Greetings! Hope you all are having a great week so far. We are getting ready for Thanksgiving, which happens to be my favorite Holiday. I am looking forward to it next week. What are your plans?

Here are 5 nutrition related articles that caught my eye this week. Enjoy and drop me a comment to share your thoughts.

Vitamin D deficiency linked to heart disease

Vitamin D deficiency is in the news again! The American Heart Association had its annual conference in Orlando this week where a study presented a link between low levels of vitamin D and increased risk of heart disease and stroke. This study looked at tens of thousands of adults 50 years or older, a majority of whom had lower than healthy levels of vitamin D. Within 2 years, those who had extremely low levels of vitamin D were twice as likely to die or suffer a stroke compared to those who had normal levels. They were also more likely to develop coronary artery disease and heart failure.

The unanswered question is whether a lack of vitamin D increases the risk of heart disease, or it just happens to be a condition of people with such diseases. If it is not a cause, then the risk of such diseases cannot be lowered simply by increasing the vitamin D levels from sun exposure, diet or supplements. Most of these studies have an underlying implication that current recommendations for daily intake of vitamin D be increased to improve public health. I still remain unconvinced that a sweeping policy change is necessary at the moment.

I do agree that it is important to maintain healthy vitamin D levels especially in growing children. The focus should be on balanced nutrition from a variety of food sources, plenty of physical activity – out in the sun if possible, and reduction of sugar, salt and fat (saturated and trans).

Interesting food trends to watch in 2010

Yet another great article from Registered Dietitian Janet Helm on her Nutrition Unplugged blog this week highlights several predictions for food products in 2010. Based on a report from Mintel, the prediction is that next year’s food products will focus on health, wellness, convenience, sustainability and affordability. Sodium reduction, simple ingredient list, locally sourced, eco-friendly, multipurpose, private label, functional packaging, simplified labeling are likely to be the features that will dominate the store shelves next year.

I think that no one should underestimate the Marketing skills of the major food companies. They clearly know how to play the game and they keep a sharp eye on consumer trends. I fully expect them to bundle their products to not only capitalize on these trends, but also make sure they continue to up-sell across various consumer groups. Private labels will grow for sure, but I don’t think they will overwhelm the giants anytime soon.

I think there is a place for packaged foods in lives of busy parents. Just don’t fall for the fluff, read the labels and mix these products with fresh foods, especially fruits and vegetables. As a consumer, you have enormous power because the food companies are quite good at listening to you.

Low sodium sea salt promises the gift of health and flavor

Using a mixture of salts from the Dead Sea and the Red Sea, Nutrasalt is a new product which claims to contain 66% less sodium than common table salt while providing a healthy balance of sodium and potassium. The target, of course, is the food industry desperate to claim a lower sodium content in their products without giving up on taste. Claims of heart health, natural, perfect balance of sodium and potassium should be very appealing to the food industry.

The nutritional facts label for Nutrasalt shows that it contains sodium chloride, potassium chloride and natural flavors. It is one of the simplest tricks to lower sodium by replacing it with potassium chloride. I reviewed the latest in salt reduction technologies in Can Salt be Any Saltier? article recently. The problem with potassium chloride is that it gives a bitter after-taste, which needs to masked by flavors or bitterness blockers. I do not know what kind of “natural flavors” this salt contains to maintain the natural salty taste. But I do think that their high volume natural claim is not that credible.

Also, this salt is not iodized. Bottom line – reduce your intake of table salt and processed foods even if they claim to be made from this so called healthy salt.

A new survey of Americans shows strong support for investment in prevention related programs and strategies as part of the new Health Care reform. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and The Trust for America’s Health sponsored this survey which polled about 1000 registered voters about their opinions on various priorities. 71% favor more funding for prevention programs while only 23% do not support any more extra funding.

Although it sounds good, I don’t think there is enough awareness and support for nutrition and physical activity, especially in schools. Out of all the prevention proposals, it ranked third by a large margin compared to the top 2. There is more emphasis on public health workers and their resources when it comes to prevention.

Also, only $34 billion out of the total of about $900 billion are allocated for prevention programs. That is not even 5% of the total! I do not believe that prevention is top of mind among our lawmakers. Public support will need to be much stronger and much broader than this survey data. I think we have a long way to go before we truly embrace the notion that prevention is better than cure!

Food allergy among US children rising

A recent paper in the journal Pediatrics reports that nearly 4 in 100 children under 18 years old reported some kind of food allergy in 2007. This was an increase of 18% over the 10 year period between 1997 – 2007. The researchers, however, are not sure if this increase is real from a clinical point of view or simply a result of better tracking and awareness among parents and healthcare providers.

Although troubling, I am not surprised by the recent results. In my article Good Nutrition is Key to Managing Food Allergy, I presented similar statistics. Some experts believe that poor quality of early childhood nutrition is to blame. Also, it is easy to confuse food intolerance with food allergy and most parents may not know the difference. Good nutrition builds a strong immune system, although it probably cannot help if there is a genetic reason for food allergy.

