Traditional food pyramid advice gets a reshuffle

By ANGELA GREGORY

The high-carbohydrate and low-fat food pyramid that has graced school classroom walls for years is under attack for being simplistic and outdated.

The Heart Foundation, which adapted the original American food pyramid for New Zealanders, wants it revised.

Medical researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health have also criticised the pyramid and want it scrapped.

They have come up with a new version called the "healthy eating pyramid" which reverses the place of some fats and carbohydrates.

Plant oils, which contain "good" monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats, are shifted from the top of the pyramid (eat sparingly) to the base (use daily).

Rapidly digested carbohydrates like white bread, potatoes and pasta are shifted from the base to the top of the pyramid, but wholegrain foods are still recommended for daily consumption.

The chairman of the Heart Foundation's scientific and nutrition committees, Professor Jim Mann, said the original pyramid was a very old concept.

"It is not wrong, or bad, not going to kill anybody ... but its time has expired - there's no doubt about it."

Professor Mann said its simplicity was part of its downfall because it did not take into account differences between types of carbohydrates and fats.

But he said the new model was also overly simplistic and had flaws such as encouraging a high-fat diet.

"That's fine provided you are not overweight, which a scary proportion of our population is."

Professor Mann said a number of diets could be healthy, including those based around traditional Mediterranean, Asian or Middle Eastern foods.