The rise, fall and possible return of the food pyramid

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President Donald Trump’s secretary of health and human services and a man on a mission to “make America healthy again,” shares his plan to change what he claims is the nation’s toxic food culture. He may soon help the remnants of the past to make this happen.

Bloomberg reported that the Trump administration is considering bringing back the food pyramid when the Department of Health and Human Services and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) jointly update the U.S. Dietary Guidelines next month.

“We are on the verge of issuing dietary guidelines that will change the food culture in this country,” Kennedy told reporters earlier this month. HHS and USDA update the guidelines every five years.

A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services told Bloomberg on Thursday that “Kennedy is committed to new dietary recommendations rooted in hard science” and that “the 2025-2030 Dietary Guidelines for Americans will be a big part of the Trump administration’s commitment to make America healthy again.” A USDA spokesperson said the updated guidelines “address the chronic disease epidemic plaguing our nation by prioritizing whole, healthy and nutritious foods.”

TIME reached out to both departments about the possible return of the Food Pyramid. The image is expected to focus on protein and whole foods, which Kennedy has long supported as it aims to steer people away from ultra-processed food products, unnamed sources told Bloomberg.

Here’s what to know about the rise of the food pyramid as a guide to the American diet, how it lost popularity, and why it might be making a comeback.

Move up the food pyramid

The USDA’s dietary advice initially came as a warning. The famous chemist and nutritionist Wilbur and Atwater wrote in the Farmer’s Bulletin in 1894: “If care is not taken in the selection of food, it may lead to a partial or unbalanced diet, that is, in which protein or fuel ingredients (carbohydrates and fat) are present, but not quickly felt bad or harmful. Later they are sure to show.”

Over the years, US officials have tried to make recommendations about the diet of Americans, and create images so that people can easily understand the dietary recommendations.

In 1943, during World War II, the USDA issued nutritional advice in the form of the “Seven Essentials,” which took into account potential shortages in rations, according to a chapter in the 1999 book by Carol Davis and Etta Salts. Eating habits in America: changes and consequences. Three of the seven categories are devoted to fruits and vegetables, and each is divided into the following categories: milk and dairy products; Meat, poultry, fish and eggs. Bread, flour and cereals. Ghee or ghee. But she didn’t recommend serving sizes from each food group.

In 1956, the basic seven were simplified to four, and organized into groups: milk, meat, fruit, vegetables and grains. It also provided daily serving recommendations for each group: four servings of vegetables, fruit and breadcrumbs, two servings of meat, and “some” of milk and dairy products.

In the 1970s, the U.S. Dietary Guidelines, as Americans know them today, began to take shape, as diseases were increasingly linked to unhealthy diets. Dietary fat came under increasing scrutiny, and in 1977, a Senate committee led by Senator George McGovern (D, SD) proposed dietary goals for the United States that recommended consumption of less sugar, sodium, and fat—and more complex carbohydrates and “naturally occurring” sugars.

Then, in 1980, the USDA and the Department of Health and Human Services issued the Seven Point Dietary Guidelines for Americans, with high intakes of sugar, fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, and sodium consistently identified as risk factors for chronic disease. To clarify what a healthy diet looked like at the time, the USDA, in collaboration with the American National Red Cross, introduced consumers to “The Food Wheel: A Model for Everyday Food Choices” in 1984.

Four years later, the food guide was published in pyramid form. The width of the surface of the pyramid roughly dictates the ratio of food rations: at its base were bread, rice, grains, and cereals, which should have had the largest rations; At the top were fats and sweets, which should be eaten in moderation.

The collapse of the food pyramid

But even the pyramid has been criticized because it remains too broad and vague. For example, it is recommended that Americans eat 6 to 11 servings of grains, but details such as serving sizes and which specific foods in each category are considered healthy choices (such as brown rice versus white rice) remain unclear. Critics have also highlighted how it fails to take into account individual differences in nutritional needs, such as different age and health demographics.

To address these concerns, work began on updating Pyramid in 2003, and two years later, a new version called MyPyramid was released. It was designed with ladders, intended to remind Americans of the need to exercise, and changed the food sections into different color bands to represent different food groups: orange for grains, green for vegetables, red for fruit, yellow for oil, blue for milk, and purple for beans and meat.

In 2011, the United States abandoned the food pyramid in favor of what’s called My Plate, which uses a plate to represent what the average person should be, according to the most recent Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Tom Wilsick, the Secretary of Agriculture, called My Plate “a simple, visual, research-based image that sends a clear, unambiguous message about portion sizes.”

MyPlate’s recommendations are easy to follow: Half your plate should be fruits and vegetables, and about a quarter should be grains and protein. A small plate on the side was reserved for dairy products. The goal, as presented by then-first lady Michelle Obama, is to have America’s plate look like the one shown in the My Plate graphic.

A possible return to the food pyramid

Details about what the new dietary guidelines will look like are still being debated, Bloomberg reports.

Kennedy, who oversees nutrition standards as secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, has publicly advocated against ultra-processed foods, which he claims are “sucking” Americans, and blames such products for chronic disease and rising national obesity rates.

But Kennedy also promoted misinformation about the diet. He has spoken out against seed oils such as canola and soybean, even though experts have pointed to their health benefits and have endorsed oil as an alternative. She also embraces raw milk, although food safety experts have warned of a high risk of foodborne illness from consuming it.

The upcoming guidelines have caused concern among nutritionists given Kennedy’s beliefs. At an event in Colorado in July, Kennedy said the guidelines would “emphasize the need to consume saturated fat” linked to health risks. That same month, Kennedy promoted full-fat dairy products, criticizing what he called “an attack on whole milk, cheese and yogurt” when he announced a sweeping overhaul of the nation’s Dietary Guidelines.