Food Pyramid Called Flawed
Reuters, Metro Newspaper, October 1, 2003
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Health experts on nutrition and diet yesterday called on the government to overhaul its public dietary guidelines, charging that heavy reliance on carbohydrates and fear of all fats has left the nation seriously overweight.
Americans continue to grow obese and overweight but even the government's eating recommendations as laid out in the so-called food pyramid are faulty, said several experts at a hearing of the Senate's Consumer Affairs and Product Safety Subcommittee.
The Department of Agriculture's pyramid oversimplifies the food groups and stresses such food as bread and pasta at the expense of more proteins and unsaturated fats.
"Looking at some of the recommendations from the department of agriculture gives the idea that they've forgotten that we're feeding people, not horses, said Walter Willett, a professor of epidemiology and nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health. More than two-thirds of Americans are overweight and 30 percent suffer from obesity, which has been related to illnesses that account for one out of every eight U.S. deaths annually, according to the Surgeon General's office. (Reuters)
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