|
| *AS | ASW | N | DSW | DS | DK | |
| "The agricultural industry is causing irreversible damage to our environment." | 21 | 25 | 8 | 21 | 20 | 4 |
| "Residues of pesticides on the food you eat are a substantial danger to your health." | 50 | 26 | 4 | 12 | 6 | 2 |
| "As a consumer you need more understandable and specific information about pesticide residues and food safety." | 67 | 19 | 3 | 7 | 4 | 1 |
*AS-agree strongly, ASW-agree somewhat, N-neither, DSW-disagree somewhat DS-disagree strongly, DK-don't know (KP)
Source: Communication of the North Central Association of Agricultural Experiment Station Directors.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is looking for new data on dioxin to fill-in information gaps. Dioxin has been under extensive review by EPA over the past three years and the agency just released a draft report of its review. The reassessment, in its current draft, reaffirms the link between dioxin and cancer and identifies sources of dioxin known to contribute to environmental contamination.
Dioxins are a group of chemical compounds produced through various activities such as combustion, certain chemical manufacturing processes, chlorinated bleaching of pulp and paper and other industrial processes. Waste incineration accounts for about 95% of known dioxin emissions.
Human exposure to dioxins is primarily via airborne dioxins that settle on plants and that are passed on through the food chain and associated primarily with fat. The benefits from a balanced diet far outweigh any theoretical risks from dioxin exposure, according to Lynn Goldman, EPA Assistant Administrator for Prevention, Pesticides and Toxics. (KP)
Source: EPA Environmental News, Sept. 13, 1994.
Pathogen Reduction Legislation Proposed
New proposed legislation will provide the USDA secretary with authority to limit and destroy harmful bacteria on meat and poultry.
If the proposed legislation is passed, regulations will be developed mandating pathogen testing programs for all meat and poultry products produced at federally-inspected plants, and products with levels of organisms above set levels will be declared adulterated. Identification and record keeping will be required of livestock producers to provide for traceback of carcasses found to have high levels of harmful organisms. Other facets of the legislation include the ability of USDA to order mandatory recall of adulterated meat and poultry, to refuse or withdraw Federal inspection for repeat violators, to level fines.
If passed the new legislation will give USDA authority to:
- mandate testing for pathogenic microorganisms for all meat and poultry products produced at federally inspected plants and to declare products with high levels adulterated.
- require identification and record keeping by producers to provide easier traceback of carcasses to production sites
- recall adulterated meat and poultry products
- refuse or withdraw Federal inspection for repeat violators
- to level fines of up to $100,000 per day
- provide for investigation of diseases and health-related conditions in livestock that can be transmitted to humans. (KP)
Source: USDA News Release 0702.94
The National Cattlemans Association (NCA) released "The Facts About Dioxin and Beef" which responds to some of the text in the dioxin report. According to the NCA the facts are:
Dioxin represent a class of 210 different chlorine-containing compounds that are by-products of numerous industrial processes and natural occurrences. They are formed as a result of combustion and are attributable to a variety of sources including forest fires, volcanic eruptions, fireplaces, solid waste incinerators, and motor vehicles.
Dioxins are relatively stable chemicals that are highly fat soluble. Because of these properties, dioxins are most commonly found in fatty tissue of humans and animals.
Dioxins are found in most food products including chicken, beef, fish, diary products, and vegetables. However, no one knows the amount of dioxin in beef, because there has never been a comprehensive study examining the dioxin level present in beef products.
The Environmental Protection Agency's draft report, "Estimating Exposure to Dioxin Like Compounds", frequently bases its conclusions on incomplete or extremely limited or outdated data sets.
Based on the data in the EPA draft report, it is impossible to predict with any certainty, that dioxin levels consumed in North America are greater than those in Europe, or that any one food product is higher in dioxin than others.
The draft report utilizes small sample sizes and makes comparisons of dioxin levels between different populations and food products. Fox example, in North America data was based on 14 non peer-reviewed beef samples, 5 samples of dairy products, 2 of milk and 12 of pork.
The EPA draft report presents a mean dioxin concentration in beef of .48 parts per trillion (ppt) based on only 14 non peer-reviewed samples taken from limited geographic areas. To put this in perspective, one ppt is equivalent to one second in thirty-two thousand years.
