NYC and Na? New Food Labeling Laws passed in New York

Last month, Professor Frediani first brought up the new sodium labeling laws in New York City, I was impressed that New York was taking another step towards health. I did not think too much more about the new labeling in New York until reading another student's blog regarding food labeling in other countries. I decided to revisit the policy change in New York to learn more about the reasons behind the new policy.

For those of you who are not familiar with what change was made, in New York City the government started to require that chain restaurants with to start labeling plates that contain more than 2,3000 mg of sodium. The labeling change was first suggested by the mayor to make the consumers more aware of what was in their foods when eating outside of their home. The labeling change was first passed back in September and would affect restaurants with 15 or more locations in the nation that are located in the city.

                                       An example of a menu with the high sodium symbol

The main health concern behind consuming that much sodium? The government was mainly focused on trying to make consumers aware that high sodium intake can lead to a greater risk for heart disease and for having a stroke. The daily recommendation for sodium consumption is 2,300 mg, so no one should be consuming their entire daily recommendations from one meal. I think that this is an important step for the health of New Yorkers. It never helps to know more about what is in your food. 

Looking into more of the breakdown of where sodium comes from our diet, 77% of sodium comes from foods prepared outside of the home.  I thought that this statistic was an important one to learn more about where our sodium is coming from. Restaurants are not only charging us for food, but they are also leading us on a pathway to bad health.

I looked at the updated news regarding the policy change, and it turns out that the restaurants were able to appeal the requirement and the case is currently going through a series of appeals. It will be interesting to see how the results of the case turn out.  The lawyer for the city states that he is confident that the policy will be supported based on the fact that in New York there are other similar policies that work in the favor of the people's health. For example, in previous years chain restaurants had to remove all trans-fats from their foods and had to list calories on their menus. 

In the past, New York did try to ban soda completely. This policy did not pass, mainly because the Board of Health was making an active attempt to sway consumers from purchasing soda completely, by banning sales of large drink sizes (larger than 16 fl oz).  The final court claimed that the Board of Health was acting outside of it's authority. 

I think that it will be interesting to see how the sodium labeling appeal case comes out. I see a distinct difference between the two different policies. The main difference between the two policies is that the soda ban was indirectly discouraging consumers from drinking soda, while the sodium labeling policy does not discourage consumers to stop eating out, just to make better choices when it comes to ordering off the menu. 

You do not need to have a special label on menus to know how much sodium is in your restaurant meal. Most of the nutrition information is offered on restaurant's websites and with a little research before leaving your house, you can look it up online or even on your smartphone! 

No Breakfast? No Thanks.

My sister, Claire age 24 is one of those people who will fall for almost any fad diet. I am a big believer in breakfast, and that it is important to eat when you get up (especially eating something with protein). Claire recently has taken up the idea that you do not need to eat breakfast, and that the government tells us that you need to eat breakfast in order to improve the grain and cereal industry.

Over Winter break she asked me what I thought about the idea of skipping breakfast. I told her that if she wanted to cut back on her breakfasts that could be a good solution, however I did not recommend skipping breakfast completely. I take this view on eating breakfast because sometimes when I do not eat enough for breakfast I sometimes have episodes of syncope. It was because of this reason, I suggested that she just eat a smaller portion of food rather than her usual meal. There are multiple sources out there that suggest that eating breakfast can actually help you lose weight.

When she got back home, she sent me this New York Times article to prove it to me that skipping breakfast was in fact a good idea. In a cohort study conducted at a New York hospital, three different groups got three different breakfasts. The first group had a slice of whole grain toast, the second received oatmeal and the third received no breakfast at all. Among the three groups, the only group that showed a weight loss was the group that did not eat breakfast.

I did not think about looking more into the myth until last week when my sister mentioned something about it when I had called her. She said that she had not been able to skip breakfast every day, but she was trying to skip breakfast 3 times each week. When she had mentioned it, I decided to look into the research more. In the article from the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, the aim of their study was to determine if skipping breakfast led to a difference in health over time. The study was a longitudinal cohort study that asked students if they consumed breakfast everyday before school. The study followed up with the group years later, and there was a significant difference between breakfast eaters and breakfast skippers. Those who skipped breakfast tended to have larger waist circumferences and also showed greater cardio-metabolic health related issues.

