990387 U.S. Offers Healthy Eating Tips For Pre-Schoolers

Washington - A colorful new government poster is trying to coax the TeleTubby set to eat more vegetables and grains before they reach for dessert.

A food guide pyramid tailored for the needs of children ages two to six was unveiled Thursday by the U.S. Agriculture Department in response to parents' requests for nutrition advice.

The pyramid is modeled after the one developed seven years ago for adults by the USDA, arranging food according to the quantity recommended for a healthy diet. It has grains on the bottom with the largest number of recommended daily servings, followed by fruits and vegetables, then meats and dairy products, with fats and oils at the top.

“This is a guide to good health,” said Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman, who launched the new pyramid before a group of 40 preschoolers at a Washington children's museum.

“If you learn how to eat right, maybe you can grow up to be agriculture secretary or even president,” added the former Kansas congressman.

The poster for pint-size diners uses splashy graphics and shortens the name of food groups to make it easier to understand. It also lists specific numbers of recommended daily servings from each group, rather than the ranges given on adult food pyramids.

Preschool children should eat six servings of grains each day plus three of vegetables, according to the USDA. They should also eat two servings each of fruits, meats and dairy products.

And, in a big change from the adult version, the new poster shows cartoon figures of children playing soccer, jumping rope and doing other kinds of exercise.

But some food and consumer groups said the children's version has the same flaws as the adult one.

“The pyramid has not done an adequate job of telling people that there are some foods that should be eaten more frequently than others for disease prevention,” said Elizabeth Pivonka, head of Produce for Better Health.

“We've been preaching to people that there are no 'bad' foods when we should be teaching them that some foods are better than others,” she added.

The USDA develops dietary guidelines as part of its program to administer billions of dollars worth of federal food and school lunch programs. But the department's overall mission is to also to promote the use of U.S. farm products such as milk, pork and beef -- which some critics contend is a conflict of interest.

The Center for Science in the Public Interest said it applauded the USDA for encouraging kids to eat more whole grains, fruits and vegetables.

But the pyramid includes four of the five leading sources of saturated fat in children's diets -- whole milk, cheese, hamburgers and ice cream, said Margo Wootan, a scientist with the consumer group.

“Heart disease begins in childhood, decades before heart attacks occur,” she said. “For starters, USDA should mount national, mass-media campaigns to promote delicious, nutritious foods to kids.”

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