U.S. Goes for an Even Dozen on Dietary Rules

To help stem the nation’s slide into obesity, the government Tuesday unveiled a dramatic redesign of its familiar food pyramid, tipping it on its side with vertical color bands, incorporating a staircase and climber to emphasize the need for exercise -- and producing it in 12 versions to reflect the nation’s diverse lifestyles.

Replacing the venerable icon that has graced the walls of school classrooms and hospital cafeterias for 13 years, the new version is best understood using a computer to help the consumer pick out which of the 12 pyramids is right for them.

Instead of the old pyramid, which had food groups arrayed horizontally like building blocks, MyPyramid has rainbow-hued bands running vertically, each color representing a different food group -- orange for grains, green for vegetables, red for fruits, yellow for oils, blue for dairy products and purple for meat and beans.

The width of the bands represents the relative proportions of each group that people should eat each day, with grains and vegetables predominating. The bands narrow at the top to suggest that all of the foods should be eaten in moderation, said Department of Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns, who unveiled the icon at a news conference.

For the first time, the icon abandons the amorphous concept of food servings for measurements in cups and ounces.

That pleased Sheldon Greenberger, 64, a retired advertising executive who was one of hundreds of Americans who wrote to the government with suggestions for a new pyramid.

“I think what they did was good,” he said. “They knew what a serving was, but nobody else had a clue.”

Food industry groups also were generally pleased with the new icon, although cattle producers were unhappy with the reduced emphasis on meat. Organizations associated with animal-rights groups also said the pyramid didn’t show the health benefits of a vegetarian diet.

MyPyramid “is a great improvement” over the old icon, said Pat Verduin, a vice president at ConAgra Foods Inc. “One size truly does not fit all” when it comes to eating recommendations, she said. People can use this “to identify their individual needs and build a fitness program around them.”

In introducing the icon, which can be viewed at vwww.mypyramid.gov, Eric M. Bost, USDA undersecretary for food, nutrition and consumer services, said that 65% of American adults were overweight and that half of those were obese. The proportion of children who are overweight has gone from 7% to 15% over the last 20 years, while the proportion of overweight adolescents has risen from 5% to almost 16%.

Some experts have said that obesity is responsible for 365,000 deaths in the U.S. each year, but that figure has been questioned, and a new study issued today says the total is about 112,000.

The recommendations of MyPyramid are based on the booklet “Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2005” that was released in January. It contained a series of 23 general recommendations and 18 suggestions that were meant to apply to several individual groups, based on age, weight, nutritional requirements and other attributes.

That is the reason for the many individual versions, said Eric J. Hentges, director of USDA’s Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion. “There is a pyramid appropriate for you -- for your age, gender and activity level.”

The department spent four years and $2.4 million assembling the new pyramid, he said.

MyPyramid is “a system of information to help consumers understand how to put nutrition recommendations into action,” Johanns said. “Americans can dramatically improve their overall health by making modest improvements to their diets and by incorporating regular physical activity into their daily lives.”

The primary recommendation of MyPyramid is for each person to consume an average of 3 ounces of whole-grain foods per day, 2 cups of fruit, 2 1/2 cups of vegetables and 3 cups of fat-free or low-fat milk.

The other change is the emphasis on exercise. The guidelines call for Americans to have 30 minutes of moderate exercise every day to remain healthy. For those who are overweight or want to maintain weight loss, they call for 60 to 90 minutes daily.

Like the former pyramid, the new one has attracted critics.

Harvard epidemiologist Dr. Carlos A. Camargo Jr. -- a member of the group that drafted the guidelines on which MyPyramid is based -- said that it did not tell consumers what to avoid.

“It’s critical to balance advice to eat more of the healthy foods with equally clear advice to avoid foods high in solid fats, added sugars [especially in beverages] and salt,” Camargo said. “These very important ‘eat less’ messages are very hard to find in the new graphic.”

The USDA “seems to have bent over backward to avoid upsetting any particular commodity group or food company by not showing any foods that Americans should eat less of,” said Margo G. Wootan, nutrition policy director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest.

Others faulted reliance on the MyPyramid website, which may mean that the icon would never be seen by the poor or those who were not computer savvy.

“This is dietary advice for people with computers,” said Marion Nestle, a specialist in nutrition and public health at New York University.

Nestle also objected to what she termed an overemphasis on the benefits of exercise and physical activity. “I read it as, ‘It doesn’t matter what you eat. Just exercise,’ ” she said.

Food companies will distribute guides this fall to 4 million students. Physicians and nutritionists are concerned about this group because of the growing epidemic of obesity in youth.

“If we don’t change these trends, our children may be the first generation that cannot look forward to a longer lifespan than their parents,” said USDA’s Bost.