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Soy
is 'perfect food,' Deepak Chopra writes in new book
Going vegetarian is increasingly cool with teens
Where's the Beef (In the Teenage Diet)?
Prostate cancer survivors may benefit from soy, Tufts
newsletter says
Obesity
demanding bigger portion of medical funds
News this month:
Fast
food can be as addictive as hard drugs, claims new research
Today's
kids fatter, quieter
Women
warned of chemical in fatty food
Soy is 'perfect food,' Deepak Chopra writes in new book
Source: Foods for the Future, www.soyatech.com (Jan 29, 2003)
PR via NewsEdge Corporation
: WASHINGTON, Jan. 27 /PRNewswire/ -- Dr. Deepak Chopra, one of the world's
best-selling authors, calls soy "the perfect food."
Writing in "The
Chopra Center Cookbook," with Dr. David Simon and Leanne Backer,
the authors say: "We recommend the regular use of soy products in
a well-balanced diet."
"Soybeans are
an important source of phytoestrogens," Dr. Chopra and his colleagues
said. "One type of phytoestrogen, isoflavones, has been credited
with many health-promoting benefits."
The Chopra book said
that including soy products in your diet "may help reduce the risk
of osteoporosis and some of the uncomfortable symptoms of menopause."
Studies have also
shown that daily use of soy products may help lower cholesterol levels
and protect against certain types of cancer, the authors said.
"Soybeans are
rich in protein, iron, B vitamins and zinc. Soy products also provide
a good source of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids. We recommend the regular
use of soy products in a well-balanced diet."
The authors recommended
a variety of soy products, including tempeh, a type of fermented soybean
cake made from the whole soybean and high in protein; tofu, composed of
fermented soybeans made into a concentrated cheese- like form; soymilk,
the liquid that comes from soybeans and which is "naturally high
in calcium and contains no cholesterol;" textured vegetable protein
(TVP), made from de-fatted soy flakes; and fresh soybeans, called edamame,
which are high in protein and phytoestrogens and "look much like
Chinese snow peas."
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Going vegetarian is increasingly cool with teens
Source: www.miami.com (Jan 23, 2003) By Shari Rudavsky
Remember the Simpsons
episode when Lisa decides to go vegetarian after petting a baby lamb at
the children's zoo? Sara Schwartzman does. That half-hour of television
sent the Weston 16-year-old down the road toward vegetarianism five years
ago.
''See, television
can positively affect children,'' jokes Sara, a junior at Cypress Bay
High School who eats no meat, fish nor fowl, nor candy and gum that contains
gelatin.
Whether it's television,
peer pressure, concern for animal rights or a way to distance themselves
from their family, a growing number of teens and college students are
following Lisa Simpson's lead and giving up meat.
Teenagers are the
fastest-growing demographic of vegetarians, says the People for the Ethical
Treatment of Animals. One out of every four teens thinks vegetarianism
is ''cool,'' reports Teenage Research Unlimited , a market research firm
in Northbrook, Ill.
Two percent of adolescents
age 13 to 17 -- more than 400,000 -- consumed no meat, fish nor fowl in
2000, up from 1.4 percent in 1995, the Vegetarian Resource Group, a Baltimore-based
nonprofit, reports. Moreover, 11 percent of teen girls eschew beef.
The trend is greater
on college campuses, where about 15 percent to 20 percent of the students
maintain vegetarian diets.
Restaurants and food
services have started catering to this group. Burger King recently inaugurated
a veggie burger. Many colleges offer vegetarian or even vegan meals --
with no animal products, including dairy or eggs -- for their students.
While experts say
health concerns usually are only a minor factor in a teen's decision to
stop eating meat, the result can be a more nutritious diet than the standard
teen fare of hamburgers, fries and pizza.
''They don't do it
for the same reason that a 45-year-old who's been told that he or she
has high blood pressure or cholesterol would,'' says Reed Mangels, nutrition
advisor with the Vegetarian Resource Group. ``That's not something your
average 19-year-old is worried about.''
