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
©2009 Littlestomaks.com

Bonjour! So glad it’s Friday again! Last week was Safe Kids Week (Apr 26 – May 3). It is a good time to remind us of the very real risks of unintentional injuries to young children. Check out a short video on kids safety in this week’s Five for Fridays in addition to the usual nutrition-related stories. And of course, feel free to share your tips for safety especially in the kitchen.

Tips for kids safety

I was shocked to learn this scary statistic – there is one unintentional injury to a child every 12 minutes that is serious enough to require a visit to the ER. In recognition of this, Safe Kids USA along with its founding sponsor J&J is running an awareness campaign called Raising Safe Kids – One Stage at a Time focused on child development and injury risks to children 14 and under. Although their website has very useful information for various age groups, my interest was mainly in the 1-4 years old Stage (Little Kids). Here is a short video for this age group -

Burns in the kitchen or at the dinner table are among the 5 major risks identified by Safe Kids USA. Make sure the stove area is a “kid-free” zone. Use the back burners and turn the handles of pots and pans away from the front of the stove. When using the oven, be vigilant and do not allow children to get close because the oven door can get really hot. Use large bowls when serving hot foods like soup and allow it to cool down by stirring with a spoon before giving to your child. Cut meats and vegetables into small bite sized chunks – this will cool them down and also reduce the risk of choking. Knives and other sharp objects can also be dangerous and should be kept out of reach. Same goes for matches and lighters. The cabinet under the sink where you are most likely to keep dishwashing detergents and other cleaners should be locked. Consider getting a fire extinguisher and keep it in a safe, easy-to-reach place in your kitchen.

Here is an excellent report on kids safety which gives  a lot of handy tips.

Should junk food advertising aimed at children be banned?

Rising rates of childhood obesity in Australia have galvanized a few public health and consumer advocacy groups to kick-off the Burger Corp campaign against junk food advertising on TV during prime time. They want the Australian Communication and Media Authority (ACMA) to come out with tougher regulations this year once they complete their review. Ban the practice of giving out free toys with junk fast food; ban the use of popular cartoon or other promotional characters; regulate advertising beyond TV in print media and newspapers – in short ban! ban! ban! Although I certainly do not support excessive and misleading advertising aimed at kids, I am not a big fan of over-regulating our way out of this public health problem either.  There is also a role for parents, educators and community leaders to act as role models and to inform, influence and inspire young kids to make healthy choices, not just for food but for everything else that affects their health and growth. Removing ads from TV will not solve the problem of excessive TV watching. Banning free toys and promotional characters will not reduce the allure of inexpensive, great tasting junk food rich in salt, sugar and fat. Some regulations is needed; in my opinion it should be limited to restricting false and misleading claims. We should rather focus our resources on improving affordability of healthy options and increasing  awareness of the link between nutrition and long term health. What do you think?

Don’t take a multivitamin supplement on an empty stomach

Even though there is considerable debate and uncertainty about the effectiveness of multivitamin supplements, they are quite popular and many people, including me, take them daily. That is why this question about when and how to take vitamins on the Fitness and Nutrition section of the New York Times caught my eye. According to the experts, the time of the day you take the vitamins is not important. What is important is that you take them consistently and that you take them with food. The water soluble vitamins B and C can absorb well on an empty stomach, but the fat soluble vitamins A, D, E and K need some fat from food to absorb in the body. Of course it does not mean that you need to eat fatty foods in order to take your vitamins. Simply eating some food right before taking the pill should do just fine.

Second hand smoke linked to iron deficiency and low antioxidant levels in children

Exposure to second hand smoke is getting a lot of attention in the 2009 annual meeting of the Pediatric Academic Societies this week in Baltimore. In two separate studies, data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES) for children under 18 years of age was analyzed. One study from researchers at the New York University School of Medicine reported a link between second hand smoke (estimated by blood levels of cotinine, a metabolite of nicotine), obesity and iron deficiency. The other, from researchers at the University of Rochester Medical Center concluded that second hand smoke reduces the levels of anti-oxidants in children. Anti-oxidants work to protect the cells in our body from damage by free radicals which are produced as part of normal body functions. Vitamin C is a good antioxidant; although the researchers did not clearly make a recommendation about supplements to counter the effect of second hand smoke. Bottom line – second hand smoke is bad, not just for your lungs, but also for your nutritional health.

Good nutrition strongly linked to education

A new study published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association concludes that highly educated and affluent people are more likely to have a low energy density diet (lean meat, fruits and vegetables) compared to those on the lower income and education levels. I was not able to read the original article; still I found this summary very interesting. I am not surprised by it because we have all heard enough about affordability of nutritious food. I think that more than education, awareness and basic understanding of nutrition are more critical in making this choice. I know of many highly educated people who have very poor eating habits. And this is even when they know that salty, fatty and sugary foods are no good for their health. So there is still another factor that is critical – and that is a genuine desire to take a long term view of health and nutrition. And while it is true that low energy density, nutrient rich foods cost more, there are many ways to still have a healthy diet. As I wrote in last week’s Five for Fridays, simply by cutting down on packaged foods and preparing your meals at home, you can save a lot of money and improve your nutrition. You don’t need to be a rocket scientist or a genius – just have a desire, some knowledge of nutrition and cooking and be able to find some time to cook. Go for it!

Enjoy your weekend! And do share your opinion or recent nutrition related news you found interesting.

©2009 Littlestomaks.com