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Tag: Nutrition

  • The Response To Our Impossible Sliders Has Been Overwhelming, Says White Castle VP

    The Response To Our Impossible Sliders Has Been Overwhelming, Says White Castle VP

    “The response from customers (to our Impossible Slider) has been overwhelming,” says Jamie Richardson, Vice President at White Castle. “And with our 10,000 team members, the response has been overwhelming. We know we have got a winner. In working with Impossible, they’ve really put the study into this and have done it in a thoughtful way and have come up with something that tastes great. You put that in that White Castle original bun with one perfect pickle and you’ve got a winner.”

    Jamie Richardson, Vice President at White Castle, discusses the phenomenal success of the Impossible Slider, their vegan alternative to the original Slider, in an interview on CNBC:

    The Response To Our Impossible Sliders Has Been Overwhelming

    We are a family owned business that’s been around for almost a hundred years. We don’t make short term decisions. We look at things over the long haul, working together, and solving our customers’ problems. The response from customers has been overwhelming. And with our 10,000 team members, the response has been overwhelming. We know we have got a winner. We’re excited about what comes next in our friendship.

    It’s really interesting. One of the big things we are seeing, especially with our younger customers, our GenZ customers, and our Millennial customers, a lot these individuals have gone with a plant-based diet. So if you are in a car with three or four people you can be that veto vote. What we found is we’re getting more and more of those visits and that’s important to us. Oh, and by the way, here among friends, we don’t use the term “fake meat” because to us it’s a plant-based protein and that’s what makes it awesome.

    The Impossible Slider at White Castle

    Our Customers Tell Us They Love the Taste

    I don’t know what they (Tyson Foods and Perdue) are going to be able to accomplish (with alternative meats). But here’s what we do know. In working with Impossible, they’ve really put the study into this and have done it in a thoughtful way and have come up with something that tastes great. I think that the taste quotient is so important in terms of success in the marketplace. There are no tradeoffs. For our customers what they tell us is they love the taste. You put that in that White Castle original bun with one perfect pickle and you’ve got a winner.

    Customers are absolutely aware of the Impossible Slider (by brand name). That’s been the partnership that’s been able to brand it that way. It’s something we’ve known since 1921, the home of the original slider, in offering the first Impossible Slider. Absolutely, we’ve benefitted from a lot of good news coverage and people becoming more aware. A lot of people want to sample and try it. We serve omnivores. We have people who come in an order a double cheeseburger with extra bacon and have an Impossible to go along with it as well. It’s got a lot of broad appeal because candidly, the taste is what separates it from the rest of the pack.

    The Response To Our Impossible Sliders Has Been Overwhelming, Says White Castle VP Jamie Richardson
  • McDonald’s Is Seriously Looking At Offering Vegan Burgers Worldwide

    McDonald’s Is Seriously Looking At Offering Vegan Burgers Worldwide

    “We’ve got a vegan burger going in Germany at the moment on a promotional basis,” says McDonald’s CEO Steve Easterbrook. “When you look at the whole meat substitute type ideas what will be interesting for us will be to see who is particularly interested in that. Is it an existing customer who wants just an alternative option? Is it to bring a new customer in? We’re exploring that and trying to understand it better and also understand a customers acceptability of that particular type of product.”

    Steve Easterbrook, CEO of McDonald’s, discusses the possibility of  McDonald’s putting vegan Big Macs on the menu in an interview on CNBC:

    McDonald’s May Soon Sell Vegan Burgers Worldwide

    We’ve got a vegan burger going in Germany at the moment on a promotional basis. When you look at the whole meat substitute type ideas what will be interesting for us will be to see who is particularly interested in that. Is it an existing customer who wants just an alternative option? Is it to bring a new customer in? We’re exploring that and trying to understand it better and also understand a customers acceptability of that particular type of product. There’s a lot of buzz around it at the moment, but it’s clearly prepared in a different way to a traditional beef patty. We’re keeping a close eye on it and watching this space.

    It undoubtedly does bring complexity to the preparation. You’ve got to segregate the tools you use and the grills from beef products because some people are clearly not beef eaters. So we know there’s complexity. The question is will the demand make it worth absorbing the complexity because it’s will drive the business? We had a similar discussion, maybe four years ago, around all day breakfast. It certainly adds complexity to the operation but the demand was sufficient that we wanted to find a way to absorb that. It’s something we’re certainly taking a good look at.

