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Diet Bytes
December 2005
By WLR Dietitian
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A sign for healthy eaters
This month, food labelling has
received lots of coverage in the papers and on TV, thanks to
the Food Standards Agency (FSA) revealing new proposals for a
food labelling scheme to be included on the front of the
packaging for certain foods.
The new scheme is intended to help make it easier for
people to choose a healthy diet by providing ‘at-a-glance’
information about the nutritional content of certain products.
After a year of ongoing research with consumers, the FSA is
now confident it’s discovered the format that will be most
likely to help consumers make healthier food choices quickly,
easily and accurately. The new format is based on a ‘multiple
traffic lights’ system. It might sound complicated, but quite
simply it provides consumers with colour-coded information for
the amount of total fats, saturated fat, sugars and salt
contained within a product. The colours correspond to those of
traffic lights – red for high, amber for medium and green for
low. In the first instance, this style of voluntary labelling
will be recommended for processed and pre-packed foods such as
ready meals, breakfast cereals, pizzas, pies and sausages –
foods that tend to be eaten frequently or in large amounts and
that people find most difficult to assess in terms of their
nutrition content.
The FSA now plans to consult with consumers and the food
industry on the suitability of the multiple traffic lights
scheme until 8 February 2006. Then the findings will be
analysed and a recommendation put to the FSA’s Board for
agreement. For a look at the proposed format, log on to:
www.food.gov.uk/news/newsarchive
/2005/nov/trafficlightvis
WLR says
We’ve always been supportive of the plan to have
clearer labelling on the front of packaging to make it easier
for consumers to opt for healthier choices. We’ve also been
keen for one standard format to be developed that all
manufacturers and brands can use. This will help to avoid
confusion and ensure that the same criteria are used for
defining, for example, ‘high’, ‘medium’ or ‘low’ levels of
fat, regardless of the product or brand. However, it’s worth
bearing in mind that this labelling scheme – should it be
approved by the FSA’s board in the early part of next year –
will only be voluntary and so individual manufacturers may
make the decision not to use the chart – or go on to develop
their own.
Furthermore, while this new labelling provides ‘at-a-glance’
information, it’s worth remembering this should still be used
in conjunction with more detailed nutrition information that
tends to appear on the side or back of packaging. For anyone
who wants to lose weight, this is where they will find calorie
information per 100g of the product – and in many cases per
serving. Ultimately, if you want to shift those pounds, it’s
important to cut calories. If a chart on the front of the
packaging reveals a product is low in fat and sugar, it’s
likely to be a good choice in terms of its calorie content.
Nevertheless, it’s always worth checking this first before
popping it into your shopping trolley.
Don’t take the Atkins diet to heart
After years of debating
whether the Atkins diet really does cause heart problems, new
research reveals this is indeed the case. A study carried out
by researchers at the University of Oxford and supported by
the British Heart Foundation found that high-fat, low-carb
diets affect energy storage in the heart. After just two weeks
of following the Atkins diet, many aspects of heart function
remained unchanged. However, participants were shocked to find
that the energy stores in their hearts were significantly
reduced. Fortunately, the changes were reversed within two
weeks after returning to a normal diet – just as well
considering a severe form of energy depletion is one of the
features of heart failure. Professor Kieran Clarke who led the
research said, “Our study gives us some interesting insights
into how extreme diets like Atkins might be affecting us.
Extreme, unbalanced diets are a major insult on the body’s
metabolism and, as this study indicates, may have direct
effects on the heart. We would certainly not recommend
high-fat, low-carb diets to anyone who wants to lose weight
and look after their heart.”
WLR says
This research confirms our hearts are directly
affected by an unbalanced diet and provides yet more evidence
to suggest that eating a healthy diet and taking regular
exercise is a far more effective and safe way to lose weight.
Nevertheless, devotees of the Atkins diet should be
reassured that this piece of research by no means suggests
that high-fat, low-carb diets will give them heart failure.
This was a very small and short-term piece of research and
more work needs to be done in this area before any definite
conclusions can be made.
Extra pressure for cola drinks
The link between caffeine
intake and high blood pressure and high cholesterol has been
debated for many years and to date, study results have
remained fairly inconclusive. But now two new studies suggest
that caffeine itself is probably not linked to an increase in
blood pressure or cholesterol.
