USDA opens public debate today on food pyramid

The food pyramid, designed in 1992 to make eating choices as straightforward as possible for consumers, is slated for change by the US department of agriculture, but in a statement prior to the USDA meeting today the voice of the $500 billion US food industry, the Grocery Manufacturers of America (GMA), said that change was not necessarily the best way to improving the diet of the nation.

"If we are going to help Americans change their shapes, we should not focus on changing the shape of the Food Guide Pyramid,"​ said GMA director of scientific and nutrition policy Alison Kretser.

She maintains that instead health professionals and the food industry need 'to take this opportunity to clearly communicate' the best way for consumers to pursue a healthy dietary regime.

But the Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion (CNPP) has concluded that with the rapid increase in overweight and obesity, the "one-size fits all" guidance of the pyramid no long works and that to improve their food choices, individuals need to have access to information specific to their own energy and nutrient needs, based on their age, sex, and physical activity level.

As it stands now, at the bottom are foods people should eat the most of: breads, cereal, rice and pasta, moving up to lesser amounts of fruits and vegetables, and on up to even lesser amounts of dairy and protein. At the top are foods that should be eaten only sparingly: fats, oils and sweets.

The pyramid simply recommends 6 to 11 daily servings of bread, cereal, rice and pasta, and does not specify that six servings are recommended only for sedentary women and some older adults, while 11 servings are recommended for teenage boys, many active men and some very active women.

And while 80 per cent of US citizens recognize the pyramid, two-thirds of them are overweight or obese, suggesting a different approach is needed to stem the country's food-related health problems.

Critics of the pyramid claim that the system is virtually useless because , for example, some people who follow the pyramid and give up all types of fat in the diet avoid eating healthy fats that help reduce cholesterol and help prevent heart disease.

What they might consider to be 'unhealthier items', like red meat, butter, sweets, potatoes, white rice, white bread and pasta should be eaten only sparingly and therefore higher up the pyramid than presently.

But changes to the bottom of the pyramid could jeopardize sales for products currently positioned there, such as breads and pasta.

"GMA and its member companies are fully committed to helping Americans improve their diets by providing a wide variety of products that will help them meet their individual nutrition needs and goals,"​ Kretser concluded.

An Associated Press-IPSOS poll carried out in May found that 30 per cent of Americans consider overeating the nation's top health problem, but just 12 percent said they were dieting.