News summary

“Hidden” trans fats

An investigation by the Consumers’ Association has found that millions of people are eating trans fats on a regular basis without knowing it. Trans fats are present are high levels in a range of popular food products and in meals on sale in major fast food chains. There is no requirement for the fats, which to be mentioned on the nutritional information on food labels, despite the fact that eating as little one gramme a day can increase the risk of heart disease. According to Which? research, it is quite easy to eat that amount, when a KFC meal of regular crispy strips of chicken and French fries contains 4.4g of trans fat, and a serving of McDonald’s McNuggets and regular fries 3g.
(The Independent)
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Uneven milk distribution

The milk industry claims that millions of children in England and Wales are not getting milk that is meant for them under a European Union subsidy. The Dairy Industry Association, which in co-operation with the Milk Development Council is running a campaign to encourage consumption in schools, says although more than 1.3 million youngsters have a daily carton of milk in school, 90 per cent of those aged five to 11 do not.
(BBC News Online)
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Folate and high blood pressure

Increasing their daily folate intake appears to offer women an additional benefit to that already known, say scientists in the US. The consumption of 800 mg or more per day is associated with a significant reduction in the chance of developing high blood pressure, according to a report presented at the American Heart Association’s annual conference on high blood pressure research in Chicago. Dr John Forman of the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston said younger women taking that amount of folate are at 29 per cent less risk of high blood pressure than those who consume less than 200 mg daily, while older women’s risk is 13 per cent lower when they take the higher amount. He pointed out that is it difficult to achieve the higher levels without supplements.
(Reuters Health Online)
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Teenagers “not accepting message”

An internal report of the Food Standards Agency indicates that the drive to warn teenagers of the dangers of obesity is failing because the “healthy eating” message is boring and negative. The report suggests that warnings are having little impact on eating habits, and that teenagers are more influenced by what is seen as cool, attractive or likely to make them physically fit. The finding is to be used by the FSA to counter calls for a total ban on promoting unhealthy foods to children. The organisation believes advertising with celebrities can be used to subtly promote healthier foods.
(The Independent)
www.independent.co.uk

Benefits from starvation stunt

The extreme of starvation demonstrated by David Blaine may offer evidence of how diet should be managed for everyone, says a UK academic. Jeremy Powell-Tuck, who is professor of clinical nutrition at Barts and the London Queen Mary School of Medicine, treated Blaine when he emerged after 44 days without eating suspended in a Perspex box. He supervised the illusionist’s “re-feeding” period, and monitored him for the eight months it took him to regain his former weight. Professor Powell-Tuck says it was useful to be able to study someone who was malnourished, but who was not affected by disease. David Blaine had lost 25 per cent of his body weight, but maintained a healthy body mass index. However, he became deficient in B vitamins, and Prof Powell-Tuck says the importance of vitamins to people undergoing re-feeding in hospital is not always appreciated.
(BBC News Online)
www.bbc.co.uk

Low carb diets and cholesterol

Preliminary research in the US suggests that a low-carbohydrate diet can help severely obese people improve their cholesterol levels. It may also help control inflammation better than a low-fat diet. Dr Prakash Seshadri, of the Philadelphia Veterans Affairs Medical Center, has found that C-reactive protein levels fall to a greater degree in people on a low-carbohydrate diet than in those on a fat- and calorie-restricted diet. While the diets show similar benefits for participants’ cholesterol levels, the cholesterol type known as large very low-density lipoprotein, which is rich in triglycerides, declines to a greater degree with the low-carbohydrate diet.
(Reuters Health Online)
www.reutershealth.com