Ask The Expert is a weekly column on Littlestomaks.com. The idea is to have a reader-submitted question answered by a nutrition expert or a pediatrician. Feel free to submit your question in the comments section below.

There is a lot of hype about sea salt, but is it any better than regular salt for your health? This week, Registered Dietitian Caryn Roll suggests you control your family’s salt intake no matter if it is sea salt or regular salt.

Question: What is the difference between sea salt and regular salt? Is sea salt healthier for my child?

Answer:

The difference between sea salt and regular salt are few.  Regular salt that you buy off the shelf at your grocery store is usually fortified with iodine and the salt granules are quite fine.  Sea salt may or may not be fortified and the size of the granules varies.  In the past, salt was fortified to prevent iodine deficiencies.  Nowadays iodine deficiencies are rare so it is not essential to choose iodized salt.  However, it is essential to curb salt use especially with children.

Salt consumption is on the rise mainly due to the addition of salt in restaurant meals and processed foods.  Consequently, the population regularly eat these high salt containing foods: breakfast cereals, canned soups, frozen entrees, condiments like ketchup and breads and cheeses (think pizza!).  North Americans are consuming dangerously high levels of salt.  Salt is a leading cause of high blood pressure, the silent killer.

Curb salt intake by removing the salt shaker from the table.  Do not add salt to your recipes.  Read foods labels carefully.  Make sure the daily intake for sodium is as low as possible (less than 10%).  It might be hard at first to live without added salt.  But trust me, you and your kids will quickly acclimatize and then you will not be able to eat highly salted foods.

There are no health benefits associated with sea salt. It’s a personal choice in terms of texture and taste. Some recipes call for sea salt or kosher salt. It’s all the same no matter what you call it. It’s still best to keep the salt shaker off the table!

©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.

Okay, so this is a little off topic and not so much about nutrition. But we had so much fun making play dough at home this weekend that I just wanted to share it with you all!

First, here is the recipe we found from an old magazine:

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups water
• 2 tsp liquid food coloring
• 2 tbs cooking oil
• 2 cups flour
• 1/2 cup salt
• 4 tbsp cream of tartar

Method

1. Combine water, food coloring and oil in a small bowl
2. Add flour, salt and cream of tartar to a large saucepan
3. Over medium heat, slowly pour the water-oil-food coloring mixture into the saucepan while stirring constantly. Cook and stir for 5 minutes until a ball of dough forms
4. Cool the dough for 5 minutes then knead with your hands until it is smooth
5. Store in refrigerator when not in use

The twins had a lot of fun kneading the dough, mixing up food coloring and eventually making shapes out of the play dough!

Of course, being the scientists we are, we simply had to understand the chemistry of play dough! It is really quite fascinating. Here is a short excerpt from how play dough modeling comp0und works which also has a lot of other cool facts about play dough.

Starch granules break down as warm water is added to the flour and the mixture is stirred. Slowly, the mixture becomes gelatinized and turns into a soft, pliable dough. Cooking oil acts as a lubricant which makes it easy to form it into different shapes. Salt acts as a preservative. Cream of tartar is a very important player in this chemistry because it adds strength to the dough. Cream of tartar is actually a by product of wine fermentation where it forms as a potassium acid salt of tartaric acid. In cooking, it is commonly used to add stiffness to egg whites. It is also used to prevent crystallization of sugar.

Commercial play dough contains a lot of other chemicals for making it more stable, less sticky, moist and resistant to bacterial and fungus growth.

Enjoy!

©2010 Littlestomaks.com

photo credit: sebilden

Salt is in the news these days! A typical American diet is rich in salt because of excessive processed foods and junk foods. Most Americans consume a lot more salt each day than the recommended 2300 mg of sodium (about a teaspoon of salt). Some estimates suggest that adults get an average of 4000 – 6000 mg of sodium while school age children average 3000 – 4000 mg per day. That is clearly a lot!

Do you ever wonder why your child wants to drink a lot more water when they eat salty snacks? Although salt is very important for normal body functions, too much of it forces our body to demand more water so it can be diluted. Our kidneys work overtime to remove excess salt from our body, but they need water to carry it out. That is why sodium content inside our body is directly linked to water balance. A complex system of hormones in our body tries to keep the overall amount of liquid in balance, but consuming too much salt throws it out of balance. What is more of a problem is that our heart has to work against all this liquid which causes our blood pressure to rise. Done too frequently, this can lead to chronic high blood pressure and heart disease.

