Happy Easter! It is Friday again, which means it is time for the usual Five for Fridays! Here are 5 food and nutrition related stories that caught my eye. Enjoy and let me know what you think.
New health bill will require restaurants to show calories on the menu
Chain restaurants with more than 20 outlets nationwide will be required to display nutrient content and calorie information on their menus according to Section 2572 of the recent healthcare bill. Similar rules will apply to vending machines. Menu labeling has been already in place in New York City for over an year with mixed results. Studies published last year, which I wrote about in a Five for Fridays, reported that doubts were emerging about the effectiveness of calorie labeling. What was more worrisome to me was the fact that some restaurants were actually “cheating” by posting lower calories than actually present in certain food items when tested! Clearly, this should not be allowed.
I think calorie labeling on restaurant menus is a good idea. Not only that, there should also be other nutritional information available, particularly on salt, sugar and fat. It may take some time before consumers are fully aware of the risks of salty, sugary and fatty foods, but clearly in the long run it will help them make better decisions. The problem is that now it will require some sort of policing to ensure compliance with the law. Already there are problems with the National Organic Program (see below) due to constraints in budget and inspectors . These new requirements will undoubtedly create a new bureaucracy and another cat-and-mouse game will begin between food marketers and compliance officers. Hopefully it will become a self-policing system if consumers begin to vote with their wallets at these restaurants.
National Organic Program lacks teeth to enforce rules
You pay extra for certified organic products. You have the right to expect that they are genuine and that they do not contain pesticide residues. You do not expect non-organic products sold with the organic label. Yet, it is not an absolute guarantee! Now, wouldn’t that make you mad?
This is exactly how I felt when I read a report in the New York Times which exposed serious gaps in federal oversight of the organic food industry. Turns out that they don’t have enough inspectors to spot check organic products for pesticide residue (required by law) and that bogus organic products were allowed to be in the market for over 2 years before any action was taken. The excuse? Well, demand for organic products has grown so fast that the USDA’s National Organic Program can’t keep up with its enforcement responsibilities!
Finally, they are making a commitment to enforce spot testing for pesticide residues. They are getting more money and more people. The bureaucracy is ballooning but don’t expect it work perfectly. It never does. Meanwhile, don’t give up on organic products; just do your research and buy from a reputable brand.
Pepsico wants to trick your tongue by “designer salt”
Don’t give up on the potato chips! At least that is what Pepsico would like you to do just in case you are having second thoughts after reading about the evil sodium in their popular snacks. Recently they announced plans to cut sodium content by 25% by 2015, saturated fat and added sugar by 15% and 25% respectively by 2020. Sounds like the responsible thing to do, especially now that there is a bright spotlight on the link between processed food and obesity.
The solution, at least for sodium? A new “designer salt” which has crystals shaped and sized so that they dissolve fast on the tongue delivering a rapid salty sensation. While an innovative idea, which Pepsico is sure to market as a “breakthrough”, I think it is still a great example of incremental thinking. The problem is not with salt folks, it is the chips that we need to cut down on.
And 25% reduction is not going to make these products “healthier”! Consider Cheetos, which contain a whopping 290 mg of sodium per 1 oz serving. A 25% reduction (in 5 years) will bring it down to about 220, which is still very high. Too little, too late? What do you think?
Spinach leaves enrich their vitamin content sitting on the store shelf
Worried about picking up that box of baby spinach close to its expiration date? Well, believe it or not, you may be actually getting more value for your money compared to a box that did not sit on the store shelves for this long!
According to researchers at the USDA, spinach leaves exposed to store lighting conditions continuously over 9 days had a higher level of folate, vitamin C, K and E compared to those kept in the dark. This fascinating research was recently published in the Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry. The researchers reasoned that the spinach leaves continued their photosynthesis (a process by which plants produce sugars using sunlight and carbon dioxide) under the store light, which also produces these vitamins. When the same spinach leaves were stored in the dark, photosynthesis did not happen.
This is interesting for sure, but remember that the vitamin content of vegetables also depends on how you cook them. Steaming and microwaving is good; but eating raw fresh veggies is even better.
Teaching kids to eat healthy the French way
Offer preschoolers a 5 course meal, make sure they eat at the table and keep the parents out is the French recipe for getting kids to build lifelong healthy eating habits. I was fascinated to read the Nursery School Gourmets in a recent TIME magazine, which explained how seriously the city of Paris looks at the matter of school lunches.
Clearly, it is a well-structured, heavily funded state program unlike what we have in the United States. The daily menu is planned in advance for 2 months with no repetitions. Every meal includes an hors d’oeuvre, salad, main course, cheese plate and dessert (yum!). Soda and snack machines are banned. Parents are given suggestions for what to serve at dinner based on the day’s lunch menu. Discipline is intense and kids are trained to eat at the table and keep quiet.
Should we emulate the French model to solve our childhood obesity problem? The topic of school lunch is center stage these days, and Jamie Olivers’ Food Revolution is on prime time. The French model is yet another benchmark for us to consider. What do you think?
Enjoy and let me know what is on your mind.
Photo Source: Wikimedia Commons
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great topics this week! I think the French school and nutrition system is worth further investigating. I wonder about exercise schedules at French schools , probably not optional either.
I don’t think we have to go a far as the French (not realistic in terms of funding). But I do think we need to give children more time to eat their meals. And educating them about food they are eating is very important.
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