The report said supermarkets were starting to decrease the number of
"unhealthy" snacks on display at checkouts. Many stores had greatly
improved their labelling. There was also praise for salt reduction
programmes. The NCC checked 10 common own-label standard products such
as baked beans and cornflakes. The Co-op came top for having the least
salt, followed by Iceland, Asda, Tesco and Waitrose. But the consumer
body said that of all the 82 products surveyed, only five met its
target for salt.
"On the basis of this year's figures, we calculate that where you
shop could still add as much as 22 per cent more salt to your diet,"
the report's author, Sue Dibb, said. On fat, research could find "no
overall trend towards fat reduction".
Stark variations were found in the amount of sugar. Tesco's economy
strawberry yoghurt contained nearly twice as much sugar as Sainsbury's,
and Asda's "healthier" tomato ketchup had half the sugar of the Co-op
brand.
The NCC chief executive, Ed Mayo, said its study, Healthy
Competition, indicated that supermarkets had made progress: they were
starting to compete on health as well as price. "The fact that the
Co-op has an above-average share of budget-conscious shoppers shows
this is not just for the better off," he said.
Morrisons called the study "inaccurate" and said it failed to
recognise the progress it had made on healthy meals and salt reduction.
Tesco claimed that the NCC study was out of date. Since the study went
to print, it had announced it was removing emulsifiers, stabilisers and
hydrogenated fats from ready meals.
French fries and chicken nuggets from two
major global fast-food chains contain very high levels of
artery-clogging "trans" fats, researchers warn. And the level of
trans-fats served by the chains varies dramatically from country to
country.
Researchers who analysed the fast food say that daily consumption
of 5 grams or more of trans fats raises the risk of heart attack by
25%. Half of the 43 "large"-sized fast food meals, 24 from McDonald's
and 19 from KFC, examined in the study - purchased in outlets around
the world - exceeded the 5 gram level.
Trans fats are thought to pose a hazard by raising the proportion of
"bad" cholesterol in the blood, leading to the accumulation of fat in
arteries. Trans fats also increase the risk of arterial inflammation
and the development of an irregular heartbeat.
"That's why it's called 'killer fat'," says Steen Stender of the
Gentofte University Hospital in Copenhagen, Denmark, and lead author of
the analysis in The New England Journal of Medicine .
Some combinations of "large" fries and "large" chicken nuggets
from McDonald's and Kentucky Fried Chicken outlets contained between
double and five times the 5-gram danger level.
Stender says that consuming such food regularly could drastically
increase someone's risk of a heart attack, but the fast food companies
could solve the problem by changing the industrial-grade oil they use
to prepare the food.
"The good thing about trans fatty acids is that it's easy to remove
them," notes Stender. "When you enter a McDonald's or a KFC, you should
be entering a trans-fatty-acid-free zone," he adds.
In a review of trans fats in the same journal, Walter Willett
at the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, US, and colleagues,
conclude that in the US alone, complete removal of the
industrially-produced trans fats from food preparation could prevent up
to 228,000 heart attacks per year in the US.
The fats are convenient for the fast food industry because they can
be
used repeatedly to fry foods at high temperatures without breaking down
chemically. But manufacture of the industrial-grade cooking oils vastly
increases the proportion of trans fats in the oil, from zero to as much
as 60%.
In Stender's analysis, the fries and nuggets containing the most
trans
fat had invariably been cooked in oil that was itself high in fat.
The highest levels of all were found in a meal from a KFC in Hungary
which contained 25 g of trans fats, and had been cooked in oil
containing 35% trans fats. Levels were also high in KFC meals bought
from Poland (20 g), Peru (16 g) and the Czech Republic (15 g).
The highest-scoring McDonald's meal was from New York, US (10
grams), cooked in oil containing 23% trans fats.
Both companies say they are committed to phasing out the trans
fats from their cooking oils. "We're at the early stages of reviewing
alternative oils options, which includes looking at local taste
preferences, supply availability, storage, as well as other factors
such as functionality," Christophe Lecureuil of KFC International told
New Scientist .
"McDonald's takes the matter of trans fatty acids seriously,"
says Catherine Adams, vice president of worldwide quality systems, food
safety and nutrition at McDonald's. "Our reduction in the US is taking
longer than anticipated, as we have previously announced. But we
continue to progress in our testing and we are determined to get it
right for our customers."
Stender found that levels of trans fats were much lower in
merchandise
from most West European countries, and were virtually undetectable in
fries and nuggets from Denmark, where it has been illegal since 1
January 2004 to sell food with levels of trans fats exceeding 2% of the
total fat in a food product. "It took less than three months for the
industry to remove it," Stender points out.
Heart disease accounts for 40 per cent of all deaths in Britain, yet
it
often seems the poor relation so far as high-profile medical research
and fund-raising go. Perhaps because it afflicts so many people, a
heart condition often seems to be regarded as a fact of life rather
than something that can and should be tackled as a national priority.
The research findings we report today expose the folly of such a
view.
In 2004, the NHS spent almost £16bn - more than 20 per cent of
the
entire health service budget - on treating cardiovascular diseases.
This is much more, as a proportion of total spending, than the health
services of either France or Germany. When you add the estimated cost
of lost production and informal care by family and others, the total
cost approaches £29bn a year.
Article Length:
414 words (approx.)
http://comment.independent.co.uk/leading_articles/article484088.ece
JULY 18th 2006
It's never too late to start
exercise -study
Tuesday July 18, 10:30 AM
LONDON (Reuters) - It's never too late for
couch potatoes to start exercising and cut their risk of heart disease,
according to research on Tuesday.
Neither does it have to be strenuous activity -- even just walking
can make a difference.
"You don't have to go to the gym. Just get off the couch," said Dr
Dietrich Rothenbacher of the University of Heidelberg in
Germany. "It is never too late to start exercising," he told Reuters.
The researchers studied the impact of physical activity on patients
with coronary heart disease (CHD) and a group of healthy volunteers of
the same age and sex.
They found that people who exercised throughout their lives had the
lowest risk of the illness, which is one of the biggest killers in
industrialised countries.
"But we also found that people who changed their physical activity
patterns in late adult life also reduced their risk for coronary heart
disease," added Rothenbacher, an epidemiologist at the university.
The scientists re-evaluated data they had previously collected on
patients and volunteers ranging in age from 40 to 68 who had been
questioned about their habits and exercise patterns.
Smoking, diabetes and high blood pressure, which are risk factors
for
heart disease, were more common in the patients with the illness than
in the healthy volunteers.
People who said they had been active throughout their lives had
about a
60 percent lower risk of being diagnosed with coronary heart disease.
Couch potatoes who changed their ways and began exercising after the
age of 40 were about 55 percent less likely to be diagnosed with the
illness than people who had always been inactive.
The British Heart Foundation (BHF) said the heart is a muscle and
requires regular physical activity.
"The earlier you adopt a more physically active lifestyle, the
bigger
the rewards will be for your heart, helping to reduce your risk of CHD
in later life. So don't wait until you reach 40 to get active," said a
spokeswoman.
Obesity pandemic engulfing world:
experts
Sunday September 3, 09:37 AM
SYDNEY (AFP) - Obesity has reached
pandemic
proportions throughout the world and is now the greatest single
contributor to chronic disease, an international conference was told
here.
"This insidious, creeping pandemic of
obesity is now engulfing
the entire world," Australia's Monash University professor Paul Zimmet,
chair of the 10th International Congress on Obesity, said on the
opening day of the conference.
The spread of the problem was "led by
affluent western nations, whose physical activity and dietary habits
are regrettably being adopted by developing nations," Zimmet told more
than 2,000 delegates.
The
world now has more fat people than hungry ones, according to World
Health Organisation figures, with more than a billion overweight people
compared to 800 million who are undernourished.
The congress on
obesity is held every four years, with the last three staged in Toronto
(1994), Paris (1998) and Sao Paulo (2002).
"The conference will
treat obesity as the keystone of all health priorities because it is
the single greatest contributor to chronic disease throughout the
world," said University of Sydney professor Ian Caterson, the event
co-chair.
"There are now more overweight people in
the world than
undernourished and we are seeing the double burden of the extremes of
malnutrition -- undernutrition and overnutrition -- in many developing
countries.
"We know this is not about gluttony -- it
is the
interaction of heredity and environment. We know that small changes can
make a big difference in peoples weight and health."
Zimmet said
the problem needed urgent solutions -- not just widespread changes to
diet and exercise but the rethinking of national policies on urban and
social planning, agriculture policy, education, transport and other
areas.
