Food guide pyramid

Evolution of the Pyramids

This 1992 food pyramid diagram can still be found on much of the food packaging in the
United States

Classes of food
Steps towards the pyramids

The initial USDA - Pyramid divided the three groups: carbohydrates, vegetables and
proteins into six new groups:

1) carbohydrates: Bread, Cereal, Rice & Pasta

Vegetables into:

2) Vegetables

3) Fruits-Any fruit or 100% fruit juice counts as part of the fruit group. Fruits may be
fresh, canned, frozen, or dried, and may be whole, cut-up, or pureed.

Proteins into subgroups:

4) Meat, Poultry, Fish, Dry Beans, Eggs, and Nuts

5) Milk, Yogurt and Cheese

6) Fats, Oils, and Sweets

Description of the year 1992 Food Pyramid
Released in 1992, the food pyramid suggested how much of each food category one
should eat each day. The food guide pyramid replaced the four food groups. On April 19,
2005, the USDA released the food guide pyramid's successor, MyPyramid.

The original food guiding pyramid, informally known as the food pyramid, was a
nutrition guide created by the USDA.

This initial pyramid became famous throughout the world, and was, in some way, an
American icon. One issue that this pyramid had was that it was seen as too rigid. The new
pyramid reflects the idea that a diet should be shaped according to an individual's needs.
The old pyramid allowed individuals to consume the foods within a certain range of
servings, but gave no hint on how to interpret that choice.

In general terms the food guide pyramid recommends the following intake of different
food groups each day, although exact amounts of calorie intake depends on sex, age, and
lifestyle:

• 3-5 servings a day of vegetables, especially green, leafy vegetables;

• 2-4 servings of fruits a day;

• 2-3 servings of meat, fish, eggs, nuts, or beans a day;

• 2-3 servings of dairy products including cheese and yogurt every other day;

• occasional use of fats, oils, and sweets.

• 6-11 servings of grain a day such as rice, bread, cereals, and pasta;

Balanced Diet
A balanced diet must contain carbohydrate, protein, fat, vitamins,
mineral salts and fibre. It must contain these things in the correct
proportions.

A Balanced Diet

You must have carbohydrate, protein, fat, vitamins, minerals salts and fibre
in the correct proportions. If there is not enough protein, you will not be able
to grow properly and you will not be able to repair yourself i.e. wounds will
not heal properly. If you do not have enough energy containing foods you
will feel very tired, you will not have enough energy. If you have too much
energy containing foods you will become overweight. If you think that you
are overweight you might try taking more exercise to "burn off" some of the
excess food which you ate at you last meal.

Index

1. Carbohydrates: these provide a source of energy.

2. Proteins: these provide a source of materials for growth and repair.
3. Fats: these provide a source of energy and contain fat soluble
vitamins.
4. Vitamins: these are required in very small quantities to keep you
healthy.
5. Mineral Salts: these are required for healthy teeth, bones, muscles
etc..
6. Fibre: this is required to help your intestines function correctly; it is
not digested.
7. Balanced Diets: we must have the above items in the correct
proportions.

Carbohydrates

Carbohydrates are the most important source of energy. They contain the
elements Carbon, Hydrogen and Oxygen. The first part of the name "carbo-"
means that they contain Carbon. The second part of the name "-hydr-" means
that they contain Hydrogen. The third part of the name "-ate-" means that
they contain Oxygen. In all carbohydrates the ratio of Hydrogen atoms to
Oxygen atoms is 2:1 just like water.

We obtain most of our carbohydrate in the form of starch. This is found in

potato, rice, spaghetti, yams, bread and cereals. Our digestive system turns
all this starch into another carbohydrate called glucose. Glucose is carried
around the body in the blood and is used by our tissues as a source of energy.
(See my pages on respiration and balanced chemical equations.) Any glucose
in our food is absorbed without the need for digestion. We also get some of
our carbohydrate in the form of sucrose; this is the sugar which we put in
our tea and coffee (three heaped spoonfuls for me!). Both sucrose and
glucose are sugars, but sucrose molecules are too big to get into the blood, so
the digestive system turns it into glucose.

When we use glucose in tissue respiration we need Oxygen. This process

produces Carbon Dioxide and water and releases energy for other processes.
Now try my starch test in the Virtual Laboratory

Proteins

Proteins are required for growth and repair. Proteins contain Carbon,
Hydrogen, Oxygen, Nitrogen and sometimes Sulphur. Proteins are very large
molecules, so they cannot get directly into our blood; they must be turned
into amino-acids by the digestive system. There are over 20 different amino-
acids. Our bodies can turn the amino-acids back into protein. When our cells
do this they have to put the amino-acids together in the correct order. There
are many millions of possible combinations or sequences of amino-acids; it
is our DNA which contains the information about how to make proteins. Our
cells get their amino-acids from the blood. Now try my Biuret test in the
Virtual Laboratory

Proteins can also be used as a source of energy. When excess amino-acids

are removed from the body the Nitrogen is excreted as a chemical called
urea. The liver makes urea and the kidney puts the urea into our urine.

