kebaldwin
Tue, May-09-06, 05:39
Breadmakers balk at altered food pyramid
The Wichita Eagle, Kan.
05-08-06
May 8--WASHINGTON - Karen Foster used the U.S. Agriculture Department's food pyramid extensively when she worked as a nurse at Curtis Middle School in Wichita, teaching kids how to stay healthy and thin.
She retired last year, about the same time the department replaced its well-known nutrition icon with its new MyPyramid, which directs consumers to a Web site for individualized guidance rather than listing general serving suggestions.
Foster said the new pyramid is a better guide to health. But, one year since its adoption, it's hard to find in stores.
Food companies have been slow to include the pyramid on their labels. In many cases, they're still using the previous pyramid, which is based on 15-year-old science that promotes a diet now believed to contribute to diabetes and obesity.
The continued use of the old food pyramid irks nutrition advocates who say it promotes excessive consumption of refined white and wheat breads that add empty calories to diets and may increase the risk of Type 2 diabetes and heart disease, according to recent studies.
"I've seen the old pyramid on foods that... people should not even feed to their dogs," said Walter Willett, a nutrition expert at Harvard University.
The slow adoption is also frustrating the federal government as it fights American obesity through education.
Food companies say they're switching to the new pyramid, which unlike the "nutrition facts" listings isn't required to be on food packaging.
But they add that it's tough to justify using the new pyramid on food packages. The old pyramid still has value for its up-front serving suggestions, they say.
Of 24 varieties of bread on sale at a Wichita grocery store last week, 14 showed the old pyramid and 10 showed no pyramid at all. None featured MyPyramid.
New guidelines
The new food pyramid debuted in April of last year to communicate the federal government's new dietary guidelines, which are revised every five years. The guidelines include the government's latest recommendations for a healthy diet and decide the content of federal food programs such as the school lunch program.
The 2005 guidelines recommended more fruits and vegetables and low-fat dairy products than the previous guidelines did.
The guidelines also changed recommendations for bread and other grains, cutting the suggested servings from between 6 and 11 a day to between 5 and 10.
And for the first time, the guidelines specified that half of those grain products should be made from whole grains rather than the refined grains found in most soft white or wheat bread. It also urged people to include rice, cereal and other grains.
The suggestions reflect research pointing to whole grains' health benefits -- low in fat, and better sources of fiber, vitamins, minerals and protein than refined grains.
New pyramid
Because the old pyramid caused confusion among consumers about serving sizes, the government decided to revamp the icon it had used since 1992.
Instead of putting separate food groups in blocks, with breads at the base, the new MyPyramid is a series of colored lines reaching to the pyramid's top, with stairs running up the side to show the importance of exercise. It also directs consumers to the MyPyramid Web site, where visitors can get individual nutrition plans based on their age, sex and lifestyle.
Agriculture Department spokesman John Webster said the Internet-age approach informs people without potentially misleading them. He called the new Web site a success with more than 1.7 billion page visits the first year.
But getting private companies to put MyPyramid on their packaging has been more challenging, he said. Most companies simply don't. Those that tend to use a pyramid icon are bread and cereal makers.
And, so far, many of them haven't adopted the MyPyramid icon.
One example is Sara Lee, which owns Earthgrains, Grant's Farm, Pillsbury, Roman Meal and other bread brands. Spokesman Matt Hall said the company has stuck with the old pyramid while figuring out "how to best utilize" the new one, possibly introducing it later this year.
Both icons have their drawbacks, he said.
The new pyramid's color-heavy scheme doesn't reproduce well on a bread bag, and the old one gives consumers generic nutrition suggestions.
"It's simpler to communicate, though it's less sophisticated" than MyPyramid, he said of the old icon.
As bags are redesigned, he said, the old icon will fade away.
Stan Osman, spokesman for Interstate Bakeries Corp., the Kansas City-based baker of Wonder bread, agreed, saying the old pyramid still featured on some Wonder breads will disappear in a redesign someday. Interstate Bakeries is the largest wholesale bread and cake distributor in the United States.
The company also said that Wonder Bread, responding to consumer demands for better nutrition, rolled out a whole-grain bread in January.
Whole grains in general are on the rise. While fewer than 150 new whole-grain products were released in 2004, that number doubled last year, according to market research firm Mintel International.
Webster said he thinks that's been the greatest impact of the new food guidelines and MyPyramid.gov: to spur companies to create healthier products in response to better-informed consumers.
People will need both -- better products and better information than they have now -- to fight obesity, Foster said.
"People need all the help they can get," she said.
-----
Copyright (c) 2006, The Wichita Eagle, Kan.
Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.
For information on republishing this content, contact us at (800) 661-2511 (U.S.), (213) 237-4914 (worldwide), fax (213) 237-6515, or e-mail reprints~krtinfo.com.
NYSE:SLE, NASDAQ-OTCBB:IBCIQ,
http://www.lef.org/news/LefDailyNews.htm?NewsID=3813&Section=NUTRITION
The Wichita Eagle, Kan.
