Eat Real Food? Nutrition Advice · Episode 5 of 9 · 17 min
The Pyramid Rises and Falls
The 1992 Food Guide Pyramid was pulled from the printer amid meat and dairy objections, retested for a year, and re-released with the meat recommendation quietly raised. Harvard's Walter Willett later called its advice wishy-washy, and the low-fat era it fed filled shelves with sugary snacks. USDA replaced it in 2005.
Who's who
- Edward MadiganU.S. Secretary of Agriculture who withdrew the finished Pyramid in 1991
- Marion Nestle+2 more episodesNutrition scholar who documented the lobbying and withdrawal
- Walter WillettHarvard epidemiologist and the Pyramid's most influential critic
Timeline
- February 1991The finished Food Guide Pyramid is sent to the printer
- April 1991USDA abruptly withdraws it, citing the need for further testing
- 1991-1992USDA spends about $855,000 testing alternative designs; research reconfirms the pyramid
- April 1992Pyramid re-released with the upper meat recommendation raised to 5-7 ounces
- 2001Willett publishes the Healthy Eating Pyramid
- 2005USDA replaces the Pyramid with MyPyramid
Still debated
Whether low-fat guidance caused the obesity rise is contested, since many other factors rose together. How decisive lobbying was in the 1991 withdrawal is also argued, as USDA cited testing, and the Pyramid's core advice was criticized for lack of nuance rather than debunked.