Time for another Five for Fridays! Enjoy and feel free to share a nutrition news story you found interesting.

Grab a candy to fight your recession blues

Sugar is proving itself to be recession proof! According to this story in the New York Times, the recession seems to have a “sweet tooth” and those most affected by it are seeking comfort in candy. Companies in the business of candy like Cadbury, Nestle and Hershey are reporting strong profits when many other businesses are fighting to stay afloat. Low prices, fancy colors and packaging and clever marketing surely helps to draw those seeking a quick relief from their troubles. Interestingly enough, candy makers did very well even during the great depression. So you could say that human behavior hasn’t really changed during the last 80 years or so. So if you want to be a hero at work during these tough times, display a box of candies on your desk for uplifting the mood of your co-workers!

Activate your “brown” fat to lose weight

Trying to lose weight by diet and exercise and not happy with your progress? Well, recent research would suggest that you might do better by locking yourself up in a cold room for 2 hours! That is if you don’t freeze to death first! Jokes apart, it seems like we all carry part of the baby fat well into adulthood that is programmed to protect us against cold by burning calories into heat. Researchers call it the “brown fat” or “brown adipose tissue (BAT)” to be more precise, which is called into action when we find ourselves shivering in the bitter cold. Men have more of it than women, and so do lean people than overweight people. So what is it and how do you get more of it? This is a question that some researchers are very interested in because everybody in the world seems to want to find the silver bullet for the obesity problem! Turns out that when mice are injected with a certain growth factor called BMP7, they develop more of the brown fat. Now before you get any smart ideas about self-injecting yourself with this growth factor, keep in mind that it is not available on ebay and that human beings are not mice! I am sure you won’t do that, but just making sure!! Read the full story from the Washington Post here.

There are Blue states, there are Red states. And then there are Obese states!

Just stumbled upon this cool animated map of the US showing the progression of obesity between 1985 and 2007 across different states. Obesity is defined as a Body Mass Index of over 30, or about 30 lbs over-weight for a 5’4″ tall person. It is amazing to see the dramatic change in the obesity landscape of our nation in a little over 2 decades. In 1985, there were 13 states with obesity rates of less than 10% and none over 15% although no data was available for more than half of the states. By 2007, Colorado was the only state with less than 20% (notice, there was none with less than 10%), 19 states and Washington DC had obesity rates between 20 – 24%, 25 states between  25 – 29% and 3 had over 30%. These were Alabama, Mississippi and Tennessee, where about 1 in every 3 adults could be considred obese. It would be interesting to see a similar data for children because childhood obesity is also on the rise. I wonder if there is a link between distribution of adult obesity and childhood obesity.

Nutrition experts pick top functional foods

The New York State Dietetic Association has announced its selection of top functional foods in an effort to educate the public about their benefits when included in a balanced and varied diet. These foods contain essential nutrients like omega-3 fatty acids, vitamins, minerals or probiotics. The top five are – Salmon (omega-3 acids), Oats (fiber), Blueberries (anti-oxidants), Low fat milk (calcium, vitamin D) and Low fat yogurt (probiotics: gut-friendly bacteria). Read the full story here. How many servings of these foods are you able to include in your child’s diet? Or your own diet?

40% of all oil consumed by Americans is trans fat

According to this post in Fooducate, we consume about 1/2 a cup of oil every day on a per capita basis. And since almost half of it is hydrogenated to some degree, it means that it contains trans fat. I am skeptical about the accuracy of this estimate; but that is not the point. I think most of this oil is consumed via fast food, snacks and restaurant foods. Even if you solve the problem of hydrogenated oil containing trans fat, the fast food, snacks and restaurant foods are not going to suddenly get “healthy” despite the marketing hype. Sure enough, the article points out that an Iowa company is trying to genetically engineer soybeans that will make an oil that has no “artery clogging trans fats“, and when that happens “McDonalds, Frito-Lay and other companies may snap up the oil and promote heart healthy fried foods and chips“! This is practically insane. We should certainly worry about trans-fat, but also not forget that fast food, chips or other fried food is not really nutritious and healthy. Continue to read the label for trans fats and don’t fall for the zero trans fat claim (see my commentary on trans fats in last week’s Five For Friday). And of course, don’t fall for the hyped up snacks and fast food even if it is made out of some fancy soybean oil!

Enjoy your weekend!

Image source: Ansik on Flickr
©2009 Littlestomaks.com

It was fun to take the twins out for trick-or-treat this Halloween. At two-and-a-half years, they are now old enough to get into the spirit of trick-or-treating. Lucky for us, they didn’t care too much for the candy being offered by the gracious hosts at each door; rather my son wanted to run inside the house to play with the dog or a toy across the hallway. So it was a constant struggle to drag him back and nudge him to move along with the kids to the next house! In the spirit of Halloween, we gave in a little and allowed him to have his first lollipop. My daughter, on the other hand, truly enjoyed yelling “Trick-or-Treat” at each house – she kept on saying that even as we put her to bed later that night!

All in all, it was good fun.

Hope you had a safe and enjoyable Halloween. Feel free to share your trick-or-treat experience with your toddler.