"I believe this is a technology that is going to curb if not eliminate the obesity epidemic"I guess he's never read any of Brian Wansink's work that suggests the doughnuts' "low-fat" label will likely contribute to obesity's rise, rather than help it's fall. Why? Because the label and the story provide a health-halo that the evidence would suggest will lead people to consume more calories from these purportedly "healthy" or at the very least, "healthier" doughnuts than if they just hit the full strength versions (something to which the store's out the door lineup to buy speaks directly).
"The Foundation is particularly excited about this program as it allows us to extend our message about the importance of healthy lifestyles and reducing breast cancer risk. It’s never too early or too late to take steps to help reduce risk by making healthy choices and learning more about breast health."So what healthy choices are sold in the pink and healthwashed Max! Healthy Vending Machines? Pretty much the same crap that's in any vending machine only this machine calls its contents healthy. There's sugared soda like Natural Brew Cream Soda (9.5 teaspoons of sugar) and Blue Sky Organic Soda New Century Cola (sweetened with 10 teaspoons organic cane sugar). There are cookies like Enjoy Life's Chocolate Chip and Snickerdoodles (each with the same calories and sugar of Oreos) and chocolate bars like Green & Black's Milk Chocolate (nutritionally nearly identical to the iconic Hershey's Milk Chocolate bar). And of course there are potato chips like Old Dutch Baked Ketchup Chips (which according to the nutritional information on the Old Dutch website chip per chip actually contain more calories and more sodium than their non-baked Old Dutch Ketchup Chip brothers).
"taste remarkably similar to the ones I make at home from scratch."He goes further and states,
"The McCafé’s Blueberry Pomegranate variety is particularly impressive, because it contains no sweetener beyond fruit juice."That statement demonstrates Kay really isn't clear on this whole nutrition thing, or that his app isn't helping him as much as he thinks. Looking at the Blueberry Pomegranate's ingredients reveals quite a lot of sugar (I've bolded each added sugar addition for ease of reading), both in the smoothie base and in the low fat yogurt added to it
Blueberry Pomegranate Smoothie Fruit Base: Blueberry puree, water, clarified demineralized pineapple juice concentrate, raspberry puree, apple juice concentrate, pomegranate juice concentrate, natural (botanical) and artificial flavours, cellulose powder, peach juice concentrate, pear juice concentrate, citric acid, lemon juice concentrate, xanthan gum, pectin, dimethylpolysiloxane, natural colour (fruit and vegetable juice).If Kay were more familiar with nutrition I imagine he would know that when you boil off all the liquid of fruit juice and concentrate it, you're left with plain old sugar. A lot of sugar in fact in the case of these smoothies, with sugar accounting for 88% of their calories. How much sugar? Even if you forgo the yogurt in your smoothie, a so-called "snack" size Blueberry Pomegranate smoothie contains 7.25 teaspoons of sugar, a small - 11.75tsp, a medium - 14.75tsp, and a large - 18.25tsp. For comparison, a Mars bar contains as much sugar as the "snack" sized Blueberry Pomegranate smoothie, while the large has sugar just shy of that which you'd find in 750mL of Coca-Cola (or that of nearly 3 Mars bars).
Low fat yogurt for Smoothies: Partly skimmed milk, sugar, milk protein concentrate, modified corn starch, bacterial
cultures.
"Dear Goodlife,They were kind enough to write him back. In their reply they pointed out that the partnership's intention isn't in fact meant to sell cookies, but rather to help those people who eat cookies as apparently GoodLife Fitness thinks that people who eat Dare cookies could probably stand to join a gym,
I recently read Goodlife is partnering with Dare Cookies. As a physician I am quite troubled by this strange relationship with Dare cookies given Goodlife espouses to promotes a healthy lifestyle. I am in fact so troubled by this campaign that I am seriously contemplating cancelling my membership, Moreover, I could not in good conscience recommend Goodlife given this corporate partnership with Dare. I look forward to your reply in this matter.
Regards, Timothy Moran MD PhD"
"Dear Dr. Moran,So I set out yesterday to find a co-branded package of cookies and when I came up short (couldn't find any in our local supermarket), I tried a Google search.
Thank you for your email message and your concern in the partnership with Dare Cookies. I can understand your concern upon reading such information. There is a partnership in place but not in the aspect you might assume. The partnership is not to promote the cookies but the importance of physical fitness directed towards those who might consume the cookies. On certain types of cookies there will be an offer for a 14 day trial membership to encourage those to attend a facility.