Fats

Like carbohydrates, fats contain the elements Carbon, Hydrogen and

Oxygen. Fats are used as a source of energy: they are also stored beneath the
skin helping to insulate us against the cold. Do not think that by avoiding fat
in your diet you will stay thin and elegant! If you eat too much carbohydrate
and protein, you will convert some of it into fat, so you will put on weight.
You must balance the amount of energy containing foods with the amount of
energy that you use when you take exercise.

You must have some fat in your diet because it contains fat soluble
vitamins.

Vitamins

Vitamins are only required in very small quantities. There is no chemical

similarity between these chemicals; the similarity between them is entirely
biological.

Vitamin A: good for your eyes.

Vitamin B: about 12 different chemicals.
Vitamin C: needed for your body to repair itself.
Vitamin D: can be made in your skin, needed for absorption of Calcium.
Vitamin E: the nice one - reproduction?

Mineral Salts

These are also needed in small quantities, but we need more of these than we
need of vitamins.

Iron: required to make haemoglobin.

Calcium: required for healthy teeth, bones and muscles.
Sodium: all cells need this, especially nerve cells.
Iodine: used to make a hormone called thyroxin.

Fibre

We do not // can not digest cellulose. This is a carbohydrate used by plants

to make their cell walls. It is also called roughage. If you do not eat foods
materials which contain fibre you might end up with problems of the colon
and rectum. The muscles of you digestive system mix food with the digestive
juices and push food along the intestines by peristalsis; if there is no fibre in
your diet these movements cannot work properly.
Food technology

The food technology room at Marling School in Stroud, Gloucestershire.

Food technology, or Food tech for short is the application of food science to the
selection, preservation, processing, packaging, distribution, and use of safe, nutritious,
and wholesome food.

Food scientists and food technolgists study the physical, microbiological, and chemical
makeup of food. Depending on their area of specialization, Food Scientists may develop
ways to process, preserve, package, or store food, according to industry and government
specifications and regulations. Consumers seldom think of the vast array of foods and the
research and development that has resulted in the means to deliver tasty, nutritious, safe,
and convenient foods.

In some schools, food technology is part of the curriculum and teaches, alongside how to
cook, nutrition and the food manufacturing process.

Contents
• 1 Early history of food technology
• 2 Developments in food technology
• 3 External links

• 4 Related journal

Early history of food technology

Research in the field now known as food technology has been conducted for decades.
Nicolas Appert’s development in 1810 of the canning process was a decisive event. The
process wasn’t called canning then and Appert did not really know the principle on which
his process worked, but canning has had a major impact on food preservation techniques.

Louis Pasteur's research on the spoilage of wine and his description of how to avoid
spoilage in 1864 was an early attempt to put food technology on a scientific basis.
Besides research into wine spoilage, Pasteur did research on the production of alcohol,
vinegar, wines and beer, and the souring of milk. He developed pasteurization—the
process of heating milk and milk products to destroy food spoilage and disease-producing
organisms. In his research into food technology, Pasteur became the pioneer into
bacteriology and of modern preventive medicine.

By 1945, the original four departments that had taught the subject under different names
(including those at the University of Massachusetts and the University of California) had
been retitled "food science", "food science and technology", or a similar variant. The
founding of the Institute of Food Technologists in 1939 has led to the general use of the
term “food technologist.”

Developments in food technology

Several companies in the food industry have played a role in the development of food
technology. These developments have contributed greatly to the food supply. Some of
these developments are:

• Instantized Milk Powder - D.D. Peebles (U.S. patent 2,835,586) developed the
first instant milk powder, which has become the basis for a variety of new
products that are rehydratable in cold water or milk. This process increases the
surface area of the powdered product by partially rehydrating spray-dried milk
powder.

• Freeze Drying - The first application of freeze drying was most likely in the
pharmaceutical industry; however, a successful large-scale industrial application
of the process was the development of continuous freeze drying of coffee.

• High-Temperature Short Time Processing - These processes for the most part are
characterized by rapid heating and cooling, holding for a short time at a relatively
high temperature and filling aseptically into sterilization (microbiology)sterile
containers.

• Decaffeination of Coffee and Tea - Decaffeinated coffee and tea was first
developed on a commercial basis in Europe around 1900. The process is
described in U.S. patent 897,763. Green coffee beans are treated with steam or
water to around 20% moisture. The added water and heat separate the caffeine
from the bean to its surface. Solvents are then used to remove the caffeine from
the beans. In the 1980s, new non-organic solvent techniques have been developed
 for the decaffeination of coffee and tea. Carbon dioxide under supercritical
conditions is one of these new techniques. U.S. patent 4,820,537 was issued to
General Foods Corp. for a CO2 decaffeination process.

• [Optimization]- Food Technology now allows production of foods to be more

efficient, Oil saving technologies are now available on different forms. Production
methods and methodology have also become increasingly sophiaticated.