healthy diet
Worth a look
A roundup of some noteworthy stories from the last few days.
To spur healthy diets, doctors advise grocery shoppers
It's called "Shop with Your Doc," an initiative that stations doctors and nutritionists at supermarkets in Orange County, Calif, "to answer questions and offer advice about healthy eating — all for free," says the Los Angeles Times. Health economic professor Glenn Melnick, of USC, says it's part of an evolution of the healthcare system to try to improve community health.
An outgrowth of the White House kitchen garden, DC Greens
An art teacher invited to the groundbreaking for the White House kitchen garden in March 2009 was inspired to co-found a nonprofit, DC Greens, that is involved in many of Washington's healthful-food-access programs, says the Washington Post. Sarah Holway, the teacher, and a friend, Lauren Biel, started DC Greens in 2009 and now have 12 full-time employees.
Americans are (finally) eating more fish
In a rare bit of positive news about the U.S. diet, Americans upped their seafood intake by a pound last year to 15.5 pounds, according to the annual Fisheries of the United States Report released by NOAA last week. Even though that only amounts to about four extra seafood meals per person per year, it constitutes the “biggest biggest leap in seafood consumption in 20 years," says NPR.
Will a doctor in the kitchen lead to healthier children?
Only one in four medical students gets the recommended 25 hours of nutrition training while a medical student, says Texas Public Radio. The Baylor College of Medicine is trying to change that by putting future pediatricians into a teaching kitchen so they can pass along tips on healthful diets to their future patients.
What Olympic athletes eat
Olympic athletes have to customize their diets to fit their sport, reports NPR. Swimmers like Michael Phelps can pound back 12,000 calories a day and go especially heavy on the pasta and bread before a race. But gymnasts and wrestlers stay away from heavy meals on the day of a competition, in order to stay nimble.
Study: Americans are eating less produce—but the news isn’t all bad
Despite a steady bombardment of advice about the importance of eating a healthy diet, Americans are eating fewer fruits and vegetables on average than they were in the 1990s, said the USDA’s Economic Research Service, which analyzed annual consumption rates for 120 varieties of raw, dried, canned, frozen and juiced produce between 1994-98 and 2007-2008.
Dieters at war with their bodies
A long-term study of the rock stars of dieting -- contestants on the reality TV show "The Biggest Loser" -- reveals some of the reasons why it is hard to keep the pounds off, says the New York Times.
House panel votes to block USDA rules on healthier foods
In February, the USDA proposed that retailers should stock a wider variety of staple foods if they want to be part of the food-stamp program. The House Appropriations Committee has sided with the critics, voting to prohibit the USDA from implementing the new standards.
Healthy food but not climate healthy?
Eating a vegetarian diet could contribute to climate change, says research by Carnegie Mellon University. It says "following the USDA recommendations to consume more fruits, vegetables, dairy and seafood is more harmful to the environment because those foods have relatively high resource uses and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions per calorie."
Poverty may matter more in diet than ‘food deserts’
Poverty appears to be a bigger factor in poor diets than living in areas without a supermarket nearby, say Ilya Rahkovsky and Samantha Snyder of USDA's Economic Research Service. In a 36-page report, the researchers say that living in a "low income, low-access" (LILA) area "has only a modest negative impact on the healthfulness of food purchases - a difference too small to explain much of the national disparities in diet quality and obesity.”
As Americans get heavier, obese outnumber the overweight
The portion of Americans who are overweight or obese is growing, with three-fourths of men and two-thirds of women in those categories, say two researchers from the Washington University School of Medicine. "Overweight and obesity are associated with various chronic conditions," say Graham Colditz and Lin Yang in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine.
Longer comment period set for Dietary Guidelines
The government will allow an additional 30 days for comment on the report by a panel of experts on how to revise the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. The report has drawn criticism because it says environmental sustainability should be taken into account in recommending a healthy diet. Farm groups, especially from the meat industry, say the report is wrong to say people should eat less meat.
First Lady brings in star power to boost produce consumption
First Lady Michelle Obama "is enlisting some high-wattage star power — including actresses Jessica Alba and Kristen Bell, San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick and New York Giants wide receiver Victor Cruz — in a new national campaign to convince moms and teens to eat fruits and veggies," reports Politico.
“Bad” foods outpace good as diets change worldwide
Consumption of healthy foods such as fruits and vegetables improved worldwide over the two decades ending in 2010, but "intake of unhealthy foods including processed meat and sweetened drinks" rose more rapidly, according to a study published in the journal Lancet Global Health.
Diet panel – Eat more fruit, veggies, dairy and less meat
The new edition of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans should encourage people to eat more fruit, vegetables, dairy and whole grains and less sugar and refined grains, says a panel of experts advising the government. In its report, the panel says half of Americans have preventable, chronic diseases and two-thirds are overweight or obese. The persistent and high level of diet-related disease "raise the urgency for immediate attention and bold action," says the panel.
Vilsack takes a bite out of the beef about red meat
For weeks, the ag world has buzzed with rumors that the new edition of the Dietary Guidelines would downplay the role of meat in healthy diets or even delete red meat from its recommendations. The 2010 Guidelines say at one point, "Choose a variety of protein foods, which include seafood, lean meat and poultry, eggs, beans and peas, soy products, and unsalted nuts and seeds." House Agriculture Committee chairman Mike Conaway raised the issue with Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, saying...
Tax rules encourage hospitals to boost nutrition programs
Nonprofit hospitals are expanding "'upstream' prevention-based programs that can help reduce the burden of chronic disease," says a blog at the site Health Care Without Harm.
Survey: One in four Americans seeks a healthier diet
One in four Americans entered 2024 with a goal of changing their diet to improve their health or lose weight, according to a survey by Purdue University. “We see that the majority of consumers plan to limit processed foods in their diets, while fewer plan to follow more alternative diets such as vegetarian and vegan,” the survey said.