The ultimate goal of this work is to provide the missing mechanistic information necessary to identify targets for the prevention and control of cancers related to or caused by excess body weight.
The Evolving Whole Grain
Nov 1
Mark Anthony wrote this 3-page story for FoodProcessing.com.
Other Smart Programs
Nov 1
In respons to my post on the new Smart Choices front of-pack labeling Program a friend gave me these insights related to the US:
1) Smart Choices Program has been created by an industry coalition. This means that it will likely have the lowest standards, and be largely a “positive” scheme — no foods will be labeled “bad.” But it also means this program has the best chance of being taken up quickly. All the articles talk about this appearing next year, and it may, but they have not yet decided how the scheme will be administered. (In fact, they are still accepting proposals for administration until the end of this week.)
2) NuVal is the second scheme, created by Dr. David Katz and a group of eminent health care leaders and researchers. This was formerly called ONQI (Overall Nutritional Quality Index) but has just been renamed. NuVal is short for Nutrition Value. It scores foods from 1 to 100 based on a very involved and complex algorithm. NuVal is already being tested at one supermarket chain here. In January 2009 they published sample score of hundreds of everyday items, please look here.
3) A third system has been proposed by the Nutrient-Rich Foods coalition, a coalition of academics (led by Adam Drewnowski and Vic Fulgoni) and some commodity groups. Their algorithm focuses on nutrient density of foods (a good thing) but they may have trouble competing with Smart Choice and NuVal.
Beyond this are the supermarket programs, best known of which is the Hannaford Guiding Stars.
FDA organized a 2 day Public Hearing on Use of Symbols to Communicate Nutrition Information in September 2007 which gave an excellent overview of this topic. Please see the agenda and listen to the audio from this event if you want to learn more about this topic.
Plenty of vigorous exercise can cut a healthy, older woman’s breast cancer risk by 30 percent, researchers said on Friday. A study of more than 30,000 post-menopausal women showed that strenuous activity — ranging from housework such as scrubbing floors to running — protected against breast cancer even among those who do not have a higher risk, the researchers said.
Elderly people trying to eat less may benefit from drinking a large glass of water before meals, suggest two studies from the USA.
Cartoon characters and names that imply a sugary taste are widely used to market cereal to kids. New research shows that these strategies can have a significant affect on children’s assessment of taste.
Sanofi-aventis announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Apidra(R) (insulin glulisine [rDNA origin] injection) to improve glycemic control in children (4 years and older) with diabetes mellitus.
Contrary to popular belief, a new study released by First 5 California found that parents don’t need to sneak fruits and vegetables into their children’s meals — kids say they actually like them! Interviews with more than 100 preschoolers across California revealed that kids not only know it’s important to eat fruits and vegetables, they frequently prefer them to candy.
UK Schools Secretary Ed Balls said that teenagers should be forced to stay in school at lunchtimes to stop them going out for junk food. He also called for councils to stop takeaways from opening near to schools.
Fast food restaurants should have to advertise how many calories are in their meals, according to the UK public health minister. Dawn Primarolo also called for sugary fizzy drinks to come in smaller sizes to combat the growing obesity problem.