Instructions: Questions and Answers About the Mediterranean Diet Pyramid and its Relationship to the USDA Food Guide Pyramid

Exert:
Q. How, then, is the Mediterranean Diet Pyramid different from the USDA Food Pyramid?

A. The USDA Pyramid is a big step forward from the Four Food Groups, which placed an equal graphic emphasis on foods from animal sources and foods from plant sources. To its credit, the USDA Pyramid puts greater emphasis on the consumption of fruits, vegetables, breads, and grains, reflecting the findings of current research. However, the USDA Pyramid does not go far enough in emphasizing the role of plant foods in maximizing chronic disease risk reduction. By way of analogy, this could be compared to urging heavy smokers to cut down to a half-pack of cigarettes a day in order to reduce ones risk of developing smoking-related chronic diseases.

Q. What other differences distinguish the Mediterranean and USDA Pyramids?

A. The USDA Food Guide Pyramid lumps all fats and oils together and adds the warning to use these sparingly. Ignoring a large body of scientific evidence, the USDA Pyramid doesnt acknowledge the differences in types of fat, and the very different impacts these fats have on heart disease, cancers and other chronic diseases. In sharp contrast, the Mediterranean Diet Pyramid does make this distinction with its emphasis on non-hydrogenated plant oils, such as olive oil and the oils found in nuts, both typical of the healthy Mediterranean diet of the 1960s.

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