News summary

China sees effects of prosperity

Tens of millions of Chinese have joined the global epidemic of obesity through the spread of prosperity and western influence. Obesity rates have risen as China shifts from staple foods to culinary abundance and from physical labour to more sedentary work. The country imports less than 5 per cent of its groceries but western and Asian-style snack foods appear in every supermarket and convenience shop. A decade ago, only one in 10 Chinese was overweight, and very few were classified as obese, but in 2000 some authorities estimated that just under a third of all Chinese adults were overweight. A study by the Shanghai Children’s Health Care Institute found that 8 per cent of children aged 3 to 6 were obese.
(The Associated Press) www.ap.org

US coeliac levels “ten times previous estimates”

Three million Americans – one in every 150 people ?suffer from coeliac disease, according to the National Institutes of Health. This is 10 times the previous estimates. Charles Elson, chairman of the NIH panel that investigated the condition, says, “We have a very effective treatment ? a gluten-free diet ? but if physicians don’t recognise when to test for the disease, patients are going to suffer needlessly.” The US Congress is considering a bill that would require food manufacturers to label products containing six substances to which large numbers of people are sensitive, including gluten.
The New York Times News Service www.yourhealthdaily.com

US food guidance “is still credible”

US researchers say that despite a recent backlash against the government-issued “food pyramid” the nutritional tool is not responsible for the current obesity epidemic. It has been suggested that the pyramid oversimplifies the food groups and stresses starchy foods at the expense of proteins and unsaturated fats. However, Dr Jeanne Goldberg of Tufts University in Boston points out that most Americans do not follow the food guide pyramid, which is produced by the United States Department of Agriculture, so it cannot be blamed for the average adult’s excess weight. First published in 1992, the latest edition of the pyramid recommends that Americans eat 6 to 11 servings of carbohydrates a day, or the equivalent of 6 to 11 slices of bread. It suggests that people eat 2 to 4 servings of fruit, 3 to 5 servings of vegetables, 2 to 3 of meat and other protein sources, and up to three daily servings of dairy products.
(Reuters Health Online)
www.reutershealth.com

Caution over fish safety guidance

Two US organisations have issued new guidance about safe fish consumption. Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR) and the Association of Reproductive Health Professionals (ARHP) have produced one guide for doctors and another for consumers. There advice is more comprehensive and cautious than that recently offered by the Environmental Protection Agency and the Food and Drug Administration. They recommend that women of childbearing age, and children, avoid fish that have the highest levels of mercury and PCBs.
(Health Scout) www.healthscout.com

Meat eating and endometriosis

Research in Italy suggests that eating red is a risk factor in endometriosis. Dr Fabio Parazzini of the University of Milan says the women who eat the most meat increase their risk of endometriosis by between 80 and 100 per cent, whereas those who eat a lot of fresh fruit and vegetables reduce it of by about 40 per cent. “Our study does suggest that there is some link between diet and risk of endometriosis and indicates that we now need a proper prospective interventional investigation to study these factors,” he says.
(BBC News Online)
www.bbc.co.uk

McDonald?s accused

A US radio presenter is taking legal action against McDonald’s, accusing the company of failing to use to a lower-fat cooking oil as it had promised. An action filed behalf of radio talk show host Katherine Fettke seeks class action status and alleges McDonald’s was not fully using a cooking oil with reduced levels of trans fatty acids and has yet to publicly disclose that in an effective manner.
(ABC Online)
www.abc.net.au

White bread and weight gain

Over-consumption of white bread could lead to an increase in waist size, according to research in the US. Scientists at Tufts University in Boston say the difference in effect between white bread and that made with whole grains could be due to the relative feeling of satiety created by the higher-fibre food. Team leader Professor Katherine Tucker says waist circumference is very much associated with a pattern of consumption of highly-refined grains. Her team points out on the other hand that such foods have a low glycaemic index (GI). The British Nutrition Foundation says the data show that those who eat white bread have more calories and fat overall in their diet than those that eat wholemeal bread, making it is difficult to say that white bread alone is a reason for weight gain.
(BBC News Online)
www.bbc.co.uk

Schools “failing to get food messages across”

Primary schools are failing to give children consistent messages about healthy eating, say inspectors from Ofsted and the Food Standard Agency. The result of this is that children’s awareness of diet and nutrition is poor and what they do learn makes little impact on what they eat and drink. The report – based on visits to 25 English nurseries and primary schools ? concludes that teachers and other school staff involved in food and nutrition education lack necessary knowledge. “This lack of accurate and up-to-date subject knowledge is a key factor in impeding effective food and nutrition education,” it says.
(BBC Online)
www.bbc.co.uk