So what can you do? Here are a few tips:

• First, be aware of sodium requirements in children – estimated minimum requirement for sodium in healthy children ranges from about 200 mg per day for 1 year old to about 500 mg per day in  children 6 and up.
• Read the nutrition facts label on processed foods – we try to stay away from products that contain more than 15% of daily sodium per serving. Unfortunately, hot dogs and french fries fall in this category!
• Get your kids interested in eating a home-cooked meal – this is probably a lot more difficult in practice. All I can say is that you got to keep trying and set a standard of family meals as a daily ritual.
• Get rid of the salt shaker – a teaspoon of salt is really not a whole lot. Resist the urge to reach for the salt shaker on your table. If your kids don’t see you using it, they are less likely to reach for it.
• Say NO to processed meats – salt is a natural preservative and most processed meat is prepared with a lot of salt. Reducing your meat consumption is a good idea, and when you do, get fresh and uncooked meat which you can prepare at home.
• Eat more veggies, either steamed, grilled or raw – vegetables and other plant based foods are the best choice when you are trying to control your family’s salt intake. Nothing wrong in enjoying your favorite recipe that calls for salt, but they are most healthy when eaten raw, steamed or grilled. Saute in olive oil with onions and tomato paste if you want to add a little bit of flavor.

Both salt and water are critical for our survival and growth. We can’t live without them. Like everything else, too much of a good thing is not good either. With a little planning and preparation you can ensure a healthy balance.

Here are a few good resources on salt and managing it in your family’s diet

Shake your salt habit – American Heart Association
What can I use instead of salt – American Heart Association
5 ways to cut back on salt – WebMD
Salt: The Spice of Life or the Taste of Doom – The Yale Guide to Children’s Nutrition

Parents: what has worked for you in reducing your family’s salt intake? Share your tips below in comments.

©2010 Littlestomaks.com

Ask The Expert is a weekly column on Littlestomaks.com. The idea is to have a reader-submitted question answered by a nutrition expert or a pediatrician. Feel free to submit your question in the comments section below.

Packaged snacks offer the convenience of a quick bite to eat when you are on-the-go with your kids, but they can contain potentially harmful additives and preservatives.  This week, Registered Dietitian Danielle Omar offers a handy list of what to avoid and what may be ok. Bottom line, read the nutritional facts label and scrutinize the ingredients list. And yes, don’t fall for the front-of-the box labeling!

Question: What additives and preservatives should I avoid when choosing packaged snacks for my kids?

Answer:

Although we would all love to offer our children only fresh fruit, veggies, and whole foods for snacks, packaged food is sometimes a convenient necessity when feeding kids.  Unfortunately, there’s a huge market for these types of foods and the nutritional value ranges from good, to not so bad, to really, really bad!   As a Dietitian and mom to a 2 ½ year old, I know it’s a little unrealistic to shield my daughter from all packaged snacks, but armed with the right information I can make the best choice possible.

Besides the well-known offenders (high fructose corn syrup, white flour, and Trans fat), there are actually certain food additives and ingredients that you should limit or avoid when selecting snacks.  In studies, artificial ingredients like flavoring, coloring, and preservatives have been linked to allergies, hyperactivity, asthma, eczema, headaches, and fatigue in children.

When choosing packaged snacks, the best defense as a parent is to read the food label.  Front of package labeling is part of product advertising and may be misleading, so the best place to look first is the ingredient list.  This is where you’ll find all of the ingredients listed in descending order – from the most prevalent to the least.  The first few ingredients are going to be making up most of the food item, so you will want to pay special attention to what is listed there.  You also want to be cautious of how many ingredients are listed; in general, the more ingredients the food has, the more processed it is, and the less healthy it may be.  This is because the farther away from “real food” the product is, the more artificial flavor, color, fillers, and preservatives it will need to look and taste like the real thing.  Below is a detailed list of preservatives and additives that get the “OK” and those that should probably be limited (and in some cases completely avoided) when choosing packaged snacks.  For speedy label reading I suggest keeping a list in your purse or wallet.   Processed foods will inherently contain additives and preservatives, but with some careful consideration and good label reading, you can make the best choice possible for your family.

Limit or Avoid these ingredients:
Additives & Preservatives:

• Artificial and natural flavoring
• Sulfites: sodium sulfite; sodium bisulfate; potassium bisulfate; sodium metabisulfite; potassium metabisulfite
• Nitrates: nitrates (may be listed as sodium nitrate; sodium nitrite)
• Benzoate preservatives:  butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA);  butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT)
• Monosodium glutamate (MSG): may be listed as autolyzed yeast extract; hydrolyzed vegetable protein; yeast extract; disodium inosinate; disodium guanylate

Fat substitutes:

• Olestra

Artificial Coloring:

• Blue 2, Green 3, Orange B, Red 3, Red 3, and Yellow 5 & 6

Artificial Sweeteners:

• Acesulfame Potassium
• Aspartame (Nutrasweet)
• Saccharin (Sweet & Low)

Salt:

• Listed as sodium on Nutrition Facts Panel or sodium chloride on ingredient list
• Monosodium glutamate (MSG)and sodium benzoate also add to sodium levels

These ingredients are OK:
Additives & Preservatives:

• ascorbic acid and ascorbyl palmitate; alpha tocopherol; calcium or sodium propionate
• alginate; cellulose or cellulose gums; carrageen
• citric acid and sodium citrate; lactic acid; malic acid; tartaric acid
• dextrin; gelatin; glycerin; inulin; lecithin
• mono and diglycerides
• phosphates; polysorbate 60; sorbitan monstearate

Coloring:

• fruit and vegetable extracts; beet juice concentrate; beta carotene; carmine

Sweeteners:

• honey, agave, fruit or fruit concentrate; cane juice; brown rice syrup; molasses; oligofructose

©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.