Due to the small sample sizes used, the EPA draft finds great discrepancy in the dioxin content of different beef cuts. Top sirloin was found to have .04 parts per trillion (ppt), rib steak .64 ppt, and ground beef 1.5 ppt. There is no biological rationale for this variation in dioxin content among beef cuts.
The beef cuts referenced in the EPA draft report were between 25 and 30 percent fat on a raw basis. Beef is trimmed much leaner. For example, USDA Choice top loin steaks average only 19 percent fat on a raw basis and Select top round steak averages under 7 percent.
The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that the tolerable daily intake of dioxin be no greater than 10 picograms/kilogram of body weight/day. Discounting dioxin intake from air, soil, and water and looking at dioxin intake from individual foods, one would have to consume 3.3 pounds of beef products or 22.6 pounds of milk, or 4.4 pounds of dairy products or 1.3 pounds of fish per day, everyday, to exceed the WHO recommendations.
The EPA draft report misrepresents the current level of beef fat consumed by the average American on a daily basis. The report uses the consumption figure of 22 grams per day, when in actuality it is only 9.7 grams per day. This represents a 225 percent overestimate. The EPA report does not reflect today's leaner beef products at the retail level and consumer trimming practices employed at home.
The report does not consider the fact that not all fat develops in animals at the same time. Most fat in beef is accumulated over the last two months of an animals life. Since most fat is trimmed at the retail level, this provides a very limited time for dioxin to be deposited in the intramuscular fat which we consume. Additionally, cooking decreases the total fat content of beef, which is overlooked in the study.
Limited studies have been conducted to evaluate the health effects of dioxin on the general population. Based on existing data, many scientists do not expect dioxin at the levels derived from current sources to cause adverse effects. As with any chemical, the potential health effects associated with dioxin are related directly to the level of exposure. (KP)
Source: NCA The Facts About Dioxin and Beef, September 9, 1994
The levels of lead in food and beverages today is at an all-time low, 90% lower than a decade ago. This is due to the US food industry's voluntary elimination of lead solder to seal seams of food cans and removal of lead from gasoline that settled on crops and in water. Concern about lead leaking from ceramic ware to food remains. Today, about 80% of adult exposure to lead from food in contact with ceramic ware comes from frequent use of mugs for hot beverages.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) offers these guidelines for consumers to minimize lead exposure.
- If you are pregnant, avoid the daily use of ceramic mugs when drinking hot beverages such as coffee or tea, and avoid the daily use of lead crystal ware.
- Do not feed babies from lead crystal bottles.
- Do not store acidic foods such as fruit juices in ceramic containers.
- Do not store beverages in lead crystal containers.
- Limit the use of antique or collectible housewares for food or beverages to special occasions.
- Stop using items that show a dusty or chalky gray residue on the glaze after they are washed.
- Follow label directions on any ornamental product with a warning such as, "Not for Food Use_Plate May Poison Food. For Decorative Purposes Only."
- If your wine is sealed with a foil capsule, wipe the rim of the bottle with a cloth dampened with water or lemon juice before removing the cork.
For additional information about lead (in English or Spanish) contact the National Lead Information Center (1-800-532-3394). (KP)
Source: FDA Consumer, April 1993
Pumpkin Pie-Original
1 (16 oz.) can pumpkin
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
2 slightly beaten eggs
1 (12 oz.) can whole evaporated milk
1 (9 inch) unbaked pastry shell, deep dish
Preheat oven to 4250 F. Mix ingredients in above order in large mixing bowl. Pour into pastry shell. Bake at 4250 F for 15 minutes, then reduce heat to 3500 F. and bake for 45 minutes or until inserted knife comes out clean. (JD)
Pumpkin Pie-Modified
1 (16 oz.) can pumpkin
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
*1/2 cup egg substitute
1 (12 oz.) can skim evaporated milk
1 (9 inch) unbaked pastry shell, deep dish
Preheat oven to 4250 F. Mix ingredients in above order in large mixing bowl. Pour into pastry shell. Bake at 4250 F for 15 minutes, then reduce heat to 3500 F. and bake for 45 minutes or until inserted knife comes out clean. (JD)
| Nutrition per serving | Original | Modified |
| Calories | 282 | 228 |
| Fat | 12.2 g | 8.3 g |
| Cholesterol | 65.7 g | 1.86 mg |
| Sodium | 335 mg | 354 mg |
| Percent of calories from fat | 38 | 32 |
*If 2 eggs are used in modified recipe, these are the nutritional changes: calories 233, fat 9 g, cholesterol 55 mg, sodium 338 mg, and 34 percent of calories from fat.