He also warned in an opening address that
the growth of
obesity-related diabetes, or so-called "diabesity", was set to bankrupt
health budgets all over the world.
Around 370 speakers and
presenters at the six-day congress will discuss a range of issues,
including scientific research on how the brain regulates energy and
advances in the prevention and clinical management of obesity.
The
conference is being attended by academics and health professionals from
Australia, Japan, the United States, Britain, Canada, Sweden, Indonesia
and New Zealand.
OCTOBER 02 2006
A BBC NEWS
REPORT (below) is of
considerable interest, giving as it does some meaningful
statistics on the divided opinions on the freedom of advertisers and
the market amongst those supporting different political parties. There
is no doubt this is a complex matter, touching on the fundamental
philosophy that underpins what we call 'a free society'. Many people
still think that regardless of the power of modern media, it must be
left to the individual to make a choice that he or she understands if
any sustainable trend is to be established. Others take the view that
yoing people who have not had sufficient enducation at home or at
school, or have ignored what sensible education they had in the face of
peer pressure, should not be subjected to what all serious students of
psychology class as brainwashing at an early age. While adults
increasingly ignore TV advertising and use commercial breaks to make
tea or visit the loo, children are targetted more and more. Advertisers
know well that they are the key to sales. Not only do they influence
what their parent buy, they grow up into brainwashed adults. The margin
in the vote by Conservative delegates was narrow.
Monday, 2 October 2006, 10:09 GMT 11:09 UK 
|
Tories back ban on children's ads
|
| Conservative
delegates have voted - by a narrow margin - to consider a ban on
marketing targeted at children.
Some 52% agreed that it was time to
consider outlawing junk food ads on TV and other promotions aimed at
youngsters, while 48% voted against.
The result followed an interactive
"hot topic" debate at the Tories' conference in Bournemouth.
Participants used keypads to vote and text their views.
Tony Blair says he would
consider banning junk food ads to boost health.
'Powerful message'
Nick Stace, director of campaigns and
communications at consumer group Which, led the charge for a ban,
arguing that Britain is becoming "the fat man of Europe and getting
fatter".
"By 2010, one million children in
England will be clinically obese. Parents of course need to take action
and be responsible and so do schools," he told the audience.
"If we do not tackle this issue and
take a multi-faceted approach, then the obesity problem will not be
solved.
"£1bn is spent a year on
advertising - parents want you to act. 76% of people who voted
Conservative at the last election would vote for a ban on healthy
advertising.
"82% of people who say they never
vote Conservative would vote for a ban.
"If you vote yes, you will be sending
a powerful message to the food industry about the way they promote
unhealthy foods."
Adults' role
Janet Daley, commentator for the
Daily Telegraph, spoke out against the move saying she did not see the
need for a rush to legislation.
"You can't make a law against
everything for which you disapprove," she said.
One of the principle responsibilities
of parenthood was not to rid the world of enticements or possible
risks, but to equip children with self control and instil character,
she said.
Life is "inherently dangerous" and it
was the role of adults to teach children how to cope with it, she
added.
"It's not the state's responsibility
- it's the responsibility of all grown ups ... It's a question of law
or not law."
'Further debate necessary'
One representative, who opposed the
move towards a ban, said: "I would like to see a ban on bans. Haven't
we seen enough of that from our present government?"
Mr Stace said he believed supporting
his stance showed that the Conservatives were "a party that is
listening to the views of ordinary people".
However, Ms Daley said she found it
interesting that the audience seemed "ambivalent" to the proposal.
"It is obviously a topic that will
have to be discussed," she said.
The prime minister has said he wants
to give the food industry a chance to prove it can regulate its own
ads.
Alcohol harmful?
But if in a year's time new
guidelines were judged not to be working he would consider legislation,
he has previously told the BBC.
Media regulator Ofcom is consulting
on restricting junk food ads but has already ruled out the option of a
pre-9pm broadcast ban.
The Tory "hot topic" is one of a
number of debates that will take place at the party's four-day
conference.
Others come under the titles of "cheap
flights are a false economy" and "alcohol does more harm than drugs".
|
OCTOBER 11th
The Health Profile of England report
published on
Tuesday- which shows the UK has the highest obesity rate in Europe -
comes just two months after the Department of Health predicted 13m
people in England would be obese by 2010 if nothing was done to tackle
the problem.
It sets out the
progress the government has made
in tackling public health since the publication of its Choosing Health
white paper in 2004.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/6035225.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/6033023.stm
http://194.116.175.130/
NOVEMBER
17th 2006
If it is true that even these feeble steps will cost broadcasters
£39 million, imagine the amount of junk food they reckon this
advertising has ADDED to the diet of children compared to what it would
sink to if they stopped. Or are the manufacturers claiming that they
support TV for charitable purposes even though there is no financial
return on the 39 million? I think not.
Junk Food Rules 'Not Tough Enough'
Friday November 17, 10:47 AM
A total ban on the advertising of junk food
during children's programmes has been officially proposed. Ofcom's
suggested new rules were developed amid concerns at rising obesity
rates in youngsters. The restrictions apply during all children's
programmes and adult shows of particular appeal to under-16s.
They will cost broadcasters up to
an estimated £39m in lost advertising revenue, Ofcom said.
The plans include a total ban on all advertisements for food and
drink which are high in fat, salt and sugar at any time of the day, on
any channel.
Children's programmes and channels will fall under the ban.
The restrictions were initially going to be aimed at under-9s but
this has been extended to under-16s.
Ofcom
said consultation would continue on this expansion and would close
before Christmas. A final determination will be made in January.
Under the ban, celebrities and characters - including cartoons -
would not be allowed to endorse products for younger children.
The Food Standards Agency, as well as health and consumer groups,
had called for a 9pm watershed for all junk food commercials.
They
said anything less than a pre-9pm ban would not adequately protect
older children who watch TV - such as popular soaps - during the
evenings.
Ofcom initially dismissed the idea of a watershed as
"disproportionate".
Fast
food chain Burger King pre-empted Ofcom's announcement earlier this
week by saying it would voluntarily drop advertising during children's
TV programmes.
The Times, Dec 11th 2006
Shoppers are refusing to break junk food habit
Valerie Elliott, Consumer Editor
How healthy is your diet?
Healthy
and unhealthy shoppers
Shoppers are continuing to pile their trolleys and baskets with
unhealthy food, despite the Government’s focus on tackling Britain’s
obesity crisis.
A survey of food-buying patterns of 12 million consumers has found
that, in the past four years, 44 per cent of people have made no change
to their eating habits. Only 8 per cent of shoppers have moved towards
a healthier diet, while almost as many are deliberately shunning a good
diet and eating more junk food.
Even shoppers who normally try to eat healthily fall off the
wagon if there is an upheaval in their lives such as the arrival of a
new baby, divorce, a wedding, moving house, losing a job or being
promoted at work.
The findings, from dunnhumby, the retail consultants, who have
scrutinised the sales data of 10,000 everyday ingredients clocked up on
Tesco loyalty cards as well as interviewed 2,000 customers, suggest
that it will take more than a generation before Britain becomes a
nation of healthy eaters.
The findings will come as a blow to the efforts of Caroline
Flint, the Public Health Minister, and the Food Standards Agency, who
are attempting to encourage people to eat a more nutritious diet.
The study also appears to suggest that
consumers need the help
of the agency’s traffic-light system of red, amber and green alerts on
packs to help them to choose a healthier mix of food. The
traffic
lights are being strongly opposed by food manufacturers and Tesco, who
claim that the system is simplistic and demonises food.
A surprising feature of the study is that there is little
difference in the cost of a healthy shopping basket and an unhealthy
one. A typical healthy basket costs an average £71.78 compared
with
£71.18 for an unhealthy one.
Healthy shoppers were identified for buying organic and
ecofriendly products and food with labels such as fresh, lite or low
fat, or food from the healthy-living ranges.
Unhealthy baskets typically contained value or extra lines,
indicating that people were looking for the cheapest food that they
could find. It suggests that many shoppers still think that healthy
eating is expensive. But shoppers also enjoy a treat, and sales of
chocolate and alcoholic drinks have shown no decline.
They also like to “scrimp and splurge”. Researchers identified
people who chose cheaper products to pay for a treat, either a cream
cake, gourmet food for a pet or a DVD.
Martin Hayward, director of consumer strategy for dunnhumby,
said: “Most of us are neither totally healthy nor totally unhealthy
eaters.”
