SEC. CHUCK CONNER: Nancy Johner, Under Secretary for Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services] thank you for that introduction, and before you get started, ladies and gentlemen, I do want to apologize, particularly to Dr. Larsen, for my tardiness here. I will tell you, I was not next door drinking a cup of coffee. As many of you have read, we are in the midst of a very severe fire in Southern California, and some people may not know that the U.S. Department of Agriculture does have jurisdiction over our National Forest Service, 193 million acres. In fact many of those are in Southern California. And so we are the lead federal agency in that firefighting activity. And so as you can imagine we've been a little preoccupied in not only making sure that people are protected, but in this case the weather is now cooperating and we're actually successfully fighting that fire. So I hope that trend continues that we get that kind of cooperation.

Nancy, thank you again for the introduction. Nancy does tireless work here. Her commitment to a Healthier America, Doctor, is strong, and she provides effective leadership for our agency.

These programs that we operate need to work for every single American at every stage of life, and certainly we recognize that no time is more critical for mother and child than during that period of pregnancy and in the early months after the birth of the child's development. It is my great pleasure today really to announce this new initiative, the interacting website specifically designed to provide prospective mothers and new moms with nutrition guidance that meets their own unique needs. We call it MyPyramid for Moms. I'm not a mom, but I am a father of four, and I do have lots of first-hand experience with a lot of the excitement of pregnancy and a lot of the questions my wife had during those pregnancies. They are all part of every mother's pregnancy, and of course the months following the baby's birth as well.

Our goal at USDA is to offer women a clearly marked road-map through the answers to some of these questions. MyPyramid for Moms may be a little late for my family, but we believe delivery is right on schedule for many of the expecting and nursing mothers who have joined us today, and we are honored to have you with us.

In developing My Pyramid for Moms, our Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion relied on really an outstanding group of individuals for their expert guidance in both maternal as well as child nutrition. Dr. John Larsen who has already been recognized, and to the George Washington University Medical Center, we simply express our appreciation for hosting us today, and of course for your work in reviewing and helping us with the website and working closely with us.

I also do want to recognize our colleagues within the Department of Health and Human Services, and of course so many people scattered throughout academia around the country for their advice and counsel as we have developed this website. All of our partners have helped us to extend this reach at the federal nutrition guidance consistent with our own 2005 dietary guidelines for Americans, which of course is the basis for federal food and nutrition education for America.

Thanks to the work of so many dedicated individuals, My Pyramid for Moms is the most comprehensive educational resource of its kind. While our goal is to help expectant and new moms, this website of course is also a fine reference point for dietitians, nutrition educators, obstetricians, and of course other healthcare providers. We believe women will find this to be a very practical and personal way to get nutrition, the nutrition information they shall have and need.

First and foremost, this website is a tool. It's free, it's available to everyone, it has sharp, clear messages and it's easy to use and the access is easy as well. The pregnant woman or nursing mother enters certain information such as her age, her weight, her due date. MyPyramid for Moms will then generate a plan that's personalized to her individual needs. She'll get customized food choices that she can read from the screen, or she can download as a full-color printout and perhaps pin to her refrigerator.

What kind of information can moms access and how do they get it? All the women need to do of course is to go to MyPyramid.gov, the website there. They need to click on the icon for pregnancy and breast-feeding. This is something I'd already done this morning. It's up and running; very, very easy to use.

They will find guidance ranging from nutritional needs during pregnancy and breastfeeding, to weight gain and loss, dietary supplements, food safety, and special health needs. It even has an icon that you can click on of what to do if you're expecting quints, triplets or more I believe.

[Laughter.]

I'm not sure, Doctor. It's important for us to keep in mind that all of this information compliments the advice that we already get and have for MyPyramid for the general public. In fact, it's the overwhelming success of MyPyramid.gov that prompted us to develop this new site specifically for this target audience.

When Secretary Mike Johanns launched MyPyramid over two years ago, USDA for the first time did get consumers the tool to personalize their approach to healthier food choices based on the growing body of science behind diet, lifestyle and exercise. I am proud to say the response to MyPyramid.gov has simply been incredible. Bear with me if I do brag about our agency a little bit, but since its release in April of 2005 we've had over 4 billion hits on this website. Given the computer system we have, that's remarkable that we handle that kind of capacity, but we do. And it's a great website; 67 percent get to the important point. People aren't just surfing the net when they go to our website; 67 percent of the website visitors tell us in surveys, with the information they've picked up, it has prompted them to take some action that we believe will improve their health in some way.

We are very pleased to be using government science-based information along with the latest technology to achieve so much good to guide Americans, and particularly expectant and nursing mothers, for healthier eating and healthier lifestyles. Now with Moms across the nation added to their families, we're building on our own family of on-line nutritional guidance tools. We urge women, women from all aspects of life, to log on to MyPyramid for Moms to understand their personal needs and to make the choices that will get their young families off to a good and healthy start and their rewards will just be endless for them in the future.

So I thank all of you for being here. Thank you all for playing such an important role in the development of this website. I really believe it will be one of the very, very important milestones to this age going forward. So thank you all, and Dr. Larsen especially thank you for hosting us today.

[Applause.]

Additional Information:

USDA Announces New MyPyramid for Pregnant and Nursing Moms