The future of recommendations on grain foods in dietary guidance.

Grain foods serve as an important source of energy, essential nutrients, and sometimes fiber. Recognizing that fiber continues to be identified as a nutrient of public health priority, there is an urgent need to address the ongoing fiber intake deficit. The focus in dietary guidance on whole grains as a source of fiber from the grains food group has not improved levels of fiber consumption. Consumer confusion around whole grains and fiber, combined with the wide range of fiber amounts found in whole-grain-labeled products, suggests that the current recommendation to "make half your grains whole" may be oversimplified in its intent to support increased fiber intakes. Nutrition educators and policy makers need to bring the conversation back to balancing all grain food choices, including enriched grains, whole grains, bran-based grain foods, and other grain-based foods with fiber, with greater emphasis on differentiating grain foods by the fiber they deliver. Changes in labeling, policy recommendations, and consumer messages are needed to help make this happen.

Menu modeling with MyPyramid food patterns: incremental dietary changes lead to dramatic improvements in diet quality of menus.

The MyPyramid food guidance system provides recommended food intake patterns for members of each sex at various age and activity levels. These food intake patterns are based on recommendations of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2005. Actual consumption patterns of American adults compared to MyPyramid recommendations indicate that substantial changes are needed to meet the goals of MyPyramid. One method for encouraging dietary change, known as the small steps approach, involves small, gradual changes to meet a desired endpoint. Menu modeling was used to evaluate the effects of gradual dietary changes on diet quality. Seven days of baseline menus were developed to model the intake of adult women aged 31 to 50 years. Incremental changes were made to each baseline menu to create a series of three transitional menus and a final target menu. Target menus met MyPyramid energy and nutrient intake goals. Diet quality was measured for each baseline, transitional, and target menu using the Healthy Eating Index-2005. The average Healthy Eating Index-2005 score for baseline menus compared to target menus increased by more than 50 points with incremental increases observed for each transitional menu. This analysis demonstrates that small, practical changes in food choices that bring consumers closer to meeting MyPyramid recommendations result in gradual and dramatic improvements in diet quality. Food and nutrition professionals can use menu modeling to provide concrete examples and specific guidance for making progressive changes in food selections to meet current dietary recommendations.

Focus on Communications: Communicating the Message: Clarifying the Controversies About Caffeine.

Today's "coffee culture" and the widespread availability of caffeine-containing foods and beverages fuel the ongoing study of caffeine and its subsequent coverage by the media. Although the media has become influential in communicating health and nutrition information to the public, coverage of emerging science, such as the study of caffeine, does not necessarily bring clarity or improved understanding for consumers. This article highlights the current knowledge of caffeine's effects on health, with emphasis on the most common areas of interest and confusion. To address persistent misperceptions about caffeine, this article also accentuates the need for nutrition professionals to help put the findings of caffeine research into perspective and suggests practical ways to do this.