Food for Thought: Pyramid Model to be Ditched in Favor of Dinner Plate Model

After two decades of using the confusing food pyramid model to represent health diet, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has announced that it will be ditching the model in favor of a plate-shaped symbol that will be divided into different “wedges” for basic food and fruit groups. The Food Pyramid was incorporated by the USDA in 1992, nearly 15 years after it was first used by Denmark. Though it continued to remain the model depicting nutritional daily diet regimen for the US federal government, a number of nutritional experts said that it was too confusing for the common man to understand.

The new plate symbol will be unveiled to the public on Thursday with the USDA stating that it will be divided into different section, similar to a pie chart, with each section displaying percentage of certain food groups to be consumed on a daily basis.

Experts welcomed the change in the symbol with former commissioner of the FDA, Dr David Kessler hoping that the new design will make people eat more nutritional food. “The reality is that very few of us eat like what has been suggested in government guidelines for healthy eating. There’s a world of difference between what’s being served and what’s on that plate”, he said.



Source-Medindia