Health & Medical

FDA Still Struggling to Define "Gluten-Free"

by Slashfood Editor, Posted May 2nd 2011 @ 2:00PM

gluten free cookies Photo: LizLemonCooks, Flickr

In 2004, Congress gave the FDA until 2008 to create a definition for what a gluten-free product actually means. Three years after that deadline, we're still waiting.

The Washington Post reports that as celiac disease rates are rising, the government still has no set definition for gluten-free products.

Although the U.S. gluten-free product industry is booming (revenues were $2.6 billion last year, up from $100 million in 2003), they still have quite a bit of wiggle room. The Washington Post explains that some companies "might fail to test their products or might allow small amounts of gluten but still label their foods as gluten-free."

Other countries including Canada, Brazil and Australia have defined gluten-free foods as containing no more than 0.0007 of an ounce of gluten for every 2.2 pounds of food. Though the FDA has no set definition, it does offer a FAQ page about gluten-free labeling.

On May 4, the world's largest gluten-free cake will be brought to Capitol Hill to call attention to the issue. Currently, at least three million Americans have celiac disease, and 18 million have gluten sensitivity.

Filed under: Health & Medical, Food News

How Much Sugar Do Americans Consume Daily? (Hint: Way Too Much)

COMMENTS 10

by Slashfood Editor, Posted May 2nd 2011 @ 11:00AM

Americans eat way too much sugar Photo: NYC.gov

In a country where candy displays are perched next to cash registers at every retail outlet imaginable and drinking soda is a birthright, it can hardly be surprising that Americans consume a large amount of sugar. But 22 teaspoons a day? That's hard to swallow.

Yet the statistic is true. U.S. adults consume 22.2 teaspoons of sugar daily -- or 355 calories, reports UPI. That wildly exceeds the daily recommended amount, says Phil Lempert, a food industry analyst. He says average-sized women should be consuming no more than 6.25 teaspoons; men 9.4.

Not only is the sugar bad for your waistline, but diets high in the sweet stuff have been shown to contribute to high blood pressure, increased triglycerides and cardiovascular disease, the American Heart Association says.

As is usually the case with dietary matters, a little moderation goes a long way.

Filed under: Health & Medical, Food News

Is Your Peanut Butter Carcinogenic?

COMMENTS 32

by Slashfood Editor, Posted Apr 25th 2011 @ 4:00PM

peanut butter and jelly sandwiches Photo: Getty Images

Though there's no immediate need to turn your PB&J's into jelly-only sandwiches, there is a chance that peanut butter may contain the carcinogen aflatoxin. The soft and porous shell that encases peanuts can allow fungus with aflatoxin to penetrate into the nut, explains Organic Authority.

Although aflatoxin has yet to be proven to cause cancer in the United States, it has been documented as causing liver cancer in developing countries where corn, peanuts and grains are grown without strict soil quality regulation. Currently, all commercially-produced peanut butters must be tested for aflatoxin, but grind-your-own peanut butter may actually be at a higher risk because the peanuts sit around the longest without refrigeration, allowing more mold to develop, according to Organic Authority. Planet Green also adds that natural peanut butters may be more susceptible since "they are less processed and have a shorter shelf life, therefore the mold is more likely to thrive."

This alarm bell has been sounded before. In an informative write-up, Celeb doc Andrew Weil explains that the Consumers Union found the exact same results about a decade ago, when it was discovered that supermarket brands like Peter Pan, Jif and Skippy contained the less afloxtin than natural brands. Consumer Reports has researched aflatoxins since 1972, but still says peanuts are worth eating for their health benefits.

There's a simple precaution if you're concerned. Refrigerate your peanut butter -- it'll keep out the mold.

Filed under: Health & Medical, Food News

Is Roadkill Safe to Eat?

COMMENTS 30

by Slashfood Editor, Posted Apr 19th 2011 @ 4:00PM

roadkill Photo: Pen Waggener, Flickr

Several news sources have recently pondered, is roadkill safe to eat?

The answer? Well, sort of.

On the pro-roadkill eating side:
If an animal was recently killed but otherwise healthy, the meat is actually much fresher than what you might find in a grocery store, explained Steve Rinella of the Travel Channel's "The Wild Within" on HuffPost Food recently (see his video of finding and preparing raccoon roadkill, after the jump). Daniel Klein of "The Perennial Palate" has a similar philosophy in this video, in which he prepares venison tartare from a deer collected from the side of the road that was "still steaming."

Even PETA basically agrees with both men. The animal-rights group advises, "If people must eat animal carcasses, roadkill is a superior option to the neatly shrink-wrapped plastic packages of meat in the supermarket."