Getting young kids to eat salad greens and other veggies is a challenge for most parents. We are no exception as we try different ways to get our twins to take a few bites. A while ago, we had some success with our eating salad like a giraffe story, but it didn’t last too long.

Recently, out of the blue, and much to our surprise, our son has become a regular salad eater. He does love pretending to be a giraffe as he nibbles on the salad greens with his neck stretched out! Check out this recent video in which special musical effects were provided by his twin sister!

It is funny, no doubt, but the trick works because now we have a secret ingredient. Turns out that he likes it when we add a little ketchup, a tablespoon of plain yogurt and a sprinkle of salt over the greens. Call it a weird salad dressing, but it seems to work every time!

As they say, the secret is in the sauce. What has worked for you?

©2010 Littlestomaks.com

Greetings! It is Friday again, which means it is time for our usual Five for Fridays, a compilation of interesting food and nutrition news from the week. The focus this week was on salt content of foods as the Institute of Medicine came out with a report which recommended setting mandatory national standards for sodium content.

That is why I want to focus on this problem, especially when it comes to popular foods for children. You will be surprised by the amount of salt in these 5 common foods listed below.

It is no secret that the amount of daily salt in an average American diet is too high. According to some estimates, Americans consume 3400 mg of sodium (about 1.5 tsp) per day far in excess of the national dietary recommendation of no more than 2300 mg.

There is a biological reason why we prefer salt in our food – our body needs it for maintaining the electrolyte balance which is essential for normal functioning of our muscles and brain. However, too much salt is now known to be linked high blood pressure, which leads to heart disease, stroke, congestive heart failure and kidney disease.

The culprit?

The finger is being pointed at processed foods and restaurant meals. The issue is not without its own politics however. Although the calls for policing the salt content in foods are getting louder, the FDA has avoided a knee-jerk reaction by suggesting a federal working group and encouraging food companies to voluntarily cut salt from their products. I think it is a smart strategy because I believe that we don’t need any more regulation; rather the market should reject salty foods and demand healthier options. It is not going to happen overnight, but it has the best chance of forcing the food companies to innovate.

Major food companies already see the writing on the wall. According to the Wall Street Journal, General Mills and Kraft Foods have announced plans to cut salt and rework their products. PepsiCo made a similar announcement to cut salt by 25% by 2015 by adopting new salt reduction technologies.  Although these are incremental moves, and I don’t support their desire to proliferate even more snacks in the marketplace, it is a step in the right direction.

Here are 5 foods, loved by most children, but surprisingly high in salt (and other bad stuff!):

Hot Dogs

Hot dogs have become a cultural icon! Kids get hooked on them early and even adults cannot resist them when presented with the opportunity. But did you know that even half of an Oscar Mayer beef frank contains over 400 mg of sodium? Other brands are not much better either and a single serving (typically 1 hot dog) can count for as much as 20% of the daily recommended value. As if that is not enough, most of the calories are from fat with loads of saturated fats and cholesterol. You definitely want to keep this dog on a tight leash as much as possible!

Mac ‘n Cheese

Kraft’s Macroni and Cheese is the big dog in town, another favorite of most kids. In case you haven’t noticed the nutrition label, you may be in for a big surprise because a single serving of about a cup contains over 500 mg sodium. This is unbelievable! Rely on plain pasta instead and make your own cheesy sauce if needed. We like to cook elbow pasta, toss it in a little olive oil and sprinkle a little Parmesan cheese. Another simple recipe uses Alfredo sauce along with some veggies and shrimp for a full meal!

Cheetos

There are so many different types of chips out there which kids like to munch on, but we focus on our attention on Cheetos when it comes to salt content. A 2 oz single serving size pack contains nearly 600 mg sodium. Pay attention to the serving size on the nutrition label because it might show the numbers for only half a pack (that is 1 oz.) but we all know that once you pop the bag, you can’t stop until all of it is gone! We have a strict no-chips policy, particularly no-Cheetos, inside the house. Exceptions are the Disney parks where our twins first got exposed to Cheetos and now they clearly link the two. Good thing we don’t go there very frequently!

Chicken Nuggets

Another kid favorite and a regular item on most fast food restaurant menus. 5-6 pieces of them contain over 500 mg of sodium! Frozen chicken nuggets from popular brands like Tyson and Perdue are no better and carry about the same amount. Don’t let the small size of individual nuggets fool you! They all add up very quickly.

Condensed Soups

Chances are you have at least half a dozen cans of condensed soups in your pantry on any given day. Chicken rice, chicken noodle, cream of mushroom and tomato soup are common household stock items. The soup aisle in any grocery store usually rivals the cereal aisle with a very broad range of soups from many different brands. Condensed soups have become a substitute for a meal but they do come with a lot salt. Even the so-called 25% less sodium chicken noodle soup from Campbell’s contains nearly 700 mg sodium!

