The United States Department of Agriculture or USDA reported in the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans Report, your environment influences your eating behaviors, especially in regards to your fruit and vegetable intake. A lower intake of fruit and vegetables is related to a higher body weight for both adults and children. The food pyramid was designed to provide information to the public on how to improve their eating habits.
Basic Four
During the 1950s and 1960s, the focus of the basic four food groups was to prevent nutrient deficiencies by recommending Americans consume foods from bread cereal, fruit vegetable, meat and milk groups. After World War II, chronic disease such as heart disease began to emerge as a health concern with the government and the American Medical Association to evaluate the type and quantity of fat the American public consumed, according to nutrition professor with NYU, Marion Nestle. This prompted the change to the "Hassle-Free Daily Food Guide" of the 1970s.
Total Diet Transition
In the 1980s a transition of total diet approach started to emerge to guide Americans to eating healthier foods and focusing more on portion control and meeting recommended servings of certain food groups for disease prevention. The 1992 food guide pyramid followed recognizable food concepts of previous food guide programs from the government. More information on number of portions and ranked each group by importance for weight control, disease prevention and decrease over-consumption of certain nutrients was added to the food pyramid in order to guide healthier eating habits.
Customization of Guidelines
The recommended number of servings for the food pyramid allowed for you to decide the right number of servings from each food group based on your level of physical activity and physical features, like height or current weight. For those with a smaller stature would focus on eating the minimum servings from each food group, especially grains because of the concentration of calories. The minimum number of fruits and vegetables is provided to increase awareness of including these food groups into everyone's daily diet. Also the minimum and maximum number of servings for each group is based on 9 vitamins, 8 minerals and the macronutrients -- carbohydrates, protein and fat to guide Americans on recommended amounts versus typical consumption.
Hierarchy Design
The hierarchy design of the food pyramid spun off the 1970s "Hassle-Free Daily Food Guide." The basis for ranking of foods that contain the lowest fat and sugar content were listed first. In the 1992 food pyramid, this concept was still followed, but foods with the lowest sugar and fat content became the base of the pyramid to direct you to make these foods the "base" of your diet as they are the "base" of the pyramid. The apex or top of the pyramid features the fat group that is recommended to be eaten sparingly and not a focal point of your daily diet. Meat and dairy groups are featured after the fat group because these two groups contain saturated fat, which was found to promote unhealthy cholesterol levels and promote heart disease. The fruit and vegetable groups were featured above the base of grains to continue illustrating plant-based foods being the healthiest choices with the lowest amount of fat and sugar.
References
- "Development of the Food Intake Patterns for the MyPyramid Food Guidance System"; Patricia Britten, PhD, Kristin Marcoe, MBA, RD, Sedigheh Yamini, PhD, RD and Carole Davis, MS, RD; 2006
- "In Defense of the USDA Food Guide Pyramid"; Marion Nestle, PhD, MPH.; 1998
- "MyPyramid Food Guidance System Education Framework"; Tom CHeney; 2005
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