Over the weekend we had dinner at a local pizzeria and Italian restaurant. We got the usual kid’s cheese pizza for the twins while we ordered fried calamari as an appetizer for the two of us. I was surprised to see my son dig into the fried calamari for the first time as he reached for the crispy rings several times. Even though we often enjoy calamari, I didn’t know much about its nutritional value. After researching various sources, I compiled these 10 facts that will interest you!

1. Calamari, usually deep fried, is a popular appetizer in many restaurants. The word calamari comes from Italian and refers to squid.
2. Squid belongs to a class of sea animals known as cephalopods found in over 300 different species.
3. Squids can range in size from a few inches to several feet; the largest squid found so far weighed over 1000 pounds!
4. Squids are capable of swimming fast and many species can actually fly through air. They can also change color to camouflage against both prey and predator. Another weapon in their arsenal for survival is an ink like chemical they release when threatened. This ink is safe for human consumption; in fact several pasta dishes are made with it in the sauce.
5. Most squids have 8 arms and 2 tentacles. Most of a squid’s body is edible.
6. Found in oceans all over the world, squids are popular in many cuisines in Europe, Mediterranean, Asia and Japan. Over 2 million tons of squids were harvested
7. As a food source, it is very rich in selenium, vitamin B12 and riboflavin.
8. Squids contain a lot of cholesterol. Depending on the composition of batter and oil used to fry the calamari, it can have a lot of sodium, trans and saturated fats. Certainly moderation is advised even though it tastes good!
9. Squids do not have a shell, but they are related to shellfish. Although not very common, they can be a source of food allergy.
10. Although fried calamari is most popular,  squid sushi is also common.

Have you tried calamari with your kids? Please share your experience in comments below.

Photo: Wikimedia commons
©2010 Littlestomaks.com

For this week’s Ask the Expert, I asked Registered Dietitian Elisa Zied, MS, RD, CDN, to share one of her video tips for kids. She is the author of Nutrition at Your Fingertips which just came out in November 2009 and is a “Go-to guide” according to More magazine. Her channel on YouTube has lots of great videos on nutrition tips for both adults and kids; check it out!

Elisa earned a bachelor of arts in psychology from the University of Pennsylvania and a master of science in clinical nutrition from New York University.

She blogs at The Zied Guide. You can follow her on Twitter @elisazied.

Here are  few tips from this video to help you make healthy choices for your kids when eating out.

• Keep portion size small – limit sodium, fat, saturated fat and cholesterol
• Emphasize fruits and vegetables
• Lean meats, chicken without breading and unfried
• Share “grown up” food – lead by example and pick healthy choices
• Soups and salads may be a hit with kids – give ‘em a try
• Look up calorie information if available – 400- 500 calorie for a little kid is perfectly fine

Enjoy and eat healthy!

©2010 Littlestomaks.com. All Rights Reserved

Disclaimer – Information provided in Ask The Expert column on Littlestomaks.com is intended to give you general guidance on a question related to toddler nutrition. It is not meant to be treated as medical advice. You are welcome to contact this expert for a detailed consultation on your specific situation to determine what actions, if any, you should take regarding nutrition and health of your toddlers. We do not recommend you to take any action based solely on the information presented in this column. Experts have agreed to provide their professional opinion on toddler nutrition related questions on a voluntary basis and no compensation is offered to them by Littlestomaks.com.

Remember Louis the Lifeguard who rescues a potato from drowning in sour cream? This goes back to the ’80′s and I stumbled upon it by chance. Not having grown up on the USA, I can’t claim to have watched it at that time. But the jingle is catchy and the idea very simple – that the food as cooked can taste just fine and there is no need to “drown” it in all kind of condiments.

We seem to have forgotten the advice of Louis the Lifeguard because the condiment industry has literally exploded since then. US is the biggest market with an estimated $11 billion in annual sales of all kinds of condiments and sauces. Condiments are a way of life these days, especially when it comes to fast food. No surprise then that Louis the Lifeguard has taken a prolonged vacation, probably never to return again! Who will save us from drowning now?

It is fine to use these condiments once in a while. Kids love to get messy playing with ketchup and mustard. Chips and salsa is must-have at any party.

But take a closer look – most of these condiments are loaded with sodium and some like sour cream and mayonnaise are full of fat and cholesterol. No wonder they taste so good on any food!