ANIMAL
RIGHTS
''Kids are becoming
more conscious of animal rights as a whole,'' said Patricia Trostle, an
education coordinator with the Norfolk, Va.-based People for the Ethical
Treatment of Animals. ``This is something that's going to develop into
a lifelong pattern.''
That could well be
the case for Julia Howe, a South Miami teen who gave up meat, originally
thinking she'd try it for one week. She liked the test drive so much that
five years later Julia still will eat no meat nor food that has touched
meat.
''I never liked the
idea of eating meat. I never enjoyed the fact that it came from an animal
and that something had to die,'' says the senior, who attends Miami's
Design and Architecture Senior High School (DASH). ``Now I would never
forsake my decision.''
Because Julia's family
has always been health-conscious, she finds it pretty easy to stick with
her family's dinner and just forgo the meat dish. Sometimes, she winds
up having to cook for herself or even the whole family.
While it has been
supportive, her family hasn't adopted her lifestyle. In fact, her father's
on the Atkins Diet, and he eats predominantly those foods Julia won't
touch.
Julia is so serious
about her vegetarianism she's toying with the idea of opening a vegetarian
restaurant one day. For spring break, she hopes to travel to Manchester,
England, to attend Cordon Vert, a vegetarian cooking school.
Parents whose teens
announce they're vegetarian can often find a way to work out menus that
cater to all tastes, but it may take extra juggling, nutritionists warn.
Still, experts agree that a child's decision to give up meat can be cause
for celebration rather than concern. While a vegetarian meal can be a
Coke and fries -- especially at a place that uses vegetable oils to supply
the grease for the potatoes -- many teens who go veggie wind up eating
healthier diets.
''It really changes
the way you're eating and it's a healthier way,'' says Sara, the Broward
teen. She studies nutrition labels to make sure she gets a full complement
of vitamins.
''I'm very supportive
of teenagers taking an interest in what they eat,'' said Sheah Rarback,
director of nutrition at the Mailman Center for Child Development. "What
I tell parents is this is a great opportunity to talk to your child about
healthier choices.''
When teens come to
her espousing vegetarianism, Rarback asks them to write down what they
eat and she makes sure their choices are nutritionally sound. The teen
years represent the second biggest growth period in life, right after
infancy, so nutritionists recommend that adolescents who stop eating meat
make sure they receive a full complement of vitamins and minerals from
other parts of their diet.
GOOD
SUBSTITUTES
Peanut butter, soy
products and cheese or eggs, if the teen is not a vegan, all can substitute
for meat. Because it's a time of peak bone growth, Mangels says it's critical
for adolescents to make sure they receive enough calcium and vitamin D.
Those who give up milk and eggs should also ensure they have an alternative
source for B12, while girls who give up meat will need to fulfill their
iron requirements.
Some experts express
concern that some young girls may say they're going vegetarian as a way
to mask an eating disorder. A 1997 study found that four times as many
teenagers who ate no meat reported self-induced vomiting as those who
ate meat.
If peculiar eating
behaviors accompany a switch to vegetarianism, UM's Rarback tells parents
to make sure their nonmeat-eating child takes in enough calories.
But vegetarianism
is not a surefire way to lose weight, Rarback warns.
''You can lose weight
eating animal products or not, and you can gain weight eating animal products
or not,'' she says.
Some teens opt to
give up meat gradually rather than going, well, cold turkey. Kate Rosenberg
of Miami Beach, a senior at DASH, stopped eating meat after her biology
class dissected a frog, prompting her to explore her own feelings about
animal rights.
''I just thought meat
was a frivolous thing we don't need to eat,'' the 17-year-old says.
Recently, however,
she started eating chicken and fish at home again for convenience sake
after 1 year of cooking her own tofu and beans. But she has every intention
of giving up animal products altogether once she leaves the house for
college.
