Five for Fridays - Oct 2, 2009

Greetings! Fall is in the air and I really love this time of the year. There is a cool, crisp freshness in the air, especially in the morning and just before the sunset. We are having a lot of fun with the twins playing outdoors in the yard or going around the block with them on their tricycles. Hopefully you all are having fun too. And yes, the Holidays are not that far off either!

It’s Friday, which means it’s time for another Five for Fridays! Here are 5 interesting nutrition stories of the week that caught my eye. Enjoy and drop a comment to let me know what’s on your mind.

Maximize your child’s nutrition at every stage

Registered Dietitian Maryann Jacobsen has written a very nice and comprehensive guide to help you maximize your child’s nutrition at every stage, from birth to school years. What I liked about her post is that she describes very clearly the recommended levels of different nutrients and offers great feeding tips at every age. For preschoolers, it is important to build healthy eating habits early on by striking a balance between their desire for sugary, fatty and high energy snacks and balanced homemade meals. Eating as a family is highly recommended, although it is no easy feat to accomplish!

For school-age children, watch out for deficiencies in vitamin E, D, calcium, magnesium, potassium and fiber. Get them to eat with you as a family and encourage them to eat more fruits and vegetables.

Most of all, don’t give up, keep trying and fight the battle by being a role model.

Too much marketing hype behind probiotics

There is a lot of buzz around probiotics these days! People have been eating yogurt for a long time, but it is only recently that food marketers have realized they can make it sexier by using the immunity claim on the package. This kind of advertising is hard to resist, especially when it comes to products for kids. Even we fell for the DanActive Immunity Probiotic Drink, which claimed to have a new more absorbable yogurt culture but it contained a lot of sugar and it was super expensive. All kinds of claims are being made to pull customers. I was surprised to lean that Dannon recently settled a class-action lawsuit Activia yogurts and DanActive yogurt drinks.

When it comes to probiotics, not every strain of the bacteria is equally effective. Consumers should be informed about the specific probiotic strain in the product and its scientifically proven benefits. The L. Casei Immunitas^TM strain in DanActive drinks has been shown to reduce illness in children attending daycare. But there is very little evidence of general immunity or resistance to disease from these probiotics. In my opinion, these new products are not worth the extra money and you should watch out for added sugar. In the meantime, plain yogurt with home-made fruit puree is a very decent affordable option!

Schools start cooking fresh food for a healthier lunch

Yes there are a lot of regulations for school kitchens, there is little or no equipment and there aren’t any skilled cooks on the staff. Plus it is simply easier to serve straight out of a package after a quick reheat. No wonder over 80% of the school districts in the country cook less than half of their entrees from scratch according to a 2009 survey by the School Nutrition Association. School lunches have neither appealing nor appetizing for kids!

I was happy to read about one middle school in New York which is trying to do things differently to encourage kids to eat better at lunch. Mostly due to the efforts of its principal and the cafeteria manager, a few new ideas are being implemented. A curry chicken recipe is one such idea especially popular among the students. The bread is whole wheat, pasta is whole grain and milk is low fat. There are salad bars and deli bars. More importantly, these leaders believe that “the children need a little flair in the food, it is good for their brains”. Amen to that!

Omega-3 cheese may soon become available

A new study shows the promise of formulating cheese with fish-derived omega-3 without the fishy smell. Scientists have developed a technique to add omega-3 as an emulsion to the cheese to make it stable and mask the fishy smell. It is still at the research stage but I am sure there will soon be a commercial product given the huge consumer interest in omega-3 fatty acids. I think it is a good innovation even though only a small amount of omega-3 can be added to cheese by this technique.

Omega-3 fatty acids are called essential fatty acids because the human body cannot make them. They are good for growing children because they help in visual and brain function development. Diet and supplements are the only source of these nutrients. Cheese is popular among children, therefore omega-3 fortification of cheese makes sense. When it becomes available, watch out for saturated fats and trans fats before tossing it in your shopping cart!

A fun way to learn about nutrition

Cathy of A Life Less Sweet provided a link to Nourish Interactive, a website which is trying to educate parents and kids about nutrition by using online games. It looks very interesting, and best of all, membership is free. Parents and kids can learn together by trying out these games, puzzles and challenges. You will need to create an account for your child to play free. There are many useful interactive tools such as a healthy meal planner which helps you calculate the daily calories for different foods based on your child’s age. I plan to check it out in detail. If you do try it, let me know what you think.

Enjoy your weekend!

Photo source -chefranden on Flickr via everystockphoto
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