Sour cream -loaded with saturated fat and cholesterol, reduced fat versions hardly any better
Mayonnaise – fat, cholesterol and sodium
Ketchup – watch out for sugar and sodium
Mustard – high sodium
Pickle Relish, Hot Dog – high in sodium
Soy Sauce – super high in sodium
Salsa – high in sodium

(Source: Calorie Count)

When you prepare food from scratch, it is very easy to enhance the taste without having to rely on condiments. Give it a try! Check out our simple recipes, or share your own favorite in comments below.

Happy 4th of July! If you haven’t yet entered my Independence Day Giveaway, don’t miss out on a chance to win a $50 Target card! It is open until midnight EST tonight (July 3rd).

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.

30 states have 30% or higher childhood obesity rates

Scary statistics, and nothing to be proud of in my opinion. This data comes from a new report called F as in Fat – How Obesity Policies are Failing in America 2009 published by the Trust for America’s Health (TFAH) and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF). Mississippi got the top honor for its 44% childhood obesity rate – that is nearly 1 in 2 children 10-17 years old is either overweight or obese. 8 of the 10 states with highest rates of childhood obesity are in the South. Another study of children 2-5 years old in low income families shows that nearly 15% of these children are obese compared to about 12% nationwide.  It is not that we don’t know the reason for this trend – children eat junk food, they spend too much time watching TV or in front of a computer, they don’t exercise, and schools are not up to standard when it comes to providing healthy meals. Still, nothing is being done about it, and seems like we have no control over the expanding waistlines of our children. Clearly, childhood obesity is a problem we need to confront with all our creativity and resources since it has terrible implications for the long term health of our nation.

Animal fats linked to pancreatic cancer

In another study linking saturated and trans-fats to cancer, researchers from the National Cancer Institute found positive association between pancreatic cancer and fats from red meat and dairy food sources. Why the cancer of the pancreas and not any other? One theory blames the enzymes produced by the pancreas in the digestion of these fats. Another idea is that diets high in saturated fats lead to insulin resistance and increase in the risk of Type 2 diabetes, which in turn increases the risk of pancreatic cancer. There is no reason to panic and stop eating fats – in fact there are healthy fats that I have written about recently. Unsaturated fats and essential fatty acids are good sources of fats and should be a part of your daily diet in the right amounts. Same goes for children since these healthy fats are needed to support their growth and brain development. Besides red meat and dairy sources, saturated and trans-fats are present in many of the packaged foods, so you should check the label carefully before buying them.

Walnuts can cut cholesterol

Researchers from Harvard’s Nutrition department analyzed data from published trials which compared the effect of walnut-rich diets against control diets to conclude that walnuts can decrease the total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol(“bad”) even over a short period of time. Other benefits were antioxidant and anit-inflammation capacity without any negative effects on body weight. Granted that this is based on a limited number of trials and subjects, and that there may be other factors involved. Still, can’t argue with the fact that walnuts are an excellent source of unsaturated fat and omega-3 fatty acids, so overall they are very healthy. We usually add walnuts to our salads at dinner each night, which is one way we have been able to include them in our daily diet without much preparation. Do you have a favorite walnut recipe you would like to share?

Try this nutty 4th of July fruit salad

I really liked this recipe for a coconut fruit salad from Jenna on her Food with Kid Appeal blog. The red (watermelon), white (coconut) and blue (blueberries) colors are quite appropriate for a July 4th celebration! Coconut meat (the white inside part of a mature coconut) is one of my favorites since I grew up on desserts made from it. It is soft, sweet and very chewy with a rich texture. Coconut milk is also very delicious; you may have heard about it being used extensively in Thai recipes. She provides a lot of great details about the nutritious value of coconuts even though they are high in saturated fats and suggests to use in moderation. Coconut oil is very rich in these fats; it is widely used for cooking and even skin care in India. Because of its nutritional value, coconut is part of almost every major religious ceremony in India and considered to be a a valuable fruit.