Only 16% of American children who receive reduced-price or free school lunch participated in USDA's Summer Food Program in 1993. In Kansas, only 6.7% participate. Low income children receive 1/3 to 1/2 of their daily food intake from school lunch. Therefore, having no school meals during the summer may result in a significant decrease in the dietary intake of low income children.
Currently summer food program sites are allowed in communities having 50% of children from families at or below 185% of the poverty level. Two child nutrition bills under consideration may make it possible to expand the summer program. Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Representative Dale Kildee (D-MI) are proposing the eligibility requirement be lowered from 50% to 40%.
Eligible sponsors for summer food sites include public or private nonprofit schools, government agencies, camps, community action agencies, and some private nonprofit organizations including churches. (MP)
Source: CNI, February 25, 1994
The New England Journal of
Medicine recently reported a study of the socioeconomic
effect of obesity. Over 370 adolescents and young adults
who exceeded the 95 percentile for weight were compared
to non-obese subjects. The study indicated that the obese
women:
- had finished 0.3 fewer years of school;
- were 20% less likely to be married;
- had incomes $6,710 lower; and
- were 10% more likely to live in poverty.
Obesity was found to have less of a negative effect on men. The only statistically significant difference between obese and non-obese men was that overweight men were 11% less likely to be married.
The authors suggest that these differences may be partly due to discrimination against obese people. (MP)
Source: New England Journal of Medicine, September 1993
Farmers' Market Nutrition Program Grows
The number of states participating in the Farmers' Market Nutrition Program (FMNP) increased from 11 (1993) to 26 (1994). FMNP provides coupons to WIC participants who then use them at local farmers markets. FMNP which provides fresh produce to low-income women and children has been shown to increase sales and increase fruit and vegetable consumption.
A USDA survey indicated that WIC women who received FMNP coupons consumed 6% more fruit and 5% more vegetables than WIC women who did not receive coupons. Farmers participating in FMNP increased sales 12%. The number of farmers selling produce at farmers markets also has increased. In Connecticut, 16 markets existed in 1987. The number has grown to 42 in 1994. (MP)
Source: CNI, July 15, 1994
Probably the most studied mineral by nutrition researchers in the last few years, maybe even in the last few decades, is calcium. We have long known that "calcium builds strong bones" and that the lack of it can lead to osteoporosis, especially in women. Recently calcium has been linked to lower incidence of hypertension and colon cancer.
In June of this year, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) convened a group of leading calcium researchers in the United States. They discussed optimal calcium intake, what factors affect calcium status, and calcium's relation to diseases other than osteoporosis.
Calcium and Blood Pressure
The research to date on calcium and hypertension shows that inadequate calcium intake is related to high blood pressure in some people, not all. Genetics plays a role. In genetically "salt sensitive" people, high sodium intake may cause increased calcium excretion. For these people, an increase in calcium may help return the calcium/sodium balance to normal and offset the effects of too much salt in the diet.
Calcium and Colon Cancer
Research hints that increased calcium intake may lower the risk for developing colon cancer. Calcium combines with bile and fatty acids in the colon to make them inactive. Bile and fatty acids are potentially irritating compounds that could initiate cancer. The research results in this area are mixed, and NIH states that there is "insufficient data to establish the role of calcium in colon cancer risk".
New Evidence for Increased Calcium Needs of Young Girls
A researcher at Baylor College of Medicine reports that young girls need increased calcium for bone formation in the years just before and just after the start of puberty. He has shown that bone-forming activity begins much earlier than previously believed. He suggests that the skeleton is built and enlarged during the early childhood years, and that girls aged 8-14 would benefit most from extra calcium. He recommends increasing the current RDA for calcium in girls. Current recommendation for children up to 10 years is 800 milligrams and above 11 years is 1200 milligrams.
