Princess Health and Changes coming for Nutrition Facts labels on food products: emphasis on calories, added sugar and serving size. Princessiccia

Princess Health and Changes coming for Nutrition Facts labels on food products: emphasis on calories, added sugar and serving size. Princessiccia

calories childhood obesity diet federal regulation food food and drug administration food industry food marketing nutrition obesity

Gusty 14:14 Add Comment

Associated Press

By Danielle Ray
Kentucky Health News

Nutrition labels on food products will undergo a facelift over the next two years.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration finalized plans Friday to change labeling to emphasize calorie count and added sugars in an effort to simply nutrition labels and clarify serving sizes.

First lady Michelle Obama, a longtime crusader against childhood obesity, said parents will benefit from the upcoming changes.

"You will no longer need a microscope, a calculator, or a degree in nutrition to figure out whether the food you're buying is actually good for our kids," she told The Associated Press.

The overhaul puts less emphasis on fats and more on caloric value and added sugars. Calories on upcoming labels will be listed in larger font than other nutrient facts. Added sugar will get its own line, separate from naturally occurring sugar.  Currently, both added and naturally occurring sugars were lumped under one category, "Sugars."

New labels will also include a new "percent daily value" for added sugar, which will tell consumers how much of their recommended daily intake they will get from a given item. The FDA recommends consuming less than 10 percent of total daily calories (200 calories in a typical diet) from added sugar.

"The new labels should also spur food manufacturers to add less sugar to their products," Michael Jacobson, president of the advocacy group Center for Science in the Public Interest, told AP. He said that under current labeling, it's nearly impossible for consumers to know how much sugar fits into a reasonable diet.

The footnote will better explain what "percent daily value" means. It will read: �The % Daily Value tells you how much a nutrient in a serving of food contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.�

Serving sizes will also be clearer. The biggest difference will be that serving sizes will be based on what consumers typically eat instead of what they should eat. About one-fifth of foods will undergo revised calculations. For example, a serving size of ice cream will be 2/3 of a cup; previously it was a 1/2 cup.

If you've ever been duped into consuming more calories than you intended, or tried to calculate exactly what fraction of a slice of pizza constitutes a serving size, you're in luck. Package size affects what people eat, the FDA noted. So, products that were previously between one and two servings, such as a 20-ounce soda, will be labeled as a single serving, since consumers generally eat or drink the entire contents in one sitting.

Larger containers, like pints of ice cream, will have dual column labels: one column with information for a single serving and the other with information for the entire container.

Labels will also include two additional nutrients: potassium and Vitamin D.

Industry reaction was predictable. A representative for the Sugar Association told AP that emphasis on added sugar could confuse consumers, but other industry leaders welcomed the changes.

"This update is timely as diets, eating patterns and consumer preferences have changed dramatically since the Nutrition Facts panel was first introduced," Leon Bruner, of the Grocery Manufacturers Association, told AP.

Most food manufacturers have until July 2018 to comply. Smaller manufacturers will have an additional year.

The FDA proposed the changes two years ago. They are the first major update to nutrition labels since labeling was introduced in 1994. So far, more than 800,000 foods have nutrition labels.

For more information on the changes, click here.

Princess Health and Slicing your way to an apple a day: Americans' apple consumption is on the rise because we're eating them in small pieces. Princessiccia

Princess Health and Slicing your way to an apple a day: Americans' apple consumption is on the rise because we're eating them in small pieces. Princessiccia

children's health diet health nutrition school health school lunch

Gusty 13:13 Add Comment

Photo from livestrong.com

By Danielle Ray
Kentucky Health News

Presentation is everything. Apple consumption is on the rise, and researchers at Cornell University think pre-sliced apples are the cause.

The 2013 Cornell study explored why so many whole apples served in school lunches ended up uneaten in the trash. Researchers found that eating whole apples can be difficult for young children with small mouths and for kids with missing teeth or braces. The study also noted that older girls find whole fruits messy and unattractive to eat.