    Review of McDonald’s Vegan Burger in Germany

    I Don’t Think Vegan Meat is Faddish

    I don’t think it’s faddish. Whether it maintains its same level of buzz I think is what’s interesting. Like any other restaurant business, you want throughput, you want to keep serving the items so you can keep them fresh and well-prepared. Our teams in the restaurants, the crew, and the managers are well trained in preparing them. You really want to have a certain volume of those just to keep the finished menu item hot and fresh for the customer. So we’re taking a little look at this one.

    The one thing about the job I have is McDonald’s attracts attention no matter what it is you’re doing. Clearly, anyone who has something they want to get scale to will often look to McDonald’s to be that partner to help them scale in any way, shape, or form. You’ve also got to look at just the sheer volumes that we require just because we serve around the world 70 million customers a day. If I just take the cage-free eggs example here in the US. When we made the announcement, that was going to be a five-year announcement to transition across. It takes that amount of time to make sure there’s that sufficient supply so you can meet the demand.

    Berlin Vegan Burgers Compared to McDonalds Vegan Burger!

    These are all the factors you’ve got to take into account. Do you launch your test just in a particular city? Do you launch in just one particular regional or a smaller market elsewhere in the world? You want to test these things out when they’ve got the kind of volume that can meet the potential demands. So we’ll see, but we’re pretty familiar with trying new items and new products and how we can test and assess. Frankly, the customer won’t always be the decision maker on this one.

    McDonald’s Is Seriously Looking At Offering Vegan Burgers Worldwide
  • Problem Solving is ‘Full of Massive Innovation,’ Says Label Insight Co-founder

    Problem Solving is ‘Full of Massive Innovation,’ Says Label Insight Co-founder

    Label Insight says that it is powering transparency at the intersection of retailers, brands, and consumers with an industry-leading platform for CPG product attribute data covering more than 80 percent of top-selling food, pet, and personal care items in the U.S. They started out in the pre-cell era by literally going into grocery stores and manually copying the product labels and entering the information into a spreadsheet. That has changed, but what hasn’t changed is their value-driven innovative company culture.

    Dagan Xavier, Co-founder and SVP of Data and Nutrition Sciences at Label Insight, recently talked about how the company started and how the company continues to innovate, in a feature on Entrepreneur:

    At the Intersection of Brands, Retailers, and Consumers

    Label Insight sits at the intersection of brands, retailers, and consumers. Our data and analytics essentially allow those brands and retailers to increase sales by empowering the consumer to make better-educated decisions around the products that they buy. Why did I start this business? This was a pure family need. When someone in your family is sick and they need help, the first thing you do is you go and help them.

    I can remember the call that I got when I was at University, second year. I got a call from my Dad and he asked me to come home because he needed some help to determine what brand of noodles he could eat based on his new diet. Ultimately, it came down to what brand of ramen noodles he could consume that were low in fat, low in sodium, didn’t have any artificial ingredients, and no trans fat.

    About Label Insight

    Problem Solving is ‘Full of Massive Innovation

    If anyone out there can answer those four questions on all the ramen products out there I would love them to come work for us. Essentially, that’s what started this. Innovative problem solving is the most innovative and most useful when it’s created from a real need. I think back to when we started this company. This was pre-cell phone days. We would walk down the aisles of supermarkets and use our dictaphones to collect information on the back of packages and dictate it out to Excel to create our database. That’s an incredibly manual process.

    In over two years of work, we collected 8,000 products. Not very much, but in those days it was a feat. Having those problems and going through that manual workload, that’s when innovation really happens and starts to occur. I would say that our whole data-ingestion process is symptomatic of that manual history and is full of massive innovation.

    Our Key Value is Intellectual Honesty

    When I’m seeing Label Insight succeed it’s based on a shared set of values. It’s based on having multiple people moving in the same direction. The way that you can do that is by being mission-driven and value-based. Our mission is clear, we’re out to help people make educated choices around the products that they make. As a way to keep everyone going and moving in the right direction, it has to be about values as well.

    We have a number of values that we hold true to ourselves. Obviously transparency, it’s not a trend it’s a right. Other values we hold are collaboration, intellectual honesty, iteration and Innovation, and quality driven. These are all really important values that allow us to get on the same page as each other and be paddling in the right direction.

