RFK jr's Food (Non) Pyramid as Propaganda

Richard Rathe, January 2026

The history of the food pyramid is complicated (see my analysis from 2004). There hasn't been an official one for maybe twenty years. I grew up with it and I think it is a sound idea, but very political with respect to what foods go where. It may be a coincidence, but anyone who is familiar with the old pyramid will recognize this one as an inverted echo. There are many other ways to lay out these ideas graphically, the choice of an inverted triangle is not subtle. I think it's propaganda for the following reasons:

1) Note the small size of the Whole Grains arm. Also the horizontal black line cutting this arm off from the other much larger arms. This would have been the tip on the old pyramid labeled use sparingly. The other two arms are not similarly cut off, and are much larger. The bias is clear.

2) If there was any doubt about the intended triangle or pyramid shape, note the 11 little rolled oats at the bottom. They complete the implied corner almost perfectly. [This is speculation, but US adults my age had the original pyramid drummed into our heads. I wonder if that makes this inverted pyramid-like graphic more effective with the MAGA base? Just a thought.]

3a) Notice the phrasing of Protein, Dairy, & Healthy Fats. First, they explicitly avoid the word Meat but surround the those words with various meat examples.

3b) Second, they sneak in the word Healthy. Why not Healthy Whole Grains? This usage implies there are Unhealthy Fats. What are they? The reader is left to ponder this.

3c) Third, as defined mostly from the pictures, Protein, Dairy, & Healthy Fats is a very diverse category. For example the beef and salmon steaks are right next to each other, but nutritionally they are very different and not interchangeable. The graphic implies that they are.

3d) Dairy is very over-represented—I count five items out of 13-14 depending on how you count. Also note that the milk is explicitly whole and the yogurt is in a pre-filled cup, which generally means it has lots of sugar and other additives (see below). Not sure what the bowl with fruit topping is—clotted cream?

4) There are many more fruits than vegetables. And there are no hard beans at all (red beans, chick peas, etc.). Also no maize/corn. No rice.

5) Also note that they mention protein and fat by name, but not carbs.

See also: The US fails again to fix the real causes underlying poor health