The Food Pyramid is More About Politics than Personal Health

Now that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has released a newly revised Food Pyramid and a variety of criticisms have been lodged, it is time to revisit the scientific and political fundamentals of this report. Although this new edition offers an attractive internet-based format, its selection of supporting scientific evidence leaves much to be desired. The evidence that is offered, in my experience, is more about corporate influence and political spin than it is about empirical science. That's a recipe for confusion.

The public needs to understand why and how our government is so adept at confusing us about diet and health issues. Promoting confusion is especially costly when disease care costs (some call it health care costs) are escalating out of sight (highest per capita costs in the world), health care quality is declining (US is ranked 37^th in the world) and shorter life spans are now being projected. More  

How Much Should We Eat?

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Replacing Fats & Sweets With Vegetables and Fruits—A Question of Cost

LEXINGTON, MA., Jan. 26, 2005—New research on the cost analysis of total diets in a French community ...
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