    When I think about a particular value that stands out to me, it’s intellectual honesty. I believe that whenever we are looking at hiring folks and bringing people into the team, that’s the key value that I’m looking for. That ability to admit when you are wrong and to be brutally honest at times that’s the backbone, that’s the base that you need to be able to perform. We are not looking to just perform here. We are looking to change an industry. So we need folks who are able to get us there. That’s why I find that value particularly important.

    Problem Solving is ‘Full of Massive Innovation,’ Says Label Insight Co-founder


  • Google Now Displays Fast Food Nutritional Info

    Google has displayed nutritional information in search results for about two years now – making it easy for you to quickly pull up the calorie counts for a head of cauliflower, or a bunch of grapes, for instance.

    Now, Google is expanding this to include nutritional info on popular fast food items.

    If you search “calories in big mac”, for example, here’s what you’ll see:

    Screen Shot 2015-06-16 at 11.26.51 AM

    Searching a more generic phrase like “calories in McDonald’s” will put up a scroll box of all the fast food chain’s menu items, complete with calorie counts.

    Screen Shot 2015-06-16 at 11.29.20 AM

    Right now this only works for a handful of restaurant chains inside the Google app, as well as on desktop search.

  • Cobie Smulders Talks Fitness Goals

    Cobie Smulders Talks Fitness Goals

    Cobie Smulders is turning heads! However, it has nothing to do with television or film. The How I Met Your Mother star recently showed off her toned body in a skin-tight scuba outfit for the April issue cover of SELF Magazine.

    According to Yahoo! News, the 31-year-old actress sat down for an interview with the publication where she talked about everything from her career to her romantic life and her fitness goals. Smulders explained how simplicity is the key where her fitness goals are concerned. She just tries to keep things “simple.”

    “I work out to feel stronger and look more energized, not to look a certain way. I’ve never been the person who’s like, ‘I’ve got to get a four-pack of abs!’,” Smulders explained. “And I’m not the type to go to the gym and run on the treadmill for 45 minutes and then lift weights,” she added. “I try to take an exercise class twice a week.”

    During the interview, she went on to share that she prefers the “low key approach” to fitness and nutritional health. She also revealed that she’s grown fond of The Bar Method toning exercise. However, she admitted part of the reason she likes the class so much is because she doesn’t look like “a sweaty mess” afterward.

    While Smulders clarified that she doesn’t proclaim to be a workout addict, she does make an effort to stay active. The Captain America: The Winter Soldier actress also said that she even enjoys walking and hiking everywhere. In addition to nutritional simplicity, she doesn’t obsess over calorie counting either.

    “I lead an extremely active lifestyle,” she adds.

    She went on to give an example of what a “usual” day is like for her where nutrition is concerned. “My usual day: a green smoothie for breakfast – if I want to get fancy, it’s eggs on arugula – fruit for a snack, a salad with protein for lunch, and fish and quinoa for dinner. I’ll have pasta two out of seven meals. And if I have 3 bites of my husband’s (she’s married to “SNL” star Taran Killam) mac & cheese, I don’t kill myself! I just slow down and enjoy it, instead of shoveling it in my face.”

    Fans can catch Cobie Smulders in the upcoming Marvel Comics film Captain America: The Winter Soldier. The film hits theaters nationwide April 4.

    Image via Cobie Smulders, Wikimedia Commons

  • Detox Diets: Before You Do It, Read This

    Detox Diets: Before You Do It, Read This

    Detoxification is something that the body does naturally to get rid of or keep toxins in check. The human body is exposed to different toxins every day, from the food we eat, the liquids we guzzle, and even the environment, such as fungus-contaminated buildings. Toxins are also the by-product of the body’s normal cellular activities, and many of the body’s organs function to turn toxins into less harmful compounds and excrete these from the body.

     What is a Detox Diet?

    To help the body along, people engage in a detox diet. This type of diet is intended to be done for only a short period, because prolonging it more than necessary may result in deficiencies in the necessary nutrients the body needs, such as calcium and protein. Going on a detox requires dieters to fast and refrain from eating certain types of food, such as processed meat and those containing artificial flavors. Instead, dieters eat organic food rich in antioxidants and vitamins needed by the body for its natural detoxification process. High-fiber food and plenty of water are recommended as well, to help in eliminating toxins through excretion.

    Is Going on a Detox Diet Necessary?