Good health comes in small bites

Another great article by one of my favorite bloggers and Pediatrician Dr. Ayala. In Small Bites for Health, she writes about a recent study which looked at the effect of bite size and the chewing time on the amount of food eaten in one sitting. Small bites resulted in lower food intake, in fact large bites resulted in volunteers eating nearly 100 g more (or about 100 extra calories in the chocolate custard used in the study) before they felt full. Also they ate more when they ate faster so that the each bite spent only 3 seconds in their mouth compared to the 9 seconds in the slow eating group. We are a fast-food nation where food is eaten on the go and big portions disappear in our mouths within seconds while driving at 60 miles an hour! No wonder an average American consumes 300 more calories today compared to 25 years ago. We seem to “need” to eat a lot more than actually needed before we feel full and satisfied. A simple trick like a small bites and good chewing can help us reduce the amount we eat. Grandma’s advice eat slowly with small bites is still so correct after all!

Enjoy your holiday weekend! And let me know what you think.

Photo source - Spiralz on Flickr
©2009 Littlestomaks.com

Almonds are a good source of calcium, iron, vitamin E and monounsaturated fats. I personally try to eat a few almonds every day, and now my son is showing an interest in sharing them with me. We do not eat the roasted or salted varieties, but prefer the raw nuts. One of the tricks we use is to soak a handful of almonds in water overnight, which makes them soft and easy to chew.

After soaking overnight, we drain the water and then remove the brown peel with a knife. The softened almonds look milky white.

You can offer a few of them to your child, or chop them into small pieces and mix with his favorite cereal. When giving him a whole almond,  keep a close watch because it can be a choking hazard.

Almonds have a very high nutritious value. According to the nutrition facts label, a serving size of 1 oz (28 g, about 25 whole almonds) provides:

• 160 calories, 120 of which are from fat. Total fat is 14 g, but most of it is of the monounsaturated type which is known to reduce the LDL (“bad”) cholesterol.
• Only 6g carbohydrates. Almond flour can be used for cake and bread recipes suitable for people on low-carb diets or those with diabetes. It is also gluten free, therefore very useful for people with wheat allergies.
• 6 g protein, 8% calcium, 6% iron.
• Almonds are a good source of omega-3 fatty acids which are known to promote brain development.
• They are a very good source of vitamin E and several B vitamins.

Typically, we soak about 10-15 almonds at a time. It is not very practical to eat 25 in a day for sure. Even if your child can eat 4-5 at a time, that is good enough. The important thing is to develop a taste for nuts and include them in the daily diet as a nutritious snack.

So go ahead, and go nuts over almonds!

©2009 Littlstomaks.com

Ni Hao! Hope all of you are having a great week so far. This week is Food Allergy Awareness Week. This is the 12th year that the Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network (FAAN) has organized a week of awareness about food allergies. Check out their website for more details on how to get involved if you are interested. If your child has food allergies, I would love to have you leave a comment and share your tips for managing nutrition.

Here is another set of 5 nutrition related news and articles from this week that I found interesting. Feel free to share your opinions in the comments section.

Ready for your order? Now let me tell you about sodium in our special today…

When I am dining out, I am usually quite impressed by the ability of the server to rattle off details of their specials of the day. But did you ever wonder why they don’t tell you anything about salt as they try hard to make your mouth water by the fancy description of the recipe? Turns out that if they did, the shock value would be enough for you to simply say “no thank you” and walk out never to return again!

In their report “Heart Attack Entrees and Side Orders of Stroke“, researchers from the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) disclose that many of the popular menu items in chain restaurants have “dangerously high levels” of sodium. They examined 17 chain restaurants and found that 85 out of 102 meals had more sodium than a whole day’s worth (2300 mg) and several had more than 4 days worth of sodium! Among the top 10 saltiest meals -  Red Lobster’s Admiral Feast has over 7100 mg and Oliver Garden’s Tour of Italy lasagna with breadsicks, salad, dressing and a coke has over 6100 mg of sodium. Items on Kids menu are no better either with some containing as much as 2400 mg of sodium. CSPI estimates that reducing daily sodium intake by just 25% over the next 10 years could help save the US government over 9 billion dollars per year in direct medical costs.

Isn’t it ironical that even with so much salt in the meals, they still have the salt and pepper shakers on each table?

When eating out, ask for the low salt version of the dish you want to order. Same goes for fat, cholesterol and sugar. If enough customers start asking for healthy food, I think restaurants will change their menu to favor healthy recipes.

If Cheerios^® claims to lower cholesterol, should it be considered a “drug”?