I hope this explanation will help ease your mind in Goodlife's intentions.
Should you have any additional questions or concerns please feel free to contact us.
Yours In Fitness,
Shelly
Member Experience Department"
"Looking to beat the summer heat? Why not try this cool, wholesome summer treat!"And what's the, "wholesome", summer treat being promoted by Goodlife Fitness?
"a few extras for tasting"Oh, and GoodLife Fitness also provides this helpful advice,
"Looking to try other Simple Pleasures cookie flavours? There are 8 in total, all baked with 10 (or less!) simple and familiar ingredients. Choices include Oatmeal, Oatmeal Dark Chocolate, Social Tea, Chocolate Thins, Spice Snaps, Cinnamon Snaps, and Almond flavour.And lastly - I must point out that the blog tags included on this post were, "Healthy Living", and "Nutrition".
At GoodLife Fitness, we encourage Canadians to live fit and healthy lives which includes a balanced approach to nutrition. This might include having a cookie after playing with your kids. Through our cross promotion with Dare, we are partnered with their Digestive Cookies."
That's the nice way to look at it.
How else could you explain her defense of a product (sugar sweetened beverages) that accounts for a full 7% of total consumed calories and is itself devoid of any nutritional benefit?
Rhona S. Applebaum, vice president and chief scientific and regulatory officer at The Coca-Cola Co., in an article first published in the Sacramento Bee (since removed from their site it seems so I've linked to a web cache), states that,
"If we are really honest with ourselves, we know that no one group or sector can solve this problem alone and searching for a silver bullet that miraculously stops obesity is just not realistic. Targeting scapegoats or pointing fingers is simply a waste of energy."Hmmmm, let's see.....while it's true that no single raindrop thinks it's responsible for the flood, and while one sandbag alone's not going to do the trick, what if there were one sandbag that could target 36% of the floodwater (will get to that number momentarily)? That'd be one helluva sandbag, no?
"Instead, we should apply our energy to solutions that have been shown to work."I'm sorry Dr. Applebaum - I'm not familiar with any interventions that to date have been shown to work, especially not those you allude to including more physically active jobs and of course, just moving more.
"We're here because this public health challenge requires our collective commitment and action."So what's my problem? Those sure sound like important things, a call to action and a cross sectional representation of experts to help guide said action sound necessary.
"Today's Summit on Healthy Weights is another milestone that will move us forward in creating lasting change for children and their families. It represents a "first" in bringing together such a broad cross section of partners to address this issue."
For my non-Canadian readers that photo up above is known as poutine, and it's French fries, smothered in cheese curds, smothered in gravy, and it's a bone of contention for Registered Dietitian Natasha McLaughlin-Chaisson.
Looking through Osteoporosis Canada's website she came across their list of foods that were good sources of calcium.
Included in their listing?
Well poutine of course, and also Velveeta, and nachos with cheese. Kraft Dinner, pizza, and ice-cream make it onto the list too, albeit as lesser sources of calcium.
Now one way to read this, is that all Osteoporosis Canada is doing, is providing the calcium information of what they refer to as, "Common Foods" - foods we're eating anyhow.
Of course another way to read this is the way Natasha did, whereby she wonders whether or not their inclusion as high sources of calcium might represent an endorsement from Osteoporosis Canada, who in turn are nutritionally whitewashing the consumption of poutine, Velveeta, nachos and ice cream in the name of calcium.
Natasha's right, and I'll tell you why.
Natasha contacted Osteoporosis Canada with her concerns. After much run around she was told that the inclusion of the nachos and poutine will be looked at by a committee when they got a chance, but that one of their dietitians had approved their inclusions.
So? No slam dunk there, that doesn't mean their list is meant to encourage consumption or steer people to specific choices, it just means they've got a rather eccentric dietitian working for them.
Not quite. In fact the list is there to help Canadians navigate specific calcium sources as was evidenced by the fact that according to Natasha, they also told her that taking ice-cream off the list wasn't an option because,
"it is a good source of calcium especially with children who dislike milk"Therefore it's indeed Osteoporosis Canada's list of "good" sources of calcium, as if it were just a list meant to serve to inform folks about the calcium content of common foods, that argument wouldn't have been put forth.
Now I'm not a theologian, but I'm pretty sure this is an official sign of the apocalypse.
It's the Bob Evans automated gravy dispenser.
According to the advertisement, buy one gravy dispenser for the low, low price of $595 and receive 4 FREE cases of gravy!
