Greetings! Hope you all are having a great week so far. 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.

Getting out of the salt-fat-sugar trap

No doubt we have become a nation of fast food lovers. Certainly it is a marvel of modern technology which delivers a full meal in 10 minutes or less, costs you 10 dollars or less, and which you can enjoy driving in your car at 60 miles an hour. But the real magical formula behind its success is what Dr. David Kessler calls the trap of sugar-fat-salt  in his recent book “The end of overeating“. In an excellent review of this book, Dr. Ayala explains how we can end overeating and eat healthier by first recognizing what fast food truly is – highly addictive and of poor nutritional value. Develop a taste for simple, wholesome foods made from fresh, quality ingredients and you will actually feel more satisfied and healthier. Encourage your kids to develop this taste, and you can be sure they will make the right choices even when presented with these outwardly appealing foods. I don’t necessarily agree when Kessler draws a parallel between addiction to nicotine and fast food. But I do agree that when consumers begin to change the definition of what is acceptable as food, the food industry will innovate to satisfy that demand.

Recession is shrinking wallets but expanding waistlines

Compared to last year, we now have 5.5 million more people in America who are considered obese based on their BMI (body mass index). Blame it on the recession? That is what some researchers have concluded based on recent Gallup-Healthways data which has prompted the question “Is the recession making Americans fatter“? The theory goes like this – recession causes stress and price of healthy foods has gone up, so people are satisfying their appetites and improving their moods by reaching out for comfort foods, which tend to be high in fat, sugar and calories. There  a trend here as I commented in a recent Five for Fridays that this recession has a sweet tooth and candy sales are on the rise. Whatever the reason might be, the high rates of obesity can no longer be ignored. Four out of the top10 chornic diseases (diabetes, heart disease, stroke and cancer) have clear links to poor nutrition and obesity. Blame recession all you want, but at the end of the day, we need to act and not just point fingers!

Going gluten-free? Be sure to get complete nutrition

Gluten-free diets are quite popular these days. New recipes and products claiming to be gluten-free are being launched almost on a daily basis. Sales of such products have more than tripled since 2004. Whether it is a new diet fad or because more and more people are being diagnosed with the celiac disease or gluten intolerance, no one can tell for sure. If you happen to be following a gluten-free diet, and reaching out for some of these new products, be aware that they may be lacking in dietary fiber and several B vitamins. In a very informative article Getting out the gluten, experts recommend eating foods made from the “super six” nutritionally balanced ingredients namely amaranth, buckwheat, millet, quinoa, sorghum and teff. These are rich in fiber, proteins and vitamins and do not contain gluten. I am not familiar with most of them except quinoa, which has become a regular substitute for basmati rice in our diet. Chicken with quinoa is one of our favorite recipes if you need ideas! Share your favorite gluten-free food or recipe if you are on a gluten-free diet.

No grapes, no nuts and now no place in the market for this jaw crusher

Amused as I was to read about the decline in market share of Grape Nuts, the news that this venerable cereal is facing crunchtime didn’t really break my heart! I have never been a fan of this brand, even though it has existed in the market for over 100 years. What I found intriguing about this story was not the changing fortunes of this product, but how processed foods are marketed to consumers. Grape nuts is people eating advertising is how one brand manager puts it as if to indicate a certain sense of pride in having fulfilled the requirements of the job description. Clever language can be used to convince consumers of almost anything it seems. But the fact remains that processed food can hardly be considered “food”, even though it is considred fit for human consumption. So far removed it is from the natural existence of its ingredients that it can be made to look, feel and taste almost anything the food scientist or the imagiative marketer desires. My guess is that the package costs more than the “food” inside it, which means that we are really eating advertising after all!

Teaching nutrition to children improves health behavior knowledge

Sounds logical;  if you include nutrition in the school curriculum, you should expect that it would improve their knowledge of healthy behavior. Reading Across My Pyramid is a nutrition literacy program targeting lower elementary school children of low income families in California. In a recent evaluation of its effectiveness, researchers found significant evidence that it increased the importance of exercise in the minds of children, knowledge that the heart pumps blood through the body, and knowledge that computer use and television watching are not exercise. Correlations were also observed between a child’s knowledge of healthy foods and parent reported soda consumption. Although on a lot of other items related to health behavior, no significant change was seen after implementing the program, these few positive results are encouraging in my opinion. Development of healthy eating habits is equally dependent on availability of information and healthy food in schools, and we seem to have neither of the two in our current education system. Is it a surprise then childhood obesity is on the rise and that Type 2 diabetes is now reported in children as young as 4 years old? How many studies will it take before we begin to see real change in our schools?

Enjoy your weekend!

Photo source – Eggz on Flickr
©2009 Littlestomaks.com

Who would you trust more when it comes to the nutrition and health of your children – a doctor or a lawyer? And no, this is not a trick question!

The elections are over (thankfully!) and the noise of the pre-election debates has been reduced to a more tolerable level. I don’t know about you, but I found my head spinning towards the very end with all kind of talk about the economy, national security, healthcare, energy policy, education, job growth and so on. So many big topics, so many big words, and so many big plans! Now that it is all over, can we look forward to some progress?

You are probably doubly confused. First I ask you about doctors and lawyers, and then I seem to babble about the elections! What is going on…you ask. I know, this is a little off-topic for this blog, but hang on.

I decided to write this post because a recent blog post in the Wall Street Journal’s Health Blog caught my attention. Seems like there are going to be a total of 14 docs in the next Congress (111th) – 12 in the House and 2 in the Senate. That is just bout 2% of the total Representatives and Senators. Can they really influence the debate over health and nutrition issues? The WSJ’s post quotes Michael Burgess, a Texas Republican and ob-gyn first elected to the House in 2002:

“In my humble opinion, there aren’t enough doctors in Congress. It leaves us with a pretty narrow group of individuals, and it’s a little harder to build consensus on common ground.”

So who has the bigger blow-horn in Congress? I wondered. Hmmmm…maybe lawyers – they seem to be everywhere! Here is what I found (Note: data is for the 110th Congress)

Even though I made the right guess, I was not mentally prepared for this large a difference, and the significant power of the lawyers, particularly in the Senate. Suddenly, I don’t see a whole lot of HOPE!

If this peeked your curiosity, here are a few more interesting facts for your information:

1. There were only 25 out of 2196 members of Congress were Physicians (a tiny 1.1%) during the 44 years between 1960 – 2004. Most were Republicans and Ob-gyns (figure that!) (Journal of American Medical Association)
2. It wasn’t always this bad – nearly 11% of the signers of of the Declaration of Independence in 1776 were physicians; and in the first 100 years of the US Congress, 252 out of 5045 (nearly 5%) were doctors. (Same source as number 1)
3. During the same period (1960 – 2004), 82% of the membership came from the fields of law, business, public service, education and military. (Hint: pick the right profession if you want to be in politics!)
4. The first Child Nutrition Act was adopted in 1966, which declared its purpose as “to safeguard the health and well being of the Nation’s children”. It also included special supplemental requirements for Women, Infants and Children (WIC).
5. In 1966, there were only 4 doctors in the Congress when the Child Nutrition Act was passed. Obviously, we have made some progress since then, but not a whole lot!
6. Currently there are two physicians in the Senate – Senator Tom Coburn (Republican, Oklahoma; Family Medicine/Ob-Gyn) and Senator John Barrasso (Republican, Wyaoming; Orthopedic Surgeon)