Have Problem With Food Pyramid?

Article about food pyramid.

In recent years, the USDA's Food Guide Pyramid has come under fire from many scientists, medical researchers and nutritionists who say the guidelines are outdated and may lead to obesity, and other health problems. Is it time for the Food Guide Pyramid to be changed?

Dr. Walter Willett of the Harvard School of Public Health thinks so. According to Willett, the Food Guide Pyramid ignores current research, recommending too much consumption of carbohydrates and far too little consumption of unsaturated fat which have been shown to have tremendous health benefits.

In 2002, Willett and his colleague Marjorie McCullough conducted a study with one group of subjects eating according to the Food Guide Pyramid, and another group using a Harvard University-designed diet that contained less carbohydrates and more healthful fats.

They found that the Harvard diet group experienced a reduction in heart disease risk by 40 percent in men and 30 percent in women and significant reduction of risk for other chronic disease.

It is widely accepted that high consumption of starchy carbohydrates such as potatoes, and white flour breads and pastas increase risk for obesity, Type 2 diabetes and heart disease, yet the USDA recommends six to 11 servings a day. No one outside of high level athletes who trains four to six hours a day need anything close to that amount of carbohydrates.

So why won't they fix it?

Willett believes, as do many other experts, that the pyramid is influenced by powerful food lobbyists who stand to lose money if certain food products are de-emphasized. Note that on the food pyramid graphic, there are no recommendations of foods not to eat.

Every five years, the Dietary Guidelines for Americans are reviewed and updated with great protest from "big food." The USDA can't recommend reducing intake of fat from land animals (cows, chickens, pigs, etc) for fear of backlash from that group, they can't recommend reduced intake of starchy carbohydrates for fear of backlash from that group, they can't recommend reduced intake of sugary drinks for fear of backlash from that group.

It goes on and on.

So what we get is the product of catering to special interest groups who do not have our best interest in mind, only their companies' profits.

Can you imagine if Big Oil or Big Tobacco were allowed that much say in the products they sell to us?

The consensus in the nutrition world is that it is time for the Food Guide Pyramid to be dismantled and rebuilt based on the overwhelming evidence of current science, not what the food manufacturers want you to believe.