    The idea behind going on a detox diet sounds good, but the detoxifying effects are not scientifically proven. A detox diet by itself is harmless unless it results in nutrient deficiency, but there is little evidence that it actually eliminates toxins from the body. As mentioned, the body—in particular, the liver and kidneys—naturally works to kick the toxins from its system. Going on a detox diet is not necessary, but it can be beneficial, considering that dieters would be avoiding highly processed food containing added sugar and preservatives.

     What Can I Get from a Detox Diet?

    Those who have tried going on a detox diet reported feeling more energetic and focused after the dieting period. Clearer skin, improved digestion, and regular bowel movement also result from eating organic, high-fiber, and vitamin-rich food. People should be careful not to overdo it, however, as there are also possible side effects to limiting the diet to certain foods. Fasting, the first stage of a detox diet, can result in fatigue, constipation, and dehydration. It can also lead to nutritional deficiencies and would make it more difficult for the body to heal itself. This type of diet is certainly not for everyone, especially children and pregnant or lactating women.

    What if I Want to Try Out a Detox Diet?

    As with any pursuit in the name of fitness, it’s best to consult your doctor first before embarking on a diet. A detox diet is not a be-all and end-all solution to getting rid of toxins—keeping the body’s organs in proper working order is. So, be sure to discuss a diet plan with your doctor that will help you keep fit without depriving yourself of the nutrients your body needs.

    Dr Oz Detox Diet Secrets

    Image via Flickr

  • Cameron Diaz Releases “The Body Book”

    Cameron Diaz Releases “The Body Book”

    Cameron Diaz can now add the title of “author” to her CV as The Body Book has just been released. The popular actress uses the book as a platform to share her knowledge about exercise and nutrition. “If you take care of your body you can have an even more amazing body,” Diaz explained. However, the star does not claim to always be a beacon of healthy living, and admits that there have been times where she partook in junk food. “If you are what you eat, I was a bean burrito with extra cheese and extra sauce, no onions,” she said.

    The book includes the following:

    “Beginning with nutrition, Cameron explains why instead of fearing hunger, women should embrace their body’s instinct for fuel and satisfy it with whole, nutrient-dense foods. Cameron also explains the essential role of consistent physical activity. Many women think about exercise in terms of pounds lost or muscle tone gained, but don’t realize that working up a sweat is also essential for improving mood, boosting energy levels, and preventing disease. Cameron offers tips for choosing the right exercise program and shares her own workout strategies for looking and feeling your best.”

    Cameron Diaz took to Twitter and Instagram to share news concerning her first exposure with the publishing world.

    In characteristic down-to-earth fashion, the 41-year-old actress tells her fans that the book is to serve as a guide. “It’s not a plan, it’s just information for you to have,” she said.

    Image Via Wikimedia Commons and Courtesy of Tony Shek

  • Diet Coke’s Artificial Sweetener Causes Sales Drop

    There have been a lot of growing concerns lately over the artificial sweeteners used in Diet Coke and other foods and beverages. We’ve heard for years about how certain artificial sweeteners can cause cancer and heart disease and contributes to obesity (which the FDA says isn’t true). Now America’s favorite diet soda, Diet Coke, is experiencing a bit of a drop-off in sales because people are worried about the safety of its artificial sweetener, aspartame.

    Steve Cahillane, president of Coca-Cola America, acknowledged that Diet Coke sales were down three percent last year because of growing concerns over artificial sweeteners. Cahillane made the surprising admission during a conference call with industry analysts on Tuesday.

    Diet Coke sales “are under a bit of pressure as people are questioning ingredients [and] ingredient safety,” said Cahillane. “There are headwinds that we’re facing,” Cahillane added. “This is just one of them.”

    Despite the drop in sales, Cahillane says that Coca-Cola isn’t changing Diet Coke’s recipe anytime soon. Diet Coke is still the number two selling soda in the world, right behind Coca-Cola. Even though safety concerns are an issue with Diet Coke (and pretty much all diet soft drinks), it’s easy to see why the Coke execs aren’t looking to change things up anytime soon.

    Are you concerned about artificial sweeteners or will you keep drinking Diet Coke or another diet beverage? Respond here.

    Is Aspartame Dangerous?

    While the American Cancer Society says that researchers haven’t found any solid proof that aspartame is linked to cancer in humans, there is some proof of an increase in blood cancer in lab animals. This alone isn’t enough to get aspartame labeled unsafe, though. The American Cancer Society also says that no other health issues have been linked conclusively to aspartame.