At college, she will
likely find a smorgasbord of veggie options in the dining hall. School
districts are also responding to the trend.
In 1999, 69 percent
of those surveyed told the American Food Services Association they had
options for those on special diets, including vegetarians and those with
lactose intolerance or food allergies. This year, for the first time,
the Association will ask specifically about vegetarian meals.
Broward County recently
earned a B, the highest grade given for its healthy lunches to any school
district from the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine. Miami-Dade
received a C. An ever-present salad bar, as well as occasional offerings
of collard greens and plantains and other vegetables, helped Broward garner
the praise, while the lack of vegan offerings prevented it from earning
an A.
''I take this as meaning
that we are trying to please a very diversified school district where
we have everything under the sun,'' says Jane Wynn, director of food and
nutrition services for Broward schools.
While the district
has not received a flood of requests for meat-less meals, menu designers
try to think beyond the salad bar for nonmeat-eaters.
'CONCERTED
EFFORT'
''When I look at the
menus, I say if I don't eat meat, can I still get a balanced nutritious
meal?'' Wynn says. ``We've tried to make a concerted effort but it's not
always easy.''
Cheese pizzas, macaroni
and cheese, egg salad, grilled cheese and the potato bar allow a child
to eat a meat-free lunch in Broward schools. Other meals like chicken
with black beans and rice and plantains offer students a chance to say,
``Hold the meat.''
Still, vegetarians
like Sara are not completely sold on some public school lunch offerings.
She and her friends hope they can persuade administrators to include healthier
vegetarian options in Cypress Bay's new cafeteria.
Sara's no stranger
to leading the way with lunch foods. When she went vegetarian, she'd often
eat hummus for lunch, an unfamiliar food to many of her classmates. She'd
offer a taste to anyone who asked. A few weeks later, everyone started
bringing their own hummus.
Although Sara eased
meat out of her diet when she began exploring vegetarianism, she's now
wedded to the decision.
''It wasn't a snap.
It took a little while,'' she says. ``But once I realized the animal cruelty
and health issues involved, that made it much easier.''
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Where's the Beef (In the Teenage Diet)?
More teenagers, particularly girls, are turning to vegetarianism. And
that's making America's beef producers very nervous
Source: www.time.com (Jan. 30, 2003), By Jessica Reaves
The Atkins diet may be hot among American adults, but its meat-heavy dictates
apparently don't fly with the younger generation. According to a new study
from market researchers at Teenage Research Unlimited, one in four teens
now considers vegetarianism "cool." The study indicates a rise
in vegetarianism in the teen population, particularly among girls. While
some grown-ups, including those at animal-rights group PETA, are delighted
by the trend, others including those who work for beef production and
marketing companies are understandably miffed. Their goal now: come up
with innovative ways to win back young salad-eaters.
Enter the folks at
the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, who have responded to the looming
vegetarian crisis by launching a website, Cool 2B Real, in an attempt
to link meat consumption with some degree of hipness. The site, which
looks like a cross between a Barbie fan page and a Taco Bell ad (beef-filled
tacos and gigantic hamburgers dot the screen), extols teenage girls to
"Keep it Real"; "real" as in a person who eats beef.
Visitors are also invited to send e-cards to their "real friends"
and to tell the world why they are "real girls" (because they
eat beef burritos, of course!)
"We hope the
'Cool 2B Real' campaign helps girls make healthy decisions about food
and exercise," says Mary Young, a registered dietician and Executive
Director of Nutrition for the National Cattlemen's Beef Association. The
NCBA, says Young, is concerned about the nutritional shortfalls of vegetarianism,
which Young refers to as one of the "wacky eating behaviors"
teenage girls tend to favor.
Still, it's hard to
wonder if they're going to be successful with this pitch. As any teenager
could tell you, obvious pandering is not the way to go when you're trying
to reach this audience. Back in the early 1990s, companies with experience
in the teen market realized traditional marketing was not going to work;
young consumers are too savvy for old-school ads, and too steeped in irony
for sincere come-ons.
