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.

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