    The FDA also says there isn’t enough proof that aspartame is dangerous enough to ban it. The “FDA finds no reason to alter its previous conclusion that aspartame is safe as a general purpose sweetener in food.”

    Image via YouTube

  • McDonald’s Happy Meals Will Include Books?

    McDonald’s Happy Meals Will Include Books?

    McDonald’s has announced that they will start putting books in their happy meals. This is an interesting change for the fast food conglomerate to make, after just giving away plastic toys for much of their company’s history. McDonald’s is hoping to increase literacy with children with the action, but it is probably too late at this point, and especially with the customers who typically eat at the restaurant. However, this could also be looked at as an attempt to make nice with parents that have criticized them for their unhealthy food, coming way too late to actually make a difference.

    Fast food has often been used in order to give kids a quick, cheap meal, but after all the attention that has been put on McDonald’s for the lack of nutrition in their food, many people have chosen to steer clear of the establishment. In an attempt to improve its image among those who despise the company and the way they conduct their business, McDonald’s has been aggressively trying to improve its menu and last month announced that it would start to offer more fruits and vegetables. They are certainly not going win over the public immediately, but could this be enough to get some new business from people?

    Corporate Accountability International, a group that brought a 9-year-old girl to McDonalds’ shareholder meeting in order to scold CEO Don Thompson in May, is being very critical of their new literacy campaign. The group has accused McDonalds of “trying to earn undeserved goodwill from the growing number of parents and health advocates who are calling on them to stop marketing to kids.”

    The campaign is set to launch on November 1st, during National Family Literacy Week, but it is only scheduled to last for two weeks, unfortunately for the McDonald’s happy meal book campaign. Parents should not expect to see their child opening up the Happy Meals and finding books that they are familiar with or had previously read, wanting to share with their child either. McDonald’s has said that they will partner with advertising firm Leo Burnett, and create their own books, four titles specifically designed for the customers of McDonalds. This will include characters like a voracious goat who struggles to eat right, and a diminutive dinosaur who grows tall with good nutrition.

    On November 1st, they will also launch a new interactive digital book, and will release one each month until the end of 2014, as they mention in an article published on their website. The story also goes into detail about each of the original books that will be distributed. McDonald’s happy meal’s including books in an effort to help with literacy, is a long shot, but they are probably willing to do anything in order to get new customers.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OO2QohcqDWA

    Image via Youtube

  • CDC Nutrition Research Flawed, Shows Study

    CDC Nutrition Research Flawed, Shows Study

    For decades now, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has been funding research on the nutritional habits of Americans. A new study, however, is claiming that those studies could all be invalid due to seriously flawed data collection methods.

    The study, published in the journal PLOS ONE, claims that the data gathering in the CDC’s National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) makes the studies taken from it not “physiologically credible. The NHANES is a joint project between the CDC and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. For 40 years the survey has taken Americans’ food and beverage habits, cross-referencing them with physical examinations.

    The new study points out, however, that the food and drink data was provided by patients themselves, making it extremely unreliable. The study looked at decades of NHANES data on over 63,000 men and women ages 20 to 74. It compared the caloric intake reported by study participants to their average energy expenditure based on their physical attributes. The study found that it would be “impossible” to survive on the number of calories self-reported by most study participants.

    “Throughout its history, the NHANES survey has failed to provide accurate estimates of the habitual caloric consumption of the U.S. population,” said Edward Archer, lead author of the study and an epidemiologist at the University of South Carolina. “Although improvements were made to the NHANES measurement protocol after 1980, there was little improvement to the validity of U.S. nutritional surveillance.”

    Though the misreporting varied among study participants, those who were obese were found to give the most inaccurate reporting of their eating habits. Obese men were found to underreport their caloric intake by an average of 25%, while obese women underreported their calories by an average of 41%.

    Archer and his colleagues concluded that the misreporting of caloric intake makes it extremely difficult to estimate American nutritional habits. Given this conclusion, the study also states that basing public policy decisions on NHANES research could be problematic at best.

    “The nation’s major surveillance tool for studying the relationships between nutrition and health is not valid,” said Archer. “It is time to stop spending tens of millions of health research dollars collecting invalid data and find more accurate measures.”