New research published in the Journal of the American
Medical Association shows that while drinking large amounts of
cola can increase the risk of high blood pressure in women,
the same is not found with coffee. The large-scale study used
data from the world-famous Nurses Health Studies and looked at
the diets and incidence of high blood pressure in almost
33,000 women. The researchers discovered that whilst coffee
consumption didn’t lead to an increased risk of high blood
pressure, associations were found with both sugared and diet
cola drinks. This indicates that it’s probably not actually
caffeine that’s responsible for the increase in blood
pressure. The authors say, “We speculate that it is not
caffeine but perhaps some other compound contained in
soda-type soft drinks that may be responsible for the
increased risk in hypertension.”
Meanwhile, a much smaller US study has also discovered that
caffeine may not be responsible for increasing blood
cholesterol. Researchers from Atlanta discovered that drinking
large amounts of decaffeinated coffee actually increased blood
cholesterol while regular coffee had little impact. The
researchers studied the effects of coffee on 187 people for
three months and found that those participants drinking 3-6
cups of decaff coffee every day had increased levels of
several markers for heart disease, especially if they were
overweight.
WLR says
Many slimmers beat hunger by filling up on large
amounts of diet cola and black coffee. Furthermore, many
switch to decaff products thinking they’re a healthier option.
However, both of these studies indicate that it may not be
caffeine that’s linked with potential health problems after
all.
It’s far too early to draw any firm conclusions about the
findings from these two studies and more research needs to be
carried out looking at the effects of cola drinks and coffee
on health. In the meantime, we suggest it’s fine to enjoy
small amounts of diet cola and coffee – either regular or
decaffeinated – as part of an overall balanced diet.
Throwing away vital vitamins
It looks like fresh veg are
back on the shopping list for many of us thanks to the rise in
popularity of farmer’s markets, organic products and celebrity
chefs encouraging us to experiment with new ingredients.
According to a new survey from Bird’s Eye, eight out of 10 of
us are now stocking up on fresh veg in an effort to be
healthier. However, almost half of us eat them when they’re
past their sell by date and likely to be drained of vital
vitamins. Worst still, four out of 10 of us frequently end up
throwing away mouldy veggies – amounting to a staggering £114
worth of fresh veg being binned per household every year!
WLR says
It’s disappointing to hear we’re throwing away so
many vegetables, especially when many of us are still
struggling to eat the recommended five servings of
fruit and veg every day. In general, the longer fresh veg are left on
the supermarket shelves or in the fridge, the fewer vitamins
they are likely to contain. Follow our top tips to ensure your
fruit and veggies pack in as many nutrients as possible – and
end up in your tummy rather than the bin…
- Plan meals and
snacks – work out exactly how much fruit and veg you will need
for the week and then buy accordingly.
- Go for the chop –
they might need no be peeled and chopped but loose veggies
tend to have a longer shelf life than pre-prepared bags of
veggies.
- Do a shelf check – rummage through the shelves and
look for pre-packed produce with the longest shelf life.
Often, you’ll find veggies at the back have a longer sell-by
date than those at the front. Stagger the dates, too. For
example, if you’re buying three bags of salad, choose three
different sell-by dates and eat the salad with the closest
sell by date first and so on.
- Go fruit picking – chose loose
fruits with varying degrees of ripeness and then eat the
ripest first and leave the least ripe for later in the week.
- Chill out – don’t be afraid to buy frozen fruit and veg. It
still counts towards your five a day and often contains more
vitamins than fresh as it’s frozen within hours of being
picked. Good options include peas, broccoli, cauliflower,
sweetcorn, beans, carrots, summer fruits and blueberries.
- Get canned – canned fruit and veg also count towards the
recommended five a day. Choose veggies that are canned without
salt or sugar and fruit that’s in juice rather than syrup.
Supermarket sweep
Price promotions such as ‘Buy one, get
one free’ or ‘Get three for the price of two’ are designed to
get us to spend more when we go shopping. But according to a
new report, it seems they’re also designed to add inches to
our waistlines. Research by the National Consumer Council
reveals there are twice as many supermarket price promotions
for fatty and sugary foods compared to healthier options such
as fruit and veg. For example, only 14% of Tesco’s promotions
were for fruit and veg, compared with 35% for fatty and sugary
foods.
WLR says
Always stay strong when it comes to doing your
weekly shop. Remember, supermarket deals are designed to lure
you into spending more money on products that you don’t really
want. You might think you’ve got a bargain and saved £s, but
in reality all you have is a few thousand extra calories that
will pile on the lbs! if you can’t resist a ‘bargain’ only
take up special offers on healthier foods such as fruit, veg,
chicken, lean meat, low-fat dairy products, low-fat spreads
and wholegrain cereals and breads. You have been warned!
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