He said that worry about the cost of food prevented many
people from eating healthily and yet the analysis had shown that there
was little difference in the price of a healthy versus unhealthy
basket.
Mr Hayward said: “We believe the distance between healthy and
unhealthy eating is because people don’t know how to cook and have a
‘can’t cook, won’t cook’ approach, making them heavily reliant on
processed foods and ready meals.”
The findings are intended to explore new ways to help
consumers to eat a healthy diet, he said. The analysis also bolsters
policy statements from Tony Blair and David Cameron, the Conservative
leader, who have promised to bring cookery classes back into schools.
NOVEMBER
9th 2006
Westminster
Diet & Health Forum keynote seminar: Food labelling policy –
Assessing developments and charting the way forward
Date: 2pm
– 5.30pm, 7th November 2006
Venue: Lewis
Media Centre, Millbank
Tower,
Millbank, London
SW1P 4RS
Seminar
supported by Tesco
This seminar looked in depth at the latest attempts to guide shoppers
in their choice of appropriate quality-to-quantity ratio when buying
food. I have pasted the index to the to contents of the discussions
below (see December 24th), along with my comments for what they are
worth, as the full report of proceedings was published on 22 December
2006
The
article below is relevant to the argument.
The Times, Dec 11th 2006
Shoppers are refusing to break junk food habit
Valerie Elliott, Consumer Editor
How healthy is your diet?
Healthy
and unhealthy shoppers
Shoppers are continuing to pile their trolleys and baskets with
unhealthy food, despite the Government’s focus on tackling Britain’s
obesity crisis.
A survey of food-buying patterns of 12 million consumers has found
that, in the past four years, 44 per cent of people have made no change
to their eating habits. Only 8 per cent of shoppers have moved towards
a healthier diet, while almost as many are deliberately shunning a good
diet and eating more junk food.
Even shoppers who normally try to eat healthily fall off the
wagon if there is an upheaval in their lives such as the arrival of a
new baby, divorce, a wedding, moving house, losing a job or being
promoted at work.
The findings, from dunnhumby, the retail consultants, who have
scrutinised the sales data of 10,000 everyday ingredients clocked up on
Tesco loyalty cards as well as interviewed 2,000 customers, suggest
that it will take more than a generation before Britain becomes a
nation of healthy eaters.
The findings will come as a blow to the efforts of Caroline
Flint, the Public Health Minister, and the Food Standards Agency, who
are attempting to encourage people to eat a more nutritious diet.
The study also appears to
suggest that
consumers need the help
of the agency’s traffic-light system of red, amber and green alerts on
packs to help them to choose a healthier mix of food. The
traffic
lights are being strongly opposed by food manufacturers and Tesco, who
claim that the system is simplistic and demonises food.
A surprising feature of the study is that there is little
difference in the cost of a healthy shopping basket and an unhealthy
one. A typical healthy basket costs an average £71.78 compared
with
£71.18 for an unhealthy one.
Healthy shoppers were identified for buying organic and
ecofriendly products and food with labels such as fresh, lite or low
fat, or food from the healthy-living ranges.
Unhealthy baskets typically contained value or extra lines,
indicating that people were looking for the cheapest food that they
could find. It suggests that many shoppers still think that healthy
eating is expensive. But shoppers also enjoy a treat, and sales of
chocolate and alcoholic drinks have shown no decline.
They also like to “scrimp and splurge”. Researchers identified
people who chose cheaper products to pay for a treat, either a cream
cake, gourmet food for a pet or a DVD.
Martin Hayward, director of consumer strategy for dunnhumby,
said: “Most of us are neither totally healthy nor totally unhealthy
eaters.”
He said that worry about the cost of food prevented many
people from eating healthily and yet the analysis had shown that there
was little difference in the price of a healthy versus unhealthy
basket.
Mr Hayward said: “We believe the distance between healthy and
unhealthy eating is because people don’t know how to cook and have a
‘can’t cook, won’t cook’ approach, making them heavily reliant on
processed foods and ready meals.”
The findings are intended to explore new ways to help
consumers to eat a healthy diet, he said. The analysis also bolsters
policy statements from Tony Blair and David Cameron, the Conservative
leader, who have promised to bring cookery classes back into schools.
DECEMBER
24th 2006
I
have pasted here the Contents of the published record of the Westminster
Diet & Health Forum keynote seminar:
Food labelling policy –
Assessing developments and charting the
way forward
held at 2pm
– 5.30pm, 7th
November 2006, Lewis
Media Centre, Millbank Tower, London SW1P 4RS
in the hope
it may stimulate those interested and concerned with diet and health
who happen on this page to purchase the full text of the discussions.
This is a complex problem and, as with the global warming problem,
there is a lot more to be taken on board if we are not simply to be
driven along a painful evolutionary path over which we have no control.
I am sure Tesco don't mind having a some arguments to deal with. They
did after all sponsor this particular seminar.
DECEMBER
28th 2006
The stage is set
for a very big row. Some of our biggest corporations are going to take
on the Food Standards Authority head to head. Even more foolishly they
are going to take on me. I don't insist on red traffic lights on
chocolate, as a matter of fact. A single red light on the confectionary
section could suffice as an indicator that these are treats, the best
of which are good for you in moderation, but not regular food for
nutrition or energy. What I would like to see red traffic lights on are
foods with (for example) high glycaemic load, salt and refined
carbohydrate which are likely to be consumed regularly by the shopper
who supposes they are a vital part fo their necessary, balanced diet.
The industry will of course take the extreme case to make their
argument. They should not get away with it.
A red light does not mean "Do not buy
this item". It is designed to work like this: as your shopping basket
fills, as you kitchen cupboards stock up, if there are a lot of red
traffic lights on the wrappers you may be getting something seriously
wrong. If you then find you are overweight, or sometimes tired and
sometimes bad tempered, have headaches or indigestion or a skin or hair
health problem, your children an 'attention deficit', then maybe those
red traffic lights have something to
do with it. Have look. Correct as appropriate. That's all. So c'mon
Unilever, Tesco, Kellogs and others.
Do you want to go down in history with the other drug barons, as people
who
went after profit and to hell with the clients, or not? The choice is
yours. If you insist, though, we will make it ours.
Food agency takes on industry over junk labels
TV ads to counter
multimillion pound campaign by manufacturers
Felicity Lawrence
Thursday December 28, 2006
The Guardian
[
Kellogg's,
anxious to protect its share of a £1.27bn cereal market, is
strongly against the FSA scheme. Photograph: Sean Smith]
Consumers
are to be presented with two rival new year advertising campaigns as
the Food Standards Agency goes public in its battle with the industry
over the labelling of unhealthy foods.
The Guardian has learned that
the FSA will launch a series of 10-second television adverts in January
telling shoppers how to follow a red, amber and green traffic light
labelling system on the front of food packs, which is designed to
tackle Britain's obesity epidemic.
The campaign is a direct response to a
concerted attempt by leading
food manufacturers and retailers, including Kellogg's and Tesco, to
derail the system. The industry fears that traffic lights would
demonise entire categories of foods and could seriously damage the
market for those that are fatty, salty or high in sugar.
The
UK market for breakfast cereals is worth £1.27bn a year and the
manufacturers fear it will be severely dented if red light labels are
put on packaging drawing attention to the fact that the majority are
high in salt and/or sugar.
The industry is planning a major
marketing campaign for a competing labelling system which avoids
colour-coding in favour of information about the percentage of
"guideline daily amounts" (GDAs) of fat, salt and sugar contained in
their products.
The battle for the nation's diet comes as new
rules on television advertising come into force in January which will
bar adverts for unhealthy foods from commercial breaks during
programmes aimed at children. Sources at the TV regulators are braced
for a legal challenge from the industry and have described the lobbying
efforts to block any new ad ban or colour-coded labelling as "the most
ferocious we've ever experienced".
Ofcom's chief executive, Ed
Richards, said: "We are prepared to face up to any legal action from
the industry, but we very much hope it will not be necessary." The FSA
said it was expecting an onslaught from the industry in January. Senior
FSA officials said the manufacturers' efforts to undermine its
proposals on labelling could threaten the agency's credibility.
Terrence
Collis, FSA director of communications, dismissed claims that the
proposals were not based on science. "We have some of the most
respected scientists in Europe, both within the FSA and in our
independent advisory committees. It is unjustified and nonsensical to
attack the FSA's scientific reputation and to try to undermine its
credibility."
