Tag Archives: diet

Carvings April 1, 2025

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No April Fool: It’s time to put an end to nutritional pornography.

            In a few months we will reach the end of the first quarter of the 21st century with no end in sight of the three epidemics that threaten to overwhelm our health system and our economy: obesity, type 2 diabetes and osteoporosis. The first two were almost non-existent at the beginning of the preceding century. The obesity rate in 1900 was approximately 5 percent; it is now 42 percent. Diabetes was almost entirely type 1, the juvenile form, a totally different disease from type 2 diabetes. The latter now affects 12.2 percent of the general population, more than one-third of people over the age of 65 and increasing numbers of children below the age of 18, some as young as six years! Type 2 diabetes was so uncommon in the pre-World War One era that it wasn’t clearly distinguished from type 1 diabetes until the 1950s.

Osteoporosis, the Third Epidemic, is going to crash down on us with a vengeance in about 30 years, as today’s young people fail to build a strong skeleton during the bone-building window between ages five and twenty-five. They transport themselves on electric bikes, scooters and skateboards, and replace childhood sports and games with screen-watching, eliminating the muscle stresses that nature intended to form a strong skeleton.  

            Someone recently sent me an insightful post: “Ninety percent of today’s supermarket food didn’t exist a hundred years ago. Neither did ninety percent of today’s diseases. Think about that.”

            Government edicts will determine what supermarkets will offer us in the coming decade. Trans fats have already been outlawed. Food coloring restrictions are imminent; the sugar content of processed foods is probably next; saturated fat and salt mandates will reach us in a few short years. SNAP (welfare) recipients are not allowed to use those funds to purchase alcohol or tobacco. It’s likely that they will see junk food added to that list during the current administration. Legislation is pending now in Tennessee to disallow the purchase of candy and soft drinks with SNAP funds. Other states will follow suit, and so will the federal government.

Carvings July 15, 2024

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In the news

Increasing rates of colon cancer in young persons

          In less than a generation – from the year 2000 to 2023 – the incidence of colon cancer in persons below the age of 40 has doubled or tripled in some parts of the world. Colon cancer is one of the most common forms of cancer, not far behind number one, lung cancer. Three main causes of this increase have been emerging in the past few years: increased sugar consumption, low intake of fiber, and taurine, an ingredient in energy drinks. All three are associated with disruption of the good germs that inhabit the large intestine, the site of colon cancer.

            A diet that is high in sugar and low in fiber tends to promote the growth of organisms that are linked to increased inflammation, a factor that increases the formation of cancer cells, and in addition increases the risk of heart disease, stroke, diabetes and osteoporosis. Younger persons have a high intake of energy drinks that contain taurine, an ingredient that further promotes the growth of bacteria that promote inflammation. Young persons also have an abysmally low intake of fiber. Instead of the recommended 10 servings a day of fiber-rich plant foods, the average teenager gets less than ONE serving a day, most likely to be iceberg lettuce, a nearly worthless “vegetable.”

            About half of the adolescent population consumes one or more energy drinks every day. This does not bode well for the health of our population by mid-century.

Lifestyle

Are you a food label reader? Two reasons why you should be.

            Some food manufacturers deliberately mislead buyers and they have government’s permission to do so. Perhaps the most egregious example is the deceptive listing of “sugar” to make it look like there’s not as much of it in that product as you might think.

            Food manufacturers are required to list ingredients in order of weight and if they listed the amount of sugar in many foods you might put them back on the shelf. So if they are allowed to list every different type of sugar in pastry, for example, each ingredient would be farther down the list and thus appear to be less detrimental to your health. For example, the nutrient label on a popular supermarket’s almond bear claw coffee cake contains the following TEN different kinds of sugar, each listed separately: sugar, almond paste (which contains sugar), corn syrup, fructose, dextrose (also known as glucose), sucrose, invert sugar (a mixture of glucose and fructose), cornstarch (which breaks down into sugar), maltodextrin and high-fructose corn syrup. Some manufacturers even list glucose and dextrose as separate entities, even though they are one and the same. Except for the relatively small amounts of fructose and glucose found in fruit, none of the other forms were part of the human diet until a couple of hundred years ago. Today the average American takes in approximately one pound of sugar a week – 57 pounds a year. Is it any wonder that more than 80 percent of Americans are either overweight or obese?

            When you pick up a loaf of bread you might think that anything with a brown color is more healthy than white bread. Not necessarily, unless whole wheat or whole grain flour is the only ingredient. The term enriched flour means white flour and some breads have both, suggesting a healthy choice, and there might be much more white flour than brown. On the other hand, the brown color might be due to the addition of molasses, caramel, coffee or cocoa.

            Learn to read labels. It’s not rocket science!

Carvings June 1, 2024

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In the news

More confusing research

          The last thirty years or so have seen a surge in publications touting the benefits of omega-3 fats in preventing heart disease and stroke. There have been a few studies that claim no benefit, but almost none have stated that these nutrients can be detrimental to heart health. A recent study from the UK reported that persons with poor heart health did receive benefits from omega-3s but previously healthy persons had a small (6 percent) risk of developing atrial fibrillation, a heart attack, heart failure or stroke.

          Even though this was a large study involving more than 400,000 people, it was observational and did not show direct causation. The authors noted that a limitation of the study was the lack of information regarding the dose and type of fish oil consumed. Takers of fish oil were significantly more likely to be elderly, which could be a factor in more of them developing atrial fibrillation.

          Although healthy persons taking fish oil supplements were more likely to develop heart disease, they were less likely to die than non-takers. The authors’ discussion did not take into consideration other benefits of omega-3 fats, including the lowering of inflammation, reduction in blood pressure, improvement in immune function and a lower risk of sudden cardiac arrest. A circuitous benefit of omega-3 fats is their role in preventing osteoporosis. A fall in an elderly person that results in a fracture leads indirectly to death, especially when that fracture involves the hip or the skull, for very different reasons.

          In an associated commentary, a nutritionist stated that she still recommends an intake of 500 milligrams of omega-3 fats per day, from fish, fish oil or a combination of the two.

And so we come to sardines!

          Sardines are one of the most beneficial foods on the planet, but I can already hear you say “Ugh! Not for me!” From my lecture experience I am well aware that Americans are about evenly split between sardine lovers and sardine haters. An Internet search will come up with nearly 100 recipes for sardine dishes, although I will admit that “sardine pie” did not excite me.

          Because sardines are so low on the food chain there is virtually no risk of mercury contamination that is a challenge in large fish such as tuna. A single four-ounce serving provides more than the recommended amount of omega-3s mentioned above, a fourth of your calcium requirements and as much iron as a hamburger. Canned sardines are convenient, can be stored almost forever and are a whole lot cheaper than beef or larger fish.