About Calcium Supplements
- Read calcium supplement labels carefully. They contain different amounts of elemental calcium. For example, a one gram pill of calcium gluconate contains only 90 milligrams of calcium and a one gram pill of calcium carbonate contains more than four times that amount.
- Calcium supplements may interfere with absorption of some medications, such as tetracycline.
- Starch is in supplements to slow the rate of absorption so that more calcium is absorbed.
- You need to drink lots of water when taking supplements to avoid constipation.
- Absorption of calcium is reduced if taken with bulk-forming laxatives.
- Small amounts (500-600 milligrams) taken throughout the day are better absorbed and decrease the chance of constipation.
- Iron and calcium supplements should be taken at different times because they compete for absorption.
- Avoid supplements that contain bone meal or dolomite. The may contain lead or other toxic metals.
Best Sources of Calcium in the Diet
Dairy products are, of course, the most concentrated sources of calcium, providing about 300 milligrams per serving. Other sources include tofu (processed with calcium sulfate), calcium fortified orange juice, sardines, cooked dried beans, green leafy vegetables, broccoli, and corn tortillas. (PP)
Sources: Environmental Nutrition, August 1994. Nutrition and Your Child, Children's Nutrition Research Center, Summer 1994.
Nutritionists know that it takes one or two months for a person to adjust to eating less salt. In the beginning, the person misses the salty taste of food and thinks that the food tastes "too bland." However, after a period of weeks, the individual will begin to prefer this "blander" taste of food, and will find that salted foods are too salty.
Now researchers are investigating how long it takes for people to adjust to eating foods that are lower in fat. It appears that our preference for high-fat foods is learned in childhood. Researchers are interested in finding out if we are capable of unlearning it, just as we can unlearn our preference for salty foods.
There is clinical evidence to support the fact that motivated adults can decrease the fat content of their diet on a long term basis. In the Women's Health Trial, a significant number of women reduced their fat intake to 20% or less of calories from fat. Some of these women reported that during the study, they developed a dislike for fat and felt physically ill after eating high-fat foods. It isn't known if this adverse reaction to fat is a result of the womens' negative attitudes towards fat as a food component, or is actually the result of a physiological response to a high fat intake after being on a low fat diet for a long time.
Some researchers have postulated that it might take as long as 3 months for an individual to adapt to a lower fat intake. This is a fairly long time, and it may mean that people will need to be patient and persistent in their attempts to become accustomed to eating less fat. (PP)
Sources: Rolls, Barbara. Changing the Preference for Fat in Foods. Nutrition Reviews, 1994;52:21-23., Birch, Leanne. Children's Preferences for High Fat Foods. Nutrition Reviews, 1992;50:249-255., Bertino, M. et al. Long Term Reduction in Dietary Sodium Alters the Taste of Salt. AJCN, 1982;36:1134-1144.,, Kristal, AR. et al. Long Term Maintenance of a Low-Fat Diet: Durablitiy of Fat-Related Dietary Habits in the Women's Health Trial. JADA, 1992;92:553-559., (As reported by Joanne P. Ikeda, MA, RD, Cooperative Extension Nutrition Education Specialist, University of California, Berkeley)
Parents Guide for Healthy School Meals
On September 1, 1994 the U.S. Department of Agriculture released its Parent's Guide for Healthy School Meals, a back-to-school checklist for parents to help their children make sound food choices in the school cafeteria.
"USDA wants to give parents some back-to-school supplies," said Ellen Haas, assistant secretary for food and consumer services. "We want children to get the same nutrition message at the kitchen table at home that they do in the lunchroom at school. And, we hope the materials we are releasing today will help."
The Parent's Guide is a part of USDA's efforts to promote the health of children by improving the National School Meals Programs. On June 8, 1994, Secretary Mike Espy and Assistant Secretary Haas announced the School Meals Initiative for Healthy Children which proposed the most sweeping improvements ever in the 48 year history of the school lunch program.
The Parent's Guide provides 10 suggestions that encourage parents to help their children make healthy food choices, to become more actively involved in assisting their children choose the best meals available, and to work with the school system to improve the nutritional quality of school meals.
