Balanced Diet Elusive for Most

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Released: Fri 16-Jul-2004, 06:40 ET

Balanced Diet Elusive for Most

Description

³The food guide pyramid is imbalanced and tumbling,² says Hentges of

the USDA¹s Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion.

Newswise ‹ ³The food guide pyramid is imbalanced and tumbling,² says

Hentges of the USDA¹s Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion, speaking

Thursday at the Institute of Food Technologists Annual Meeting and Food

Expo, the world¹s largest annual food science and ingredient convention.

From Hentges¹ perspective, it¹s time for Americans to increase their

consumption of fruits, vegetables and milk. He suggests a three- to

four-fold increase in regular intake of leafy green vegetables. While that

amount may seem daunting, the increase translates to eating additionally

only two cups of broccoli or greens over a week.

According to Louise Berner, a nutrition professor at California Polytechnic,

no more than half of all consumers eat even the minimum number of

recommended servings on the food guide pyramid. She said that number could

even be as low as one quarter. Fruit and dairy was most common omission from

the diet, with 41 percent of people eating less than a serving of dairy a

day.

The problem grows when it comes to children, according to IFT nutrition

expert Marilyn Swanson, of the National Food Service Management Institute at

University of Mississippi.

She reported only two percent of youths meet all the recommendations of the

pyramid, and 16 percent do not meet any of the recommendations. Only one in

five youths consume five servings of fruits and vegetables each day.

While the USDA works on revising the food guide, Guy , a nutrition

executive, is quick to point out there¹s more to change than just the food

guide. ³The pyramid is only part of the message,² he said, ³It¹s unfair to

single out the pyramid as the cause of obesity or any other problems.²

The Institute of Food Technologists Annual Meeting and Food Expo is the

world¹s largest annual food science and ingredient conference, delivering

comprehensive, cutting-edge research and opinion from food science-,

technology-, marketing- and business-leaders. Now in it¹s 64th year, the IFT

Annual Meeting and Food Expo attracts up to 20,000 attendees and 1,000

exhibiting companies. The convention ends Friday. For more online, see

http://www.ift.org.