The FSA is understood to have briefed its ad
agency, United, before Christmas, and will aim to air ads that are
"non-confrontational, humorous and factual" as a counterweight to
industry's efforts about the same time. The agency, however, will have
a tiny fraction of the budget available to the industry.
Gavin
Neath, chairman of Unilever UK and president of the Food and Drink
Federation, has said that the industry has made enormous progress but
could not accept red "stop" signs on its food.
Alastair Sykes,
chief executive of Nestlé UK, said that under the FSA proposals
all his
company's confectionery and most of its cereals would score a red. "Are
we saying people shouldn't eat confectionery? We're driven by consumers
and what they want, and much of what we do has been to make our
products healthier," he said.
Chris Wermann, director of communications at Kellogg's, said: "In
principle we could never accept traffic light labelling."
The
rival labelling scheme introduced by Kellogg's, Danone, Unilever,
Nestlé, Kraft and Tesco and now favoured by 21 manufacturers,
uses an
industry-devised system based on identifying GDAs of key nutrients.
Tesco says it has tested both traffic lights and GDA labels in its
stores and that the latter increased sales of healthier foods.
But
the FSA said it could not live with this GDA system alone because it
was "not scientific" or easy for shoppers to understand at a glance.
JANUARY 13th 2007
The 'Health Research Gap' referred to below amounts to nothing more or
less than facing up to simple facts. Many modern humans live unhealthy
lives. They breed in unhealthy conditions in inappropriate places and
in inappropriate numbers. They are obsessed with their own survival and
gratification no matter how sickly or disabled and are encouraged in
this by others keen to make a living out of them in politics or
medicine or religion. We even have deaf adults trying to give birth to
deaf children. In a ghastly symmetry, in opposition to the
desperation of atheists and humanists for the preservation of life at
all costs, yet other fanatical movements believe in killing off as many
as possible in the nihilistic service of a tribal God. The gap is
evidently between our ears. All the research has been done, enhanced
and reinforced by every
generation since recorded philosophy has existed. I wonder who will
pocket this latest £20 million? It seems to be the 'hardnosed'
Professor
Diamond (great name!) and his team of economists, sociologists and
psychologists. How appropriate! We need to find jobs for all these
people we have forced through higher education.
£20m to plug health research gap
Research to prevent serious illness will be boosted by a £20m
fund to encourage public health projects.
The money will create up to five "Centres of Excellence", helping
recruit experts and provide facilities.
Government departments and charities have funded the five-year
scheme
after a review showed that public health research could be improved.
Ministers say they need increases in disease prevention as part of
their plans for the future of the NHS.
The project is being led by the UK Clinical Research Collaboration
(UKCRC), following a review led by Professor Ian Diamond.
|
We need hard-nosed research and
we need it urgently
Professor Ian Diamond
Economic and Social Research Council |
He found that there was an urgent need for more public health
research
to tackle issues such as smoking and obesity, and that extra support
would be needed to make this happen.
He stressed the need for the projects to involve not
just health researchers, but experts from a wide variety of
disciplines, such as economists, sociologists and psychologists to
"maximise the effectiveness" of their plans.
He said: "We already know that the reasons for obesity
are primarily a combination of poor diet and lack of exercise - but we
want to develop effective ways to encourage people into healthier
lifestyles.
"We need hard-nosed research and we need it urgently."
Challenges
The UKCRC is inviting centres interested in launching research to
bid for up to £5m over five years.
|
This exciting new initiative
will energise the field by bringing together leading experts from a
range of disciplines
Professor John Toy
Cancer Research UK |
Professor Diamond, who represents the Economic and Social Research
Council on the UKCRC, said: "There have been big improvements in health
and life expectancy over the last century, however the UK still faces
challenges to ensure that as a society we benefit from longer and
healthier lives.
"When we've talked to people, they've told us that not
enough has been invested in the past in research to get the most out of
public health."
'Firm foundation'
UKCRC chief executive Dr Liam O'Toole added: "Together the funders
are
committed to tackling the key issues needed to build a firm foundation
for the future of public health research in the UK."
Would-be bidders have until only the end of March 2007
to suggest projects to receive financial support, and funding decisions
will be made at the end of 2007.
Following a report published in 2004, the government
has placed greater emphasis on prevention as part of its strategy for
the NHS.
It says that by cutting smoking, drinking and obesity,
many conditions which require expensive, long-term treatment in
hospitals or the community could be removed altogether or their impact
lessened.
Professor John Toy, from Cancer Research UK, one of the
project funders, said that more than half of all cancers could be
prevented by changes to lifestyle.
He said: "This exciting new initiative will energise
the field by bringing together leading experts from a range of
disciplines to develop new directions for research and train the next
generation of researchers."
The British Heart Foundation has contributed £2.5m to
the project. The foundation's associate medical director, Jeremy
Pearson, said: "We hope the results will have a major impact on
influencing future policies to improve the nation's heart health."
FEBRUARY
14th 2007
BEFORE READING THE FOLLOWING, READ MY EARLIER ENTRY OF APRIL 19TH 2006
"UNPREPARED FOR FREEDOM"
IT IS ALL VERY WELL TO BLAME THE PARENTS OR THE CURRENT GOVERNMENT, BUT
PREVIOUS GOVERNMENTS OF BOTH PARTIES AND THE ANGLO-SAXON MEDIA HAVE
MADE THE JOB OF PARENTS AND SCHOOLS NEAR IMPOSSIBLE.
UK is
accused of failing children
The UK has been accused of failing its children, as it comes bottom
of
a league table for child well-being across 21 industrialised countries.
Unicef looked at 40 indicators from the years 2000-2003 including
poverty, peer and family relationships, and health.
One of the report's authors told the BBC that under-investment and a
"dog eat dog" attitude in society were to blame for Britain's poor
performance.
The government says its policies have helped to improve child
welfare.
Unicef - the United Nations children's organisation - says the
report,
titled Child Poverty in Perspective: An Overview of Child Well-being in
Rich Countries, is the first study of childhood across the world's
industrialised nations.
|
HAVE YOUR SAY
Not enough parental time is spent in bringing up our
children
John Nicholls, Altrincham
|
Unicef UK executive director David Bull said all the countries had
weaknesses that needed to be addressed.
"By comparing the performance of countries we see what is possible
with
a commitment to supporting every child to fulfil his or her full
potential," he said.
The authors say they used the most up to date
information available to assess "whether children feel loved,
cherished, special and supported, within the family and community, and
whether the family and community are being supported in this task by
public policy and resources".
But they added: "The process of international comparison can never
be freed from questions of translation, culture, and custom."
OECD countries with insufficient data to be included in the overview
included Australia, Iceland, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand and Turkey.
'Dog eat dog society'
Professor Jonathan Bradshaw from York University, one of the
report's
authors, put the UK's poor ratings down to long term underinvestment.
"It's very difficult to answer the why question. But if
you're asking what is the main driver of these results, it's the fact
that for a long time children in Britain have been under-invested in;
not enough has been spent on them."
He said child poverty rates were falling but were twice
as high as in 1979, while the government was "only just beginning" to
put money into health and education.
The Unicef study found Britain had the lowest
proportion of children who found their friends kind and helpful - 40%,
compared to 80% in Switzerland, he went on.
Professor Bradshaw said that this was an indication of a "dog eat
dog society".
He added: "In a society which is very unequal, with high levels of
poverty, it leads on to what children think about themselves and their
lives. That's really what's at the heart of this."
|
We simply cannot ignore these
shocking findings
Bob Reitemeier
Children's Society
|
The UK was in the bottom third for five out of the six categories.
It
was placed in the middle third of the table for health and safety.
A spokesman for the UK government said its initiatives
in areas such as poverty, pregnancy rates, teenage smoking, drinking
and risky sexual behaviour had helped improve children's welfare.
Welfare Reform Minister Jim Murphy said the Unicef
study was an "historic" report, which used some data which was now out
of date.
"It looks at some information and analysis from perhaps
six, seven, eight years ago," he told the BBC's Newsnight. "Some of the
information really is out of date in that sense.
"If you look at the teenage pregnancies issue, for
example, we're now 20 years low on teenage pregnancy levels, and on
homelessness as well there's been real progress there as well - a
25-year low in terms of new homelessness, so there's an awful lot we
have achieved."
|
CHILD WELL-BEING TABLE
1. Netherlands
2. Sweden
3. Denmark
4. Finland
5. Spain
6. Switzerland
7. Norway
8. Italy
9. Republic of Ireland
10. Belgium
11. Germany
12. Canada
13. Greece
14. Poland
15. Czech Republic
16. France
17. Portugal
18. Austria
19. Hungary
20. United States
21. United Kingdom
Source: Unicef
|
He did acknowledged the Unicef report was important.