05-08-06
May 8--WASHINGTON - Karen Foster used the U.S. Agriculture Department's food pyramid extensively when she worked as a nurse at Curtis Middle School in Wichita, teaching kids how to stay healthy and thin.
She retired last year, about the same time the department replaced its well-known nutrition icon with its new MyPyramid, which directs consumers to a Web site for individualized guidance rather than listing general serving suggestions.
Foster said the new pyramid is a better guide to health. But, one year since its adoption, it's hard to find in stores.
Food companies have been slow to include the pyramid on their labels. In many cases, they're still using the previous pyramid, which is based on 15-year-old science that promotes a diet now believed to contribute to diabetes and obesity.
The continued use of the old food pyramid irks nutrition advocates who say it promotes excessive consumption of refined white and wheat breads that add empty calories to diets and may increase the risk of Type 2 diabetes and heart disease, according to recent studies.
"I've seen the old pyramid on foods that... people should not even feed to their dogs," said Walter Willett, a nutrition expert at Harvard University.
The slow adoption is also frustrating the federal government as it fights American obesity through education.
Food companies say they're switching to the new pyramid, which unlike the "nutrition facts" listings isn't required to be on food packaging.
But they add that it's tough to justify using the new pyramid on food packages. The old pyramid still has value for its up-front serving suggestions, they say.
Of 24 varieties of bread on sale at a Wichita grocery store last week, 14 showed the old pyramid and 10 showed no pyramid at all. None featured MyPyramid.
New guidelines
The new food pyramid debuted in April of last year to communicate the federal government's new dietary guidelines, which are revised every five years. The guidelines include the government's latest recommendations for a healthy diet and decide the content of federal food programs such as the school lunch program.
The 2005 guidelines recommended more fruits and vegetables and low-fat dairy products than the previous guidelines did.
The guidelines also changed recommendations for bread and other grains, cutting the suggested servings from between 6 and 11 a day to between 5 and 10.
And for the first time, the guidelines specified that half of those grain products should be made from whole grains rather than the refined grains found in most soft white or wheat bread. It also urged people to include rice, cereal and other grains.
The suggestions reflect research pointing to whole grains' health benefits -- low in fat, and better sources of fiber, vitamins, minerals and protein than refined grains.
New pyramid
Because the old pyramid caused confusion among consumers about serving sizes, the government decided to revamp the icon it had used since 1992.
Instead of putting separate food groups in blocks, with breads at the base, the new MyPyramid is a series of colored lines reaching to the pyramid's top, with stairs running up the side to show the importance of exercise. It also directs consumers to the MyPyramid Web site, where visitors can get individual nutrition plans based on their age, sex and lifestyle.
Agriculture Department spokesman John Webster said the Internet-age approach informs people without potentially misleading them. He called the new Web site a success with more than 1.7 billion page visits the first year.
But getting private companies to put MyPyramid on their packaging has been more challenging, he said. Most companies simply don't. Those that tend to use a pyramid icon are bread and cereal makers.
And, so far, many of them haven't adopted the MyPyramid icon.
One example is Sara Lee, which owns Earthgrains, Grant's Farm, Pillsbury, Roman Meal and other bread brands. Spokesman Matt Hall said the company has stuck with the old pyramid while figuring out "how to best utilize" the new one, possibly introducing it later this year.
Both icons have their drawbacks, he said.
The new pyramid's color-heavy scheme doesn't reproduce well on a bread bag, and the old one gives consumers generic nutrition suggestions.
"It's simpler to communicate, though it's less sophisticated" than MyPyramid, he said of the old icon.
As bags are redesigned, he said, the old icon will fade away.
Stan Osman, spokesman for Interstate Bakeries Corp., the Kansas City-based baker of Wonder bread, agreed, saying the old pyramid still featured on some Wonder breads will disappear in a redesign someday. Interstate Bakeries is the largest wholesale bread and cake distributor in the United States.
The company also said that Wonder Bread, responding to consumer demands for better nutrition, rolled out a whole-grain bread in January.
Whole grains in general are on the rise. While fewer than 150 new whole-grain products were released in 2004, that number doubled last year, according to market research firm Mintel International.
Webster said he thinks that's been the greatest impact of the new food guidelines and MyPyramid.gov: to spur companies to create healthier products in response to better-informed consumers.
People will need both -- better products and better information than they have now -- to fight obesity, Foster said.
"People need all the help they can get," she said.
-----
Copyright (c) 2006, The Wichita Eagle, Kan.
Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.
For information on republishing this content, contact us at (800) 661-2511 (U.S.), (213) 237-4914 (worldwide), fax (213) 237-6515, or e-mail reprints~krtinfo.com.
NYSE:SLE, NASDAQ-OTCBB:IBCIQ,
http://www.lef.org/news/LefDailyNews.htm?NewsID=3813&Section=NUTRITION