The FDA certainly seems to think so. This week, they sent a warning letter to the CEO of General Mills informing him of “serious violations of the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act” by the promotion of Cheerios® Toasted Whole Grain Oat cereal as cholesterol lowering. That would qualify it to be a drug they reasoned, because it seems to treat a medical condition for which drugs are prescribed. In the eyes of the FDA, it counts as an unapproved use since the product has not been evaluated by the FDA for safety and efficacy. Drug approval takes very long and requires a very strict quality control in manufacturing. This could turn out to be quite serious for General Mills who may have to withdraw this claim or modify it to comply with the regulations.

Another claim that FDA found troublesome was that “heart-healthy diets rich in whole grain foods can reduce the risk of heart disease”. Seems like they conveniently forgot to include fruits and vegetables in this claim, which together with a diet low in fat and cholesterol lower the risk of heart disease. Whole grains or dietary fiber is only one factor.

We personally like Cheerios -  it is a brand I have written about favorably in the past. But I am glad that FDA is sensitive to such over-ambitious claims cited in their warning letter. It is not uncommon to see health-related claims on products – for example, nutritional supplements make all kind of claims – but then they are also required to add that their claims have not been evaluated (and approved) by the FDA.

Will this affect your decision to by Cheerios or other products from General Mills? Weigh in.

HIV and safety of breast milk

Imagine the heartbreaking dilemma of a woman with HIV wanting to feed her baby with breast milk. Now imagine that this woman lives in a poor country, where women like her are routinely told not to breastfeed and formula is not affordable.  What are her options? Should she let her baby grow up without the benefit of breast milk, or in the worst case, even die of early childhood diseases?

It  is a sensitive topic; something a lot of us are fortunate enough not to have to worry about. Yet, the problem cannot be ignored if we want all children to grow up healthy. I was pleased to read about the efforts of researcher Sera Young of UC Davis, who is helping women of Tanzania learn a protocol to pasteurize breast milk by flash heating without affecting its nutritional value. Even though the WHO recommends HIV-positive to pasteurize breast milk,  no one in those countries knows how to do it. This project is a great start in that regard. And it is encouraging to note that the acceptance level is very high. The challenge will be to ensure that the pasteurization protocol is properly followed so that the breast milk is safe and still maintains its nutritional value. It is one thing to do it under the watchful eyes of a researcher, and something else to do it everyday on your own. But I do hope that it works in future at a much larger scale.

Link between obesity and food allergy?

This is what you could call a double whammy! Not only do we have rising rates of childhood obesity, we also have an increase in the number of early childhood food allergies and sensitivity to various foods. Now researchers from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, have uncovered a link between obesity and high levels of IgE (antibody associated with an allergic response) based on the 2005 – 2006 NHANES data. Although, they are careful not to draw too many conclusions, it hasn’t taken all that long for people to ask the question “Is obesity fueling food allergies“? It is hard to say if high BMI and obesity is a cause of food allergy, or simply a common feature. Also, is there even a common cause between the two? Hard to say – because even though poor nutrition is linked to high BMI, we cannot say for sure that it also causes food allergy or intolerance. Could it be that the child’s parents have allergies? Could it be that they introduced these foods too early when the child’s digestive system was not fully developed? Just by looking at the survey data and drawing conclusions based on a statistical analysis does not mean that obese children are more likely to develop food allergies.

Support Share Our Strength’s Great American Bake Sale

If you love to bake and would like do some good at the same time, you have a great opportunity to help end childhood hunger. Can you believe that 500,000 more children live in poverty now compared to an year ago and 16 million children rely on food stamps? Personally, I find this statistic embarrassing in our land of plenty! Now, Share Our Strength is running their Great American Bake Sale campaign where you can get involved – the proceeds of your bake sale will go to fund after-school and summer feeding programs in your community and across the country.

You can also support them by blogging about it, or even contributing a recipe to their virtual bake sale! They will raise money by selling eBooks of recipes.

The only thing I will add is that even though this campaign is sponsored by Domino and C&H sugar, try to go low on sugar! Leave a comment if you decide to contribute.

Enjoy your weekend!