  • Google Adds Nutrition Info To Knowledge Graph

    Google announced that it is rolling out new nutrition information to search, as the latest addition to its Knowledge Graph. If you can’t already, you’ll soon be able to query things like “How much protein is in a banana?” or How many calories are in an avocado?” and get direct answers (spoken to you, if you’re using Google’s new conversational search).

    Google will provide relevant nutrition info under an expansion, and will let you switch to other related foods or serving sizes.

    “Tempted by some popcorn at the movies?” asks product manager Ilya Mezheritsky. “Ask ‘how many calories are in popcorn’ and you’ll get your answer. [Hint: it’s 31 calories per cup]. Perplexed by a food label or recipe? Ask ‘what nutrients are in breadfruit?’ or ‘is there sugar in grenadilla?’ Big on a high protein diet? Ask ‘how many carbs in corn?’ or simply search for [corn] and you’ll see detailed nutrition info.”

    Google Nutrition results

    Google Nutrition 2

    Google Nutrition Results

    Suddenly it’s starting to seem like maybe Google shouldn’t have killed Google Health. Combined with this feature and Google Now, one could imagine some powerful dietary recommendations.

    The feature will be rolling out in English in the U.S. over the course of the next ten days. Google will also be adding more foods and languages. It’s starting with over 1,000 foods.

    In related news, Google has also introduced two new tools for webmasters to provide structured data to Google, which can then be used in Google offerings like the Knowledge Graph and Google Now.

  • McDonald’s CEO Says, ‘We Don’t Sell Junk Food’

    McDonald’s CEO Says, ‘We Don’t Sell Junk Food’

    This week, during McDonald’s annual shareholders meeting, McDonald’s CEO Don Thompson fielded a question about nutrition from a 9-year-old girl.

    The girl, who identified herself as Hannah, took issue with the famous fast food company selling food that isn’t good for children using “toys and cartoon characters.” She claims that children her age are suffering from obesity and diabetes, and ends her statement with the question, “Mr. Thompson, don’t you want kids to be healthy so they can live a happy life?”

    Sure, it’s a loaded question. One she was no doubt coached into asking by adults who used her as a sympathetic prop. However, Thompson’s answer shows that he may not have been prepared to fend off such a question at the shareholder’s meeting.

    Thompson begins his answer by saying, “First off, we don’t sell junk food Hannah.” With junk food generally defined as food with low nutritional value, Thompson’s statement implies that all of McDonald’s food has at least a better-than-low nutritional value.

    Thompson goes on to provide a personal anecdote, stating that his children eat McDonald’s, but that they also cook “foods and veggies” at home. He points out that McDonald’s sells apples and salads, and says that the company will try to provide products like kiwi-on-a-stick and pineapple in the future. Thompson’s response, in full:

    Hannah, thank you very much for your question and by the way it’s good to meet you upfront. Couple of things Hanna. First off, we don’t sell junk food, Hannah. My kids also eat McDonald’s, when they were about your size to my son who is with us was a little bit bigger – he was a football player – and also they cook with me at home. I love to cook, we cook a lot of foods and veggies at home. We serve a lot of foods and veggies at McDonald’s and are trying to sell even more with the apples that we introduced into the Happy Meal. We serve different foods and different variety. I was telling you a little bit earlier about things we would like to introduce even more, there is a affinity for them, like kiwi on a stick and pineapples, and we serve salads ,and we serve those for a dollar on the Dollar Menu and they are very affordable. And so there’s a lot of things that we’ve done, our chicken nugget happy meals, fat free milk, both. We also just changed the chocolate factory milk. We are making a lot of changes at McDonald’s and we will continue to. I think it’s really great that you want to continue eating more fruits and more vegetables. I honestly hope even more kids do. I know that as my kids came up sometimes I had to nudge them a little bit more to eat some more fruits and vegetables, but they did eat quite a bit of fruits and vegetables and that’s what we served in our household as well. So thanks so much for the question. Next question?

  • Mediterranean Diet Could Reduce Heart Risks, Study Shows

    A new study has shown that a Mediterranean diet could significantly reduce heart risks.

    The Mediterranean diet is generally associated with diets that are prevalent in Italy, Greece, and Spain. It includes large amounts of fruits, vegetables, olive oil, cereals, and legumes as well as moderate amounts of fish, dairy, and wine.

