如果說到食物金字塔，你會想起一個怎樣的金字塔呢?一個小時候已經很熟悉的四層式金字塔?其實，美國國家農業部於二零零五年發表了一個食物金字塔的改良版(My Pyramid)。顧名思義，My pyramid代表根據自己的日常活動量，每個人都會一個屬於自己的、獨特的食物金字塔。
 有別於傳統水平一層層的食物金字塔，食物金字塔由六條垂直的彩帶所組成，最左邊的橙色代表穀類，綠色代表蔬菜，紅色代表水果，黃色代表油脂類，藍色代表乳製品，最右邊的紫色為肉類及豆製品。舊金字塔把食物由下而上層層排列，容易給人一種愈上層的食物，愈不健康的感覺。不過，每一種食物都是人類身體不可或缺的，只是需要份量的不同。新的食物金字塔則表達了每一類的食物都很重要、應均衡且多樣化的攝取。這樣的排列，喻意食物種類並無優劣之分，例如健康的脂肪類和穀類從此可以「平起平坐」。新金字塔亦有建議不同食物的攝取比例，脂肪的三角比穀類窄小，因此比例上應吃得較少。 另外一個分別是在金字塔的左邊加入了一個正在跑樓梯的人，說明每日的進食量必須與運動量取得平衡，每天應該進行最少20-30分鐘運動。而且，新的食物金字塔沒有給予太多具體的資料，意味住每個人有自己的生活習慣，所以應根據自己的情況去做多資料搜集，才去決定每樣食物應該食多少。 
食物金字塔會隨著科學知識增長而改良，相信不久之後又會出現一個再改良過的食物金字塔了！ 
When we talk about food pyramid, what will be the first thing coming up to your mind? A traditional food pyramid with 4 horizontal layers? In fact, the United States Department of Agriculture has published a new modified version of food pyramid in 2005, My Pyramid. It represents everyone has a unique food pyramid according to his or her daily activities. Being different from its traditional counterpart with horizontal layers, the new food pyramid is composed of vertical 6 smaller triangles in different colors, in which orange for grains, green for vegetables, red for fruits, yellow for oil, blue for milk and purple for meat and beans. The traditional one classifies different categories of food into four horizontal layers, which easily renders people think that the foods on the upper layers to be less healthy. However, this concept is wrong since all of these nutrients are essential to our bodies in various amounts. The new pyramid stressed that all of the nutrients are equally important and, should be eaten in adequate amounts and diverse manner. Also, it suggests the appropriate intake proportions of different nutrients, such as the size of yellow triangle is smaller than that of orange triangle, indicating that less lipid should be eaten than grains in proportion.
Secondly, a man running up the stair on the left of the pyramid points out the necessity of a balance between diet and exercise. At least 20-30minutes of exercise a day is recommended. The new pyramid does not deliver too much specific information on the amount of each category of food to be ingested. This implies every one has his or her own lifestyle. Therefore, we have to research more in order to determine the optimum ingestion amount of each nutrient category, with the consideration on our physique and needs. All in all, food pyramid is modified according to the current scientific research. With the advancement in science and technology, a newer food pyramid may appear soon!   我們現已登陸facebook！全新HK BioTek專頁將配合facebook全新打咭功能，為會員提供不同優惠。除此之外，HK BioTek將繼續透過本平台，提供不同健康資訊。關注健康的您絕對不容錯過，請按此獲得詳細資料。HK BioTek is now on facebook! Our new page will incorporate the new check-in function, providing more privilege for our members. In addition, we will keep you up-to-date on various health topics through this platform. Please click here for more detail. |
