1. Wheat: Late weaning increases allergy risk
A study published in the journal Pediatrics says that waiting longer to give babies foods containing wheat may increase their risk of allergy.
2. Soy: Boosts heart health
Results from a new study have found that the potential cardiovascular benefits of soy isoflavones may reduce the early stage of artery hardening.
3. Breakfast: Teens missing out on iron
Teenagers who start their day without breakfast are twice as likely to have diets low in iron - a shortfall that could be hurting their grades, says US research.
4. Healthy eating: Encouraged by educationl
A US study of 4,000 school children has found that they accepted the healthier options made available at school meals, when offered in combination with creative nutrition education.
Oats : New spin on old favourite
The iconic UK cereal Weetabix has added a new oat variety to its portfolio to attract cholesterol-conscious consumers.
'Super Cereal' : Coming to EU supermarkets
The EU is funding an innovative new research programme that could see the introduction of a highly nutritional cereal to European supermarkets.
Full stories:
1. Wheat: Late weaning increases allergy risk | ( back to contents )
Waiting until babies are older than six months before giving them foods containing wheat may mean they are more likely to develop an allergy to it, says new research.
The research, published in the medical journal, Pediatrics, suggests that previous advice about introducing wheat to the diet of babies between four and six months old remains good practice.
"Delaying initial exposure to cereal grains until after six months may increase the risk of developing wheat allergy," Dr Jill Poole and colleagues said in the journal.
"Our results support continuing the current recommendations of first introducing cereal products between four and six months of age."
Dr Poole's research took place over almost five years, evaluating more than 1,600 babies from birth. Babies with celiac disease were not included in the research.
Parents were surveyed at three-month intervals until their babies were 15 months old, and then yearly. A range of topics was covered, such as when a child was introduced to certain foods and their diets in general.
According to the research, 0.41 per cent of babies weaned onto wheat products before they were six months old developed wheat allergies, compared with 1.8 per cent of those who first ate foods containing wheat after they were six months old.
The potential cardiovascular benefits of soy isoflavones may reduce the early stage of artery hardening, if the results of an animal study can be translated into humans.
The research adds and expands the science behind the observed benefits that have previously been linked to the effect of isoflavones on blood cholesterol levels.
However, this point is controversial and a recent scientific statement by the American Heart Association (AHA) in the journal Circulation concluded that soy had little effect on cholesterol levels, and raised doubts about health claims associated with soy.
Indeed, Dr Frank Sacks, a member of the AHA panel, said in January: “It's really clear that isoflavones don't contribute anything to cardiovascular benefits.”
The new findings, published in the September issue of the Journal of Nutrition, states that soy isoflavones may impact on the development of atherosclerosis, a result that does impact beneficially on heart health.
If these findings are reproduced in future studies, they might lead to a re-evaluation of the science that led Dr Sacks and the AHA to their conclusion.
The researchers, led by Shanmugam Nagarajan from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, investigated the effects of soy and soy isoflavones on the adhesion of monocytes, cells in the blood that play a role in immune health, and inflamed endothelial cells (the cells that line the inner wall of arteries), as such an interaction has been reported to be an early stage in the hardening of arteries (atherosclerosis).
Atherosclerosis is the process whereby fatty substances such as cholesterol and calcium form plaque on the inner lining of an artery, causing them to harden. If enough builds up the plaque can reduce blood flow through the artery, and if it ruptures blood clots can form, which can block the flow of blood to the heart and cause a heart attack, or stroke.
Atherosclerosis occurs naturally in humans as part of the ageing process, but certain factors including high blood cholesterol, smoking, high blood pressure, obesity and diabetes increase the risk.
Nagarajan and his colleagues, used rats fed control diets (AIN-93G) containing a soy protein isolate or casein to study the impact of soy phytochemicals on a protein specific to endothelial cells (CD54).
Blood samples from the rats showed that the soy-fed rats had inhibited CD54-dependent sticking of moncytes, whereas blood from casein-fed rats did not.
To further investigate if the observations were due solely to isoflavones, the Arkansas researchers incubated monocytes with the isoflavones.
No monocyte adhesion to the CD54 protein was found. It was also found that the endothelial cells did not even produce the protein in the presence of isoflavones.
This also led to a reduction in the production of pro-inflammatory proteins that would exacerbate the development of atherosclerosis and heart disease.
