Building New Pyramids

Government-sanctioned eating-pattern recommendations for the American public have existed for over 100 years, evolving as the science of nutrition has evolved. The current iteration, the 2005 edition of the Dietary Guidelines, is due to be replaced with a 2010 edition.

We didn’t always have a pyramid: The USDA first issued dietary guidance in 1894, established by W.O. Atwater, the first director of the Office of Experiment Stations whose recommendations were based on the diets’ protein, carbohydrate, fat and “mineral matter” (ash), as actual vitamins and minerals were unrecognized at that time. Next came “Food for Young Children,” published in 1916, which divided food into five groups: milk and meat; cereals; fruits and vegetables; fats and fatty foods; and sugars and sugary foods. New versions appeared, incorporating factors like family size and cost. And in 1943, the USDA announced the “Basic Seven” (green and yellow vegetables; oranges, tomatoes and grapefruit; potatoes and other vegetables and fruit; milk and milk products; meat, poultry, fish, eggs, and dried peas and beans; bread, flour and cereals; and butter and fortified margarine), which modified the nutritional guidelines due to shortages of food supplies during the war. Too complex, the Basic Seven morphed into the Basic Four—the milk, meats, fruits and vegetables, and grains that the baby boomers grew up with. In the late 70s, nutritionists began to identify foods that contributed to ill health. This led to a modification of the Basic Four, adding a fifth food group targeted for moderation—fats, sweets and alcoholic beverages—and in 1992, the Food Pyramid was born.

The Dietary Guidelines for Americans report, first released in 1980, and published jointly by the USDA and the Department of Health and Human Services, is currently under review by a Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee made up of experts in health and nutrition. The public has been solicited for comments, which make for very interesting reading. (Check out the links on cnpp.usda.gov/DietaryGuidelines.htm.) Everyone from academics and students to trade groups to vegans are adding their two cents. Instead of a pyramid, it sounds like they are trying to build the Tower of Babel, so you can be sure that quite a few people will not be entirely satisfied by the result. In the end, however, we may be just as well off heeding the 1902 advice of Atwater: “Unless care is exercised in selecting food, a diet may result which is one-sided or badly balanced, that is, one in which either protein or fuel ingredients (carbohydrate and fat) are provided in excess.... The evils of overeating may not be felt at once, but sooner or later they are sure to appear, perhaps in an excessive amount of fatty tissue, perhaps in general debility, perhaps in actual disease.”

   -Lynn A. Kuntz