"Hopefully it leads to a wider conversation about what more we can
do to eradicate poverty," he said.
Unicef's league table drew on sources including the OECD Programme
for
International Student Assessment (PISA) and the World Health
Organization's survey of Health Behaviour in School-age Children (HBSC)
aged 11, 13 and 15.
However, the information attributed to the UK in the HBSC survey is
only taken from responses of residents of England.
Unicef also said some PISA indicators for the UK should be treated
with caution due to low sample response rates.
Website survey
The Children's Society has launched a website to coincide with the
report, www.mylife.uk.com, which allows children to answer a series of
surveys about their lives.
The society's chief executive Bob Reitemeier said: "We simply
cannot ignore these shocking findings.
"Unicef's report is a wake-up call to the fact that, despite being a
rich country, the UK is failing children and young people in a number
of crucial ways."
The Children's Commissioner for England, Professor Sir
Al Aynsley-Green, said the report's findings should be a wake-up call
to politicians and society as a whole.
"We are turning out a generation of young people who
are unhappy, unhealthy, engaging in risky behaviour, who have poor
relationships with their family and their peers, who have low
expectations and don't feel safe."
He said parents, teachers, politicians and society as a
whole all had a role to play in nurturing children and helping them to
develop into successful adults.
|
REPORT CATEGORIES
Material well-being
Family and peer relationships
Health and safety
Behaviour and risks
Own sense of well-being [educational]
Own sense of well-being [subjective]
Most computers will open
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|
Colette Marshall, UK director of Save the Children, said it was
"shameful" to see the UK at the bottom of the table.
"This report shows clearly that despite the UK's wealth, we are
failing
to give children the best possible start in life," she said.
"The UK government is not investing enough in the well-being of
children, especially to combat poverty and deprivation."
Shadow Chancellor George Osborne accused Chancellor Gordon Brown of
having "failed this generation of children".
"After 10 years of his welfare and education policies, our children
today have the lowest well-being in the developed world," said Mr
Osborne.
|
UK REPORT FINDINGS
UK child poverty has doubled since 1979
Children living in homes earning less than
half national average wage - 16%
Children rating their peers as "kind and
helpful" - 43%
Families eating a meal together "several
times" a week - 66%
Children who admit being drunk on two or more
occasions - 31%
|
He also said government could encourage parents to have greater
involvement with their children through "a framework of more flexible
working".
But he added: "I don't actually think government has the answer to
all these problems."
A spokeswoman for the government said it regarded the improvement of
the life of British children as a matter of particular importance.
"Nobody can dispute that improving children's well-being is a real
priority for this government," she said.
FEBRUARY
16th
2007
Good. A bit of support on labelling from sensible people in the
National Heart Forum
Nobody can use the GDA system as a guide. The FSA system is simple. If
you find your shopping basket has too many red lights, and you are
overweigt or not feeling to fit, you can see what to do about it. If
neither of these things apply, then no need to worry. Working out what
to buy by examining GDA percentages is something people can do without.
Food labels branded 'misleading'
The food industry is misleading consumers with its new food
labelling system, a report claims.
The National Heart Forum says the scheme, adopted by at least 21
leading food companies, makes food look healthier than it actually is.
The labels show percentages of guideline daily amounts (GDA) of
sugar, salt, fat and calories per serving.
This is in opposition to the government-backed traffic light
labelling system.
The Food Standards Association's traffic light system uses red,
amber
and green labels - where green is good and red warns not to consume too
much.
The GDA campaign is supported by a coalition of the UK's biggest
food
and drink manufacturers as well as supermarkets Tesco, Somerfield and
Morrison.
|
The GDA scheme is too complex
to be used quickly and easily by consumers
Jane Landon, deputy chief executive for the NHF
|
Members of the GDA group say consumers find the percentages of GDAs
easier to understand than the FSA's "traffic light" system.
But supporters of the FSA's traffic light system - used by firms
including Sainsbury's, Waitrose, the Co-Op, Marks and Spencer and Asda
- say the GDA system is flawed because many consumers do not understand
percentages.
The NHF report criticises some companies for misleading
consumers by presenting nutritional information in an "overly complex"
way.
Jane Landon, deputy chief executive for the NHF, said: "We believe
that
the GDA scheme is too complex to be used quickly and easily by
consumers across all social and ethnic groups.
"With as little as four seconds for each purchase, what
consumers need to be able to see 'at a glance' on the front of the pack
is whether a product is high, medium or low in key nutrients.
"Guideline Daily Amounts represent population goals for particular
nutrients.
"Presenting these as percentages on the front of food packaging
suggests to the consumer that these are daily targets.
"Without reading the small print on the back of the packet it is not
clear that for fat, saturated fat, sugar and salt these figures
represent limits rather than targets."
The report suggests some food giants appeared to be
manipulating the front-of-pack label to promote their products rather
than to inform their customers.
It says that in cases of products clearly targeted at
children, such as some cereals, the GDAs used on the packs are for
adults.
Kellogg's communications director Chris Wermann said:
"We are looking to see whether we can provide children's GDAs too, but
have to bear in mind that 65% of Frosties, for example, are eaten by
men over 18."
Tesco defended the GDA scheme saying there was compelling research
that customers find GDAs helpful.
A spokesman said: "We refute the idea that the GDA labelling scheme
is complex and misleading.
"They are helping customers to make healthier choices because they
are
easy to understand and by giving the actual data rather than just a
colour customers are able to make informed decisions.
"The criticisms raised by NHF are wrong - arguably
traffic light alternatives are more misleading as the colours are based
on portion sizes of 100g/100ml's regardless of the portion size."
| GUIDELINE DAILY AMOUNTS |
|
|
Women |
Men |
| Energy (Calories) |
2,000 |
2,500 |
| Protein |
45g |
55g |
| Carbohydrate |
230g |
300g |
| of which sugars |
90g |
120g |
| Fat |
70g |
95g |
| of which saturates |
20g |
30g |
| Fibre |
24g |
24g |
| Sodium |
2.4g |
2.4g |
| Equivalent as salt |
6g |
6g |
| Source: Institute of Grocery
Distribution |
| TRAFFIC LIGHT LABELLING |
|
|
Low
Per 100g |
Medium
Per 100g |
High
Per 100g |
| Fat |
0-3g |
Between 3g
and 20g |
20g and over |
| Saturated fat |
0-1.5g |
Between 1.5g
and 5g |
5g and over |
| Total sugars |
0-5g |
Between 5g
and 15g |
15g and over |
| Salt |
0-0.3g |
Between 0.3g
and 1.5g |
1.5g and over |
| Source: Food Standards Agency
|
FEBRUARY 18th 2007
The Food Programme on BBC Radio 4 is always worth listening to, but
this edition is critical,
as is Feeding People is Easy by
Colin Tudge published by Pari Publishing SAS in April 2007, ISBN
978-88-901960-8-9.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/factual/foodprogramme.shtml
FEBRUARY 22nd 2007
I like to think that this is also a fruit of our efforts.
Junk food TV adverts to be curbed
Thursday February 22, 09:40 PM
Television commercials promoting unhealthy
food and drinks will be banned during programmes aimed at children up
to the age of 16 in a bid to cut childhood obesity, Ofcom has
announced.
The media watchdog said from April this year, advertising for
products which were high in fat, salt and sugar, and which would
particularly appeal to children, must not be shown in or around
programmes for those under the age of 10.
From the beginning of January 2008, a total ban will come into
force for advertising junk food during programmes aimed at or which
appeal to under-16s.
The restrictions apply to food and drinks products which are
assessed as being high in fat, salt and sugar (HFSS) by the Food
Standards Agency.
The aim of the ban is to reduce children's exposure to the adverts
in a bid to stem the rise of childhood obesity.
Children's channels will be allowed a phase-in period for the
new regulations, which must be fully implemented by the end of December
2008.
In addition, celebrities and characters - such as cartoon
favourites - will be banned from promoting junk foods in advertising to
children.
The new content rules, which also include a ban on promotional
offers and health claims in HFSS product advertising, come into force
immediately for new advertising campaigns, and by July for existing
campaigns.
This final determination by Ofcom follows a review of the new rules,
which were announced in November last year.
