Pulses Australia hopes a new food pyramid which features grain pulses twice will aid its efforts to boost consumption.
Nutrition Australia unveiled the new food pyramid on Tuesday. It is based on nutrition guidelines released in 2013.
The product of the findings from about 55,000 scientific papers, the new pyramid advises cutting added sugar from diets and eating small amounts of dairy and meat. It retains fruit and vegetables as the food group consumers should eat most of.
Pulses, such as chickpeas, lentil and beans, feature twice on the pyramid, the only food group to do so, alongside vegetables and meat and dairy.
A spokeswoman for the Dieticians Association of Australia, Julie Gilbert, said the change reflected their status as a source of protein and carbohydrates.
“They are a really good source of fibre and they are also a source of carbohydrates and protein,” she said.
“But they certainly don’t have the kilojoule value and it’s very difficult to eat them in a large portion sizes as well.
“So it’s really good to see they should be included more regularly into our diet.”
The change has been welcomed by industry group Pulses Australia, which believes the advice is well timed with its own efforts to triple consumption in Australia in the next few years.
Statistics from the Grain Legume and Nutrition Council show in 2011 only 3.6 per cent of Australians included pulses in their diets.
But National Farmers’ Federation president Brett Finlay said dietary guidelines over the decades had always had to contend with the foods people actually wanted to eat.
“One year something is good for you and a few years later, I’m sceptical enough to say, they will say ‘you shouldn’t be eating that’.”
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-05-20/new-food-pyramid-rural/6483734