The study found that consumption jumped by more than 60 percent when apples were served sliced. These findings back up U.S. Department of Agriculture statistical data about overall apple consumption. Data show that Americans ate more than 510 million pre-sliced apples in 2014, up from fewer than 150 a decade before.

Likewise, overall apple consumption has grown by 13 percent percent since 2010, according to USDA data. Americans ate about 17.5 pounds per capita in 2013, the most in nearly a decade.

Why does simply slicing an apple matter? The difference between a whole apple and apple slices may seem silly or superficial, especially to an adult, but the inconvenience is a barrier nonetheless, David Just, a professor of behavioral economics at Cornell and one of the researchers behind the study, told Roberto Ferdman of The Washington Post.

"It sounds simplistic, but even the simplest forms of inconvenience affect consumption," Just said. "Sliced apples just make a lot more sense for kids."

The rise of mass-produced pre-sliced apples probably has a lot to do with the fast food industry. McDonald's added apple slices to its menu in 2004 in an effort to give parents healthier options. The company began automatically serving apple slices with Happy Meals in 2012, causing apple sales to skyrocket.

McDonald's has served more than 2 billion packages since first offering apple slices as a side, a representative for the company told the Post. In 2015 alone, the company served nearly 250 million packages of sliced apples, which amounts to more than 60 million apples, or about 10 percent of all fresh sliced apples sold in the United States, the Post noted.

The USDA, which oversees school lunch programs, can't be sure of how many schools offer pre-sliced apples versus whole apples, as local school districts make that decision. However, the agency does make recommendations and encourages schools make fruit appealing in presentation.

The problem with the pre-sliced apple trend? It may lessen food waste, but it increases plastic waste, which puts a strain on the environment. McDonald's apple slices, for example, are served in plastic wrappers. These wrappers are recyclable, yes, but two important differentials exist. First, "recyclable" does not mean it was made of recycled materials, only that it has the potential to be recycled. Second, just because consumers can recycle the wrappers does not mean they will.

Princess Health and McDonald's stops sending to schools man who says he lost much weight eating only at McDonald's, including Big Macs and fries. Princessiccia

Princess Health and McDonald's stops sending to schools man who says he lost much weight eating only at McDonald's, including Big Macs and fries. Princessiccia

child obesity children children's health diet education fast food nutrition restaurants schools youth

Gusty 18:49 Add Comment

Photo via flickriver.com

McDonald�s has stopped "giving nutrition advice to students in schools, pulling back on a program that critics said was a subtle form of fast-food marketing that could imperil kids� health and understanding of nutrition," Roberto Ferdman reports for The Washington Post.

The company had been sending to schools "a middle-aged teacher from Iowa who came to fame after claiming to have lost almost 60 pounds eating only McDonald�s," including Big Macs and french fries, Ferdman writes.

"McDonald�s said in a statement this week that Cisna stopped those visits last fall, after a Washington Post article highlighted how McDonald�s used its relationship with local schools and teachers� associations to get its message in front of students. . . . McDonald�s had long defended the practice, saying that Cisna�s presentation was about choice, not about eating McDonald�s. But critics argued it amounted to little more than a veiled attempt to woo customers at a young and impressionable age."

Princess Health and Health care professionals strongly endorse new federal dietary guidelines, which say to eat less red and processed meat .Princessiccia

Princess Health and Health care professionals strongly endorse new federal dietary guidelines, which say to eat less red and processed meat .Princessiccia

diet food nutrition

Gusty 08:47 Add Comment

A group of 700 physicians and other health care professionals sent a letter of strong endorsement to the secretaries of the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Health and Human Services praising the recommended federal dietary guidelines that emphasize eating less red and processed meat, Whitney Forman-Cook reports for Agri-Pulse, a Washington newsletter.

The letter said the �shift toward a more plant-based diet� in the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee's recommendations is a potentially �powerful tool for health promotion� that would help reduce healthcare costs, Forman-Cook writes.

