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Health - Reuters

Experts Call for New Food Pyramid Guide
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By Cyrille Cartier

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Health experts on nutrition and diet on Tuesday called on the government to overhaul its public dietary guidelines, charging that heavy reliance on carbohydrates and fear of all fats has left the nation seriously overweight.

Americans continue to grow obese and overweight but even the government's eating recommendations, as laid out in the so-called food pyramid, are faulty, said several experts at a hearing of the Senate's Consumer Affairs and Product Safety Subcommittee.

The Department of Agriculture's pyramid oversimplifies the food groups and stresses such food as bread and pasta at the expense of more proteins and unsaturated fats.

"Looking at some of the recommendations from the department of agriculture gives the idea that they've forgotten that we're feeding people, not horses," said Walter Willet, a professor of epidemiology and nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health.

The obesity epidemic afflicts nearly two out of every three people and has been related to illnesses resulting in the death of one in eight Americans each year, according to the Surgeon General's office.

While the USDA's flawed guidelines are not the only culprits, Willet said, "The pyramid, it hasn't helped. It probably made it more hard for people to control their weight."

The food pyramid, seen in most doctors' offices and schools, outlines the government's version of the healthiest way to eat. Few revisions have been made since its release by the Department of Agriculture in 1992, said John Webster, a USDA spokesman.

The latest edition of the pyramid recommends that Americans eat six to 11 servings of carbohydrates a day, or the equivalent of six to 11 slices of bread. The pyramid also groups together fats, oils and sweets in one group and recommends they be eaten in small amounts.

"We need to get away from fat phobia," said Stuart Lawrence Trager, a clinical assistant professor of orthopedic surgery and leading advocate of the high-protein Atkins diet.

He said the pyramid does not account for the difference between the healthy unsaturated fats and high-fiber carbohydrates, such as those found in whole grains, and their undesirable counterparts.

"Is there a link between our ever expanding waistlines and our government dietary guidelines?" asked Sen. Peter Fitzgerald, a Illinois Republican, who announced he would introduce legislation to transfer the responsibility of dietary guidelines away from the USDA.

The USDA may have a conflict of interest by supporting grain and sugar producers while recommending that Americans eat less carbohydrates.

"Putting the USDA in charge of dietary guidelines is like putting the fox in charge of the hen house," said Fitzgerald, the chair of the committee that heard the hearing.