From: young@serum.kodak.com [Rich Young (x37176)]
Subject: Re: DIET AND HEALTH NEWS
Originator: young@sasquatch
Reply-To: young@serum.kodak.com
Organization: Clinical Products Division, Eastman Kodak Company
Date: Mon, 27 Jul 92 17:01:12 GMT

In article <altar.712165127@sfu.ca> altar@beaufort.sfu.ca (Ted Wayn Altar) writes:
>Rich Young writes:
>. . .
>>   This is old news.  The "Eating Right Pyramid" has been re-instated and
>>   has been blessed by the Cattlemen's Association.
> 
>Was it actually "blessed" by the Cattlemen's Association or did 
>they simply resign themselves to the inevitable?  The political 
>interference on their behalf had raised such an outcry among health 
>professionals that I am not surprised that the Cattlemen's Assoc. 
>had to capitulate.  

	The Association representative, when interviewed on national TV, 
	said, "We support the revised pyramid completely."  His motives, of
	course, like those of many Usenet posters, are known only to him.

>. . .
>>  There were only two minor changes made to the original:
>. . .
>>   THERE WAS NO CHANGE IN THE ORGANIZATION OF THE ORIGINAL CHART.
>> . . .
> 
>Well, the visual organization was changed from a 2 dimensional
>"eating right pyramid" to that of a 3-dimensional "food guide
>pyramid".  Not a substantial change to be sure.

	Substantial enough, apparently, for lengthy and disparaging comment.

>Still, this yanking of the old "eating right pyramid" by the USDA after
>vested-interest trade groups for ranchers, milk producers and
>others howled, has cost the American public about $1-million
>to test the new (trivially modified) version and produce it.
>This cost doesn't include the wasted time (hence wages) of
>the politicians and other government officials that had to
>wrangle over this issue.

	On the other hand. it did result in changes which made some of the
	graphics more easily understood by people at all levels of
	education, intelligence and experience, and, with the two- to
	three-dimensional change, further emphasized the role of complex
	carbohydrates in the diet while DE-emphasizing the role of meats.

	Lighten up, Ted.  It's a whole lot more accurate than the old
	four food groups chart, and it doesn't apply to Canada anyway.
	Those of you north of the U.S. border can go off and create the
	perfect chart on your own...I suspect Ted would be available to
	advise on the effort, right, Ted?

[...]

>A side point for mathematically/graphically inclined.  With the
>"food guide pyramid" being 3-dimensional, the visual scaling is
>now even more incommensurate with the numeral number of servings
>that are being suggested for each grouping.

	Even the USDA isn't stupid enough to assume that anyone of reasonable
	intelligence (that is, intelligence enough to eat when hungry) 
	would actually tailor a diet to the exact volume of the pyramid
	segments.  The whole point was to emphasize the relative quantities
	of food from each segment which should be consumed in a daily diet.

	The absolute inanity of a critique based on the actual volume
	(calculated to one decimal place) of each segment boggles the
	mind.

[...]

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Rich Young                             | Phone: (716) 253-7176
Eastman Kodak Company                  | FAX: (716) 253-7254
Clinical Products Division             | Internet: young@serum.kodak.com
100 Carlson Road                       |
Rochester, New York, USA   14653-9122  | These are MY opinions, not Kodak's!!!
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