    The study, published in The New England Journal of Medicine, followed 7,447 people with cardiovascular risk factors. One-third of them were put on a Mediterranean diet supplemented with extra-virgin olive oil, another one-third of them were put on a Mediterranean diet supplemented with nuts, and the last one-third were put on a low-fat diet.

    The two-thirds of patients who were on a Mediterranean diet were shown to have substantial reductions in risk for cardiovascular disease. Overall, a Mediterranean diet along with extra-virgin olive oil or tree nut supplements reduced patients’ risks of cardiovascular death, myocardial infarction, or stroke by 30%.

    The study’s researchers claim that these results lend evidence to the hypothesis that a diet high in vegetable fat is more heart-healthy than a low-fat diet. This particular study, researchers said, rejects the notion that a diet must reduce fat intake to improve heart health.

    The research was part of the PREDIMED trial, which took place between 2003 and 2011. PREDIMED’s goal was to examine the effect of a Mediterranean diet on cardiovascular disease.

  • Cancer Treatment Uses Rice Bran to Prevent Colon Cancer

    A new study hopes to show that rice bran offers “promising” cancer prevention properties. A clinical trial is currently testing rice bran’s effectiveness in preventing the recurrence of colon cancer.

    “While I have been trained as a molecular toxicologist, I am excited about the opportunities to deliver bioactive, cancer fighting compounds with food, and this has led to my focus now primarily on the multiple drug-like characteristics of rice bran,” said Elizabeth Ryan, senior author of the study, published in the journal Advances in Nutrition, and a University of Colorado Cancer Center investigator. “There’s a delicate balance of bioactive components in rice bran that together show anti-cancer activity including the ability to inhibit cell proliferation, alter cell cycle progression and initiate the programmed cell death known as apoptosis in malignant cells.

    Research with cancer cell lines in animals has now shown that the bioactive components of rice bran work together to promote the function of healthy cells, while also inhibiting the function of cancer cells. Ryan and her colleagues are now evaluating how rice bran may promote an anti-cancer immune response or modulate gut bacteria to protect against cancer.

    “We’re working now to tease apart the ratios of these active molecules required for bioactivity and mechanisms,” said Ryan. “Previous attempts to isolate one or another compound have been largely unsuccessful and so it looks now as if rather than any one compound giving rice bran its chemopreventive powers, it’s the synergistic activity of multiple components in the whole food that should be studied.”

    “There are well over 100,000 varieties of rice in the world, many with their own unique mix of bioactive components and so one major challenge is to discover the optimal composition for chemoprevention. Another challenge is ensuring that people consistently receive the required daily intake amount or ‘dose’ needed to demonstrate these chemo-protective effects. That said, rice is an accessible, low-cost food in most places of the world, and so work with rice bran as a dietary chemopreventive agent has the potential to impact a significant portion of the world’s population.”

  • Eating Red Meat Will Buy You a Ticket to an Earlier Grave

    A longitudinal study (22 years) from Harvard, Red Meat Consumption and Mortality, indicates that consuming red meat is associated with an increased likelihood of dying prematurely. Researchers are encouraging people to substitute other healthy protein sources for red meat.

    But what is the 4th of July without a nice juicy cheeseburger? How can we give up those mouth-watering medium-rare Delmonico steaks and manage to gulp down those chalky protein shakes?

    After experiencing the bliss of a buttery seasoned steak, many people would probably buy a ticket to an early grave before they gave up red meat for good.

    CBC Medical Specialist, Karl Kabasele explains in the following YouTube video that the research suggests we replace red meat with yummy legumes, fish, and nuts if we want to live longer. We don’t have to eliminate red meat from our diet all together but the exact amount that is safe for us to eat is still unclear:

    Studies in the past have already established that the consumption of red meat led to increased risks of developing diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and certain cancers but only a small portion of the population have actively changed their diet in the hopes of avoiding less than desirable health states.

    While the information that was gathered from the study is helpful I remain skeptical as to whether or not it will convince people to change what they are putting on their plates. If public health agencies do not reach out to the community and develop program that encourage people to develop more reasonable meal plans then these findings remain a blurb on the radio, a tweet, or just data on a page.

    The fact remains that Americans are incredibly ignorant about nutrition. These days people think that eating cheese fries for dinner is eating light and fail to realize that they have just taken in over 3,000 calories.

    Studies like this one are necessary because prevention is beter than a cure, but researchers need to take global action and help citizens make more sensible choices.

    Besides, I am not trying to stick around to see this happen to me:

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