grew up in the age of the United States Food and Drug Administration’s “Food Guide Pyramid.” The Food Pyramid was supposed to solve chronic American health problems, such as diabetes and heart disease. Yet several decades later, here we are with 9.3 percent of the U.S. population afflicted with diabetes.1 What happened? Have we been victims of misleading nutrition policy?
History of the Food Guides
The history of government-issued food guides in the United States began decades earlier than the 1992 Food Pyramid. In 1916, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) released two guides: “Food for Young Children” and “How to Select Foods.” The latter was targeted towards adults. The guide was updated during the Great Depression to include diets at four cost levels.2
During World War II, the USDA partnered with the National Academy of Sciences to develop “Recommended Daily Allowances” for a new food guide called “Basic Seven.” Surprisingly enough, one of the seven food groups was butter and fortified margarines.3 A little more than a decade later, the USDA released “Essentials of an Adequate Diet” in 1956. Instead of seven food groups, there were now four, simplified groups: milk, meat, vegetables and fruits, and breads and cereals. The guide included serving sizes, not because the government was worried Americans were eating too much, but because they were worried they were not eating enough.4 The 1979 guide named “Food” was the first guide to caution against chronic diseases. With that caution, a fifth group, “fats, oils, and sweets” was reintroduced.5
The 1992 Food Guide Pyramid. 6
The “Food Guide Pyramid” issued in 1992 was comprised of 6 groups and complimentary serving size suggestions. The pyramid encouraged that carbohydrates (bread, rice, pasta) should make up the majority of our diet and that fats and sweets (butter, sugar) should be used “sparingly.” The pyramid therefore unfortunately steered consumers towards low-fat, yet still unhealthy foods. As Dr. David Katz, a clinical instructor at the Yale School of Medicine, reminds us, “[i]t’s not as if we’re suddenly eating a lot of lentils and kale. We replaced the fat with low-fat junk food.”7 Critics of the Food Pyramid worried that consumers could not discern from the pyramid image that there are actually two types of fats—good fats that protect our brains, and bad fats that clog our arteries.8
Food companies picked up on the “low-fat” trend as well and began marketing products as such. The same year the pyramid debuted, Nabisco introduced the nonfat and low-fat Snackwell cookies. The Snackwell products were so popular that grocery stores had difficulty keeping them in stock in the 1990s!9
10The 2005 “MyPyramid” was intended to revamp the “Food Guide Pyramid” and address the critics’ concerns. However, consumers found the new model even more confusing. The person running up the side of the pyramid also seemed to convey that if you exercised, you did not have to eat healthy, well-balanced meals.11
Finally, in 2011, the food guide model took a shape that actually makes sense: a plate. The plate is split into four groups—fruits, grains, vegetables, and proteins—with the fruits and vegetables taking up half the plate, while grains and protein constitute the other half. The fifth category – dairy – floats off to the side and is smaller than the other groups, indicating that you should eat slightly less dairy than the other four groups.12 While MyPlate13 has the support of First Lady Michelle Obama, some critique the plate’s lack of detail and worry that it does not steer consumers towards healthy choices. For instance, MyPlate does not indicate that Americans should avoid cooking their vegetables in butter and lard.14 Not to mention leaving fats to be a total mystery!
Where Do Fats and Oils Fit In?
In fact, fats and oils are not addressed at all in this new food guide model. The fact that this category is not addressed means that many consumers will continue to be in the dark about types of fats. Dietary fats are not always unhealthy. Some types of fats give our body energy, protect our organs, and support cell growth.16
There are four types of dietary fats: saturated fats, trans fats, monounsaturated fats, and polyunsaturated fats. Saturated and trans fats raise cholesterol levels, while monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats can actually help lower cholesterol levels. The American Heart Association also adds, “[a] healthy diet can include the foods you love. You don’t have to avoid these treats entirely, but you do need to eat less of foods that are low in nutrition and high in calories.”17
While MyPlate is a step in the right direction, it is just not enough to clearly guide healthy meals, but perhaps this is an unrealistic goal for an infographic? Hopefully the next food guide will more accurately address some of the important nuances in healthy nutrition. On a more optimistic note, the current plate model does advertise filling half your plate with fruits and vegetables, which is a big step in the right direction ☺
