Eyeing the Food Pyramid

By Sally Squires, Washington Post Staff Writer, Tuesday, February 3, 2004; Page HE03

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dy...1-2004Feb2.html

While the country is experiencing a case of low-carbohydrate fever, dietary experts are working to write the best prescription for the nation's nutrition.

By congressional mandate, the U.S. Dietary Guidelines must be reviewed every five years. As part of that effort, the U.S. Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee gathered last week in Washington for the second of four meetings before a report it is due to issue in June. No final recommendations were made, but here's a taste of what they served last week:

Peak nutrition. The familiar food guide pyramid, introduced in 1992, is under scrutiny by experts who are asking if the basic shape should stay the same, be remodeled or scrapped altogether. Alternatives include: a food guide wheel, square and rectangular guides and even a "radiant" pyramid.

This last suggestion, developed by the Porter Novelli public relations firm, would put colorful vertical stripes on the pyramid. Each color would represent a food group, with high-calorie, high-fat, high-sugar fare appearing at the top of the pyramid, indicating that it should be eaten sparingly. Healthier stuff would be at the bottom, showing that it should be eaten in greater quantities. (See the proposed icon at www.washingtonpost.com/leanplateclub).





Grainy picture. Consumption of whole grains -- think brown rice, whole wheat cereals and breads, wild rice, popcorn and more -- has been encouraged in previous dietary guidelines. The drumbeat for these foods is getting louder as more Americans are at risk for obesity and diabetes. That's because whole-grain foods are rich in fiber and contain plenty of healthy complex carbohydrates that don't spike blood sugar levels or overtax insulin production. (Even the low-carb Atkins and South Beach diets allow limited whole-grain products in later phases of their programs.

Trouble is, whole grains are generally not enriched with added vitamins and minerals, which means that consumers getting even half their carbs from whole grains could fall short on folate, calcium, magnesium and iron. Committee member Connie Weaver of Purdue University suggested two options: Boost the amount of whole-grain foods consumed each day by 50 percent. Or replace each serving of enriched carbs with a cup of dark leafy green vegetables such as spinach or a cup of beans or legumes.

Fruit or consequences. Most Americans still fall short of the five to nine servings a day of fruit and vegetables recommended by the National Cancer Institute. So committee members analyzed the latest U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) food surveys to learn exactly what produce consumers eat.

Among adults 31 to 50 years of age, women need to eat at least one more serving of fruit per day; men need to eat about three more servings. As for vegetables, the overall numbers suggested that men do okay, while women fell short by about half a serving per day.

But when the group looked at specific vegetables, they discovered that both men and women overdo it on starchy vegetables (such as potatoes and corn), under-consume orange vegetables (carrots and sweet potatoes) and dark leafy vegetables, and fail to consume enough beans. Reducing potatoes "would literally take a lot off your plate," said committee member Eric Hentges of the USDA's Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion. "We are eating so few dark green leafy vegetables that increasing them would not be that big a difference [in volume of food], but would be a big behavior change."

Activity reality check. Americans may eat like Olympic athletes, but their workouts are mostly mental and for all too many, it's fingers, not major muscles, that do the walking. So experts are considering targeting intake to daily activity and age. For sedentary women ages 35 to 50, that would work out to 1,800 calories (about 200 calories less than current recommendations) and for sedentary men 2,200 calories (about 300 calories less.)

-- Sally Squires

It looks like they might actually be on to something here. It's a very interesting idea and could certainly work. It's not like many people (other than those expert dieticians) follow the current Food Pyramid anyhow.