�Three of the four leading causes of preventable death, heart disease, cancer, and stroke -- are diet-related,� the letter reads. �Heavy meat consumption, especially red and processed meat, is associated with increased risks of heart disease, diabetes and some cancers, while plant-based diets are associated with decreased risks of all three.�

They also noted that 75 percent of U.S. health-care costs and diminished labor supply and worker productivity is caused by chronic and preventable diseases, costing the country "$1 trillion in lost economic output and billions more in rising healthcare cost," Forman-Cook writes.

For the first time, the guidelines include environmental standards and sustainability language. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack "has not said he is opposed to including sustainability concerns in the final guidelines," Forman-Cook writes. He told her that "he would be personally involved" in writing the new guidelines, keeping them "narrowly focused on nutrition."

U.S. meat producers and many farm organizations have pushed back against the recommendations and the sustainability language.

The health-care professionals also endorsed the DGAC's recommendations on sustainability and calls for the DGAC to "explicitly" list the "common names" of foods in the guidelines and identify appropriate "non-animal protein sources" to help consumers modify their eating habits.

The guidelines, which are revised every five years to reflect advancements in scientific knowledge, are used to guide federal nutrition programs, including school meal standards, and to inform consumers. They are expected to be published later this year.

Princess Health and How do diet and exercise influence risk of diabetes? Diet seems more important.Princessiccia

Princess Health and How do diet and exercise influence risk of diabetes? Diet seems more important.Princessiccia

diabetes diet exercise food research

Gusty 14:08 Add Comment

Many people think exercising and eating properly are interchangeable, but a paper by Edwards Weiss, associate professor of nutrition and dietetics at Saint Louis University, asserts that exercising and restricting diet results in specific and cumulative benefits in reducing the risk of Type 2 diabetes. According to the 2013 Kentucky Diabetes Report, 6.9 percent of Kentucky adults have diabetes.

Participants in the study were sedentary, overweight middle-aged men and women who reduced their weight 6 to 8 percent through calorie restriction, exercise or both. Researchers measured their insulin sensitivity levels, which determines risk of diabetes. "Your blood sugar may be perfectly normal, but if your insulin sensitivity is low, you are on the way to blood sugar issues and, potentially, Type 2 diabetes," Weiss said.

The researchers measured twice the improvement of insulin sensitivity in the group of participants who both exercised and restricted their diets than in the other two groups. Weiss notes that exercise helps regulate glucose, even if a person isn't losing weight as a result. The researchers also found that exercised-induced weight loss didn't regulate glucoregulation more effectively than calorie restriction. "What we found is that calorie restriction, like exercise, may be providing benefits beyond those associated with weight loss alone," Weiss said.

Weiss said that though it might seem obvious that a combination of diet and exercise would engender the best results, "there are a lot of people who believe that if they maintain a healthy weight, it doesn't matter what they eat. And others have an appropriate food intake but don't exercise."

Princess Health andTwo weeks of high-fiber, low-fat diet brings changes that protect against colon cancer; high-fat diet brings changes with more risk.Princessiccia

Princess Health andTwo weeks of high-fiber, low-fat diet brings changes that protect against colon cancer; high-fat diet brings changes with more risk.Princessiccia

colorectal cancer diet nutrition research

Gusty 13:07 Add Comment

Two weeks is all it took for a change in diet to increase production of a substance in the gut that may reduce the risk of colon cancer, according to a recent study, published in Nature Communications.

The study asked 20 African Americans in Pittsburgh and 20 rural South Africans to switch diets for two weeks. The Americans were fed a high-fiber, low-fat diet, with plenty of fruits, vegetables, beans, cornmeal and very little meat, while the Africans were given a diet high in fat with lots of meat and cheese, Sindya N. Bhanoo reports for The New York Times.

�We made them fried chicken, burgers and fries,� Stephen J. D. O�Keefe, a gastroenterologist at the University of Pittsburgh and one of the study�s authors, told Bhanoo. �They loved it.�

After two weeks, colonoscopies on the volunteers found that the African Americans who ate the traditional African diet had "reduced inflammation in the colon and increased production of butyrate, a fatty acid that may protect against colon cancer," Bhanoo writes. Africans who ate the Western diet had changes in their gut bacteria "consistent with an increased cancer risk."

