator, he
> suggests. Exercise in multiple short bouts throughout the day.
>
> In recent years Ms. Politi has discarded the pyramid as a teaching tool
> because it did not encompass the degree of detail that new nutrition
> research had revealed.
>
> Carbohydrates are useful fuel for active adults, she says. Distinctions
> must also be made between foods traditionally lumped into that one
> maligned category. The nutritional value of a highly refined white
> bagel, she says, does not approach that of a fiber-packed sweet potato.
>
> The new government guidelines indicate growing attention to such
> qualitative differences, its supporters say, pointing out that positive
> response by the food industry - already in motion - should trickle down
> to a growing number of mainstream consumers.
>
> For example, in light of more detail on grains - the guidelines
> recommend that half of all grains consumed be whole grains - General
> Mills, a major cereal producer, recently introduced more whole-grain
> products. Sara Lee, the baked-goods giant most people probably
> associate with coffeecake, just launched a "bread nutrition" website.
>
> Along with some other major firms, Kraft has reportedly taken action on
> fats in its products. (The new US guidelines distinguish among
> saturated fats, trans fats, and the "good" fats found in fish and
> nuts.)
>
> Trans fats - artificial fats made when hydrogen gas reacts with oil -
> have already made it onto food labels required by the Food and Drug
> Administration. That kind of attention to nutritional science was built
> into the guidelines process.
>
> "This was the first time the advisory committee was tasked with making
> evidence-based recommendations," says Pate. "Everything in our report
> had to pass the test of being adequately supported by scientific
> evidence."
>
> Pate - the first expert on physical activity to land a spot on a
> guidelines-advisory committee - recalls a very public process of
> compiling and reviewing such evidence. The result, he says, was group
> interpretation, not a clamoring to advance viewpoints or give special
> interests sway.
>
> "There was no direct contact between any industry or trade group and
> any member of the committee during the process," he says. He allows
> that the views of industry representatives did show up in the "boxload"
> of documents that arrived every couple of weeks - shipments that also
> included public input and the positions of such groups as the American
> Heart Association.
>
> But critics still maintain that some of the recommendations point to
> the enduring power of lobbies.
>
> "The USDA must take the Big Meat, Big Sugar, and Big Dairy industries'
> money and influence out of the guidelines process," said Neal Barnard,
> president of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, in a
> release hours after the guidelines were announced.
>
> The group, which promotes a diet of food only from plant sources,
> maintains that the federal guidelines should "specifically recommend
> Americans avoid meat, dairy, and fish."
>
> Less hard-line critics have other concerns. The recommendations that
> preceded the guidelines included some discussion of the trade-off
> between the positive aspects of Omega 3 fats in fish and the danger of
> pollutants in wild fish, for example. But that concern was not
> prominent in the guidelines.
>
> The guidelines' recognition of the value of whole grains is a good
> start, says Sara Tedeschi of the Organic Valley Family of Farms in La
> Farge, Wis., but she would like to see federal incentives for the
> eventual use of organic produce in, for example, school lunches.
>
> "[The government is] so careful to never cross that line and talk about
> organics even in the same realm as nutrition," she says.
>
> "I do think there's a movement in society now toward knowing more about
> the foods you eat, and eating well," says Yvonne Bronner, director of
> the public-health program at Morgan State University in Baltimore and
> another advisory committee member.
>
> "What [the new set of guidelines] does is clearly lay out foods that a
> person could choose from to have a diet at different calorie levels,"
> she says. They introduce choice, she says, and stress balance.
>
> Given Americans' fondness for convenience and leisure, Pate doubts the
> new guidelines are going to motivate most people to push back from
> computers and television sets and return to the eating habits and hard
> work of their ancestors. But he's hopeful.
>
> "The solutions here are going to have to be more involved than just
> saying we have to get back to where we came from," he says. "On the
> other hand, we're pretty good at figuring out solutions to problems
> once we recognize that they exist - and that they are a threat to our
> well-being."
>
> ********
>
> TC
>