"We want parents to remember these tips," Haas said. "So we're providing them on cards for the family refrigerator and on bookmarks for every member of the family's reading. To help parents remember to put their children's school menus where they can be seen, we're supplying a refrigerator magnet with a message: Be Bright! Eat Right!"
Haas also released the results of a recent USDA-sponsored poll of parents nationwide which indicates the level of interest and involvement parents have in helping their children make nutritious school meal choices. According to the survey, while 86 percent of parents receive school menus at home, only 42 percent of the parents receive menus with nutrition information. "The survey shows that parents not only need better access to usable nutrition facts," Haas said, "but also guidance on how to use those facts to help children eat well at school."
USDA and the National Parent Teacher Association will cooperate to distribute the Parent's Guide through more than 25,000 local PTA units across the country. National PTA Health and Welfare Commission Chair Ginny Markell and Assistant Secretary of Education for Elementary and Secondary Schools Thomas Payzant joined Assistant Secretary Haas in releasing the Parent's Guide and the poll results to the press and public.
"Since its founding, the National PTA has been closely linked with the school meal programs in public schools," said Markell. "We are very pleased to join USDA in providing parents with tools they can use to improve the school meal programs."
"We know that what children eat affects how they learn and how they grow," Haas concluded. "Since eating patterns are firmly established by the age of 12, we know we must teach our children while they are young_both at home and at school_about eating right."
Sample copies of the Parent's Guide will be mailed to each local PTA unit later this month. Interested parents may order individual copies by writing to: USDA's Team Nutrition, 3101 Park Center Drive, Room 802, Alexandria, VA 22302. (PP)
Source: USDA News Release, September 1, 1994.
March is National Nutrition Month
The theme for National Nutrition's Eat Right America 1995 campaign is Discover Nutrition Anytime, Anywhere. The campaign objective is to inform consumers that no matter where they eat or buy food, a healthful eating style can be easy, quick, and good tasting.
Here is a sampling of National Nutrition month ideas that worked last year to bring the message of nutrition to consumers.
Outreach to children and parents
At an elementary school in Florida, an art teacher had students study the food groups and plan their own lunch menus. Then they made all the food out of clay, baked and painted it. Their handiwork was displayed in the school cafeteria.
A dietetic association in Pennsylvania participated in Kidfest `94. A hands-on exhibit let children plant vegetable seeds to take home with them.
Community outreach
Dietetic associations distributed National Nutrition Month bookmarks, posters, magnets, and reading lists to local libraries.
The Central Missouri Dietetic Association mounted a library display titled "Food and Art" featuring famous paintings about food with nutrition-related questions.
In-house promotions
The clinical nutrition department of a hospital put on a skit for the hospital staff based on the Food Guide Pyramid. They adapted the show for presentation to a local elementary school, too.
Dietitians at a living center for people with developmental disabilities provided low-fat entrees and nutrition education materials to staff in the cafeteria at lunchtime. They, also sponsored a low-fat dessert cooking contest. The event was publicized in the employee newsletter.
Athletic events
A dietetic association in Wisconsin held its second annual "Ski for Health" to raise funds for local food pantries.
About 8,000 people attended a "Hoop Shoot" in North Dakota during the high school basketball tournament. The top winner received $500 worth of nutrition books and computer software for his school and a National Nutrition Month sweatshirt for himself.
Food distributors get on board
Three major dairies in Seattle, WA, put National Nutrition Month side panels on their milk cartons. Supermarket chains put messages on its grocery bags. (JD)
Source: ADA Courier, September 1994.
Just how much control do we have over weight? This is a hot topic of debate, but the majority opinion is, not as much as we think. We have learned our lessons well: Body size plus activities determines a person's calorie needs. Simple: Energy used = Calories needed.
While there's a lot of truth in that statement, it's not the whole truth. Nutritionists and everyone else who has been concerned about weight have said, "All you have to do is eliminate 500 calories from your daily calorie needs and you'll lose a pound of fat a week." In other words, 3500 calories equals one pound of fat. Certainly you have to eat fewer calories or increase your calorie use if you are going to reduce body size.
