Slowing Down School Lunches
Organization plans potlucks to raise awareness.
Food plays a central role in our lives. I can recall what was on the menu from dinners years ago, and I’m sure I’m not alone in associating good times with good food. But on the flip side of those fond memories is the queasy feeling I get when I walk down the frozen food aisle and glance at a package of fish sticks. The horror of school lunches immediately comes back to me. School lunches are in the spotlight every five years when the Child Nutrition Act comes up for reauthorization. The current act, which governs the National School Lunch Program that feeds more than 30 million children every school day, expires on Sept. 30. Read more
New Report Targets Added Sugars
Sugar has been making headlines recently, and the news is anything but sweet for a nation addicted to its soft drinks and candy bars. Earlier this month, some of the U.S.’s largest food companies wrote a letter to Agriculture Secretary Thomas Vilsack lobbying for more lenient import restrictions on sugar and claiming that unless policy changes are made “our nation will virtually run out of sugar.”
Well, according to a new scientific report from the American Heart Association, the U.S. could stand to do with less sugar in its diet. The association has released recommendations on the consumption of added sugars, which are sugars and syrups added during the processing of food and also at the table. These sugars differ from those that naturally occur, and a high intake of them, according to the statement’s lead author, Rachel K. Johnson, is implicated in a laundry list of health problems, from obesity and high blood pressure to heart disease and stroke. Read more
Don’t Fear Soy Foods
It’s no wonder that men who have read the recent stories circulating about soy are confused. Some stories claim that soy foods, such as tofu and soy milk, can lead to breast growth or reduce testosterone levels. Other stories tout the benefits of soy, suggesting soy may help protect against prostate cancer. Women have wondered for years whether phytoestrogens affect their health, from menopausal hot flashes to breast cancer. Now men are left to wonder about possible unwanted effects of soy foods.
Soy contains compounds called isoflavones that are known as phytoestrogens, which are weak plant versions of the hormone estrogen. Fears that the amount of phytoestrogens in moderate amounts of soy foods could stimulate men’s breast tissue or reduce their testosterone are not Read more
More Fruits and Vegetables
If all the pre-cut vegetables and fruits in the grocery store and news stories about the importance of produce for health has led you to believe that you’re the only one not eating many vegetables and fruits, relax. Once again, a study shows that most Americans aren’t, even though relatively minor changes in increasing fruits and vegetable consumption could pay off big in good health.
The latest study suggesting we’re still more talk than action when it comes to eating fruits and vegetables compares findings over the last 20 years from NHANES, a large federal diet and health survey. Nutrition experts urged us to aim higher when results from the 1988 to 1994 NHANES showed that among Americans ages 40 to 74, only 42 percent met the minimum recommendation of at least five servings of vegetables and fruits daily. Instead of increasing, the Read more
Where America’s biggest fast-food addicts live
While the state meat of Texas could be steak, the residents of Arlington apparently prefer their beef ground and round—with fries. And if they can’t find a burger (unlikely, given the density of drive-thrus), they’re just as happy to speed-eat a burrito. Even though authentic Mexican is everywhere, Arlingtonians keep seven Taco Bells in business.
We started our search for America’s fast-food addicts by tallying the number of Read more
Swine influenza
Swine influenza (also called H1N1 flu, swine flu, hog flu, and pig flu) is an infection by any one of several types of swine influenza virus. Swine influenza virus (SIV) is any strain of the influenza family of viruses that is endemic in pigs. As of 2009, the known SIV strains include influenza C and the subtypes of influenza A known as H1N1, H1N2, H3N1, H3N2, and H2N3.
Swine influenza virus is common throughout pig populations worldwide. Transmission of the virus from pigs to humans is not common and does not always lead to human influenza, often resulting only in the production of antibodies in the blood. If transmission does cause human influenza, it is called zoonotic swine flu. People with regular exposure to pigs are at increased risk of swine flu infection. The meat of an infected animal poses no risk of infection when properly cooked. Read more
Ask the doctor: Is canned fish good for the heart?
Q: I know that eating fish is good for the heart. But fresh fish costs a lot and I can’t get to the grocery store very often. Does eating canned fish help?
A: Canned salmon, tuna, sardines, kippered herring, and other types of fish are pretty much on a par with fresh fish. They give you as much heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids as fresh fish, and sometimes more. These essential oils help prevent potentially deadly heart rhythms. They also work against inflammation and the formation of blood clots inside arteries. An Italian study published in 2001 found that people who ate fresh or canned fish at least twice a week were 30% less likely to have had heart attacks as those who ate fish less than once a week. Read more
