Researcher Revises Food Pyramid

A new book released this week and authored by a Harvard nutrition expert challenges the validity of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s standard food pyramid.

Professor Walter C. Willett, the chair of the nutrition department at the Harvard School of Public Health (SPH), offered his alternative pyramid in his new book, “Eat, Drink, and Be Healthy.”

Willett’s “Healthy Eating Pyramid” differs greatly from the USDA’s well-known version, which has been taught to students in schools and displayed on bread, cereal and pasta packaging in the years since its inception in 1992.

The new pyramid restructures the USDA version from the ground up.

Weight control—and not 6-11 servings of complex carbohydrates—should serve as the base of a pyramid which promotes long-term health, Willett said.

“When it comes to long-term health, keeping your weight from creeping up on you is more important than the exact ratio of fats to carbohydrates or the types and amounts of antioxidants in your food,” Willett wrote.

Willett’s pyramid emphasizes the significance of weight control and puts a greater stress on two less recognized dietary concerns—good fats and bad carbohydrates. It also suggests regularly consuming vegetables and fruits, using alcohol in moderation, and taking a daily multivitamin.

As part of the research backing up the new pyramid, Willett debunks two common food myths: first, that all fats are bad and second, that all complex carbohydrates are good.

He said the USDA pyramid “ignores” the fact that two kinds of fat, mono- and polyunsaturated, found in vegetable oils, fish, nuts and whole grains, are “good for your heart.”

Starches found in white bread, potatoes, pasta and white rice are not much healthier than sugar because they get processed in the body almost as quickly, Willett said.

The rapid digestion of starches and sugars is “now implicated as part of the perilous pathway to heart disease and diabetes,” he said.

Willett said that many research projects over the past decade have “chipped away” at the USDA pyramid, which has not been revised to address new findings.

The USDA pyramid offers “scientifically unfounded advice” and was influenced by corporate interests, Willett said.

It comes from the USDA, which is responsible for promoting American agriculture, not from the agencies established to monitor and protect citizens’ health, like the Department of Health and Human Services, he said.

Harvard Reacts

According to officials at the Harvard University Dining Services (HUDS), Willett’s suggestions will not have a significant impact on the menu they provide.

HUDS doesn’t adhere to the USDA guidelines, said Executive Chef for Residential Dining Michael Miller.

“The Dining Services really don’t use the USDA pyramid. We try to provide a lot of options so that students can make their own choices,” Miller said.

However, Miller and Willett meet regularly at SPH nutrition roundtable meetings to discuss health and nutrition, he said.

Willett’s new food suggestions, such as avoiding unhealthy saturated and trans-fats, are “nothing new to us at the Dining Services,” Miller said.

Seven years ago, HUDS was an industry “leader” when they switched to using healthy canola oil in place of oils with a high transfat content, according to Miller.

University Health Services (UHS) dietician Charles Smigelski identified tabouleh, lentil salad, and whole wheat breads as especially healthy choices offered by HUDS.

“Dining services works hard to make sure it’s all there,” Smigelski said.

However, hundreds of undergrads visit UHS dieticians each year for nutrition advice.

“Freshman come in early in the year concerned because someone else has always made the food decisions for them,” Smigelski said.

HUDS responds to students’ diet concerns with weekly table-tent blurbs and regular “Meet the Chef” nights, Miller said.

“[Students] are exposed to a lot of information every day. [They] might change your dietary habits when you’re a freshman or when you hear new things. We try to listen to what you want,” he said.