While chipper taglines
about "cool" are not going to affect any normal teenager, frank
discussions about health just might. New findings from the University
of Minnesota link teen vegetarians to a less health-conscious lifestyle
than that of their carnivorous peers. Presented with a degree of subtlety,
the U of M study may just succeed not only as an indicator of larger body-image
and confidence problems among teens who choose vegetarianism, but also
as a warning shot for young vegetarians. You may think you're eating healthfully
by avoiding meat, but here are some low-protein pitfalls you could face:
thin, brittle hair, bad skin, low energy. These are problems teenage girls
care about and they could be massaged neatly into a palatable pro-meat
message.
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Prostate cancer survivors may benefit from soy, Tufts newsletter
says
Source: Foods for the Future, www.soyatech.com (Jan 29, 2003)
PR via NewsEdge Corporation:
Soy can be recommended for survivors of prostate cancer who "want
to know whether soy might prevent recurrence," Tufts University's
Health & Nutrition Letter reports in its coming February issue.
A new review of medical
evidence by health experts has found that plant estrogens in soy "might
possibly have benefit in delaying prostate cancer progression," the
Tufts publication said.
Experts at Harvard
Medical School, the National Institutes of Health, and two Canadian institutions
have concluded that there's little or no risk for prostate cancer survivors
to include soy in their diets, the health letter added.
Lead author of the
review of evidence was Dr. Wendy Weiger, who said: "It generally
appears reasonable to accept the consumption of soy supplements or soyfoods
by patients with prostate cancer."
Many cancer survivors
today are looking to nutrition to help prevent future illness, the Health
& Nutrition letter said in its lead article -- "eating specific
foods, taking supplements, or following certain diet regimens."
Fortunately, the publication
said, "scientists have made inroads on the nutrition front for survivors."
Soy has been touted
for prevention of hormone-sensitive cancers, including prostate cancer,
for a number of years, the Tufts health letter said.
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Obesity
demanding bigger portion of medical funds
Tom Karst / June 26, 2003 / --
A
May 15 study from the Web site journal Health Affairs showed health problems
attributed to excessive weight made up of 9% of all medical spending in
1998. Overall, the study said that $93 billion a year goes to the obese.
The
report adds to a growing body of evidence highlighting the problems with
obesity in the U.S. Heightened public awareness may benefit efforts to
promote health through fruit and vegetable consumption, including expanding
fresh fruit vegetable availability in schools.
"Unless
programs aimed at reducing the rise in obesity rates are successfully
implemented, overweight- and obesity- attributable spending will continue
to increase, and govenment will continue to finance a sizable portion
of the total," wrote authors Eric Finkelstein and Ian Fiebelkorn
of TRI International in North Carolina and Guijing Wang of the Centers
for Disease control and Prevention in Atlanta.
The
study examined a representative sample of 9,867 adults ages 19 and older
and was paid for by the Centers for Disease Control.
The
study said obesity has increased by 70% in the past decade, and more than
half of all Americans are overweight or obese.
COST
SHARED
Both
the government and individuals share the costs of obesity, the study said.
Medicaid and Medicare, government services for the poor and elderly, pay
for about half of obesity costs, the study said. Obese people incurred
health care costs that were $732 per year greater than people who weren't
overweight - about 37% more.
Paying
for treatment of obesity related ills is now approaching the burden associated
with smoking, the authors said. The study said government and health insurance
companies should do more to help people lose weight.
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Fast
food can be as addictive as hard drugs, claims new research
Danielle Demetriou / July 14, 2003 / Source: news.independent.co.uk/
High
dose of fat and sugar in processed food can be as addictive as hard drugs,
scientists suggest.
Research
has revealed that the consumption of fast food can trigger chemical reactions
in the brain, which can lead to overeating. It suggests that the biochemical
changes caused by large quantities of fat and sugar are comparable to
the addictive reactions caused by taking drugs such as heroin and cocaine.