Some of the reasons that the researchers suggest for the difference is that breakfast skippers tended to eat fewer fruits and vegetables during the day, which I found to be an interesting observation.  It makes sense those since fruit is a food that is common eaten at breakfast time. It is recommended that  we eat five servings of fruits and vegetables everyday, so encouraging non-breakfast eaters to pick up a banana or an apple on their way out the door seems like a simple enough way to get the day off to a good start!

Although I do not think that people should be filling up their cereal bowls each and every morning with cocoa puffs, but I do not see much harm in eating a bowl of cereal (my favorite breakfast food) with a handful of almonds. I personally do not think that I will stop eating breakfast anytime soon!

Cup of Joe

So, if you do know me. You know that I need to drink coffee every morning to function. I usually start my day off with a mug of Colombian blend and by ten o'clock I will need to make another stop somewhere around campus to refuel. I run on caffeine. I have done a lot of research on caffeine and it's effect through out my different classes. For example, for my nutrition across the life cycle class, I studied the effect of caffeine during pregnancy.

There are a lot of myths out there circulating out there about caffeine and diet. One of the biggest ones is that drinking a cup of coffee in the morning. One of the big supporters of this myth is Bob Harper, who is best known for his frequent appearance on The Biggest Loser. Harper has published his book "The Skinny Rules: The Simple, Nonnegotiable Principles for Getting to Thin" which is a New York Times Best Seller. Harper claims that drinking caffeine boosts your metabolism. I like to believe that drinking coffee does boost your metabolism, but I am a bit skeptical.

After reading through a few different primary research articles, I had a really hard time finding anything credible that suggested a connection between weight loss and coffee drinking. I did find a study that was published by Diabetes Care, where researchers examined the connection between coffee consumption and the risk for type two diabetes. This was a prospective cohort study that lasted 8 years, where the consumption of coffee among the subjects was tracked through a food frequency questionnaire. The study concluded that those who drank two or more cups a day, had a lower risk of developing type two diabetes. The researchers made the claim that it was not the caffeine in the coffee, but a C-peptin that is found in coffee (regular, decaffeinated, and instant). The caffeine did have a positive effect and reduced insulin sensitivity, however the researchers did not think that this would be what is working to reduce diabetes risk as individuals do develop a resistance to diabetes with time.

The cohort was a group of nurses, which I found to be an interesting choice. When I first thought about why they would choose nurses, I thought that it would be because they are working a job that requires energy and alertness. I also think they chose the nurses as a cohort because they all have the same education and background when it comes to nutrition and health. I believe that using these individuals from the same profession would work in the researchers favor because they do not have to worry about education status being a confounding variable. I am curious if the study was replicated among a different cohort if the results would have been different.

So even if I can't buy into the idea that my metabolism is being boosted when I drink my cup of joe, at lest I have some confidence that I am preventing the development of diabetes. Even if there was not a significant benefit of drinking coffee, I still think that I would (just because I love it so much!).

Paleo Diet: All Meat and All Meaning?

A "Paleo Diet" is starting to grow in popularity within the media and among fitness junkies. The trendy diet consists of meat, fish/seafoods, whole fruits and vegetables, eggs, nuts and seeds, and some oils. The diet is based on the premise that the diet that was consumed during the paleolithic era is the diet that our bodies would metabolize the in the best way possible. This diet is what we are "supposed" to be consuming.

I thought that the concept of the Paleo diet was interesting, the entire concept that there is a diet that is the one that Humans should follow intrigued me. That this one diet was the way that we are supposed to be eating.

