OldWays - Food Issues Think Tank
Fifteen years ago, the World Health Organization issued this warning, "Major differences are now emerging between the health patterns of urban and rural areas in the developing world. Statistics used for the disease patterns of the developing world markedly underestimate the current impact of cardiovascular disease and cancers in urban communities in Africa, Asia, the eastern Mediterranean region, and Latin America. Large increases in the urban population are expected, especially in developing countries, and, with these, deterioration in many aspects of the nutritional quality of food is likely. This suggests that there is an urgent need to rethink national agricultural and food policies for urban as well as rural communities, before governments in developing countries are overwhelmed by the demands for diagnosis and management of diseases that can now be linked to current and projected dietary changes."
--Diet, Nutrition and the Prevention of Chronic Disease, World Health Organization, 1990.
The Oldways Mediterranean Pyramid was the first in its series, which illustrates the healthy traditional food and dietary patterns of various cultures and regions of the world. This initiative is an outgrowth of a conference series, "Public Health Implications of Traditional Diets," jointly organized by Harvard School of Public Health, a United Nations World Health Organization/Food and Agriculture Organization (WHO/FAO) Collaborating Center, and Oldways Preservation Trust in 1993. These pyramids, taken as a collection, offer substantive refinements of the United States Department of Agriculture's Food Guide Pyramid, refinements that reflect the current state of clinical and epidemiological research worldwide and our understanding of what constitutes optimal human nutrition status.
The Mediterranean Diet Pyramid, Latin American Diet Pyramid, and Asian American Diet Pyramid are based upon the dietary traditions of these regions. Epidemiological and experimental nutrition research and nutrition science leaders who are experts in the relevant regions corroborate the healthfulness of the dietary pattern. The Vegetarian Diet Pyramid incorporates all of these principles as varieties of healthy, vegetarian diets that have existed all over the world. The selection of these regions and these time periods as a basis for the pyramid design follows from these considerations:
- Consistency with patterns of other healthy population groups of the world;
- Availability of data describing the character of food consumption patterns of the areas at that time;
- Convergence of the dietary patterns revealed by these data and current understanding of optimal nutrition based on worldwide epidemiological studies and clinical trials.
The designs of the four diet pyramids are not based solely on either the weight or the percentage of energy (calories) that foods account for in the diet. They represent a blend of these that gives relative proportions and a general sense of frequency of servings, as well as an indication of which foods to favor in a healthy diet.
A principal objective of the graphic pyramid illustrations is to foster a continuing dialogue within the international scientific, public health, food and agricultural, governmental, and other communities about what refinements in its specific elements and configurations, if any, are needed.
These Diet Pyramids describe diets for most healthy adults. Adjustments should of course be made for children, women in their reproductive years, and other special population groups. For persons who wish to improve their diet, this model provides a highly palatable, healthful framework for change.
For those living in the Mediterranean, Asian or Latin American regions, these pyramids provide a basis for preserving and revitalizing, within a modern lifestyle, centuries-old traditions that contribute to excellent health and a sense of pleasure and well-being that are a vital part of our collective cultural heritage.
Equally positive results can be obtained either by entirely adopting a diet, or by alternating meals with any of the four pyramids. Evidence is clear that people enjoy the foods of other cultures, and partakes in these foods to enhance and augment their knowledge and understanding of different cultures.
The Mediterranean Diet Pyramid
The Asian Diet Pyramid
The Latin American Diet Pyramid
The Vegetarian Diet Pyramid
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