The
finding explained why many people struggled to revert to a healthy diet
after ingesting fast or processed food, which often leads to obesity,
scientists at the Rockefeller University in New York said.
The
findings are poised to be taken up by lawyers mounting multimillion-dollar
legal cases for people who claim that their health has been damaged by
their "addiction" to fast food. Companies such as McDonald's
and KFC have countered that the decision to eat their products is down
to "personal responsibilities".
As
the research was made public, news emerged that multinational food companies
have long been aware of fears that overeating and their products are linked.
Nestle admitted that it has been researching such links for years, but
said there was no proof that their products caused chemical reactions
that made people eat too much.
"We
are constantly looking at our products as far as fat and sugar are concerned,"
said a spokesman for Nestle in Switzerland. "We have carried out
research into the links between our products and obesity for a number
of years and of course we are constantly looking for improvement."
The number of people
that regularly eating fast food products could swiftly reconfigure the
body's hormonal system to crave more fatty food. It also found that the
likelihood of obesity in later life could be increased by early exposure
to fatty food as a child.
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Today's
kids fatter, quieter
Mike Blanchfield / July 19, 2003 / Source: Vancouver Sun
Study
finds childhood obesity is soaring while pregnancy, drinking, smoking
in decline
Washington
-- America's young may be well behaved, but they are packing on the pounds
like never before.
Contrary
to some popular misconceptions, the kids are not getting pregnant, drunk
or disorderly inany great numbers. But they are scarfing back too much
fast food.
According
to a survey released Friday, US children have never been more obese. In
two decades, the number of overweight children has ballooned 2 1/2 times,
says the Report on America's Children, prepared by the National Institutes
of Health and the US Census Bureau.
Fifteen
percent of US children aged six to 18 are overweight, the report says,
compared with only six percent in 1980. The fattest are non-white, with
22 percent of black children and 25 percent of Mexican-American children
considered obese.
But
Canadians have no reason to gloat because about the same numbers of our
children are obese. The latest survey of child obesity in Canada, released
last fall by Statistics Canada, found 16 percent to 18 percent of Canadian
children aged two to 11 are in this category.
"In
recent years, childhood obesity and low levels of activity have emerged
as important issues," says Statistics Canada. "Obesity in adults
is linked to greater health risks, including the increased incidence of
coronary disease and type-2 diabetes."
But
there was also some good news in the US findings.
Teen
pregnancy continued to fall, following a trend that began in the early
1990s. The birth rate for girls aged 15 to 19 fell to 43 per 1,000 teens
in 2002 compared to 62.1 per 1,000 in 1991.
The
youth of America are also smoking and drinking less. Only five percent
of those aged 13 to 14 said they smoke regularly, about the same percentage
as the previous year. Among older teens, those aged 17 to 18, smoking
dropped slightly to 17 percent, a fall of 2 percentage points.
Binge
drinking - defined as five drinks in a row - remained higher that researchers
were comfortable with, but it, too, was declining. Twenty-two percent
of 13- to 14-year-olds said they still drank in this way, down from 25
percent last year, while for those aged 17 to 18, the number held steady
at 29 percent.
The
most striking decline was in violent crime, which has fallen by two-thirds
compared with 1993 statistics. Guns were responsible for 19 percent of
deaths in the 15- to 19-year-olds, far outpaced by car accidents at 37
percent.
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Women
warned of chemical in fatty food
Associated Press / July 1, 2003 / Source: www.msnbc.com/news/933424.asp
WASHINGTON, July 1
— The government should teach women and girls to eat less of the
fats found in meat, poultry, fatty fish and whole milk years before they
become pregnant to protect their offspring from harmful dioxins, a scientific
panel recommended Tuesday.