The restrictions were initially going to be aimed at children
aged under nine, but Ofcom confirmed the expansion of the proposals to
include all under 16s.
MARCH 15th 2007
The Shadow
Health Minister complains:
There is no question that the Government has not done enough and what
they have done has not been done quickly enough.
I dont know
where Mr Murrison hid his head over the past few years but he must have
hid it somewhere if he thinks the government could have done more,
faster, to deal with this problem in a country where the smallest
attempt to advise people that their behaviour is suicidal is classed as
interference by a 'Nanny State'. The Medical Research Council and Dr
Susan Jebb in particularly have worked tirelessly to discover why
pointing out the obvious, ever more clearly and with increasingly
effective publicity now that the media have at last got the message,
does not get the expected response from a significant section of the
public it is aimed at.
Now it seems there is an explanation. Just as anorexics see themselves
as fat when they are normal, the obese see themselves as normal.when
they are fat. Obesity follows, and they don't recognise that either.
Parents 'don't recognise obesity'
The government is launching a plan to tackle obesity by helping
parents
recognise the warning signs that their children are overweight.
It follows a claim by the Medical Research Council that many people
do not know their children are overweight.
The Department of Health has pledged to do more in the next year to
support parents in encouraging healthy eating and physical activity.
But critics said the government had not acted quickly enough to
tackle obesity.
The government has set a target of halting the yearly rise in rates
of obesity in the under-11s by 2010.
|
There is no question that the
Government has not done enough and what they have done has not been
done quickly enough
Shadow Health Minister, Andrew Murrison
|
But Dr Susan Jebb and colleagues from the Human Nutrition Research
unit
at the MRC found several major barriers were preventing families from
adopting healthy lifestyles even though they knew the importance of a
healthy diet and exercise.
Their review of the evidence showed people have a poor
perception of their own weight status and are even worse at spotting
when their child is overweight or obese.
Busy lifestyles, irregular working hours and fears that
having a healthy lifestyle is too difficult to achieve also put people
off healthy choices.
According to the MRC report, average time spent
preparing meals has fallen from two hours to just 20 minutes over the
past two decades.
And safety concerns prevent children being allowed to walk to
school or play outside.
Battleground
One of the biggest problems facing parents is their child's
willingness to accept new foods.
Trying to coax children to eat healthily often takes a backseat to
trying to have a pleasant mealtime, said the researchers.
Dr Jebb said 80% of parents recognised that an unhealthy diet and
lack of physical activity contributed to obesity.
"But people don't necessarily realise that it applies to their
child," she said.
"More than 40% of children over the age of six choose their evening
meal on half of all occasions but they lack the skills to choose
wisely.
"It's not surprising that parents try to avoid conflict
to make a pleasant atmosphere at home but it leads to a lack of
exposure and familiarity with different foods."
Launching the Government's Healthy Living Programme,
Public Health Minister Caroline Flint said they would be rolling out a
series of initiatives to support families, such as 'Top Tips for Top
Mums' to help families share ideas for getting children to eat fruit
and vegetables.
"We're not short of information but the information hasn't always
been leading to behaviour change," she said.
"This is where the theory becomes reality - something that is
really meaningful for people."
Andrew Murrison, the shadow health minister, said: "There is no
question that the government has not done enough and what they have
done has not been done quickly enough.
"When it comes to implementation they have failed so far."
Dr David Haslam, clinical director of the National Obesity Forum,
said
obesity had been a priority for the government but nothing to date had
made the slightest bit of difference because of a lack of concrete
ideas.
"At least they're putting measures in place to try and actively do
something," he added.
Irish
EU's 'worst binge-drinkers'
Ireland has the highest rates of binge-drinking in the European
Union,
a survey exploring attitudes to alcohol has indicated.
Finland and Britain came
second and third in the Eurobarometer survey.
In Italy and Greece, by comparison, only 2% of people said they did
binge-drink - defined as having five or more alcoholic drinks in one
sitting.
The survey comes just a few days before Ireland, and much of the
world, celebrates Saint Patrick's Day.
|
BINGE-DRINKING IN THE EU
Ireland 34%
Finland 27%
UK 24%
Denmark 23%
Portugal 4%
Italy & Greece 2%
Source: Eurobarometer |
Binge-drinking is a particular problem among young people, with
almost
a fifth of the 15-24 age group usually binge-drinking when consuming
alcohol, according to the results of the survey on attitudes towards
alcohol, presented by the European Commission on Thursday.
According to the data, men drink more than women, and one in 10
Europeans usually drinks five or more drinks in one session.
Almost eight out of 10 Europeans agree with putting warnings on
alcohol
bottles and adverts to warn pregnant women and drivers of the dangers
of drinking alcohol.
Irish debate
One in three Irish people questioned in the EU survey regularly
binge-drink.
In Ireland, there is an ongoing public debate about attitudes to
alcohol, especially among young people, says the BBC's James Helm in
Dublin.
The Catholic Church has added its voice to those warning of the
dangers to society of alcohol abuse.
Saint Patrick's Day on 17 March, the feast day for Ireland's patron
saint, can be the cue for heavy drinking.
In recent years there has been much concern about underage drinking
on
Irish streets on Saint Patrick's Day and some of the resulting
problems, including violence, our correspondent says.
This year, police will patrol outside many off-licences
where alcohol is sold and there have been calls for stores selling
alcoholic drinks to restrict their opening hours in order to try to
prevent excessive drinking.
Why a glass of grape may be best way to start your day
By Jeremy Laurance, Health Editor, The Independent
Published: 15 March 2007
If you think a glass of breakfast orange juice is the best way to
start
the day, think again. Grape juice could be more beneficial.
Scientists have carried out the first scientific analysis of fruit
juices to measure their antioxidant activity - the anti-ageing
compounds that protect against heart disease and other chronic
conditions.
Top of the league is purple grape juice followed by apple juice and
cranberry juice, according to the study by researchers at the
University of Glasgow. Orange juice, the most popular fruit juice,
comes way down the league. It contains fewer polyphenols than the other
juices tested, which are strong antioxidants.
Alan Crozier, professor of plant biochemistry and human nutrition
who led the study, said: "Not all fruit juices are the same. The
findings reveal that the variety of phenolic compounds and antioxidant
capacity of the individual juices varied markedly."
"Purple grape juice made with Concord grapes contains the highest
and broadest range of polyphenols as well as having the highest
antioxidant capacity. Other high-ranking products include cloudy apple
juice and cranberry juice drink."
The research was funded by the National Grape Co-operative, a
consortium of farmers in the US owned by Welch's, makers of Concord
purple grape juice. It is published in the Journal of Agriculture and
Food Chemistry.
The finding comes in the wake of research by US scientists which
showed an association between long-term fruit juice consumption and a
reduced risk of Alzheimer's disease.
Researchers who followed almost 2,000 volunteers for up to 10 years
found the risk of Alzheimer's was 76 per cent lower for those who drank
juices more than three times a week compared with those who drank them
less than once a week.
The Glasgow study suggests these protective effects may be
strengthened by consumption of a combination of juices with a high
concentration and broad range of polyphenolic antioxidants.
Antioxidants are compounds such as vitamin C found in fruits and
vegetables which are believed to play a key role by protecting the body
from the damaging effects of free radicals, the products of metabolism.
By quenching free radicals they help to maintain oxidative balance and
prevent the development of diseases including cancer and heart disease.
Professor Crozier said: "Supplementing a healthy diet with a regular
intake of a variety of fruit juices such as purple grape juice,
grapefruit juice, cloudy apple juice and cranberry juice,will increase
the consumer's intake of phenolic antioxidants. The message is to mix
these juices during the week. That way you will get all the compounds
with anti-oxidant activity. If you drink only one juice you risk
missing out on the compounds in the others."
He said Welch's had asked his research team to measure the
antioxidant activity in 13 of the most popular fruit juices in Britain.
"The paper we have published is as we wrote it. If Welch's had
written it they would have said drink only Concord grape juice."
The findings also revealed the number and level of antioxidant
phenolic compounds in purple grape juice equates with those found in a
Beaujolais red wine.
The juice league table
Millimoles per litre of phenolic anti-oxidants:
1 Purple Grape 0.98
Made from grapes with dark flesh which have the highest level of
anti-oxidants
2 Cloudy Apple 0.67
Cloudy apple juice has four times the level of anti-oxidants of
clear apple juice.
3 Pomegranate 0.45
One of the newest juices on the market. Has a high anti-oxidant
content.