Photo source – Davichi on Flickr
©2009 Littlestomaks.com

In this post, I want to highlight some of the comments from readers of this blog. These comments provide useful advice and information and I do not want them to stay “buried” in the blog archives. I am constantly inspired by your comments and I learn a lot from them. I want to say thanks to those who spend time reading my posts – some on a very regular basis – and leave a comment behind with some advice, helpful tips or a question for further research. Some of them have their own blogs, which I highly recommend you to visit whenever you get a chance. I will be highlighting more comments in future posts; for now, enjoy these 5 insightful comments from my earlier posts. If I did not pick your comment, just hang in there and look out for another post in future. And of course, feel free to share your opinions in a comment!

1. In response to my post 6 Easy Tips for Helping Your Child Choose Healthy Foods, Anne of yourfamilyviewer wrote:

I find it really interesting that, among other things, the amount of TV watching didn’t seem to affect what the children in the study chose – that what did was what the parents chose…. Hmmm. Not that I believe that TV has no effect on kids – in fact, I strongly support the American Academy Pediatrics recommendation of no screen time before the age of 2, and no more than 2 hours a day. But, as I have said before and will say again, parents have the most effect on what their kids think, do and eat.
And while I do think that having only veggies and fruit at a party is totally unfair, having several healthy alternatives along with some of the other stuff is a great idea. We call veggie trays crudite and serve them with a special dip. Gives it that “party/fun/special” effect.

2. Jenna of KidAppeal gave this advice when she read my post on the idea of Homemade OJ Ice Cream Cup:

my SIL just returned from the pediatricians office telling me the doc considers 100% juice to be in the soda category! i’m not sure i’d go that far, but i don’t know if i can condone 3 servings of juice a day either. One 4-6 oz serving a day is my limit unless we are visiting someone’s house, at a bday party where juice boxes flow freely or it’s a holiday. Home-made popsicles are a tasty treat and are a better choice than most candy or ice-cream, but it’s still a treat and once a day is plenty. Young kids lack impulse control they need to make the best food choices. My advice? Next time they beckon for “ice cream cold” let them choose which meal they’d like it with. They will probably cry when they don’t get it. You can follow up with saying ice cream is a special treat and is not grow food. Tell them lots of grow food is ok, but lots of treats are not healthy. This might be painful and tearful for a couple days, but they’ll accept it if you follow through. Let me know if this helps.

3. When I highlighted a news that some doctors were suggesting cholesterol lowering drugs for kids with high LDL (bad cholesterol)  in Noteworthy Child Nutrition News of 2008, Dr. Ayala of Herbal Water responded:

Great post!
On cholesterol meds for kids:
This paper really stirred a huge debate among pediatricians for several reasons:
1. There’s very little evidence that the use of the cholesterol-lowering drugs prevent heart attacks later in life.
2. There’s little data on the possible side effects of taking these drugs for decades
3. My main outrage: if money could be found for cholesterol screening and treatment for kids, can we not invest money in better child nutrition in schools, more exercise (gym classes are only cut back), and a plan that fights childhood obesity? Weight loss, exercise and a better diet are proven ways to lower cholesterol in children that don’t have genetic disorders of cholesterol metabolism, and suffer high cholesterol mainly due to overweight, inactivity and a poor diet.

4. Jodie of freedomdesign.usana provided this detailed information about nutritional supplements in response to my post 5 Reasons to Consider a Multivitamin Supplement:

There is still much we don’t know about the ways nutrients work together. A healthy body is an extremely complex system, and each functional area requires a diverse mix of nutrients. For many reasons, nutritional supplementation should provide nutrients that are both balanced and in adequate doses. For example, certain vitamins supplied in isolation can result in other nutritional deficiencies, and many micronutrients can be toxic at excessive or imbalanced levels. USANA painstakingly designed the Essentials to allow components to work together both safely and effectively.

To be useful, all nutrients must be of high quality and be bioavailable; in other words, in a form the body can absorb and use. USANA makes every effort to obtain the highest quality ingredients; and it tests those ingredients for quality and potency. In addition, USANA imposes rigorous quality control standards at every step of the manufacturing process. USANA Essentials are advanced daily nutritional supplements that supply optimal nutrition for every age group. To help meet the “essential” nutrient needs of children and teens during the years of development, when good nutrition is most important, USANA offers:

* Usanimals, a great-tasting formulation of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants, in an easy-to-take chewable tablet. For children 13 months to 12 years old.
* BodyRox, a nutritional supplement containing 31 essential vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and cofactors for adolescents 12 to 18 years old, who need optimal nutrition to support the demands of growth and active teenage lifestyles.