“Collectively, these data suggest that the athero-protective effect of soy diets may be mediated by blocking monocyte-endothelial cell interaction,” concluded the researchers.
Significant further study still needs to be done to investigate whether such results are applicable and reproducible in humans particularly more studies of the same double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled design.
Teenagers who start their day without breakfast are twice as likely to have diets low in iron which may affect their grades.
"Breakfast supplies more than just the energy kids need to get through the morning," said Dr Theresa Nicklas, a professor of pediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. "Teens who eat breakfast are also two to five times more likely to consume at least two-thirds the recommended amounts of most vitamins and minerals, including iron."
In a study involving over 700 ninth graders (aged - in Louisiana, Nicklas found that 19 per cent skipped breakfast. The diets of one in three breakfast-dodging teens had a significant iron shortfall, twice the rate of their breakfast-eating peers.
Intakes of other vitamins and minerals, including zinc, calcium, and folic acid, were also much higher among the breakfast-eaters, while fat consumption was lower. The study results were published in the Journal of Adolescent Health.
"It's important for parents to realise that the nutrients teens miss when they're allowed to skip breakfast are rarely recouped during other meals," said Nicklas.
Iron-deficiency anaemia has long been known to have a negative affect on behaviour and learning. A recent study found that even marginal iron levels were linked to poorer math scores among adolescent girls. In other studies, eating breakfast has been linked to improved memory, grades, school attendance and punctuality in children.
While overweight children are more likely to skip breakfast, this practice rarely results in a real calorie reduction. Instead, research suggests that meal-skipping teens simply snack more on salty, high-calorie, low-fibre foods.
According to Nicklas, girls are at particular risk for low iron levels because they have increased needs. Poor food choices, skipped meals and calorie-cutting can all jeopardise a teen's diet quality and iron intake.
"Making time for breakfast is an important first step," she said.
While many foods can serve as breakfast fuels, ready-to-eat cereals can be one of the easiest and least expensive ways to help adolescents get the iron they need.
"Low iron might not be the sole cause of poor math scores among some adolescent girls. But, poor dietary habits do suggest that a teen might not be getting the structure and support that he or she needs to succeed academically," Nicklas said. "Making sure teens eat a healthy breakfast is part of that structure."
The Healthier Options for Public Schoolchildren (HOPS) study in the US, has found that the 4,000 elementary school children enrolled in the study, accepted the healthier options made available in school breakfasts and lunches, when they were made in combination with creative nutrition education. The total fat and saturated fat were reduced in the meals served while the amount of total dietary fibre was increased, for both breakfasts and lunches served in the school cafeterias.
"Our purpose, was to introduce students to healthier food choices through the schools' existing food distribution systems, and to find mechanisms for the school districts to serve healthier foods within their budget constraints," says preventive cardiologist Arthur Agatston, MD founder of the Agatston Research Foundation and a principal investigator for the HOPS Study.
"I'm encouraged by our experience so far, and the students' acceptance of the fresh fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, as well as their involvement in the school gardens. They worked hard, planting, watering and maintaining the gardens, and finally eating what they grew. This also stimulated their learning about the nutrition in the foods HOPS introduced each month. I'm optimistic that this approach is something that may be replicated at other schools," says Agatston.
The HOPS pilot study that tests the feasibility of how holistic nutrition and healthy lifestyle management programs might work in the elementary school setting, began in a set of six schools. Of these schools, four were intervention schools where the HOPS programmatic and dietary interventions were implemented, and two participated as control schools, meaning they continued with typical education and district dietary offerings. All six schools participated in twice-yearly data collection, including height and weight, which were used to calculate age and gender-specific body mass index (BMI) measurements, and many other parameters that will ultimately document the impact of healthier eating.
HOPS tests the feasibility of including nutritious ingredients and whole foods, acquired through existing public school food distribution systems, for breakfasts, lunches, and snacks in the elementary school setting. "This is the critical part of this feasibility study: bringing higher fibre, less added-sugar, nutrient-dense foods, into school cafeterias. Making this happen is more of a challenge than you would expect. In some cases you cannot even get whole wheat bread into school cafeterias," says Danielle Hollar, PhD, HOPS principal investigator.
Rather than simply providing healthier food options, HOPS instituted exciting curricula that taught the children, their parents, teachers, and other school staff about nutrition and healthy lifestyle management. This included an emphasis on increasing physical activity.
