Serving size standards: can they be harmonized? - Nutrition Politics

Nutrition professionals oftentimes must deal with 3 different puts of serving size standards when teaching appropriate portions to consumer Understanding the rationale behind each may help to identify a way to use alone 1 set for all nutrition education final causes The current reevaluation of the nourishment Guide Pyramid offers an opportunity to work toward harmonization.

Nutrition professionals are challenged with teaching what constitutes an appropriate portion. The existence of 3 different schemes used by the agency of nutrition professionals for communicating standard serving sizes complicates this task. These serving size schemes are the nutrition Guide Pyramid (Pyramid) developed by dint of the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), (1) the Exchange Lists for Meal Planning/Weight Management (Exchange Lists) evolveed by the American Diabetes Association and the American Dietetic Association, (2 3) and relation amounts customarily consumed (RACCs) for nutrition labeling of diets regulated by the Food and remedy Administration (FDA). (4)

single step toward improving the communication of an appropriate portion is to harmonize serving size standards. Nutrition professionals could then teach appropriate portions from a single place of serving sizes. However, can serving size standards be harmonized? The answer is not straightforward, because each serving size scheme is based upon a different rationale. This article describes the rationale behind the serving sizes for the pabulum Guide Pyramid, Exchange Lists, and RACCs and compares their standards for several meats It also considers whether 1 station of serving sizes can be used for all nutrition education purposes

fare Guide Pyramid

The subsistence Guide Pyramid was developed to help individuals single out nutritionally adequate diets that fitting the 1990 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. (5 6) provisions groups, serving sizes, and praiseed number of servings were discloseed to meet specific goals for pabulum energy, macronutrients, micronutrients, and other nourishment components.

Serving sizes for the nourishment Guide Pyramid food groups were locate after considering (1) typical (median) serving sizes as reported in diet consumption surveys, (2) tradition (ie, what was used in previous cheer guides), (3) nutrient content, and (4) ease of use.

a certain quantity of typical serving sizes were not consistent with those used in previous fare guides, eg, 2 slices of bread and 1 beaker of pasta were the median serving sizes reported in viands consumption surveys, whereas 1 slice of bread and 1/2 chalice of pasta had been used in previous fare guides. For these food items, a decision was made to use the traditional serving sizes from previous regimen guides, because the number of servings from the grain clump would have decreased from 6 to 3 if typical serving sizes were used. There was a be of importance to that this would send the message that the meat Guide Pyramid called for reduc grain consumption.

Nutrient contented also was considered; eg, serving sizes for subsistences in the milk group would have approximately the same amount of calcium, and meat alternatives would have the same amount of protein. Finally, the serving size prefered was a unit of measure--typically a for the use of all household unit or easily recognized unit--that consumer could easily multiply or divide to exhibit the amount they eat. Serving sizes are provided for approximately 60 meats (1)

Exchange Lists for Meal Planning/Weight Management

Exchange Lists provide individuals who are attempting to manage their weight and/or diabetes with flexibility in nourishment choices and variety in meals. A serving of a cheer in a list has approximately the same amount of carbohydrate, protein, fat, and calories as other nutriments in the same list. Any sustenance on a list can be exchanged for any other provisions on the same list. Each list exhibits average nutrient and calorie horizontals Serving sizes are usually measured after cooking. The carbohydrate clump contains lists for starch, fruit, milk (fat-free, low-fat, reduced-fat, and whole), other carbohydrates, and nonstarchy vegetable. The meat and meat substitutes assemblage contains lists for very lean, lean, medium-fat, and high-fat items. The fat collection lists foods according to monounsaturated, polyunsaturated, and saturated fatty acid satisfied The Exchange Lists provide serving sizes for 325 subsistences (2, 3)

regard Amounts Customarily Consumed

The Nutrition Labeling and Education Act (NLEA) of 1990 stated that for nutrition labeling of fares the serving size is an amount customarily consum and it is press outed in common household units. (7) In implementing regulations for NLEA, (8) the FDA established RACCs for 139 pabulum product categories, criteria for determining label serving sizes from the RACCs, and the use of one as well as the other common household units and metric measures to declare serving sizes; defined "single-serving container"; and required claims to be based upon the RACC. The FDA used mean, median, and modal data upon amounts consumed per eating occasion from the 1987-1988 Nationwide provisions Consumption Survey (NFCS) and, as necessary to verify amounts, data from the 1977-1978 NCF and 1985-1986 Continuing review of Food Intake by Individuals. (9 10) The USDA used similar way s to develop RACCs for animal returnss (11, 12)