A Harvard physician’s knock on pork in his new book on the Food Pyramid isn’t based on sound science, says Ceci Snyder, a registered dietitian and assistant vice president of Consumer Marketing at the National Pork Board.
In “Eat, Drink and Be Healthy: The Harvard Medical School Guide to Healthy Eating,” Walter Willett claims pork and other red meats should be seldom consumed.
Willett also blames the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Food Pyramid guidelines for adding to obesity rates in America.
The current Food Pyramid calls for two to three servings daily from the food group that includes meat, poultry, fish, dry beans, eggs and nuts.
However, Willett and his group are pushing for a revised Food Pyramid that separates pork from chicken and places pork in the same category as red meat and butter.
Snyder observes: “Harvard is taking its bias against meats and is ignoring a large body of independent nutrition studies that pork can and does fit into a healthy diet.”
The USDA’s Food Pyramid guidelines are expected to be revised and re-released in two years.