Additionally, HOPS provided an avenue to create fruit and vegetable gardens in each of the elementary schools, with the goal of teaching children how the nutritious fruits and vegetables that are served in their school cafeterias, their homes, and in restaurants, are grown, cultivated, and harvested.
5. Grains in the news
Wholegrain : Stamp approved for meat and poultry | ( back to contents )
Products containing meat and poultry will now be able to feature the Whole Grain Stamp, after the US government announced it was to expand the list of goods eligible to use the symbol.
Introduced by the Whole Grains Council (WGC) last year as a way to help consumers keep track of their wholegrain consumption, the labels currently appear on nearly 800 products in the US.
Although the stamp is widely used on products such as breads, cereals, crackers and granola bars, until recently it had not been approved for use on meat and poultry goods.
Most foods in the US are regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which sets out mandatory nutrition labelling in 1993 with the National Labelling and Education Act (NLEA).
However, foods containing meat, poultry and eggs are regulated by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), which provides labelling guidance for these. So labels on products containing meat and poultry in addition to grains, must be pre-approved by USDA's Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS).
The FSIS has now approved the use of the stamp on such goods, a move that comes just six weeks after the stamp was redesigned to provide consumers with more information.
“With this decision, FSIS has taken another important step to support the Dietary Guidelines and MyPyramid,” said K Dun Gifford, President of WGC parent company Oldways.
“These federal food and eating guides recommend we all eat three or more servings of whole rains each day, but Americans rushing up and down the grocery aisles need the help of these Whole Grain Stamps to quickly locate wholegrain foods,” he added.
In late June, the WGC changed the design of its stamp in order to avoid potential regulatory uncertainty surrounding its use of the terms 'excellent' source or 'good' source. The new stamp indicates the number of grams of wholegrain ingredients in a serving.
Until now, the black-and-gold stamps have ranked products as 'excellent' or 'good' sources of wholegrains according to their content (an excellent source had to have a minimum of 16g per serving). Because the FDA remains vague about the use of these terms, the WGC decided to modify the stamps to pre-empt potential regulatory changes.
The move is a consequence of the FDA's recent rejection of a petition filed by General Mills requesting the development of definitions for 'excellent source,' 'good source' and 'made with' wholegrains.
The new stamps indicate the whole grain content of products by weight, such as “27g or more per serving”. Because this can still be confusing to some consumers who do not know how this compares to the daily recommended levels, there is also text directly below the stamp reading "Eat 48g or More of Wholegrains Daily".
Standards for products to qualify for the new stamps remain the same as before. Products must contain at least 8g (half a 'Pyramid serving') of wholegrains to use the stamp. Stamps on products with at least 16g (a full 'Pyramid serving') of wholegrains may also add "100 %" if all the grain in the product is wholegrain.
Bakeries in Australia and New Zealand may be required to use only iodised salt in the future, if a proposal from the countries' food regulator is approved.
The plan, which would raise costs for manufacturers, comes just two months after Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) called for mandatory fortification of baked goods with the B vitamin folic acid.
Cheryl Downie, executive officer of the Baking Industry Association of Victoria, said bakers were "tired of the way food has become a vehicle for medicine".
"And they're not even convinced that these moves are meeting the targets they're aimed at," said Downie.
FSANZ was asked to develop a food standard for iodine fortification to tackle the re-emergence of moderate deficiency in the mineral in New Zealand and some parts of Australia.
Iodine is naturally found in seafood but levels in vegetables, dairy and meat can depend on the natural iodine content of the soil in which the vegetables were grown or where the animal grazed.
Some table salt is already iodised but people are using less salt in cooking and at the table because of advice to cut down on the ingredient for health reasons. Iodine intake has also been indirectly affected by changes in dairy processing. Milk used to contain higher levels of iodine because of contamination from iodine-based disinfectants but these have gradually been replaced by more effective non-iodine products.
FSANZ is calling for manufacturers of breakfast cereals, breads and biscuits to replace any salt already used in these products with iodised salt.
"It is important that we take action to fortify food now as mild-to-moderate iodine deficiency could become worse in the overall population if no action is taken," said FSANZ chief scientist Dr Marion Healy.
Mild-to-moderate iodine deficiency can reduce cognitive ability, hearing and motor skills and is especially risky for young infants and the developing foetus. However pregnant women will still be required to take iodine supplements after fortification as the levels consumed are unlikely to be sufficient to protect babies' brains.
