I am skeptical that the food pyramid has anything to do with what you call the "modern diet". What seems to be happening is that food is cheaper and more divers

I am skeptical that the food pyramid has anything to do with what you call the "modern diet". What seems to be happening is that food is cheaper and more diverse than ever before. This appears to be a byproduct of technological progress and trade, not some government chart. Fortunately, almost everybody ignores the food pyramid. They just interpret it as "oh, I should try to eat from all the food groups". Fine. The problem with the food pyramid is that it is based on obsolete science at best, and was probably designed by food industry lobbies.