In its report, the
Institute of Medicine, part of the National Academy of Sciences, suggested
the government encourage women and others to stick to the national dietary
guidelines to reduce their fat intake and limit their exposure to dioxins,
or DLCs, amid concerns that the pollutants are passed on to fetuses and
infants through the placenta and breast milk.
“Perhaps the most direct way for an individual or a population to
reduce dietary intake of DLCs is to reduce their consumption of dietary
fat, especially from animal sources that are known to contain higher levels
of these compounds,” the scientists wrote.
COST OBSTACLE
However, they wouldn't’t advise what levels are considered dangerous
because current tests for checking dioxins in food are too expensive,
costing about $1,000 each, said Robert Lawrence, the chair of the panel.
“We refrained from setting any risk tolerance limits or mandatory
cutoff points for dioxins in the food supply because it would have been
cost prohibitive with current methods,” said Lawrence, an associate
dean of the Bloomberg School or Public Health at Johns Hopkins University.
Dioxins, or DLCs,
are pollutants found throughout the soil, water and air. They can occur
naturally — for example, when a forest burns. But they also are produced
when industrial materials are incinerated. They build up in fatty tissues
in animals, so scientists believe that humans are exposed to them primarily
when they eat animal fats. Unborn children and breast-feeding infants
are especially vulnerable to the harmful effects, which can range from
behavioral disorders to cancer.
WIDE-RANGING ADVICE
The panel noted that some American Indian tribes and indigenous groups
in Canada also are at risk because they frequently eat fish and wild game,
exposing them to higher levels of dioxins than on average.The panel also
suggested that the Agriculture Department provide schools in the federal
lunch program with low-fat and skim milk to help children reduce their
exposure to dioxins.
The current law for the national school lunch program, which feeds 28
million children, favors whole milk, although nutritionists have said
that drinking it regularly can contribute to heart disease.The panel also
called for the government to:Partner up with food manufacturers and farmers
and make a plan that will curb dioxin levels in food.Take steps to reduce
the prevalence of dioxins in animal feed and grasses so that they’ll
be less apparent in animals.
Create a database to track exposure and do more studies on the effects
of dioxins on breast-feeding infants and unborn children.The full Institute
of Medicine report is online at www.nas.edu.
EPA ON DIOXIN, OTHER TOXINS
The institute report comes a day after the Environmental Protection Agency
reported that dioxin levels increased to 328 pounds in 2001, up from 220
pounds the year earlier. However, levels have declined by 76 percent since
the 1970s.
The EPA added that overall the amount of toxic chemicals released into
the environment declined 13 percent in 2001. Some 6.16 billion pounds
were released that year, down from 7.1 billion pounds a year earlier,
the EPA reported.
“The good news is that overall pollution has declined,” said
Jeremiah Baumann, an environmental health specialist for US Public Interest
Research Group. “But the bad news,” he said referring to dioxins
and lead, “is that for some of the most toxic chemicals, we’re
seeing more, not less pollution.”Hard-rock mining companies and coal-burning
power plants repeated their status as the biggest polluters. EPA’s
Toxic Release Inventory, created under 1986 law, includes information
on more than 650 toxic chemicals.Linda Fisher, EPA’s acting administrator,
said the inventory is one of the most important things EPA does. People
can now see figures mapped by state and county on the Internet, she said.
By chemical, the most
pollution came from copper and zinc compounds, hydrochloric acid, and
lead, manganese, arsenic, nitrate and barium compounds. Sixty-nine percent
of the chemicals went into the land, 27 percent into the air and 4 percent
into the water.
EPA required facilities
to provide data if they used or produced more than 100 pounds of lead;
previously, they did so if they used more than 10,000 pounds or produced
more than 25,000 pounds. Lead releases in 2001 increased to 443 million
pounds, up from 374 million pounds in 2000.Because of the change in how
lead was tallied, EPA calculated that if lead is taken out of the picture
the total amount of all other toxic chemicals released into the environment
in 2001 was 15.5 percent less than in 2000.
The EPA data is online at www.epa.gov/tri.
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