FSANZ said that the levels of fortification will significantly improve the iodine status of the whole population while also ensuring the safety of foods. Replacing existing salt with iodised salt will not increase overall salt consumption or change the appearance or taste of cereal, bread or biscuits.
But processors will spend about 10 per cent more on iodised salt than the non-iodised variant, and will also face extra sourcing and re-labelling costs. FSANZ estimates that Australian firms will spend up to $2000 per SKU while in New Zealand it will cost up to NZ$1000.
There could also be trade-related costs for companies supplying different markets as some countries prohibit iodine-fortified foods.
The bakery sector has already voiced its opposition to a proposal last month for mandatory fortification of baked goods with folic acid. Companies like George Weston Foods said the proposal was based on out-of-date information about national diets - the last national diet survey in Australia was carried out in 1995, and women now eat less bread.
They argue that fortifying bread is therefore not the best vehicle for improving folic acid intake in this specific population group.
Comments on the iodine proposal must be submitted by 6pm on Friday 15 September.
The iconic UK cereal brand Weetabix has added a new oat variety to its portfolio in a bid to attract health-conscious consumers seeking to benefit from its cholesterol-lowering properties.
Oatibix resembles the standard weetabix biscuit but has a 97 per cent oat content, it will be launched in conjunction with Oatibix bitesize - a smaller version of the cereal.
Weetabix is one of many cereal makers who are increasingly marketing products from a health platform in an effort to counteract the poor health image of ready to eat breakfast fare.
Last month a survey by consumer magazine Which? criticised Weetabix product raisin and cranberry Weetaflakes for containing 30.7g of sugar per 100g.
But it could be said that with the launch of a new oat product the cereal maker has attempted to address consumer health concerns by tapping into the growing oat market.
Oats have been enjoying a surge in popularity on the back of the trend towards functional foods and healthy eating. According to market researchers Mintel, value sales of oats increased by 26 per cent between 2003 and 2005 and sales grew by 81 per cent from 2000 to 2005.
Meanwhile, over the same five year period, volume sales also increased by a healthy 43 per cent with Britons consuming 50,000 tonnes of oat-based products last year alone
Oats have been praised by food scientists as being an effective way of reducing cholesterol and studies have suggested that, when taken as part of a healthy diet, they can reduce the risk of heart disease.
As well as being a source of antioxidants and fatty acids, oats contain a soluble dietary fibre which lowers levels of LDL 'bad' cholesterol and improves glycemic control, making them not only a good choice for health but also weight management.
A spokesperson for Weetabix said that consumers traditionally associated oats with hot cereals such as porridge and that Oatibix was designed for people who didn't have the time to make it but wanted the resulting health benefits.
The EU is funding an innovative new research programme that could see the introduction of a highly nutritional cereal Fonio.
Fonio, which is grown in West Africa, has long been seen as a marginal cereal due to its small grain size.
But it is now the object of renewed interest for its taste and nutritional properties, according to CIRAD (agricultural research for developing countries).
The EU-funded project, entitled FONIO, is designed to improve the competitiveness of the fonio commodity chain in West Africa.
"Fonio could be a new cereal product for the European market," said project coordinator Jean-Franois Cruz.
"Boosting the productivity of the commodity chain on various levels is also crucial if the African market is to be developed."
Processors in Mali and Burkina have begun exporting fonio to Europe and the United States in sealed plastic bags, but the volumes involved are low. Partnerships have recently been established, in particular with France, to up the volumes marketed to several dozen tonnes per year, and organic and fair trade sectors are starting to develop.
However, more work needs to be done. "The first step is to define quality criteria for precooked fonio, and determine consumer demand in Africa and Europe," said Cruz.
"As regards quality, sand in whitened fonio is still one of the main problems to be solved in order to produce quality fonio for sale in supermarkets and on the export market. Under a previous project, we were able to mechanise fonio hulling, which is both time-consuming and complex, is generally done by hand using a pestle and mortar, and slows processing operations considerably."
The new FONIO project should also enable the development of specific post-harvest machinery, and encourage the development of new high added-value products for export.
"Some supermarkets and export markets also sell precooked fonio, but it is not yet common," said Cruz. "This type of fonio is obviously more expensive, often costing twice as much as whitened fonio sold in bulk.
"We are also keen to produce 'parboiled fonio' and 'quick-cook fonio'. The parboiling process already used for rice could be applied and optimised for whitened fonio, to improve its nutritional quality, provided consumers are prepared to buy a parboiled product."
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