Although in theory this sounds logical, looking at some of the research surrounding the Paleo diet backs up this notion. In a primary research study published in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, researchers compared the blood pressure, sodium blood levels and glucose levels between a group who consumed a paleo diet and those who carried on with their regular everyday diet. There was a difference between the two groups, those on the paleo diet showed lower blood pressure, lower blood glucose levels, and lower cholesterol levels. These differences became apparent only after a 3 day "transition period" where the experimental group transitioned out of their old diet and gradually consumed more "paleo foods".

The media is still spouting conflicting recommendations and there does not seem to be a consensus on the diet yet. For example, this article from the New York Daily News claims that following the paleo diet will lead to weight gain. At the University of Melbourne a research study was performed where mice were fed a paleo diet, which resulted in a 15% body weight gain increase for the mice. The mice also developed a glucose intolerance. Meanwhile the article from Biz News claims that this study from the same university should be retracted since the article made too many bold statements.

In the Biz News article, Dr Akil Palanisamy, a US board-certified integrative medicine physician was quoted supporting the paleo diet, stating that it would work well for diabetic patients since it is a low glycemic option. Overall, the article does suggest that there is not one solution for diabetic patients but the paleo diet should be considered. 

Not everyone is supportive of the Paleo diet, Michael Pollan lists his reasons for critiquing the paleo diet in this Mother Jones article. I think that Pollan brings up good points, especially the third point he makes regarding microbes. Knowing how important our micro biome is to our health (and that these microbes come from foods that are not found in the paleo diet), Pollan uses this as a reason to sway away from the paleo diet. 

Hopefully a consensus will emerge between the two camps! 

Food Cravings and what they mean

Although this blog was not directly coming from a class lecture, I found myself doing some googling and then realized that this would make a good post!

Everyone always has random food cravings, however this past week it seemed like I had been getting craving for certain foods more frequently. I did a quick google search to see what was out there and found some articles that explained the meaning behind your craving. Here is an example:

I thought that this was an interesting concept, that our cravings is our bodies way of telling us that it is lacking in a certain nutrient or mineral.  I did not put much stock into the chart, but  I dove further into the research and found an article published by Tufts, explains that cravings are more closely linked to our diets being too routine rather than not nutritious enough.

Another and more prominent reason behind our cravings is our addiction to food. In a research study, investigators put individuals in an MRI and prompted a craving for their favorite food. The regions of the brain that are most closely related to addiction (Hippocampus, Cruadate and the Insula) all lit up with activity. The hippocampus plays an important role in forming memories, and so by giving into a craving we are only positively reinforcing the craving. Cravings are also brought on by conscious and unconscious marketing along with the role that hormones play in our body.

Now that I knew more about why I was getting random food cravings. I wanted to know more on how to stop them, or at least find a solution to distract myself. I found another article describing a study that found that playing tetris for less than 5 minutes every day can help lower the risk of experiencing food cravings. By playing tetris and being distracted both visually and mentally stopped the food craving. I thought that this was an easy finding, and the interference proved to be effective. The strength of the craving was decreased from about 75% to 50% just by playing three minutes of a tetris game!

Pretty neat huh?

Your Micrcobiome: More Dogs and Fewer Antibiotics

The other day in our class, a professor from the Nursing school came in to guest lecture about the microbiome. She explained that everyone has about 3 pounds of bacteria growing within them, and how our microbiome is technically the largest organ within our body. We have bacteria growing in our stomach that can work in our body in a variety of ways including boosting the immune system. Here is a youtube video explaining all about the microbiome!

I had been exposed to the concept of the microbiome when I was taking antibiotics for a bad sinus infection. My doctor had recommended that I take a pro-biotic with the antibiotic so my stomach flora was not disrupted permanently. I suffered from 4 long drawn out sinus infections and was on four separate courses of antibiotics. I was consistently eating yogurt and drinking Kefir to consume micro bacteria.

During the lecture, I remembered how my sister had jokingly warned me that taking antibiotics for such a long time. She teased me about it for a while because she had read an article in The New Yorker about Crohn's Disease and H. Pylori. When sitting through the lecture, I remembered this and decided to explore the topic more.