African Americans are disproportionately affected by colon cancer, while the disease affects few people in rural Africa, Bhanno notes.

Colorectal cancer is the second most common cancer in both men and women in the U.S. and is expected to cause about 49,700 deaths during 2015, according to the American Cancer Society. Kentucky leads the nation in both incidences and deaths from colorectal cancer, with 51.4 cases per 100,000 people and 18.7 deaths per 100,000, according to the Kentucky Cancer Registry.

Princess Health andResearchers discuss physical activity as a way of maintaining or improving health; daily walking is still the best exercise .Princessiccia

Princess Health andResearchers discuss physical activity as a way of maintaining or improving health; daily walking is still the best exercise .Princessiccia

child obesity childhood obesity children's health diet exercise nutrition physical activity physical inactivity research schools

Gusty 17:31 Add Comment

By Melissa Patrick
Kentucky Health News

Obesity worsens the damage that arthritis does to joints, but simply telling patients to go home and diet and exercise is not working, and health care providers must proactively monitor their patients and help them find affordable solutions to succeed. And daily walking is still the best exercise.

Those were examples of research findings discussed at the 10th annual Center for Clinical and Translational Science conference sponsored by the University of Kentucky on March 25. More than 700 researchers, students, policymakers and guests discussed research with a focus on physical activity across the lifespan.

Stephen Messier, professor and director of a biomechanics laboratory at Wake Forest University, said obesity has a significant effect on joint health, particularly osteoarthritis, which he said is quite painful. He called for closer attention to obese patients with arthritis.

He said a study found that a combination of diet and exercise over an extended period of time offers the best results for less pain and less disability. He said that a separate study found those who lost 10 percent of their body weight had the most "significant outcomes" related to function, which included walking speed.

The conference featured 31 oral presentations and 270 poster presentations, addressing a vast array of topics including physical inactivity in children, physical inactivity in chronic disease and biomedical informatics.

"The conference was designed to raise awareness of the science behind the benefits of exercise and the dangers of physical inactivity," Charlotte Petterson, professor and associate dean of research in the College of Health Sciences, who chaired this year's conference, said in a UK press release.

The keynote speaker, Duke University medicine professor William E. Kraus, encouraged walking as a proven and simple activity that can improve health and actually extend life. "Fitness always trumps fatness," he said, noting that a "culture of convenience" and conditions of built environments, such as absence of sidewalks, deter people from physical activity.

Research on fourth and fifth graders in two Clay County schools, while in the early stages of analysis, found that obesity and inactivity begins early.

Karyn Esser, professor of physiology at the UK College of Medicine, said her research was examining the circadian rhythms and physical activities of students because changes in natural circadian rhythms "can create pre-cursors to disease" in just seven days, even in healthy young people. She said her study is intended to help schools improve students' health by adjusting meal times and offering physical activities to best coincide with circadian rhythms.

The data for Esser's study was gathered through electronic devices that the 136 students wore for seven days to measure activity, heart rate and skin temperature. The students also kept a daily journal to record their activities. So far, Esser said, the data show 33 percent of the students are considered obese, their initial blood pressure measurements are on the high end of normal, and the students are less active on weekends and nights than during the school week.

Another UK study found that students who are more active during the school day do better in mathematics.

Alicia Fedewa and Heather Erwin of the College of Education said they found that increased physical activity levels "significantly improved" math scores and slightly improved reading scores of the students who got an extra 20 minutes of movement on each school day. They recommended two short 15-minute recesses per day, rather than one long one. They also said that classroom "energizers" and stability balls also help students with these behaviors.

The researchers said many studies show that students who participate in recess and physical education during the school day are more focused and less fidgety, show less listlessness, and have better overall classroom behavior. They said more controlled studies need to be conducted, but said most studies to date have found that fit kids have less anxiety and better overall well-being. Also, a regimen of consistent physical activity is best for kids with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).