Pyramid scheme

The U.S. Department of Agriculture unveiled its new "food pyramid" at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, April 19, replacing the old version with a new, vertically striped edition that gives specific advice about how much and what kinds of foods the average person should eat each day. By noon of that day, I had received scores of e-mails from trade groups, brands, and consumers who either loved or hated the new program.

The new Food Guide Pyramid program is based on the premise that individual consumers will log on to the new USDA Web site, www.mypyramid.gov; enter their ages, genders, and physical activity levels; and get their own, somewhat personalized food pyramids.

Color code

Think the ultimate in one-to-one nutrition, at least for those who have Internet access. Some suggest, however, that this leaves a good deal of the population—perhaps those who need the information the most—still unclear about what to do when it comes to making the right food choices.

The new pyramid has six vertical, color-coded stripes, each one representing a different food group and getting progressively wider at the base:

• The orange stripe represents grains and contains the recommendation that people should "eat at least three ounces of whole grain bread, cereal, crackers, rice, or pasta every day," with half of all grains consumed recommended to be whole grains.

• The green stripe is for vegetables, with the recommendation that people eat more dark-green and orange vegetables, as well as more dry beans and peas. The guidelines recommend 2.5 cups of vegetables per day for people eating 2,000 calories a day, with higher or lower amounts depending on calorie intake.

• The red stripe signifies fruits, broken apart from veggies for the purpose of this new set of recommendations. The USDA suggests eating two cups a day of a variety of fruits, whether fresh, frozen, canned, or dried, but to "go easy on fruit juices."

• The blue stripe represents dairy, with the agency recommending that people consume three cups a day of low-fat or fat-free products, and if they happen to be dairy-intolerant, to find other sources of calcium.

• The very thin yellow stripe is for oils, with the recommendation that "most of your fat sources come from fish, nuts, and vegetable oils," and that consumers "limit solid fats like butter, stick margarine, shortening, and lard."

• Finally, there's the thin purple stripe, which is for meats and beans. The USDA suggests that people choose low-fat or lean meats and poultry, and that these items be baked, broiled, or grilled.

Each of these categories on the new Web site includes more specific information about how much of each item should reasonably be consumed in a given day, using cups as a measurement instead of the hard-to-understand whole "servings" of the previous guidelines.

The new pyramid design also includes a figure walking up steps, to remind us all that exercise is an important component in health and nutrition.

The pyramid is based on the intelligently thought-out and well-received dietary guidelines issued by the federal government earlier this year. That's the good news. But for me, there are a number of questions that might challenge the effectiveness of this new design: Does the new pyramid actually make sense? Is it too simple? While it's a familiar shape, will it communicate the details effectively? And even more important, will it drive people to www.mypyramid.gov to look up the customized pyramids for their more specific needs?

I'm not convinced that the new design lives up to the brilliant work already published on the guidelines. We already know Americans are fat; what we don't know is how to communicate healthy food choices in an instant.

Many of the major food brands have already created their own "logos," in an attempt to tell shoppers that their products are healthier. Some are smart and well done, while others are meant to market by misleading.

It seems to me, as I walk up and down the aisles, that there are too many labels and too much confusion. It's time to give consumers some credit. Everything doesn't have to be made so simple that it becomes ineffective. Nor must everything have an Internet component to make it useable. People don't wake up in the morning and declare that today is the day "to eat the worst food I can and to get on the path toward a painful, miserable death brought on by diabetes, cancer, or heart disease."

Group effort needed

If we're going to help shoppers make smarter food choices, we have to respect shoppers. Not all overweight people are uneducated and poor. In fact, I would suggest that you look carefully at the various groups of "foodies," whether they're chefs, c.e.o.'s of food brands, or retail leaders. Take note of their body mass, and you'll find that most fall into that 60 percent of Americans who are typically chided for being overweight or obese.

The 500-plus-page Report of the U.S. Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee on Dietary Guidelines for Americans, on which the new Food Guide Pyramid is based, deserves far better than what it's getting in this program. Our shoppers are about to be even more confused by this design and message than they were by the designs and messages that preceded it.

Once again, the burden to make this all work will rest on the broad shoulders of the supermarket retailer. It takes more than a poster or nutrition tour to solve obesity and its related diseases; it takes a combined effort that brings together all of the elements: brands, retailers, educators, the media, and shoppers, to name just a handful. We all must be in agreement on the best approach. There's no "magic bullet" solution, and that goes for any single graphic pyramid treatment.