Disclaimer – I have not personally tried any of USANA’s products. Nor do I have any affiliations with USANA. I did recently saw a video about their products on their website, and I must say I was quite impressed.

5. In response to this question “Do you think enforcing (with lots of encouragement) the “taste one bite” rule leads to kids who avoid those foods?” on this Global Toddler Survey, Cathy of A Life Less Sweet wrote:

Good question at the end, Jenna! We’re a 2 bite rule family, and honestly, I don’t think that it leads to food avoidance. I guess I can say that from personal experience as my parents had a similar rule. Many of the foods that I didn’t like as a young child, I grew to like. Many I did not, but I do actually value having tried those foods numerous times. Perhaps I’m just weird that way.

My son wouldn’t try many foods at all without that rule, and sometimes – not always, in fact not usually – he realizes that he actually likes a food. My daughter realizes that she actually likes a food through the 2 bite rule more often than not. She’ll take her required 2 bites and then take more. For my kids, it’s a way to get them to continue testing their taste buds. We do talk a lot about taking those bites with an open mind. When my son will eat with an open mind, that’s when it works!

I also feel like it’s important for my kids to be able to eat food that they don’t like without gagging and making rude comments. It’s an important social skill as they get older.

Photo source: regalzam0ra on Flickr
©2009 Littlestomaks.com

Beginning this Friday, I am starting a new feature on Littlestomaks.com! Every Friday I will share with you 5 interesting and noteworthy stories on nutrition that I come across during my weekly reading. This will also be a place for my soapbox – and if you wish to indulge me – it will give you a chance to soak up my rants and not-so-scientific personal opinions! I will also use it to frequently highlight the works of my favorite nutrition bloggers. As always, comments are welcome and highly valued. Feel free to leave me a link to a story you would like me write about in this series.

Not Many Kids are Candidates for Cholesterol Drugs

This post in the Wall Street Journal’s Health Blog is supposed to provide a sense of “comfort” to all those parents worried about their kids being put on cholesterol lowering drugs by suggesting that the percentage of teens 12-17 years old that would qualify for such a treatment is a mere 0.8%. In real terms, the number is estimated to be around 200,000, which seems to be a mere “drop in the bucket” of 25 million teens in this age group. And, if you still need to be comforted, there is a picture of a boy eating a slice of pizza; so surely it must be quite ok not to worry about rising cholesterol levels in kids!

The CDC study cited in the post has troubling details. The average LDL cholesterol levels in teens 12-17 years old is about 90 mg/dL, and the average total cholesterol is 163 mg/dL. Note that these are “averages”, which means that there is a large number of teens well over these numbers (anything over 100 for LDL and over 200 for total cholesterol is a red flag). When the average is so close to the “red flag” zone, we need to pay attention and not let be fooled into a false sense of comfort just because it is not high enough for medical intervention.

If you have a child with BMI > 85th percentile and/or you have a family history of heart disease, diabetes and smoking, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends a lipid profile screen even at a very early age. Ask for a test – it is better to know early and take appropriate action rather than relying on drugs when things get worse.

I have nothing against pizza; all kids love it including mine. Just don’t overdo it!

Even Top Chefs Have Picky Kids

I have not seen the otherwise popular show “Top Chef”, but I really liked this interview with Chef Tom Colicchio in the New York Times. Despite his celebrity status, he appears to be quite modest and down-to-earth. Like most parents, he too struggles with his teenage son’s eating habits. I liked his ideas about wholesome food made from fresh ingredients and setting an example by eating healthy food at home. According to him, the choice of food is not between unhealthy and healthy, it is between good and bad! Although he acknowledges that people are busy, it is not really that hard and time consuming to make a healthy recipe (if you know what you are doing of course!). He proves that by giving an example of a 20-minute pasta dish with a yummy clams sauce.

Study Finds No Benefits From Daily Multivitamin

Surprise! Surprise! After a 8-year long study of more than 160,000 post-menopausal women, researchers found no benefit of multivitamin use in 10 categories including breast or colon cancer, heart attack, stroke, blood clot or mortality. I am confused about why anyone believed that multivitamin will have an impact on these diseases in the first place. Vitamin supplements do not claim such a benefit after all. If people “believe” that taking a multivitamin each day will protect them against such life-threatening diseases, then this is not a rational belief anyway. So, is there any reason to believe that the results of this study will change this behavior? This study is based on a flawed hypothesis in my opinion and I am quite confused about the motivation behind this project.

