Food
pyramid update called for by nutritionists
Nutrition:
Experts criticize the government's food
pyramid because of high carbohydrate requirements.
By
Mike Sundberg
On-line Forty-Niner
The
U.S. Department of Agriculture has recently
been under pressure by leading health experts
to change its public dietary guidelines.
Many nutritionists are claiming that it
is the large amounts of carbohydrates recommended
by the USDA that are causing the nation's
population to become overweight.
The
food pyramid, seen at on-campus health centers
at many universities to the backs of Cal
State Long Beach dining hall employee's
work shirts, is an outline provided by the
government recommending the healthiest way
to each. The pyramid was first released
by the USDA in 1992 and since then very
few changes have been made to it.
According
to the USDA and the food pyramid, Americans
should eat between six and 11 servings of
carbohydrates a day, with a slice of bread
being equal to one serving. Fruits, vegetables,
meats and dairy products make up other groups
of the pyramid. The structure is then
capped off with a group consisting of fats,
oils, and sweets, which are recommended
to be used sparingly.
Yet
it is the pyramid's emphasis on a high-carbohydrate,
low-fat diet that is receiving the most
criticism by leading experts. In a CNN interview,
Stuart Lawrence Trager, a clinical assistant
of orthopedic surgery, explained that people
need to stop fearing fats so much.
Trager,
as well as other advocates of diet programs
such as the all-protein Atkins diet, believe
that the current food pyramid does not acknowledge
the difference between healthy unsaturated
fats and unhealthy saturated ones. Nor does
the pyramid discriminate between healthy
high-fiber carbohydrates, which are found
in whole grains, and unnecessary carbohydrates.
Many
students, who currently use the food pyramid
as a means of maintaining health, have been
caught quite off guard by the recent attacks
made on it. "I'm definitely going to
think twice about using the food pyramid
as a guide anymore," said Amanda Morgan,
a freshmen kinesiology major, when she heard
about the recent allegations concerning
the pyramid.
"I
never knew that there was so much controversy
over the basic principles of nutrition,"
said Ryan Risher, a sophomore international
business major. "I actually followed
the table very strictly, and all along I
was sure I was getting the right amount
of carbs, proteins, and fats. Now I'm not
so sure."
A
number of leading authorities believe that
the food pyramid may actually be the cause
of the expanding waistlines of many Americans.
Senator Peter Fitzgerald, R-Illinois, announced
that he will be pursuing legislation to
take the responsibility of dietary standards
from the USDA and transfer it somewhere
else.
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