Whatever the reason, living with food allergy is challenging. I cannot claim to have first hand experience of that. But ify you do, I would love to hear from you.

Enjoy and do let me know what you think. I would love to have you share your best tips in comments below.

Photo source – Paul Davidson on Flickr  everystockphoto
©2009 Littlestomaks.com

Worried about too much sodium in your favorite restaurant dish or ready-to-eat supermarket meal? The food industry is hard at work trying to figure out a way to reduce salt in these foods without giving up on taste. In this post, I will highlight a few salt reduction technologies under development, although it will be quite a while before they hit the market.

Salt in the form of sodium chloride is important for maintaining the electrolyte balance in the body. Too little salt in diet, and you risk getting muscle cramps, dizziness and in the worst case, even brain damage. Runners who drink too much water instead of an electrolyte balanced drink like Gatorade risk life threatening injuries during a grueling long distance race because of low sodium levels. Excessive loss of liquids due to vomiting or diarrhea can also result in dangerously low sodium levels. Sodium is critical for life, and that is why our taste for saltiness in food is so highly evolved that without salt the food is completely unpalatable. No wonder the salt shaker has a prominent place on every dinner table.

Too much salt, on the other hand, is also not good. It is known to cause heart disease in the long run. Other reports have linked excessive salt to asthma, osteoporosis, heartburn, left ventricular hypertrophy (cardiac enlargement) and even death. In fact, ingesting very large amounts of salt was often used to commit suicide in ancient China (via Wikipedia)!

Look at the nutrition facts label of any packaged food and you will find high amounts of salt per serving (typically 20 -30% of the USDA recommended 2300 mg per day). Same goes for restaurant food as I recently wrote in a Five for Fridays article regarding reports of “dangerously high levels” of salt in chain restaurant meals. The food industry is under a lot of pressure from consumers and regulators to find ways to lower sodium levels in processed foods. It is not easy since scientists still do not fully understand the biological mechanism of how we perceive saltiness. Still, driven by market demand, there are a few novel approaches being pursued. Here is a short summary -

Chemical Methods

The easiest replacement for sodium chloride is potassium chloride, however it also has a bitter taste. As a result, some sodium chloride still needs to be added to block bitterness.

New bitterness blockers that reduce the activation of taste cells by bitter ingredients are under development. One example is Betrasalt^TM from a biotechnology company Redpoint Bio which is claimed to contain GRAS (FDA’s term for Generally Recognized as Safe) ingredients. They are positioning this proprietary additive for chicken soup, beef gravy, nacho flavor, vegetable juice and table salt.

Some chemicals such as menthyl lactate from Givaudan, which produce a “cooling effect” can also amplify the taste of saltiness at low amount of sodium. They have a few other cooling compounds which they are optimizing for salt enhancement.

Physical Methods

By reducing the size of salt crystals using a freeze drying method, Leatherhead Food International (LFI) has shown that these crystals dissolve faster on the tongue which produces a stronger salty sensation at lower concentration. Eminate Ltd., a partner of the Nottingham University of UK has developed a proprietary spray-drying technology to make nano-sized salt crystals. These salt crystals could work well when sprinkled on chips and fries.

LFI is also developing double emulsions in which a water droplet  is enclosed inside an oil droplet which itself enclosed inside another water droplet. When salt is added to the outside water layer in small amounts, taste testers reported a stronger salt sensation. These double emulsions could be used in salad dressings.

Biochemical Methods

Senomyx, a San Diego based flavor research company, has identified proteins responsible for salt perception in the taste buds. They are now using this protein to develop testing methods which help in developing new salt enhancing flavor molecules.

A milk-based mineral blend produced by “milk cracking” has been developed by Armor Proteines who is marketing the additive as Lactosalt Optitaste for use in bread, cheese and processed meats. They claim that it can result in 25% lower sodium levels.

Salty and Umami (savory) tastes work together on the tongue to produce similar sensations. One approach to reducing salt is to enhance the umami taste. By studying broths made from fermented Bonito, a fish from the mackerel family popular in Japan, Givaudan has developed new enhancers for umami sensation which can be used in reduced salt formulations.

DSM has developed yeast extracts that also provide the umami sensation in low sodium formulations suited for breads, cheese and cereals. They claim that their Maxarom® and Maxarite^TM products can lower salt by 25 – 50%.

No doubt, we are likely to see intense research and competition in salt reduction technology in the future. Your best bet of course is to reduce consumption of processed foods and instead rely more on fresh, home made meals where you can control the amount of salt. But it may not be practical all the time as you try to manage the nutritional needs of your family while running a buys life. In this regard, this trend is very encouraging.

What do you think?

Photo source – Luca Galuzzi, Wikipedia
©2009 Littlestomaks.com