So my question to the readers out there, and no it's not the obvious who in their right minds would want to eat this, my question is what's up with the vomity gravy? I mean that's the food stylist's shot. If that's the best it can look, can you imagine what actually comes out of one of those machines?
Best line ever?
"Gross profit from free gravy"Gross profit indeed.
Big Milk's onslaught of advertisements designed to look like newspaper articles continued last week with this full page feature in Canwest papers.
I'm sure the Dairy Farmers of Canada were thrilled with Dr. Brian Roy, director of the Centre for Muscle Metabolism and Biophysics at Brock University, who happily perpetuated a dairy myth - that it magically helps with weight loss. Dr. Roy was quoted as saying,
"While it may seem surprising, milk can even help people lose weight. Studies report calcium rich diets can prove effective as a weight loss regime. Those studies have also shown diets rich in milk and milk products provide an extra boost to weight reduction."Oh really Brian?
"the data available from randomized trials of dairy product or calcium supplementation provide little support for an effect in reducing body weight or fat mass."Want to know who else doesn't think the data on dairy and weight loss are impressive? America's answer to the Dairy Farmers of Canada, the National Dairy Council (the heavyweights responsible for the milk moustache and Got Milk? ad campaigns), who withdrew their assertion that drinking milk would help with weight loss when the Federal Trade Commission threatened them. Under the FTC's glare the Council stated they'd refrain from the ads,
"until further research provides stronger, more conclusive evidence of an association between dairy consumption and weight loss"That was in May 2007. Looking at Medline since May 2007 there has only been one study published that specifically looked at the effects of dairy consumption patterns on weight loss. That study's conclusion?
"Our results do not support the hypothesis that a higher dairy consumption protects against weight gain and development of metabolic disturbances in a Dutch elderly population."So to summarize. Big Milk itself admitted to the Federal Trade Commission that to date the suggestion that dairy contributes to weight loss is preliminary at best - a point agreed upon by Dr. Susan Barr, and a point the vast majority of studies on dairy consumption and weight conclude is in fact false as they demonstrate no benefit, yet here we have an advertisement published in the Canadian Press that includes a statement by a misinformed professor that the industry itself knows isn't even remotely conclusively true.
According to my friends over at Fooducate, at this week's American Dietetic Association (ADA) conference there was a talk regarding whether or not we can trust industry sponsored nutrition research. The reason that's in question is because sadly right now there are no guidelines in place to help expose conflict of interest in dietetics. It was the absence of such guidelines which led Marion Nestle in 2001 to write a fascinating journal article about how food company sponsorship impacts on the profession's credibility. Ultimately it led Marion to resign her ADA membership. According to Fooducate,the lecture was not a popular one at the ADA conference and was very poorly attended.
Of course it's not just research articles that demonstrate conflicts and bias, we can see non-evidence based industry bias in a far more dangerous place - the mainstream media.
Case in point?
Yesterday there was a CBC report about an Ipsos-Reid survey which according to the CBC was, "conducted on behalf of Dietitians of Canada" (DC). What the CBC article later reported was that the survey was cosponsored by the Dairy Farmers of Canada. The DC and Dairy Farmers of Canada joint press release on the survey drew these 4 conclusions (highlighting is mine, not theirs):"1. Consumption of all four food groups is far below recommended levels;
Well last week we covered how milk doesn't appear to actually have a benefit on hypertension and that calcium supplementation alone impacted on cancer risk while dairy might in fact up the risk of prostate cancer and given milk's failure in preventing osteoporotic fracture and in weight loss, I'm not sure what magic milk is meant to do.
2. A significant number of Canadian adults had not consumed any milk and alternatives or any vegetables and fruit on the day prior to the survey.
3. Many Canadian adults report they have barriers to healthy eating.
4. A majority of Canadian adults are not aware of the many health benefits of milk and alternatives and vegetables and fruit including their role in reducing the risk of some cancers, hypertension and other chronic diseases.
5. When made aware of these important health benefits, Canadians report they are motivated to increase their intake of foods from these food groups."
Looking at the actual survey the bias is obvious. The only specific questions regarding choices and healthfulness have to do with either "dairy and alternatives" or "fruits and vegetables" and of the 5 conclusions of the press release, 3 directly relate back to dairy (2, 4 & 5). Absent was information regarding the health benefits of whole grains, nuts, legumes or fish.
