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The Food Pyramid - Has the government got it right when it comes to healthy eating? 

In the early 90’s, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) created a powerful and enduring icon - the Food Pyramid. This simple illustration conveyed in a flash what the USDA said were the elements of a healthy diet.

The Pyramid was sent forth all over the Western World and endorsed by other governments which led to it being taught in schools, appearing in countless media articles and brochures, and being plastered on cereal boxes and food labels.

But how healthy are these recommendations? Does a predominantly high grain/low fat diet work? Let’s take a look and see if all these bricks stack up to a healthy method of eating.

•    Trends since it’s conception
•    The critics
•    Big fat lies?
•    The new USDA Pyramid
•    A Naturopath’s Pyramid
•    Conclusion

USDA FOOD PYRAMID 1992 VERSION

 
Trends since its conception
If you read my article on obesity rates last month you probably guessed that the food pyramid hasn’t done the job in combating obesity rates. Undoubtedly people have grown steadily fatter since the food pyramid debuted in 1992. But can we blame the food pyramid? There are a lot of factors leading us towards obesity, including fast and processed foods laden with trans-fatty acids (see last month’s fat facts article), sugar and alcohol excesses, and our generally sedentary lifestyle. But even those who are trying to lead a healthy lifestyle based broadly on the principles of the food pyramid may be on the wrong track

The critics
According to the Harvard School of Public Health, the information embodied in the food pyramid doesn’t point the way to healthy eating. Why not? “Its blueprint was based on shaky scientific evidence, and it barely changed over the years to reflect major advances in our understanding of the connection between diet and health.” (1)
The esteemed Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons agrees. They believe “The Dietary Guidelines for America (DGA) that make up the foundation of the Food Guide Pyramid, are neither nutritionally or bio chemically sound”. These very principles may be responsible for the epidemics of heart disease, type 2 diabetes and obesity facing the nation (and the world). (2)

Here is a list of the major flaws, according to the authors:

•    Protein is considered to be the least important macronutrient
•    An unhealthy excess of carbohydrates is recommended
•    There is not enough of a recommendation to limit the dangerous
      trans-fatty acids
•    The essential fatty acids are ignored
•    The fat-phobic recommendations lead to a critical deficiency in
      saturated fat, an unnecessary limitation of dietary cholesterol
      and an unhealthy ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acids

Big Fat Lies?
The food pyramid created a mass delusion and it just snowballed. “The feeling that fat is bad is now entrenched in our collective psyche”, according to endocrinologist, Professor Richard Gordon. He learned from experience over many years that patients who cut down on carbohydrates, and allowed in some protein and fat, felt  much better. “They are in fact losing weight happily and it appears to be very safe; Excessive carbohydrate has, in my view, been the villain," he says. On the topic of low fat diets Gordon believes "People can't adhere to it and they don't feel well on it." (3) (8)
Another low fat critic is David S. Ludwig, an obesity researcher at Children's Hospital in Boston. He says the pyramid and guidelines focus too much on reducing fat and people are getting fat because they are eating too many refined carbohydrates, such as those in white bread, that make them feel hungrier soon afterwards so they overeat. The habitual consumption of foods with refined carbohydrates "may increase the risk for obesity, type 2 diabetes, and heart disease," he wrote in the Journal of the American Medical Association. (4)


The New USDA Pyramid – An Improvement?
So with much fanfare, the USDA recently retired the old Food Guide Pyramid and replaced it with “MyPyramid”, a new symbol and a flashy “interactive food guidance system“. The new symbol is basically the old Pyramid turned on its side. The good news is that this dismantles and buries the flawed Pyramid, it also recognizes ethnic differences (however many experts disagree that the recommendations are promoting health).
The bad news is that the new symbol doesn't convey enough information to help you make informed choices about your diet and long-term health. And it continues to recommend foods that aren't essential to good health, and may even be detrimental in the quantities included in MyPyramid. (1)
Among the most vocal of the pyramid's critics is Walter Willett, chairman of the Harvard School for Public Health's nutrition department. "The pyramid really ignored 40 years of data and condemned all fats and oils" he says. While the pyramid indicates that only fat calories count, Dr. Willet says "Calories are calories.