4 Cranberry 0.32
Known for its health-giving benefits, especially as a treatment for
cystitis in women.
5 Grapefruit 0.30
Interacts with some medicines reducing their effectiveness.
6 Clear Apple 0.26
Processes used to remove the pulp, which makes juice cloudy, remove
the anti-oxidants
7 Tropical 0.12
Mixed fruit juice that contains a range of anti-oxidant compounds -
but made from juices that have low levels
8= Orange, Pineapple, Tomato, Red Grape, White Grape less
than 0.1
These juices are still fine to drink - they just pack less of a
health punch than those at the top of the table.
JULY
4th 2007
We are always being told not to 'nanny' the public, not to patronise,
and to appreciate that our children are much more intelligent than they
are given credit for. Well it may be that the UK is not so far down the
slope as the USA, but if the following contains more truth than lies it
confirms my suspicion that an increasingly large percentage of young
people are either very stupid or have lost the will to live or both. As
to whose fault that is, that is another question, but most would blame
the parents. Since one of the reasons for this stupidity is eating the
wrong food, we are faced with a circular problem here from which there
is no recovery other than by enforced proper nutrition.
Review finds nutrition education failing
By MARTHA MENDOZA, AP National Writer Wed Jul 4, 5:06 PM ET
The federal government will spend more than $1 billion this year on
nutrition education — fresh carrot and celery snacks, videos of dancing
fruit, hundreds of hours of lively lessons about how great you will
feel if you eat well.
But an Associated Press review of scientific studies examining 57
such programs found mostly failure. Just four showed any real success
in changing the way kids eat — or any promise as weapons against the
growing epidemic of childhood obesity.
"Any person looking at the published literature about these programs
would have to conclude that they are generally not working," said Dr.
Tom Baranowski, a pediatrics professor at Houston's Baylor College of
Medicine who studies behavioral nutrition.
The results have been disappointing, to say the least:
_Last year a major federal pilot program offering free fruits and
vegetables to school children showed fifth graders became less willing
to eat them than they had been at the start. Apparently they didn't
like the taste.
_In Pennsylvania, researchers went so far as to give prizes to
school children who ate fruits and vegetables. That worked while the
prizes were offered, but when the researchers came back seven months
later the kids had reverted to their original eating habits: soda and
chips.
_In studies where children tell researchers they are eating better
or exercising more, there is usually no change in blood pressure, body
size or cholesterol measures; they want to eat better, they might even
think they are, but they're not.
The studies don't tell Leticia Jenkins anything she doesn't know.
She's one of the bravest teachers in America — not because she gave her
seventh and eighth graders 30 sharp knives to chop tomatoes, onions,
jalapenos and limes for a lesson on salsa and nutrition, but because
she understands the futility of what she is trying to do.
"Oh, it's so hard, because at the end of the day sometimes I take a
moment, I think gosh, I did all this and we still see them across the
street picking up the doughnuts and the coffee drinks," she said.
Nationally, obesity rates have nearly quintupled among 6- to
11-year-olds and tripled among teens and children ages 2 to 5 since the
1970s, according to the Centers for Disease Control. The medical
consequences of obesity in the U.S. — diabetes, high blood pressure,
even orthopedic problems — cost an estimated $100 billion a year.
Kentucky cardiologist Dr. James W. Holsinger Jr., nominated as the next
surgeon general, says fighting childhood obesity is his top priority.
The challenges to changing the way children eat are as numerous as
the factors that have prompted the obesity epidemic in the first place.
The forces that make kids fat "are really strong and hard to fight
with just a program in school," said Dr. Philip Zeitler, a pediatric
endocrinologist and researcher who sees "a steady stream" of obese
children struggling with diabetes and other potentially fatal medical
problems at The Children's Hospital in Denver.
What does he tell them?
"Oh God, I haven't figured out anything that I know is going to
work," he said. "I'm not aware of any medical model that is very
successful in helping these kids. Sure, we try to help them, but I
can't take credit for the ones who do manage to change."
The obstacles are daunting:
PARENTS. Experts agree that although most funding targets schools,
parents have the greatest influence, even a biological influence, over
what their children will eat. Zeitler says when children slim down,
it's because "their families get religion about this and figure out
what needs to happen."
But often, they don't.
"If the mother is eating Cheetos and white bread, the fetus will be
born with those taste buds. If the mother is eating carrots and oatmeal
the child will be born with those taste buds," said Dr. Robert Trevino
of the Social and Health Research Center in San Antonio.
Most kids learn what tastes good and what tastes nasty by their 10th
birthdays.
"If we don't reach a child before they get to puberty, it's
going to be very tough, very difficult, to change their eating
behavior," said Trevino.
POVERTY. Poorer kids are especially at risk, because unhealthy
food is cheaper and more easily available than healthy food. Parents
are often working, leaving children unsupervised to get their own
snacks. Low-income neighborhoods have fewer good supermarkets with
fresh produce.
"If Mom can't find tomatoes in her local grocery store, nothing is
going to change," said Zeitler.
Meanwhile, it's harder for children to exercise on their own. Parks
often aren't safe and sports teams cost money.
"Calorie burning has become the province of the wealthy," said
Zeitler. "I fear that what we're going to see is a divergence of
healthy people and unhealthy people. Basically, like everything else,
it costs money to be healthy."
ADVERTISING. Children ages 8 to 12 see an average of 21
television ads each day for candy, snacks, cereal and fast food — more
than 7,600 a year, according to a recent Kaiser Family Foundation
study. Not one of the 8,854 ads reviewed promoted fruits or vegetables.
There was one ad for healthy foods for every 50 for other foods.
Children may be the best sources to explain why lessons about
nutrition don't sink in.
"I think it's because they like it so much, because like, I
don't know if you've seen the new hot Cheetos that are like puffs? Oh
my God, they're so good. Like everyone at the school has them and
they're so good," said Ani Avanessian, 14, of Panorama City.
Her classmate George Rico, a 13-year-old whose mother is a
manager at a McDonald's, said he loves his nutrition class. But does it
affect what he puts in his mouth?
"Well, no, but it makes me think about what I eat," he said. "I
think kids don't change because they've been eating it for so long
they're just accustomed to eating that way."
Their teacher, Jenkins, offers fact-filled and engaging
nutrition lessons as part of a $7 million USDA program which reaches
about 388,000 students a year in the Los Angeles Unified School
District.
The most recent evaluation of the 8-year-old program was
disheartening: no difference in the amount of fruits and vegetables
eaten by kids participating in the program and those who weren't.
Teachers who spent more hours on nutrition education had no greater
impact than those who didn't. And parent behavior didn't change either.
"It's true, it didn't change what they actually eat. But the
program really made a difference in how kids were feeling about fruits
and vegetables. They really had a more positive attitude toward fruits
and vegetables," said Dr. Mike Prelip, a UCLA researcher who headed up
the evaluation.
Kate Houston, deputy under secretary of the USDA's Food,
Nutrition and Consumer Services, oversees most federal funds, $696
million this year, spent on childhood nutrition education in this
country. Funding has steadily increased in recent years, up from $535
million in 2003. Houston insists the programs are successful.
"I think the question here is how are we measuring success and
there are certainly many ways in which you can do so and the ways in
which we've been able to measure have shown success," she said.
But isn't the goal of these programs to change the way kids eat?
"Absolutely that's the goal," she said.
And they're successfully reaching that goal?
"We're finding success in things in which we have been able to
measure, which are more related to knowledge and skill. It is more
difficult for us to identify success in changing children's eating
patterns."
When asked about the many studies that don't show improvement,
Houston asked for copies of the research. And she said the USDA doesn't
have the resources to undertake "long term, controlled, medical modeled
studies" necessary to determine the impact of its programs.
Doctors like Tom Robinson, who directs the Center for Healthy
Weight at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford University,
said those studies aren't needed. The research has already shown they
don't work.
"I think the money could be better spent on programs that are
more behaviorally oriented, as opposed to those that are educationally
oriented, or studies that just describe the problem over and over
again," he said.
There may be pieces of solutions found in limited studies
currently being tested around the country. In some situations, obese
and overweight children can lose weight and get healthy through
rigorous hospital and clinic-based interventions that involve regular
check-ins, family involvement, scheduled exercise and nutrition
education.
School programs that increase physical activity are also more likely
to have an impact than nutrition education.