Our kids like Campbell’s kids soups and although they contain less sodium (at about 500 mg), it is still quite high. Campbell’s is ahead of the curve in reducing sodium, and although we are encouraged by their efforts, they still have a long way to go. In the meantime, we manage the portion size and add more water than prescribed when making these soups.

Clearly, it is a challenge for most parents to manage salt in their family’s diet because these foods are very popular, easily available at a decent price point, and ready to eat. You don’t need to go cold turkey on any of them, but certainly you have to exercise caution and manage portion size. And whenever possible, choose a simple, home-cooked meal with fresh ingredients.

Enjoy and let me know what is on your mind.

Photo Source: heliosphan on Flickr

©2010 Littlestomaks.com

Happy Easter! It is Friday again, which means it is time for the usual Five for Fridays! Here are 5 food and nutrition related stories that caught my eye. Enjoy and let me know what you think.

New health bill will require restaurants to show calories on the menu

Chain restaurants with more than 20 outlets nationwide will be required to display nutrient content and calorie information on their menus according to Section 2572 of the recent healthcare bill. Similar rules will apply to vending machines. Menu labeling has been already in place in New York City for over an year with mixed results. Studies published last year, which I wrote about in a Five for Fridays, reported that doubts were emerging about the effectiveness of calorie labeling. What was more worrisome to me was the fact that some restaurants were actually “cheating” by posting lower calories than actually present in certain food items when tested! Clearly, this should not be allowed.

I think calorie labeling on restaurant menus is a good idea. Not only that,  there should also be other nutritional information available, particularly on salt, sugar and fat. It may take some time before consumers are fully aware of the risks of salty, sugary and fatty foods, but clearly in the long run it will help them make better decisions. The problem is that now it will require some sort of policing to ensure compliance with the law. Already there are problems with the National Organic Program (see below) due to constraints in budget and inspectors . These new requirements will undoubtedly create a new bureaucracy and another cat-and-mouse game will begin between food marketers and compliance officers. Hopefully it will become a self-policing system if consumers begin to vote with their wallets at these restaurants.

National Organic Program lacks teeth to enforce rules

You pay extra for certified organic products. You have the right to expect that they are genuine and that they do not contain pesticide residues. You do not expect non-organic products sold with the organic label. Yet, it is not an absolute guarantee! Now, wouldn’t that make you mad?

This is exactly how I felt when I read a report in the New York Times which exposed serious gaps in federal oversight of the organic food industry. Turns out that they don’t have enough inspectors to spot check organic products for pesticide residue (required by law) and that bogus organic products were allowed to be in the market for over 2 years before any action was taken. The excuse? Well, demand for organic products has grown so fast that the USDA’s National Organic Program can’t keep up with its enforcement responsibilities!

Finally, they are making a commitment to enforce spot testing for pesticide residues. They are getting more money and more people. The bureaucracy is ballooning but don’t expect it work perfectly. It never does. Meanwhile, don’t give up on organic products; just do your research and buy from a reputable brand.

Pepsico wants to trick your tongue by “designer salt”

Don’t give up on the potato chips! At least that is what Pepsico would like you to do just in case you are having second thoughts after reading about the evil sodium in their popular snacks. Recently they announced plans to cut sodium content by 25% by 2015, saturated fat and added sugar by 15% and 25% respectively by 2020. Sounds like the responsible thing to do, especially now that there is a bright spotlight on the link between processed food and obesity.

The solution, at least for sodium? A new “designer salt” which has crystals shaped and sized so that they dissolve fast on the tongue delivering a rapid salty sensation. While an innovative idea, which Pepsico is sure to market as a “breakthrough”, I think it is still a great example of incremental thinking. The problem is not with salt folks, it is the chips that we need to cut down on.

And 25% reduction is not going to make these products “healthier”! Consider Cheetos, which contain a whopping 290 mg of sodium per 1 oz serving. A 25% reduction (in 5 years) will bring it down to about 220, which is still very high. Too little, too late? What do you think?

Spinach leaves enrich their vitamin content sitting on the store shelf

Worried about picking up that box of baby spinach close to its expiration date? Well, believe it or not, you may be actually getting more value for your money compared to a box that did not sit on the store shelves for this long!

According to researchers at the USDA, spinach leaves exposed to store lighting conditions continuously over 9 days had a higher level of folate, vitamin C, K and E compared to those kept in the dark. This fascinating research was recently published in the Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry. The researchers reasoned that the spinach leaves continued their photosynthesis (a process by which plants produce sugars using sunlight and carbon dioxide) under the store light, which also produces these vitamins. When the same spinach leaves were stored in the dark, photosynthesis did not happen.

This is interesting for sure, but remember that the vitamin content of vegetables also depends on how you cook them. Steaming and microwaving is good; but eating raw fresh veggies is even better.

Teaching kids to eat healthy the French way

Offer preschoolers a 5 course meal, make sure they eat at the table and keep the parents out is the French recipe for getting kids to build lifelong healthy eating habits. I was fascinated to read the Nursery School Gourmets in a recent TIME magazine, which explained how seriously the city of Paris looks at the matter of school lunches.

