ENGINEER IN NOURISHING INDUSTRIES
JUAN TORREJON M.

PYRAMID GUIDES OF FOODS

The nutricionales norms on nutrients, guidelines and the food guides define the aspects of a healthy diet. The norms of nutrients for the diets are defined as the average daily amounts of calculated essential nutrients from the scientific knowledge. The norms on nutrients are essentially synonymous of the recommended nutricional contribution (ANR). The nutricionales guidelines provide recommendations on the consumption of types of foods or nourishing components on which preoccupations related to the public health exist. Usually they are expressed in relation to the total diet in qualitative terms and go indirectly directed directly or to the public, through educators, professionals of the health and people in charge of the political decisions. The guide of foods is a translation as much of the norms on nutrients like of the nutricionales guidelines in recommendations on daily food ingestion. The ANR is the amount of nutrients that must be consumed like part of a diet. The food guides of other countries also agree, in general, with the one of the United States. The scientific base of the development of the food guides began 100 years ago with the works of Atwater, in which the essential connection between the health, diet and composition of foods settled down. The nutricionales objectives of the guides of foods settled down and updated according to the nutricionales Anr, guidelines and the recommendations of other groups of experts. In relation to the moderation problems, one settled down limits less after the total fat in 30% or of the energy and after saturated fatty acids, in less than 10% of the energy. It limits after the cholesterol was of 300 mg. and the one of sodium, of 2,400 mg. The relatively rich fat foods and you sweeten added and relatively poor in vitamins and minerals they classified in n different group, under epígrafe of fats, oils and candies. The calculations of the levels of nutrients that the food guide provides indicate that the objective of the 100% of the Anr of proteins, vitamins and minerals will be fulfilled whenever the population consumes the habitual variety of foods and the amount of rations sufficient to at least provide the level of calories adapted for each age and sex. For example, the caloric ingestion you recommend for a boy of 4 to 6 years is of 1800 kcal, amount near the obtained one with I number minimum of rations of the food guide In 1988 beginning a cooperative work with a company of investigation of market to develop and to prove a bulletin destined the consumers. The design of the pyramid well was received, was the one that transmitted the three key principles of variety, balance and moderation. The variety was by means of the names and drawings of each group. The balance or the proportionality was transmitted through the size of the abstract and the text that indicated the number of rations. The moderation for rich fat foods and you sweeten added I am left patent by the small size of the vertex. The publication of the graph of the Pyramid Guide of foods was jointly announced by the USDA and the DHHS in 1992 and was followed by the bulletin of the consumer and information of investigations. It received the prize President?s Circle Award of education in nutrition. The pyramid has been used widely in the labels of foods and it has been gotten up to great amount of educative material. The greater future challenge will be to find forms to take to practices it what already we know on the healthy feeding.