Food Pyramid Chart Suggesting 'Lucky Charms' Are Healthier Than Steak Goes Viral, But A Lack Of Context Is Giving People The Wrong Idea

It appears Joe Rogan has once again helped to spread misinformation after misreading a viral news story and broadcasting it to his millions of followers, alongside many others who similarly voiced their outrage over the weekend.

On Sunday, Rogan posted a headline from a meat delivery company called Good Ranchers that read, "New Government-funded Food Pyramid Says Lucky Charms Are Healthier Than Steak." He also posted a chart clarifying how the "government-funded food pyramid" rates foods.

"Complete, undeniable, indefensible bullshit," he wrote. "But yet this government funded recommendation chart is here to let you know they suck at giving food advice too."

The incendiary claim spread online as numerous other users and communities reposted it or reacted to Rogan's post, causing it to trend.

Study showed that #LuckyCharms are actually more healthy than #Steak and #eggs pic.twitter.com/bTRwuU5eL6

— No Jumper (@nojumper) January 15, 2023

When “The Science” says Lucky Charms are better for you than beef and eggs, you know “The Science” is a joke!! pic.twitter.com/ywp3kwy252

— Dr Shawn Baker 🥩 (@SBakerMD) January 15, 2023

The virality of the chart subsequently raised the eyebrows of fact-checkers online, and soon, Snopes and other debunkers were on the case.

"We found, in short, that there is not, in fact, a new U.S. government-funded food pyramid chart that promotes to the general public the idea that the children's breakfast cereal Lucky Charms is healthier than steak," Snopes wrote in its article about the contentious food pyramid chart.

A rumor is going around online that claims a "new government-funded 'food pyramid' says Lucky Charms are healthier than steak." Here's how all of this started. https://t.co/VGO01mll36

— snopes.com (@snopes) January 17, 2023

So, how did this misunderstanding come to be?

In February last year, nutrition scientists came together in a paper challenging the "Food Compass Nutrient Profiling System," a system devised by scientists at Tufts University to algorithmically calculate the healthiness of certain foods. By assigning elements of various foods a certain rating, their math determines the "healthfulness" of particular foods. For example, as Food Compass states on its FAQ page, "Food Compass is one of the only food rating systems to give negative points for refined carbohydrates and for food processing."

The nutritionists who published Limitations of the Food Compass Nutrient Profiling System took exception to this system, arguing it had grave methodology problems that resulted in inaccurate data. To demonstrate this, they created a chart showing some generally bizarre ratings Food Compass came up with, such as Frosted Mini Wheats being one of the healthiest foods one can consume and ground beef being one of the worst. Somewhere in the middle was Lucky Charms.

In short, the chart making waves on social media is not a "government-funded food pyramid" but rather a chart created to demonstrate nutritional scientists' issues with one organization's food-rating system.

It made its way to Rogan after Good Ranchers blogged about it on Thursday last week. The article appeared to conflate some facts and misrepresented the chart. It noted that the head of Tufts nutrition program, Dariush Mozaffarian, had recently presented at the White House on nutrition. However, he did not recommend that Americans eat more Lucky Charms than steak at the presentation. Good Ranchers pulled the chart out of context, saying Food Compass was really recommending people do just that.

As the chart spread without context online, many were also promoting conspiracy theories that the United States government wants its citizens to be sick or that the government was simply incompetent.

Government says Lucky Charms are more nutritious than a Steak.I don’t even know what to say or think anymore.I’ve lost all faith. pic.twitter.com/AbTPQeVjzS

— Michael / SONII ☀️ (@sonii) January 15, 2023

The NIH food pyramid study said Cheerios and Lucky Charms are better than steak (ranked 37). The NIH wants you sick and dependent on the medical industry to solve your obesity and metabolic issues. pic.twitter.com/pr0vIoEsJ6

— The Arianni (@thearianni) January 17, 2023

Imagine a world where someone in a position of governmental power puts together a nutritional ranking chart....and Lucky Charms rank higher than ground beef & steak.Where skinless chicken literally EEKS out being more nutritious than Lucky CharmsWhat a wild world we live in pic.twitter.com/Opk7DUr0UH

— Lee Brenon 🏋🏼‍♂️ (@lee_brenon) January 14, 2023

As with the gas stove ban hoax last week, it seems a game of Telephone gone awry has put the wrong idea in many peoples' heads.

Food Compass has addressed some of the concerns about their methodology in their FAQ page, writing:

Food Compass works very well, on average, across thousands of food and beverage products. But, when this number and diversity of products are scored, there are always some exceptions. These graphs were created by others to show these exceptions, rather than to show the overall performance of Food Compass and the many other foods for which Food Compass works well. But, as objective scientists, we accept constructive criticism and are using this to further improve Food Compass. We are working on an updated version now.