Dr. Marian Neyhouser, the lead author of the study, suggests in this New York Times article that people should rather spend their money on fruits and vegetables instead of vitamins. This is very presumptous on her part; how can she claim to know the exact circumstances under which people take multivitamins! And why should she assume those same people are not eating fruits and vegetables? I am amazed that they got government funding to do this research!

How To Make Whole Wheat Pita Bread

Check it out! Dr Ayala, a guest poster on this blog, offers this fun-filled easy baking recipe for making whole wheat pita bread. She provides detailed instructions and a picture of puffy pitas inside the oven. Get your kids involved and watch them knead the dough by hand (take pictures of course!). Sounds like a great project for a Saturday afternoon!

By the way, if you are on Twitter, you can follow her @DrAyala. She is pretty cool.

Check Out These Two Giveaways

Jenna of Food with Kid Appeal, another guest poster for this blog, has a great giveaway going on until February 25th. Check out her post 101 Foods That Can Save Your Life Review and Givaway for details. She has done a great job reviewing this book by David Grotto, which you can get to win if you decide to play. I am adding the book to my reading list. You can follow her on Twitter at @Kidappeal.

Cathy from A Life Less Sweet, is checking out POM Wonderful pomegranate juice this week and giving away a coupon for a free 16 oz. POM wonderful bottle. The giveaway is open until February 22 and all you have to do is to leave a comment onn her post. You can follow her on Twitter @less_sweet.

Have a great weekend! Let me know what you think of this feature, and feel free to leave a link for a story you would like me to read and write about next week.

Image source: Dreamstime
©2009 Littlestomaks.com

Here is a selection of noteworthy news related to child nutrition. Most of the commentary is mine. I have provided a link for each if you want to read the full story.

It is amazing, and quite encouraging to hear a school Principal say “Childhood obesity, it’s our tsunami, it’s our Katrina”. These are the words of Dr. Yvonne Sanders-Butler of Browns Mill Elementary School in Lithonia, Georgia, which decided to go “sugar free” 10 years ago.

There are no bake sales here, no birthday cupcakes, no cookies or ice cream!

What is even more amazing is what Dr. Yvonne says about the achievements of the school as a result of this policy. In the first six months of the sugar ban, disciplinary incidents went down 23 percent, counseling referrals decreased 30 percent, and in the first years of standardized test scores, reading scores improved 15 percent! Browns Mill was named a national blue ribbon school and a Georgia school of excellence in 2005.

Read the full story here. Also check out the Achieving Academic Excellence Through Nutrition And Exercise page of the school.

News of infant formula made with melamine contaminated milk in China broke in September 2008. In China alone, 4 children died and 53,000 got sick as a result of this reckless act. According to health experts, ingesting melamine causes kidney stones, urinary tract ulcers, and eye and skin irritation. It also robs infants of much-needed nutrition.

Several countries in Asia, Africa and Europe banned products made from Chinese sourced milk. Later in the year, the European Union (EU) banned all baby foods made with Chinese milk.

However, more relevant for the US consumers is this follow-up announcement from the FDA’s director Stephen Sundolf:

“Amounts of the industrial chemical melamine or the melamine-like compound called cyanuric acid that are below 1.0 ppm [1,000 parts per billion] do not raise public health concerns”

Although, 1.0 ppm may appear to be a very small amount, a key question, however, still remains unanswered. Why should there be any trace of this “industrial” chemical melamine in infant formula in the first place? Melamine is a synthetic chemical used in making hard plastic materials, however it can also be produced inside the body from an insecticide called  Cyromazine. It is possible that these chemicals are transferred at ppm levels from food packaging, labeling and raw materials in the food supply. In addition to establishing a “safe” limit, there should be an attempt to remove these chemicals entirely from the supply-chain during production of infant/baby food products.

Read the full story here.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s annual report on food security showed that 691,000 children lived in homes where families had to eat non-balanced meals and low-cost food, or even skip meals because of a lack of money. Now this is personally troubling to me! How can it be that on one hand we have an overabundance of food, and a rapidly growing problem of childhood obesity, while at the same time, there are so many children who are growing up hungry. Quite clearly a paradox.

