New food pyramid model recommends more chicken

The Harvard School of Public Health has said that the food pyramid is out of sync with scientific evidence and needs to be dismantled and rebuilt from the ground up.

One element of the new model being proposed by the school is that people should eat less red meat and more white meat – both poultry and fish.

The new model recommends that people eat four times more white meat than red.

The United States Department of Agriculture, issued in 1992 the following dietary guidelines:
• Six to 11 servings of rice, bread, cereal and pastas
• three to five servings of vegetables
• Two to four servings of fruits
• Two to three servings milk, yoghurt, cheese
• Two to three servings meat, poultry, fish, dry beans, eggs, nuts
• Fats, oils and sweets: use sparingly.

The Harvard School of Public Health diet recommends:
• Five servings vegetables (potatoes don’t count)
• Four servings fruit
• One serving nuts and tofu
• Eat white meat (fish or poultry) four times more often as red meat (beef, pork, lamb and processed meats) and
• Three to six servings whole grains, such as dark breads.

Several landmark studies have called into question the US government’s official dietary guidelines, enshrined in the food pyramid. However, several ground-breaking studies show that this American icon is most likely obsolete.

Walter Willett of the Harvard School of Public Health says the food pyramid is “a licence to overeat”.

“The Food Pyramid is tremendously flawed. It says all fats are bad; all complex carbohydrates are good; all protein sources offer the same nutrition; and dairy should be eaten in high amounts. None of this is accurate,” he says.