The thing is I get it. I fully understand why the Dairy Farmers crafted the survey - it was designed to report that Canadians don't drink enough milk; that there are umpteen-million magical "benefits" to milk consumption; that milk's as healthy and important as fruit and vegetables; and that if we just teach people more about unbelievably healthy milk they'll drink more of it, but the question I've got is why do you think the Dietitians of Canada decided to lend their name and credibility to a survey that ignored multiple food groups and is basically a milk advertisement?
Unfortunately the media certainly treated it like more than simply a milk ad and they ran with it prominently featuring DC's involvement. Had the poll simply been one from the Dairy Farmers of Canada I imagine the coverage of the report, if any, would likely have been very different. As well in this case, the media also oiled the slippery slope of corporate dietetic collaboration by failing to identify quoting dietitian Kathy Furgala's corporate allegiances referring to her instead as a "Toronto-based dietitian". Frankly it was in fact Kathy's quote from the CBC story that got me riled up enough to write this post and explore the survey in the first place. She was quoted as saying,
"For people who say, 'I don't want to worry about the food groups,' just look at your plate, and see if you can't throw in one veggie or some cheese"Yup, the two most important things you could ever add to your plate if you don't want to "worry about the food groups" - a single vegetable or of course, some cheese.
At the very least it's in the top three.
You see childhood obesity intervention sells. It sells magazines, newspapers and apparently it helped sell the concept of a $10 million seal exhibit at an aquarium.
Say what?
Yup - the New Balance Foundation Marine Mammal Center recently unveiled its $10 million dollar seal habitat and Move It! program. The program basically involves people, presumably including children, watching seals with the hope that watching seals while the children themselves are either stationary or seated will translate into improved childhood fitness and a reduction in childhood obesity.
I kid you not.
Apparently not only will children be able to stand still and watch seals playing actively, they'll also be able to stand still and look at panels around the aquarium that show seal "moves" like stretching, jumping and swimming which encouraging the kids to, "Try it!"
Here's what Paul Boyle, vice president of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums had to say about this mind-numbing initiative,
"You can almost see a child in front of the exhibit, gyrating, trying to mimic the seal and saying, 'Well this is pretty cool,'" he said. "Then they go home and they may roll around in the backyard and then they may start to, you know ... run"Better not take your kids to a bird sanctuary Paul - they might climb up on the roof and try to fly.
I've blogged about the Wii before and how while it may be fun, it's far from exercise.
Today I bring you Treasure Hunt a new game for the Nintendo DS that at least one reviewer bills as,
"not only another blow in the fight against obesity, it's also a nice illustration of what our sister site likes to call the OFF=ON trend, whereby the online and offline worlds are increasingly overlapping"To be clear, I think getting kids outside and playing is a great idea and certainly if you're going to have your kids play video games, by all means have them playing games that actually get them moving.
Meet Ms. Annette Brook.
She's the British Liberal Democrat MP for Mid Dorset and North Poole. She's also a staunch crusader in the fight against childhood obesity.
She's quite outspoken.
Here's a smattering of quotes from her website:
"We welcome the removal of vending machines selling chocolate, fizzy drinks and crisps to encourage young people to seek alternative snack options."So how "totally" on message is Ms. Brooke?
"We have allowed food marketing companies to influence our diets and the television media to further develop our already sedentary lifestyles. We need to empower our citizens to lead a healthy lifestyle and action now is imperative."
"For every £1 spent promoting healthy eating £500 is spent marketing unhealthy food, so the market has clearly failed. Advertising promotions determine our children's food choices and propel them down a single route. The producer is king. I agree that if we limit the advertising of unhealthy food for children, many parents will be under less pressure to give in to their requests for fast food."
"Let us ponder on "You are what you eat". If we keep that at the back of our minds, we will be able to get totally on message."
That's my take on Kinder's new, "Have you played today" campaign".
The gist of the campaign?
Treats are an important part of parenting and so to be better parents you've got to make sure you give them treats, more specifically - Kinder chocolates.
Now it's true the chocolates are smaller than regular Kinder chocolates, but that's not really the point. The point is here's a campaign with an incredibly unique marketing pitch. Forget probiotics, omega-3 and fibre. Here we've got chocolate being pitched as a parenting tool; a pitch that suggests that you're a bad parent if you don't give them Kinder eggs.
How does it do that?
By recruiting experts to push their message.
Experts? What expert in their right mind would agree to pitch chocolate to children under the banner of good parenting?
Two in fact. Registered Dietitian Mary Bamford and child Psychologist Dr. Anthony Volk.
So what did they have to say?