In her recent post Addressing Hunger and Obesity with “Change” Policy, my blogger friend Rebecca Scritchfield is hopeful that Tom Vilsack, when confirmed as President Obama’s Agriculture Secretary, will follow up on his pledge to put “nutrition at the center of all food assistance programs”. Clearly, there is a need for creative ideas to solve this problem. It should be embarrassing to see a child go hungry in America.

Read the full story here.

I found this correlation quite surprising. Dr. Graham MacGregor of St. George’s Hospital Medical School, London, England, who authored a study published in Hypertension: Journal of the American Heart Association in February 2008 told this to CNN:

“Salt is playing a hidden role in the obesity epidemic by causing more intake of sugary soft drinks. Children get habituated to a salty taste. Much of the obesity epidemic is in the hands of the food industry. The most important thing possible is to cook fresh food as much as possible — those meals will have very little salt at all. Virtually no products use salt as a preservative anymore. Choose bread with less salt, choose cereals with less added salt. Try to avoid these very salty ready-made foods.”

Read the full story here.

Consider this – 44 major food and beverage marketers spent $1.6 billion to promote their products to children under 12 and adolescents ages 12 to 17 in the United States in 2006. It is likely that a similar amount was spent in 2007 and 2008. Further, this marketing is “integrated”, that is, it combines the old (TV, print) with the new (internet, sweepstakes, in-store promotion) media.

In analyzing the data, the report calls for all food companies “to adopt and adhere to meaningful, nutrition-based standards for marketing their products to children under 12.” The need for such an advice proves that there is room for improvement in both the message and the products which are targeted for this age group.

Read the full report here.

A report from the American Academy of Pediatrics reccomends that overweight children (BMI between 85th and 95th percentile) and obese children (BMI > 95th percentile) be screened for fasting lipid profile regardless of family history of hyhpertension or other risk factors. Amazingly, it is recommended that such screening should take place after 2 years of age but no later than 10 years of age. For children over 8 years old, and with high LDL (bad cholesterol), cholesterol lowering drugs may be prescribed.

This is quite a radical recommendation which recognizes the rising epidemic of childhood obesity and its consequences on heart disease and other health conditions.

Read the full story here.

Here are a few other noteworthy stories suggested by my Twitter friends:

• @Andamom found the Blue Zones on Oprah Winfrey’s show very interesting where Dr. Mehmet Oz “goes deep inside these blue zones where people live longer than anyone else”. What is their secret? The four “hot spots” featured in the show were Costa Rica’s Nicoya Peninsula; Sardinia, a Mediterranean island 120 miles off the coast of Italy; Loma Linda, California’ and Okinawa, Japan. In all cases, a lifestyle based on eating natural, un-processed foods, lots of hard work and connection with commiunity were the key ingredients to a long, disease-free life.
• @ayalalaufer referred to the work of Professor Charlene Elliott from the University of Calgary, Canada, in her post Fun food:” Is it nutritious? Is it even fun? to show how mixed messages are sent to kids about “nutrition” and “fun” when food products are advertised. Is it misrepresentation? Maybe, but seems like it is still all within the rules. I was amazed to read that “among the 326 fun foods that were of poor nutritional quality, 202 (62%) had nutritional claims”. She rightly suggests that there is no need for kids to have their own special food. Parents should encourage their children to eat what they themselves eat at each meal.
• In Can you really pressure kids to eat healthy? @ayalalaufer links to a study in the scientific journal Appetite which concludes that if you simply cannot build long-term healthy eating habits in your kids if you force or coerce them into eating healthy foods. This is consistent with what Dr. Spock says “children need to want to eat healthy foods”. If you try to force them too much, they will reject it and develop a life-aversion to it even if you think it is good for them.
• In her post Infant feeding choices and obesity, @phdinparenting links to a very interesting report which found that rats that consumed junk food during pregnancy and while breastfeeding had offspring that preferred junk food too. She cautions against switching to formula just because a breastfeeding Mom cannot give up her favorite snack and suggests that breastfeeding itself builds self-regulation in the baby and protects against overeating and obesity later on. It is important to draw a distinction between a pattern of frequent junk food consumption and occasional treat of a favorite snack.

Do you have a nutrition story from 2008 that caught your attention? Feel free to share in the comments section.