Clearly, it is a well-structured, heavily funded state program unlike what we have in the United States. The daily menu is planned in advance for 2 months with no repetitions. Every meal includes an hors d’oeuvre, salad, main course, cheese plate and dessert (yum!). Soda and snack machines are banned. Parents are given suggestions for what to serve at dinner based on the day’s lunch menu. Discipline is intense and kids are trained to eat at the table and keep quiet.

Should we emulate the French model to solve our childhood obesity problem? The topic of school lunch is center stage these days, and Jamie Olivers’ Food Revolution is on prime time. The French model is yet another benchmark for us to consider. What do you think?

Enjoy and let me know what is on your mind.

Photo Source: Wikimedia Commons

©2010 Littlestomaks.com

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

Vitamin D is big business these days

According to the Nutrition Business Journal quoted in a recent New York Times article, consumers gobbled up $235 million worth of vitamin D supplements in 2008 compared to a mere $41 million in 2001! Also, more physicians are ordering vitamin D tests for their patients and prescribing supplements to correct for low vitamin D levels.

This is incredible! Clearly, there is a buzz about vitamin D these days. Screaming headlines about low levels in children and adults followed by all kinds of studies claiming a “role” of vitamin D in diabetes, heart disease and cancer are creating a mass hysteria. The message is – pay attention to your vitamin D level and start loading up on it just in case because otherwise you will have a high risk of getting these terrible diseases. This is quite misleading in my opinion.

I am not against taking a vitamin D supplement. But there are  few things you should consider before you take that step.

There is a reason why the current recommendation of 400 IU per day of vitamin D has not been revised. A lot of people believe that this amount is too low. Still, there are no clinical studies which show a prevention or treatment effect of vitamin D for these diseases. Taking high doses of vitamin D (like 1000 or 2000 IU per day) is no guarantee of good health and prevention of diseases if the overall nutrition and lifestyle is poor. Supplements are not a drug folks, even though some people may try to sell them to you like that.

Bottom line – rely on food sources for your vitamin needs first, not on supplements. And if you do have a medical condition, talk to your doctor and ask for a pharmaceutical grade vitamin supplement. Here are 5 ways to tell if our child may have a vitamin D problem.

Tax soda like cigarettes – here we go again

The state of New York is on a mission to tackle the problem of obesity. While it is a worthwhile goal, which will surely have a positive impact on long term public health and healthcare costs, their approach to solving this problem is not smart at all. In fact, I think it is driven purely by politics and motivated by their deficit problem.

Tax sugar sweetened beverages (SSB) including soda they say, because that will cause people to drink less of it, which means they will not become overweight or obese since SSB’s are known to cause obesity. They have released a sugar sweetened beverage tax toolkit to provide a rationale for this tax, which in my opinion is a lot of mumbo-jumbo and twisted logic. Still, it makes an interesting read and gives you an insight into the limited range of creativity among public health officials and regulators.

I no fan of soda. But I am totally against another tax in the name of trying to improve public health when the real motivation is to fix the deficit problem. I continue to believe that soda tax will do nothing to reduce its consumption, at least not in any significant way. There are many other ways to discourage soda makers to produce healthier products or encourage the public to limit their soda consumption. But then they are not as easy as slapping another tax!

Manage salt for better health

Salt is something we can’t live without. It is also something we consume too much of and – if we continue this way – there is little doubt that most of us will not live long enough to enjoy it for long. Dr Ayala has a nice article this week on her blog about how too much of (cheap) processed food in our diets is causing us to consume way too much than just a pinch of salt we need for good health. It is a great reminder because this week is world salt awareness week.

The food industry is taking notice. Many companies are quietly working on reducing the sodium content of their products while preserving taste and texture. New salt reduction technologies are being developed and deployed in these products. Some may still have an issue with it; but I have a more pragmatic approach. There is a reason why processed food sells – it offers convenience at a reasonable price. There is no reason to completely eliminate it, just balance it with more cooking at home, read the nutrition facts labels and select the right products. Try to limit daily sodium to less than 2300 mg (1 tsp of salt) and avoid products where a single serving has any more than 15 – 20% of this daily value. Another thing you can do is to reduce the portion size of these foods both at home and in restaurants.

5 out-of-the box ideas for helping your kids eat well

Jenna of KidAppeal has a great blog post this week with a few out-of-the box ideas for you if you need help getting your kids to eat well (who doesn’t!). I really liked her idea of “making food relevant” and “having fun”, because you do need to be able to engage them at the table. We have recently discovered that story telling works with our twins in capturing their attention long enough for them to try the food at the table. Talking about diesel food for a diesel engine does not make sense to an adult, but it captures my son’s attention! You can also play a game, read from their favorite book, solve a puzzle or simply have a conversation about what they did at school or daycare. It will help if the TV is off so they can focus on you and the food.

By the way, Jenna has a weekly feature Big Words Little Foodies every Tuesday where she invites parents to share funny things their kids say about food. Check it out and share your funny stories!