This spring the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation announced plans
to spend $500 million over the next five years to reverse the trend of
childhood obesity. It will fund programs that bring supermarkets into
poor neighborhoods, studies that measure the weight of children who
exercise more at school, meetings of advocates who are seeking to
restrict junk food ads.
One thing it won't fund: projects that only provide school nutrition
education.
AUGUST
14th 2007
The expression 'pot belly' may be misleading here. It is fat in the
general area of the waist which is at issue, front, back and side.
Pot belly
linked to heart disease
Even a small pot belly can increase the risk of heart disease,
scientists warn.
Research from the University of Texas found large waist
measurements,
relative to hip size, were linked to early signs of heart disease.
This confirms other research that waist size, rather than overall
body weight, is a key indicator of heart disease.
The study of 2,744 people suggests that a waist size of 32ins (81cm)
for a woman and 37ins (94cm) for a man represents a "significant"
raised risk.
The report was published in the Journal of the American College of
Cardiology.
|
Even a small pot belly puts us
at higher risk when compared to a flat tummy
Professor James de Lemos |
The authors looked at men and women who underwent medical tests and
imaging scans to identify the early signs of atherosclerosis - the
narrowing and hardening of the arteries linked to the development of
cardiovascular disease.
Body shape important
They then examined the relationship between the participants' body
shapes and the presence of atherosclerosis.
They found adding a few inches to the waist increased the risk of
damage in the arteries, even if body weight remained within the normal
range.
People with the largest waist-to-hip ratios (WHRs) were
almost twice as likely to have calcium deposits, which indicate the
onset of atherosclerosis, in the arteries of their hearts, as those
with the smallest WHRs.
And even when other risk factors such as blood pressure, diabetes
and age were taken into account, the link remained strong.
Professor James de Lemos, who led the research, said: "Fat that
accumulates around your waist seems to be more biologically active as
it secretes inflammatory proteins that contribute to atherosclerotic
plaque build-up, whereas fat around your hips doesn't appear to
increase risk for cardiovascular disease at all.
"We think the key message for people is to prevent accumulation of
central fat early on in their lives.
"Even a small pot belly puts us at higher risk when compared to a
flat tummy."
Abdominal fat risks
And waist-to-hip ratio was more closely linked to these early signs
of
heart disease than either body mass index (BMI) or waist circumference
alone.
BMI is widely used to assess relative body weight, and
is calculated as weight in kilograms divided by the square of the
height in metres.
June Davison, cardiac nurse at the British Heart
Foundation, said: "People who are overweight or obese have an increased
risk of developing heart disease.
"The risks are even higher when fat is mainly concentrated around
the abdomen.
"What's important is that people consider their body shape as well
as their weight.
"Controlling both by eating less and being more active is an
effective
way to reduce your risk of heart and circulatory disease."
Dr Ian Campbell, medical director of charity Weight
Concern, said even just measuring waist circumference could be useful
to assess abdominal fat levels and risks of disease.
He said: "The beauty of it is that it is simple,
reproducible, and both patients and doctors/nurses can measure and
understand it."
Previous studies have suggested that a waist
circumference of over 35in (88.9cm) for a woman, and 40in (101.6cm) for
a man indicates a high risk of developing diabetes and heart disease.
Even a waist circumference of 32in (81.3cm) for a woman, and 37in
(94cm) for a man represents a "significant" raised risk.
AUGUST
15th 2007
On the today programme this morning we had
a 'doctor' explaining to Jim
Naughtie how they had discovered, by feeding junk food to rats during
pregnancy, that they produced fat, junk-food addicted offspring.
Naughtie remarked that pregnant women often craved unusual foods during
pregnancy, different to their usual diet. "Yes, we don't understand
that" replied the 'doctor'.
Good grief!! Neither doctor nor Naughtie seem to have a clue about
knowledge established millennia ago. The new dietary cravings of a
pregnant mother are because she has a new life growing in her with new
demands. It is not a clone, and it is not in the same stage of life as
the mother. If it had exactly the same dietary demands, then that would
be impossible to explain! The mother has to pass what is called for.
That may entail modifying her own metabolism to adjust for pregnancy
and also ingesting certain things for more direct passage to the embryo.
As for the mother's junk diet having an effect on the appetites of the
baby, there was not need to do the experiment. It is common knowledge
that a baby is prepared for the world it is to be born into - that is
what is going on during the period of gestation. The inherited
possibilities are worked on by the environmental input from the mother,
which is affected by the environment of the mother and her behaviour at
the time in relation to that environment. This can extend from diet to
listening to music, singing/dancing/playing etc, availability of food
(quantity/quality), calmness/violence, security/insecurity.
All this stuff is common knowledge. Can we please get off the ground
floor of listening to stupid old duffers and young idiots arguing about
matters resolved before they were born, and so called scientists and
doctors wasting tax-payers money and being held up as pioneers on our
national broadcasting system? It's pathetic. Here's the Sky News
report. News? I think not.
Babies Learn To Like Junk Food In The Womb
By Sky News
SkyNews - Wednesday, August 15 04:30 am
Pregnant
women who "eat for two" by upping their intake of fatty and sugary food
could unwittingly be putting their children at risk of obesity, new
research suggests.
The same applies to mothers who are breastfeeding, scientists have
warned.
Unborn
babies and developing infants can have their eating habits programmed
by their mothers' food choices, according to the findings.
Children
exposed to "maternal junk food" in the womb or early in life may find
it harder to resist an unhealthy diet as they grow older, say the
researchers.
Dr Stephanie Bayol, from the Royal Veterinary
College in London, said: "Our study has shown that eating large
quantities of junk food when pregnant and breastfeeding could impair
the normal control of appetite and promote an exacerbated taste for
junk food in offspring."
Controlling appetite involves hormones
which act on the brain to regulate energy balance, hunger and satiety -
the sensation of "feeling full".
However feeding is not merely
mechanical. It is partly governed by "reward centres" in the brain
whose pleasure responses may override normal "feeling full" signals.
Previous
research has shown that junk foods rich in fat and sugar inhibit
satiety while promoting hunger and stimulating the reward centres.
The
new research, carried out on rats, indicates that even before birth,
exposure to junk food may induce an unhealthy taste for fatty, sugary
treats.
Writing in the British Journal of Nutrition, the scientists said the
same kind of trends could be expected in humans.
Dr
Bayol said: "Exposure to a maternal junk food diet during their foetal
and suckling life might help explain why some individuals might find it
harder than others to control their junk food intake even when given
access to healthier foods later in life."
OCTOBER
15th 2007
Brown: 'Tackle childhood obesity quickly'
ITN
Prime Minister Gordon Brown has said the "huge"
childhood obesity issue needs to be tackled quickly and "in a "number
of different ways".
Half
the population will be obese within 25 years if current trends
continue, according to the stark findings of a new Government study.
Mr Brown's comments came during a visit to specialist sports school,
the Harris Girls' Academy in East Dulwich, south London.
He
said: "There are more school playing fields now. There is a wider range
of sport in schools. Girls might be more interested in netball and
yoga. It's one of the answers to childhood obesity."
The Premier,
who revealed he uses a treadmill to keep fit, also said more needed to
be done on food labelling to help parents make the right decisions for
their children.
He said: "I want to see a young nation growing up
that's healthy and fit. Sometimes if you don't deal with the problem
quickly...then it just grows and grows and grows and gets worse."
Having invested £2.3 billion in PE over the last ten years, Mr
Brown announced that Labour will provide an extra £100 million
this year to try to broaden the range of sports available to children.
But,
Mr Brown described as "phenomenal" the rise in students doing more than
two hours of sport a week, from 20 per cent ten years ago to 86 per
cent now.
He added: "When I was at school one child in the class
was very fat and it was a problem for them. Now there are four or five
in the class and it's a big problem for them," he added.
Mr
Brown, who joined pupils at the school's breakfast club, eating
croissants and grapes and drinking hot chocolate, then toured the
school's new gym facilities with Olympic gold medal winner Dame Kelly
Holmes.
Earlier, a representative for nurses at 2,500 UK schools, said they
must be better equipped to help tackle the epidemic.
Ros
Godson, from the Community Practitioners' and Health Visitors'
Association (CPHVA) is due to call for every school to have its own
equipment to weigh and measure children.
She will also tell delegates at the National Obesity
Forum's (NOF) fifth annual conference, in London, that school nurses
should be given a dedicated area to work to ensure confidentiality.
***
SEE also
http://www.nationalobesityforum.org.uk/
nnnn
The Westminster
Diet and Health Forum
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