1) Free Trade, Loss Of Support Systems Crippling Food Production In Africa (source: Science News Daily)

Despite good intentions, the push to privatize government functions and insistence upon “free trade” that is too often unfair has caused declining food production, increased poverty and a hunger crisis for millions of people in many African nations, researchers conclude in a new study.

Market reforms that began in the mid-1980s and were supposed to aid economic growth have actually backfired in some of the poorest nations in the world, and just in recent years led to multiple food riots, scientists report in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a professional journal.

2) How healthy is 100% fruit juice, really? (source: Nutrition Data)

Question: What should I look for when buying fruit juice? For example the “100% pure and natural orange juice” says it contains 0% Vitamin C. How is that possible? Another one provides 100% Vitamin C but from the list of ingredients we see that Vitamin C is actually added.

3) The Best and Worst Cereals (source: Men’s Health/Eat This)

The average American consumes more than 160 bowls of cereal a year, so picking the right box could mean knocking 15 pounds off your waistline yearly and infusing your diet with massive doses of vital nutrients. Use our bowl-by-bowl breakdown to find the perfect cereal for you. Our criteria: the highest ratio of fiber to sugar, along with a respectable calorie count. Sidle up and grab a spoon!

1) Michelle Obama Launches Combat Childhood Obesity Campaign (source: Medical News Today)

At the White House on Tuesday, US President Obama signed a Presidential Memorandum establishing a task force to address the nation’s growing childhood obesity epidemic, turned to his wife, First Lady Michelle Obama and said “it’s done honey”, and she replied “now we work”. The Taking on Childhood Obesity task force is part of the First Lady’s Let’s Move campaign to bring together public and private sectors within a generation to help children become more active in their daily lives and have a healthier diet so that children born today reach adulthood at a healthy weight.

2) Mediterranean Diet May Lower Risk Of Brain Damage That Causes Thinking Problems (source: Medical News Today)

A Mediterranean diet may help people avoid the small areas of brain damage that can lead to problems with thinking and memory, according to a study released that will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology’s 62nd Annual Meeting in Toronto April 10 to April 17, 2010. The study found that people who ate a Mediterranean-like diet were less likely to have brain infarcts, or small areas of dead tissue linked to thinking problems.

3) How far do we need to go to avoid processed foods? (source: Nutrition Data Blog)

Q. I am trying to reduce the amount of processed foods in my diet, and I recently learned that soy milk is a processed food; which leads me to wonder whether cow’s milk and other dairy products are also considered “processed”?   Would I be better off taking a supplement to get my vitamin D and calcium?

Click the link for the answer

1) Antioxidants Aren’t Always Beneficial To Your Health And Can Sometimes Impair Muscle Function (source: Medical News Today)

Antioxidants increasingly have been praised for their benefits against disease and aging, but recent studies at Kansas State University show that they also can cause harm.  Researchers in K-State’s Cardiorespiratory Exercise Laboratory have been studying how to improve oxygen delivery to the skeletal muscle during physical activity by using antioxidants, which are nutrients in foods that can prevent or slow the oxidative damage to the body. Their findings show that sometimes antioxidants can impair muscle function.

2) What do you focus on, nutritionally? (source: Nutrition Data)

When it comes to improving your diet, there’s no end to the things you could worry about: Are you getting enough fiber? Too much sugar? Are you avoiding harmful chemicals? Getting enough antioxidants?  Yet research suggests that there is a limit to how many things humans can focus on before it’s all just noise.

3) Food and Nutrition in Public Policy (source: American Dietetic Association)

Here is a list of the top nutrition policies.

1) Fast Food Firmly Entrenched In Students’ Lifestyle (source: Medical News Today)

Recent research backs up University of Leicester campaign to promote healthy eating amongst students. A survey of eating habits among first year self-catering students showed that university lifestyle tends to lead to an increased consumption of fast foods.

This was more noticeable amongst male students, who confessed to thinking of cooking as ‘women’s work’ and were more likely to eat fast food than their female counterparts, while female students were more likely to be influenced by worries about weight gain and appearance.

2) Veganism: not for everyone? (source: Nutrition Data)

Q. I am curious about the ADA’s recently updated position paper on the vegetarian and vegan diets, which the vegan community has seen as a real victory. This is the excerpt that vegans like to cite:

“It is the position of the American Dietetic Association that appropriately planned vegetarian diets, including total vegetarian or vegan diets, are healthful, nutritionally adequate and may provide health benefits in the prevention and treatment of certain diseases. Well-planned vegetarian diets are appropriate for individuals during all stages of the life-cycle including pregnancy, lactation, infancy, childhood and adolescence and for athletes.”

My own experience tells me that even very health-conscious vegans eventually run into trouble. After nine years of veganism (most of them working at vegan restaurants or living in a vegetarian co-op house, giving me access to high-quality vegan food), in which I dutifully supplemented with B12, calcium, SAM-E and multi-vitamins, I had to quit due to brain fog, constant sleepiness, depression and lack of energy. I know plenty of other ex-vegans who had to quit for similar reasons, and they weren’t junk food vegans either.

How do you feel about the ADA’s position on the lifelong appropriateness of the vegan diet? Do you know how they arrived at the conclusion, and if there is some disagreement within the ADA over it?

1) Adding Micronutrients To Food Would Be Highly Cost-Effective Form Of Foreign Aid, New York Times Columnist Writes (source: Medical News Today)

“As the United States reorganizes its chaotic aid program, it might try promoting what just may be the world’s most luscious food: micronutrients,” New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof writes. Micronutrients — such as folic acid, iodine, zinc, iron and vitamin A — are “lifesaving for children and for women who may become pregnant,” and “there’s scarcely a form of foreign aid more cost effective than getting them into the food supply,” Kristof adds.

2)  Bone-building drugs perhaps overused (source:  Nutrition Data

In the wake of the recent move to expand the use of cholesterol-lowering (statin) drugs, it’s refreshing indeed to see health and policy experts talking about dialing back the use of drugs that are routinely prescribed to prevent osteoporosis-related fractures.