But following that line of thinking, we're fat because we have a behavioral problem of too much food and not enough exercise, treatment has focused on the eat less, lose more approach to weight. Yet body weight remains remarkably stable in spite of wide variations in daily food intake, according to Kendra Rosencrans writing in the May/June 1994 issue of the Healthy Weight Journal (formerly Obesity and Health). Our bodies appear to have internal mechanisms for regulating metabolism so that weight loss due to dieting or famine will be compensated for by weight regain once food becomes more plentiful. Thus dieters get on the yo-yo seesaw of off again, on again and they regain to their former weights or even higher. Also the first few pounds melt off more easily than pounds a few weeks later.
Several things appear to be happening. One is that all weight lost is not all fat. Water, protein, minerals and carbohydrate losses may be high as the body adjusts to 1000 fewer calories a day. As the weight comes off, the body compensates by lowering metabolic rate so that fewer calories are used to carry on basic automatic functions. Also the amount of fat-storing enzyme, lipoprotein lipase, may be increased, especially in repeat dieters so that any excess calories from a big meal will be tucked away in hungry fat cells.
The question is: Does the body have a weight set-point? Some have assumed that each person has a weight that the body defends and that dieting is useless. You couldn't fool Mother Nature. "Genetics do play an important role in determining a person's size and shape," according to Dr. Richard Kessey, a University of Wisconsin body composition researcher; but he goes on to say that cultural and environmental factors throughout life, especially nutrition and activity, are also important. He suggests that the area of metabolic regulation has been neglected because experts in the field have assumed that the energy needed to maintain body functions is essentially fixed and weight changes depend only on food intake and physical exercise. However, following this line of reasoning, weight loss by food restriction has almost always been less than expected. Likewise, excess calories have usually failed to produce estimated weight gains.
Kessey cites a study in which obese patients dropped their maintenance requirements by 28 percent. They initially needed an average of 1,432 kcal/m2/day (calories/square meter of body surface/day) vs 1,341 kcal/m2/day for normal controls. After obese patients lost weight, they needed only 1,021 kcal/m2/day for a drop of 411 calories. Now the obese patients needed 109 calories less than the normal controls even though they were still 60 percent heavier. This figures to at least 500 fewer calories needed daily just to maintain weight after weight loss. Similar findings of 600 calories were noted in the classic six months World War II study of semi-starvation in 32 men.
Another possible adaptation is changes in thermogenesis, the energy used to process food. Ordinarily this energy need is about 10 percent of total calories but Keesey reports that the Klieber equation for an animal's resting metabolism (i.e. basic metabolic rate or BMR) changes up or down during overeating or food restriction. He concludes that normal metabolism only holds true for normal weight. When weight rises above this point, resting metabolism rises and more calories are burned. When weight goes down and below the usual point (often referred to as set-point), then resting metabolism decreases and calories are conserved. Keesey suggests that a 5 percent loss of body weight results in a 15 percent drop in resting metabolism.
While these theories may help explain why obese individuals usually stay that way despite heroic dieting, all is not doom and gloom. Set-point is not set for life. The gloom is that you can reduce the size of fat cells, but you can not eliminate them once they have developed during growth periods or in response to excess calories. And dieting does not adjust the set-point but apparently exercise can. Exercised rats can lose weight and maintain body weights 7 to 11 percent below that of sedentary rats.
Thus, exercise is important in helping people maintain their reduced sizes. Pharmaceutical companies have been searching for safe and effective drugs but nothing is available. Some drugs may help reduce appetite but they either have undesirable side-effects or do not prevent weight gain once dieting and the drug is discontinued.
In general, then, human bodies tend to maintain weight at approximately the same level but that imbalanced calorie intake, either over or under resulting in major weight changes, can interfere with the mechanism. Just cutting calories is usually not an effective method for reducing permanently. (MC)
Source: Rosencrans, Kendra. Does the body defend weight at a set-point? Healthy Weight Journal, May/June 1994. 8:47-49
K-State Research and Extension is a short name for the Kansas State University Agricultural Experiment Station and Cooperative Extension Service, a program designed to generate and distribute useful knowledge for the well-being of Kansans. Supported by county, state, federal and private funds, the program has county Extension offices, experiment fields, area Extension offices and regional research centers statewide. Its headquarters is on the K-State campus, Manhattan.