Food rules from Michael Pollan

“Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants”. This is the essence of Mr. Pollan’s message in his new book Food Rules – An Eater’s Manual which gets a nice review in this week’s New York Times. I think this is sound advice, one that was commonly practiced as late as just a few generations ago prior to the modern day (processed) food revolution. But it also requires not only a change in your mindset about food but also a change in lifestyle. Giving up the western diet (meat, refined sugars, fat and salt via processed food) may sound simple in a book, but difficult to accomplish and sustain unless you make significant changes in your lifestyle.

What food rules do you live by these days? What changes, if any, do you plan on making in the near future?

Enjoy and let me know what is on your mind.

Photo Source: adactio on Flickr via everystockphoto
©2010 Littlestomaks.com

It is great to see orange everywhere in the neighborhood these days! Some people have already put up their Halloween decorations. We don’t get to enjoy the Fall colors as much in Florida. So these decorations – along with the cool evening air – remind us of the changing season. It is great to be outdoors these days!

It seemed like a busy week for nutrition related news. Probably because I discovered a great website which aggregates news from different sources and organizes them in different categories. It is called Alltop and it is created by none other than the Marketing Guru Guy Kawasaki. I was delighted to see my blog listed on Alltop’s Top Nutrition News page. Check it out!

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

Watch out, eating hamburgers can paralyze you

I was shocked beyond belief to read the unfortunate story of 22 years old Stephanie Smith, who got really sick after eating a hamburger contaminated with E. coli. She was so sick that doctors had to put her in a coma for nine weeks, after which she could no longer walk because she was paralyzed from the waist down. A very heavy price to pay for a cheap hamburger all of us assume safe for eating without much thought.

Turns out there are serious gaps in the food inspection system which is supposed to test packaged meat for E. coli contamination. Ground beef is produced by processors from beef trimmings and other parts which they buy from many different suppliers. Not all of these incoming supplies are tested for contamination before grinding. The result is that  contaminated cow parts can sometime enter the ground beef supply undetected. Does not happen very frequently, but it does happen often enough to make the news. 8000 people have become sick from 16 E. coli outbreaks in the last 3 years.

No matter how many regulations and inspections are put in place, there is no way to be 100% safe because of the way meat is processed in modern plants. My advice – cut down on beef in the first place – it has been shown to increase the risk of various types of cancer. And if you do want to enjoy a burger, make sure you follow the safe handling procedures and cook it thoroughly so that the inside of the hamburger reaches 165 °F.

Food insecurity increases the risk of childhood obesity

Sounds paradoxical, doesn’t it? Food insecurity is defined as lack of access to food, or nutritionally adequate food. So it is surprising that new research from the American Dietetic Association concludes that there is a link between food insecurity and childhood obesity. In particular, girls from households facing food insecurity are more likely to be overweight or obese. Girls 2-5 years old from household with food insecurity were 47% more likely to be overweight compared to those from food secure households. Boys of the same age did not show this correlation.

What could be the cause of this? Researchers are not sure yet, but suggests that food insecurity creates stress which affects behavior including food choices. Add to that the availability of cheap, energy dense, nutrient-poor foods and binge eating and you can see why this could happen.

I believe that hunger and obesity are two sides of the same coin. In poor countries, food insecurity is real and energy-dense foods are not affordable. There you see severe malnutrition and low weights. In developed countries, food insecurity causes malnutrition on the other end – that is energy dense foods leading to overweight and obesity. The common factors are distribution, quality and cost of food. This is where organizations like Share Our Strength are so critical. I have supported them by writing blog posts and will continue to do so in future.

Soy isoflavones reduce risk of diabetes and heart disease

I was quite excited to read about new research from UMass (my alma mater!) which attempts to explain how isoflavones from soy rich foods work with fat cells to regulate glucose uptake and increased insulin sensitivity. This mechanism is similar to how anti-diabetic drugs work in the body. This is a very important discovery because soy rich foods have been known to lower diabetes risk, increase insulin sensitivity and reduce cardiovascular disease risk, but the cellular mechanism was not well understood.

Isoflavones are plant-based antioxidants found almost exclusively in beans such as soybeans. They are also known as polyphenols because of their chemical structure. Many of these isoflavones act as dietary estrogens. Some studies have shown a reduced risk of breast cancer especially if the soy-rich diet is given in early childhood.

Although much research still remains to be done, particularly in humans, these results are quite promising.

Michael Pollan considers rules to eat by

What are your rules of thumb that affect your food choices? Do you follow the advice of your Mom or Grandma, or do you make these choices by nutritional labels, diet trends or advertisements? Michael Pollan, the highly acclaimed author of The Omnivores Dilemma is compiling genuinely useful, nutritionally sound examples of popular wisdom about eating via the Well blog on the New York Times. He is writing  a book Food Rules: An Eater’s Manual based on these responses due to be published in January.

Pollan is known for his skepticism about modern nutrition science and food marketing claims. At the core, he believes that how we eat has been, and should be, influenced by culture based on our collective wisdom accumulated over generations. In short, have more faith in what your Mama told you and skip the advice based on nutrition science.