“What’s forgotten in the current controversy is that the low-fat dogma itself is only about 25 years old. Until the late 70’s, the accepted wisdom was that fat and protein protected against overeating by making you sated, and that carbohydrates made you fat.” (1) (Now that’s a big generalization because not all carbohydrates are the same, for example whole vs. processed grains)
Willet goes on to say “the new USDA dietary pyramid is a lost opportunity to help Americans make informed choices about diet and long-term health. It's clear that we need to rebuild the pyramid from the ground up, not just tip it on its side and dress it up with new colors." (1)

The Creators
How can they be getting it so wrong with the apparent who’s who in the design including USDA scientists, nutrition experts, staff members, and consultants.
Well there was another group involved. Even though it was more behind the scenes, it was still very influential: the food industry.. Nutritionist Dr. Luise Light, contributing architect of the original version and former USDA insider, reveals that the government bowed to the interests of industry. To the industry,“Nutrition has very little to do with your health and instead is primarily a marketing tool used to fuel consumers,”she says.
This should not seem so far fetched as the guidelines influence how billions of dollars are spent each year. So even minor changes can hurt or help the food industry. (7)
Fortunately this breach of conduct by the USDA did not go unnoticed; it led the powerful group Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) to file a lawsuit …

“A U.S District Court Judge ruled last week that the U.S Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) violated federal laws when they selected individuals with known financial ties to various food industries to serve as members to the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee. This group was in charge of drawing up the latest nutritional guidelines that comprise the USDA’S. The PCRM claim that at least six of the eleven committee members had a serious conflict of interest.” (6)
 
For another example of an industry’s impact on decision making, I thoroughly recommend you read the article from the Washington Post (see references) that outlines how the sugar industry has launched a vigorous attack on a World Health Organisation report on healthy diets that recommends a reduction in sugar consumption. The Sugar lobby’s attack reads like a complete farce with comments from the Sugar Association President Andrew Briscoe, such as: “sugar could amount to 25% of a person’s daily diet without affecting one’s health” (He took that from National Academy of Sciences report).
Now the sugar industry is a major player in lobbying and politics, donating over $?3 million in the last federal elections, which resulted in calls from two senators to the WHO to ‘cease further promotion’ of the diet report. It reminds me of when the smoking bosses stood before the congressional hearing which was investigating the dangers of smoking and declared adamantly that they did not believe nicotine was addictive(5)


A Naturopath’s Pyramid
Now I think using a pyramid to recommend food choices is very eye-catching. I personally do not believe in a ‘one size fits all’ modal. But I have found a pyramid that matches most closely, my personal healthy-eating recommendations. It’s by Naturopath David Getoff (www.naturapath4u.com). Some important distinctions include separating grains into whole versus processed and reducing their consumption (even whole grains) as they are currently overeaten and contribute to our current state of health and sickness, such as insulin-dependence syndromes. The only ‘short fall’ is that it does not consider our bio-chemical individuality, i.e. the appropriate ratio of macronutrients for each individual-protein/carbohydrate/fat) as Metabolic Typing does. But it allows for it through loosely recommended serving sizes.
 

Conclusion
I hope this article has raised a lot of questions about the validity of the Food Pyramid. Unfortunately those individuals and organisations whose job it is to look after our welfare do not always have only our best interests at heart, and their decisions are too often influenced by economics.
I thoroughly recommend that you read the article on Metabolic Typing if you haven’t yet, to get a perspective on the importance of bio-individuality when it comes to food choices and healthy eating.

So who is the best diet guru ever? I will give you a clue - it consists of around one hundred trillion cells. You just need to listen to them, which is about developing awareness. 

How does one go about this? One way is to check in on the body after eating.

Are you:
•    tired, exhausted, sleepy, mentally slow, sluggish?  
•    physically full, but still hungry?
•    have a desire for something sweet?
•    hyperactive, jittery, anxious, irritable?

Ideally you should feel satisfied and energised, which is the sign that you put the ‘right fuel into the tank’.

Your 3d Coach

Craig Burton

References

(1) Food Pyramids, Harvard School of Public Health, www.hsph.harvard.edu

(2) Did the Faulty Food Pyramid make you obese, Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons, Winter 2004: 109-113, cited in mercola.com

(3) Big fat lies: the new view on weight loss, 5 August 2002, David Margan, aca.ninemsn.com.au/stories/1010.asp

(4) The Government's Food Pyramid Correlates to Obesity, Critics Say, Jill Carroll, Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal

(5) Eilperin, Juliet. U.S Sugar Industry Targets New Study, Washington Post. 2003, http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?
pagename=article&contentId=A17583-2003Apr22&notFound=true

(6) U.S ‘Food Pyramid’ Invalid as it was made by experts with conflicts of interest, http://www.mercola.com/2000/nov/19/food_pyramid.htm

(7) The shocking truth behind the original food pyramid, Crusader Nov 9, 2004. http://www.mercola.com/2005/jun/11/food_pyramid.htm

(8) What if It's All Been a Big Fat Lie?, Gary Taubes, FrontPageMagazine.com, July 8, 2002, http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=1726