An April 19, 2005 article by Katrina Woznicki in www.MedPageToday.com described the newly-unveiled revised food pyramid and quoted the reaction of ACSH's Dr. Ruth Kava:
Whether a new graphic nutrition guideline will make any impact on the nation's girth has yet to be determined, but Ruth Kava, Ph.D., director of the American Council on Science and Health in New York, said the new pyramid takes a promising approach.
"They're trying to get away from one (food) group being on top of another to indicate preferences," Dr. Kava said in an interview, explaining how the old pyramid with the wide base of grains suggested eating a diet heavy in grains. Dr. Kava said the most remarkable new feature was the jogger graphic to promote thirty minutes of daily exercise.
Dr. Kava said she would have preferred to see dairy "labeled calcium-rich foods" to suggest people could have calcium foods other than milk products. She also said she hopes people are drawn to the pyramid to read up on different food groups.
"I don't think you can expect a graphic in itself to do wonders for the health of a nation," Dr. Kava said. "A picture may be worth a thousand words, but it's going to take more than a thousand words to get people up to speed on what they should be eating."