I have a little bit of a problem with this. What is culture? How do we know that the wisdom of culture is still relevant today? I agree, that culture strongly drives our behavior, but culture is constantly changing. More so than ever now because we live in the age of the Internet. I say, listen to your Mama, but also learn the science so you can make your own decisions. If you leave the decision making to others, even if they are scientists, you are really giving up responsibility for your own health. Science and culture are not mutually exclusive; use the power of information to make your own decisions. I would love to hear Michael’s thoughts on this.

What do you think? What are your favorite rules?

Preservative-free doesn’t make salty processed foods any healthier

Annie of PhD In Parenting wrote a very nice post this week about how Nestle responded to her question on high sodium content in Stouffer’s frozen foods. This was precipitated by Nestle’s claim on Twitter that Stouffer’s meals contained no preservatives.

The No Preservative claim on processed foods is getting quite common these days because customers are getting more sensitive to chemical additives in foods. What they don’t realize is that just because a certain processed food claims to contain no preservatives, it doesn’t mean that it is healthy for them. Most of them still contain loads of salt, fat and sugar.

Nestle’s response to Annie’s question based on their expert opinion is quite ridiculous! They want you to control your toddler’s salt intake by managing the portion size – that is don’t give the adult size serving to your toddler! As if your child is a robot that you can dial in a serving size to manage their salt intake. The right thing to do is to reduce the sodium content in the food.

Instead of hiding behind the numbers in their so called “expert” response, I would have liked to see them take ownership of the sodium problem and announce specific goals to reduce them to a certain level in their products ahead of regulations. That would have shown true leadership and concern for the consumer.

What do you think?

Photo source -Barbara L. Hanson on Flickr via 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

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

Happy Friday! 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.

New salt reduction targets in UK

The Food Standards Agency of UK (FSA) created quite a stir this week by announcing revised salt reduction targets for the industry to be implemented by 2012. Some 80 categories of foods are being targeted such as bread, meat products, pizza, ready meals and snacks. The goal is to get down to a level of 6 g per day for adults and children over 11 years old, which comes to about 2400 mg of sodium per day. This also happens to be the daily recommended level set by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Most people these days end up consuming far more salt than the maximum daily amount since processed foods and restaurant meals are loaded with salt which I wrote about in last week’s Five for Fridays. Already, the industry is challenging these targets claiming that consumers will not like the taste of many products. Go figure!

Although it is a step in the right direction, I see two problems with this move. First, even if the food industry innovates to deliver great-tasting products with low salt per serving, there is no way to control how many servings of these products people will consume in a day. The best way to control salt intake is to limit, or eliminate, the consumption of processed foods, which is not very practical. I also feel that this will lead to more confusing front-of-the box advertising. The second problem is that this does not address the high salt content of restaurant meals. Finally, I believe that simply regulating the food industry is not enough, there should also be an effort to affect the demand of such products in the first place. It is only when people reject salty products out of a true concern for their long term health that we will see real progress. What do you think?

Genetically modified soybeans with high oleic acid get approval in Canada

Soybean oil is used in large quantities worldwide to prepare food products. One problem is that traditional soybeans contain a lot of unsaturated fat which needs to be hydrogenated to improve its shelf life. Hydorgenation increases the amount of trans fats which is known to increase the risk of heart disease. A new geneticaly modified soybean variety called Hi-bred developed by the DuPont company solves this problem. It contains a lot more oleic acid compared to traditional soybean and as a result, does not require hydrogenation. This week Health Canada and the Canadian Food Inspetion Agency have approved this high oleic acid soybean for cultivation and foods containing this soybean oil will hit the market by 2010.

There is a lot of sensitivity around genetically modified crops (GM) especially in Europe and Japan. In North America, the attitude towards GM crops appears to be more pragmatic. So I am not surprised by this news – what is surprising is that the US has not yet approved it even though the FDA reviewed DuPont’s data on GM soybeans way back in 1996. I Soybeans is one of the most important crops worldwide, in US alone the 2006 production was about 90 million metric tons. As a result, the cost of soybean oil is quite low. I am not particularly a big proponent of GM crops, but between trans fats and a GM version deemed safe in a regulatory review, it’s a no-brainer to me.

Link between food allergies and vitamin D deficiency?

The Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network (FAAN) seems to think so because a portion of the $1.1 million it is committing to food allergy research is going to fund a project to investigate this link. The rationale behind this is recent work done at the Massachusetts General Hospital that found a link between low levels of vitamin D and increased risk of anaphylaxis (very severe, life threatening allergic response). Another paper by these researchers reported a link between vitamin D and upper respiratory tract infections. How low levels of vitamin D would trigger an allergic response is not well known, so this research could be interesting. I am a little skeptical since I keep hearing about the involvement of vitamin D in a large number of health conditions. The question is if lack of vitamin D is a cause or simply a coincidence that happens to occur with these conditions. My feeling is that there may be other factors and it may not be prudent to focus so much on only vitamin D. In any case, if your child has food allergies, it probably will not hurt to ask your doctor about vitamin D. I would be curious to learn about what you hear as an answer.

