Brookston Beer Bulletin

Jay R. Brooks on Beer

  • Home
  • About
  • Editorial
  • Birthdays
  • Art & Beer

Socialize

  • Dribbble
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Flickr
  • Github
  • Google+
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • StumbleUpon
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
Powered by Head Quarters Built on WordPress

Beer Missing From MyPlate

June 3, 2011 By Jay Brooks 6 Comments

food-pyramid
Yesterday the USDA scrapped their old food pyramid in favor of a new nutritional chart. The new one is called MyPlate, and as you’d expect it’s shaped like a plate. It’s also a bit simpler than previous efforts, divided into just four groups: proteins, grains, fruit and vegetables. And just off the plate is a fifth food group: “dairy,” looking very much like a cup of milk.

MyPlate

But where’s the beer? I say that only half in jest, as I realize that culturally there’s simply no way that alcohol would ever show up on our food pyramid. That’s despite the fact that for adults (let’s remember the food pyramid is for everybody) who regularly drink in moderation the odds are that they’ll live longer than folks who abstain or drink to excess. Yes, that means moderate beer drinkers are healthier, so it doesn’t seem like it’s too much of a stretch to think it could, or should, be included. Unfortunately, most Americans just can’t bring themselves to admit the obvious, that beer might actually be good for us. That’s especially true in a climate where a majority of adults do in fact drink responsibly while a very vocal minority of anti-alcohol fanatics do everything they can to undermine and distort those very facts.

MyPlate-beer

Not surprisingly, there are other countries whose food pyramids do include alcohol. In the French pyramid, they recommend two glasses of wine for a woman, and three for a man, every day. The Greek pyramid also suggests “wine in moderation.” In fact, eighteen EU nations give at least some type of advice about alcohol in moderation. Likewise, the Latin American food pyramid also recommends “alcohol in moderation.”

And in fact, many food pyramids with names like the “new food pyramid,” the “healthy food pyramid,” and the “Harvard food pyramid” do include the moderate alcohol drinking as part of their recommendations for a healthy lifestyle. But as long as the neo-prohibitionists are the only ones shouting about their peculiar disdain for alcohol, and the alcohol industry continues to play exclusively defense, nothing about this debate is likely to change anytime soon. It’s enough to drive me to drink.

harvard-food-pyramid
The Harvard Food Pyramid

Filed Under: Editorial, Food & Beer, Just For Fun, News, Politics & Law Tagged With: Food, Nutrition, Science

Northern California Breweries

Please consider purchasing my latest book, California Breweries North, available from Amazon, or ask for it at your local bookstore.

The Sessions

session_logo_all_text_1500

Next Session: April 6, 2018
#134: Beer Gardens
Previous Sessions
  • #133: Hometown Glories
  • #132: Homebrewing Talks
  • #131: 3 Things
  • #130: Fantasy Beer Festivals
  • #129: Missing Local Styles
Archive, History & Hosting

Enter your email address:

Typology Tuesday

Typology-png
Next Typology:
On or Before March 29, 2016
#3: Irish-Style Dry Stout
Previous Typologies
  • #2: Bock Feb. 2016
  • #1: Barley Wine Jan. 2016
Archive & History

Recent Posts

  • Beer In Ads #2614: 44,760 New Homes April 18, 2018
  • Beer Birthday: Neil Miller April 18, 2018
  • Beer Birthday: Alan McLeod April 18, 2018
  • Beer In Ads #2613: 191 Nike Missile Sites April 17, 2018
  • Historic Beer Birthday: William O. Poth April 17, 2018

RSS Brookston Beer in Art

  • The Stained Glass WindowRoelof Rossouw2017
    The Stained Glass WindowRoelof Rossouw2017

Recent Comments

  • Atron Seige on Wilhelm Busch: And Order Pegasus — His Beer
  • Toronado Belgian Beer Dinner – April 7 on Toronado Belgian Beer Dinner 2012
  • Rita Kohn on Historic Beer Birthday: August Krug
  • Bryan Kolesar on Celebrator Beer News Ceases Print
  • Cheers to King Gambrinus, the real King of Beers – BC Craft Breweries | Breweries In BC | BC Craft Beer | The Growler on Charles Deulin’s Tales of King Cambrinus
April 2018
S M T W T F S
« Mar    
1234567
891011121314
15161718192021
22232425262728
2930  

Find Something

Tag Cloud

Advertising Announcements Awards Bay Area Bottles Brewers Association Brewing Equipment Budweiser Business California Cans Christmas Europe Germany Great Britain Guinness Health & Beer History Holidays Hops Humor Infographics Kegs Law Mainstream Coverage National Northern California Oregon Pabst Packaging Patent Pennsylvania Photo Gallery Press Release Prohibitionists San Francisco Schlitz Science Science of Brewing Sports Statistics UK Uncategorized United States Video