When I read Mary's piece entitled, "Treating with Food: What's Okay", I learned that Mary advocates giving children 10-15% of their total daily calories in treat form and that doing so would, get this, teach them about portion control,
"For younger children, allowing around 100 calories per day as a treat allows you to teach the importance of portion control. Older children and female teens are allowed 150 to 200 calories per day and 200 to 400 calories per day for active teen boys."More strikingly I learned that Mary doesn't seem to be aware of treats other than food as not once does she suggest that such treats exist. She also advises parents not to stress about giving their children chocolate every day because,
"The Kinder Survey reveals that 91% of dietitians agree that parents should feel comfortable including chocolate in their children’s diets on a periodic basis."I suppose "daily" is technically "periodic". Gee thanks Mary for the sage advice of parents' own hands providing 10% of their children's daily calories as treats and backing that up with a spun-by-you statistic that clearly did not apply to the daily provision of the caloric equivalent of 1 can of Coca Cola for toddlers and small children, 2 cans of Coca Cola to teen girls and 4 cans of Coca Cola daily to teen boys
"If parents don't expose kids to things in our culture, they're going to go crazy in their teens and so really teaching them reasonable choices is a good way to go so getting 10 per cent of your calories from added sugars is quite reasonable")And the child psychologist, what about him? He had a lot to say - 4 pieces in total. In his article, "Why Treat" he explains that giving your kids Kinder chocolate every day will:
"Did you know that treats of all kinds – from a special shared experience to a simple chocolate bar – can be used to help build those positive parent-child relationships? In fact, when used as part of overall positive parenting practices, treats can:To be clear, it's not as if my wife and I never use food treats with our own children - we surely do but certainly not every day. More importantly our food treats are never given as rewards like Kinder's purchased experts suggest. Why not? Because it's thought that rewarding with food treats (called instrumental feeding) encourages and teaches children to eat for a myriad of cues and may further their risk of eating more than they need, which is probably why in guidelines on the treatment and prevention of childhood obesity rewarding with food is explicitly cautioned against.Giving and receiving treats – shared moments of joy – can help to build strong parent-child relationships."
- Show children that their parent is concerned about making them happy, and willing to do things that make them happy.
- Set a positive mood to make a child more receptive to what a parent has to say.
- Foster positive interactions between parents and children.
"I think we live in a consumer society, and it’s very refreshing to see companies taking interest in the welfare of children that they’re marketing to. You have to buy things for children, so for a company who wants to sell to children, I think it’s very responsible that they actually try to get experts on board"Dr. Volk, Kinder's job is to sell chocolate. They used you to do that. Nothing refreshing about it.
Because there isn't enough temptation in your children's lives to eat cookies and chocolate here are more stupid kid games (like the ones I blogged about back here).
I wonder who awarded the chocolate game the "Best Games Award 2008"?
Hershey's?
Oy.
Readers of my blog may remember my post detailing the press release where the headline sounded alarm bells about Canadian women battling with body image and then proceeded to call on the Canadian women reading the press release to explore their own, "problem areas" and specifically look for,
"muffin tops to thunder thighs, from junk in the trunk to flabby arms"I also referred to Nadeen Boman, she's the trainer quoted in the press release and the trainer on the Slice TV shows, "Bulging Brides" and, "The Last 10lbs Bootcamp".
Wow.
Anyone here familiar with the Greek myth of Milo? So the story goes,
"Milo of Croton was born in the sixth century B.C. in southern Italy, won the boys' wrestling Olympic Games in 540 B.C., and went on to victory in five consecutive Olympics.My guess is that the folks who work for Palos Sports a Chicago based sporting good distributor might have taken that myth literally.
Some modern athletic coaches consider Milo the father of resistance training, the process of lifting heavier and heavier weights to build strength. This stems from another legend: As a youth, Milo carried a newborn ox on his shoulders. As Milo grew, the ox grew; the load got heavier and Milo's muscles became stronger."
"Operation Pull Your Own Weight"Their premise?
"1. Kids who can do pull-ups, ARE NEVER OBESE.Ummm, I think someone needs to help these folks with the principles of cause and effect.
2. Using a Height Adjustable Pull Up Bar and Leg Assisted Pull Ups, (pulling and jumping at the same time) ALMOST ALL KIDS can develop the ability to do conventional pull-ups.
3. Which is to say, ALMOST ALL KIDS can naturally immunize themselves against obesity for a lifetime, without pills, shots, or fancy diets, by simply developing, and maintaining the ability to do pull ups."