From my research, I found a research article from the Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology  that explored the connection between taking antibiotics and Crohns Disease. They conducted a retrospective cohort study (and there were some selection bias issues with the study) however, the results displayed that those who had developed Crohn's were three time more likely to have taken antibiotic treatments as children (our microbiome develops until about age 3). I thought this was an interesting connection, although it is loose since a lot is not known about Crohn's disease. There is also a suggestion to continue research and look into the interactions with the environment and how that could influence the development of Crohn's disease.

Something new that I learned about from her lecture was The Human Gut project, she told us that people sometimes pay up to $100 to have their feces analyzed to better understand their microbiome. Honestly, idea of sending my poop to a lab grosses me out (let alone paying $100 to do so...) However, the concept of knowing what bacteria growing in your stomach is novel. After looking into this project more, I found a link for another article describing how the microbiome of pet dogs is similar to their owners, and researchers can tell which dog belongs to which owner from their fecal samples alone. This seemed really cool to me, mainly because I love dogs. I also just love the idea that your pet is growing the same bacteria as their owner.

The article described how living with a dog during infancy can help lower one's risk of developing asthma and allergies later in life. I started to notice patterns on how our first few years and our environments during this time affect our health later in life. It also highlights how important our microbiome is in our health and how we need to keep it from becoming "the forgotten organ".

GMO OMG! An Independent film exposing the harsh reality of our food system

Our class recently watched the film GMO OMG, which is a documentary following a young father and his family on the quest to learn more about how our food system is being infiltrated by genetically modified organisms and the impact these foods have on our body. 

I would recommend the film, I believe that it does have an educational value but it also is entertaining and captures your attention. The family road trips to many different sites in the United States such as the Seed Savers Heritage Farm, which are working to preserve biodiversity and natural seeds. It was interesting to learn more about these initiatives and these organic farms across our country, I never knew these organizations existed before seeing the documentary.

I first learned about genetically modified organisms in my high school biology class, but it was not until watching another documentary Food Inc. that I learned more about how GMO's in our food system had started to affect farmers and shape our agriculture industry. Monsanto, is a corporation that developed the round up ready soybean, so the farmers could continue to use the round up pesticide, without compromising the plant's growth. The seeds are patented, so farmers are required to purchase new seeds every season. There are many issues with this patenting process, mainly because the GMO seeds are often spread unintentionally. Monsanto is pursuing lawsuits with numerous farmers and are looking for legal retribution, only to scare farmers into buying their seeds.
It is corporations such as Monsanto that is limiting the food autonomy. In this article by The Atlantic, the author explains how biodiversity is starting to become an issue that we need to worry about. The article explains how soybeans are one of the most commonly grown crop, and how half of all soybeans are GMOs. Three fourths of soybeans grown in the world come from the US, Brazil and Argentina, and are mainly used to feed cattle. By continuing to use GMO soybeans, we are keeping the genes of soybeans from evolving, limiting biodiversity.

Here is a blog from the La Via Campesino, which is an organization that works to fight for food sovereignty. They are currently fighting large companies such as Monsanto that is taking the power away from the people and are coercing them into planting their seeds. I first learned about La Via Campesino during my Fast Food Slow Food course, and we focused on how there are small groups of people who are focused on regaining autonomy within their food system. La Via Campesino is the perfect example of

In the film, Jeremy (the young father) tries to interview Monsanto officials and the secretive character of the company is highlighted. He stands outside explaining how he made attempts to contact the company asking for an interview, however he never heard back. Then when he walks into the office, immediately a receptionist tells him that someone is on the phone and would like to speak with him. The voice on the phone tells him to leave right away. This scene of the film struck me and showed how strong and intimidating this company is. If they were not willing to even be interviewed, it left me wondering what do are they hiding? Even if an audience member was not familiar with what Monsanto is, or their products; I believe that viewing this scene would leave them with questions to be answered.

I really enjoyed this documentary and I would recommend this film to anyone who is interested in learning more about the food industry and how corporations have taken more and more control.