Recession has changed consumer shopping behavior at the supermarket

Interesting data from the Food Marketing Institute (FMI) in a recent report on Grocery Shopping Trends in 2009 shows that more people are cutting back on eating out, and those who do eat out, are going for fast food instead of upscale dining. At the supermarket , they are selecting private label or store brands instead of branded products. Use of discount coupons is on the rise along with more food shopping at warehouse clubs (Sams, Costco, BJs). More people are cooking at home compared to last year, although this number is still too low in my opinion (only 55%).  Price is very important, but so is nutritional value, freshness and locally grown food. I think that this is one good effect of the otherwise horrible recession becuase this change in consumer behavior and attitude will force food producers to think differently and focus on finding the right balance of price and nutritional value. Innovation is bound to happen in such a challenging environment. I am a strong believer of consumer-driven innovation, and I hope that this shift in consumer attitude does not disappear when the economy turns around. How has your food buying behavior changed due to the recession?

What you can do to fight childhood obesity

The problem of childhood obesity is real and we can no longer keep our head buried in the sand. 1 in every 5 child is now considered obese, which means that we have a big healthcare nightmare waiting to unfold if we don’t do anything about it. Here is a post that really got my attention, not only because it provides all the facts, but also because it offers several good ideas on how you can get encourage your kids to get a healthy life and stay on track to fight childhood obesity. My favorite tip – Replace “trash ‘em foods”; get your kids to throw sugary, salty, fatty junk foods and beverages in the trash and replace them with healthy options like fruits, nuts, yogurt and low fat milk. Snacks and sugary drinks are a big problem, but there is a way to let your kids enjoy snacks the smart way. What are your favorite tips?

Enjoy your weekend!

Photo source – tanakawho on Flickr
©2009 Littlestomaks.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

Imagine driving through a busy intersection that has no traffic lights. Instead there are boards showing the driving rules in large print that you must read and quickly understand so you can pass through safely. And to make things worse, every intersection has different rules even though the boards look pretty much the same from a distance. It would be a disaster!

I think this is exactly the case with food labels. They all look the same but they pack a lot of information that you are supposed to digest (pun intended!) so you can make a healthy choice. And remember, all the bad stuff is usually hidden in the fine print on the label! Let us say your grocery cart on your weekly shopping trip has about 50 different items. Even if you spend just 1 minute trying to figure out the food label, it would take you almost an hour just to read and understand the information. Add to that all the walking through the aisles you need to do to get everything on your list, and you can be sure to spend your entire Saturday afternoon in the store. And if you have a screaming toddler trying to jump out of the cart, then simply forget it! You will likely look for the same items and brands every week without even looking at the label.

Traffic lights work because they are simple and easy to understand. The red-yellow-green lights have become a part of our nature. This leads to automatic action, which by habit and practice, is the correct action (in most cases, unless you are drunk!). So why not use the same idea and make the decision-making simple when it comes to food shopping?

I was really excited to learn that this is exactly what many supermarkets in the UK have started doing for their store brands. The standard nutrition label has not gone away, rather there is a simple color chart on the front panel of the package showing in red-amber-green, the levels of fat, saturated fat, salt and total sugars. We know that if we want to eat a healthy diet, one of the key things we should be doing is trying to cut down on fat (especially saturated fat), salt and added sugars. The message from the traffic light label is simple and clear – choose foods that show more “greens” than “reds” if you are trying to decide between two similar products.

One of the early adopters of the traffic light labeling system recommended by UK’s Food Standards Agency (similar to our FDA) was the Sainsbury supermarket chain, which now has nearly 5000 of its own branded food products showing this front-of-pack multiple traffic light (MTL) nutritional labeling. Even better, they have now developed a new ‘Just for Kids’ multiple traffic light labelingspecifically for the nutritional requirements of children.  This is based on Guideline Daily Amounts (GDA) for 4-6 year olds. Not surprisingly, the consumer response has been overwhelmingly positive. In a recent survey, 92% of the customers found the MTL labeling easy to understand and 54% felt that MTL labeling, rather than the corresponding GDA approach, gave the“best at-a-glance indication of the healthiness of the food”. In another survey, they found that out of those aware of the MTL labeling, 57% said the symbol has helped them eat more healthy, with 17% saying it helped them eat ‘a lot more’ healthy. Clearly, the system works for most consumers.

Not everyone is equally excited of course. I was browsing through the comments on a blog post by Andrew Wadge of the FSA on this topic. Some find it too simplistic and arbitrary. Others see it as a tool to pressure the food industry to adopt a new labeling requirement. One particularly interesting criticism was that the color coding system does not work for color blind people!

Surely, this cannot be a substitute for the detailed nutrition information label. In addition to avoiding the bad stuff, we need to also look for the good stuff like proteins, vitamins and minerals. Still, I think that such a system, if adopted by the food companies here at home, could make life easier for us busy people. What do you think?

Here are a few links if you want to learn more:

1. A detailed overview on Netmums.com
2. An article on food labels from FSA
3. Sainsbury’s traffic light labeling system
4. Traffic light label adopters in UK