Most recently, Food Safety News interviewed several roadkill-eating enthusiasts and gathered that there are a few good general rules of thumb to follow, such as the fact that eating roadkill in the winter may be safer since the animal is essentially refrigerated upon its death. Rinella adds that for raccoons, when the blood has not yet coagulated and the hair is not oily, those are both good signs that the animal was recently killed and therefore okay to eat.

Filed under: Health & Medical, Online

Dukan Diet Book, A Celeb Smash, Hits U.S. Stores Today

COMMENTS 0

by Slashfood Editor, Posted Apr 19th 2011 @ 2:00PM

The Dukan Diet Photo: Amazon

The Dukan Diet reportedly has Kate Middleton and J. Lo slenderizing. But is this high-protein, low-carb, four-phase diet really anything new? Calling Atkins and South Beach!

Now you can find out what all the hype is about. The English version of the decade-old French weight-loss bible The Dukan Diet: 2 Steps to Lose the Weight, 2 Steps to Keep It Off Forever, by French physician Pierre Dukan, MD, hits stores today, April 19.

Our friends over at Everyday Health asked nutritionist Kelly MacDonald, RD, to review the Dukan Diet, and lay out the pros and cons. Among them: "Though you may see rapid initial weight loss, it will mostly be from water and, later, from muscle mass. You'll also likely experience fatigue, moodiness, and other symptoms because the diet is so severely lacking in carbohydrates."

Click here for the whole Dukan Diet story from Everyday Health.

Filed under: Health & Medical, Celebrities

How to Eat to Beat Seasonal Allergies

COMMENTS 2

by Slashfood Editor, Posted Apr 18th 2011 @ 5:00PM

allergies Photo: Getty Images

We're just as sick of spring allergies as the next guy. And we know how much your Claritin, your funky nasal spray, and the supreme gift to all allergy sufferers, antihistamine eye drops, mean to you. But also eliminating a few foods from your diet may make your allergy symptoms a lot less annoying.

Medical News Today offers solutions from Dr. Fred Pescatore, author of The Allergy and Asthma Cure, who says that the key to getting through allergy season is to reduce the inflammation in our bodies. That means, if you have a yeast or mold allergy, cut the aged cheeses and stick to low-yeast foods. Fight congestion during grass season by cutting back on dairy products and grains.

"Refined sugars, flours, and processed food all trigger inflammation, so steer clear of them," Dr. Pescatore says.

Filed under: Health & Medical

Staph Bacteria Found in Half of U.S. Meat

COMMENTS 44

by Slashfood Editor, Posted Apr 15th 2011 @ 12:00PM

meat at grocery store Photo: Charlie Neibergall / AP Photo

What's lurking in the meat you're buying for your family? Plenty of bacteria, according to a new study, published in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases. Almost half of all the beef, chicken, pork, and turkey bought in five U.S. cities and sampled by researchers, was found to contain drug-resistant strains of Staphylococcus aureus, reports CBS News.

"Staph" bacteria is nothing to fool around with-it can cause everything from a rash to life-threatening sepsis and endocarditis. And because we've consumed so many antibiotics, the staph bacteria isn't easily controllable by drugs. In fact, in the tests done by study researchers at the Translational Genomics Research Institute, 47 percent of the meat contained bacteria resistant to three types of antibiotics.

Sure, you can kill "staph" by cooking the meat, but one contaminated cutting board is all it takes to set the bacteria in motion for many cooks. How many ways can we say it's time to give up the steak tartare?

Filed under: Health & Medical, Food News

Strawberries May Fight Cancer

COMMENTS 6

by Slashfood Editor, Posted Apr 7th 2011 @ 1:00PM

strawberries Photo: jdg32373, Flickr

They're delicious in shortcake and make amazing ice cream, but a new study suggests strawberries might also have the power to fight cancer.

Ohio State University researchers found that freeze-dried strawberries slowed the growth of dysplastic, or precancerous, lesions in people who consumed the fruit for six months, reports The Wall Street Journal.

The study was aimed specifically at esophageal cancer, the sixth most frequent cause of cancer death in the world. (There are about 16,000 new cases each year, according to the American Cancer Society.) The research was done in China, where patients consumed 30 grams of freeze-dried strawberries dissolved in a glass of water twice daily for six months, reports the WSJ.

The freeze-dried strawberries are about 10 times as concentrated as fresh, but the study's lead researcher suggested people could still benefit from eating whole strawberries on a daily basis.

So far, no one has been able to pinpoint exactly what it is in the berries that's battling cancer cells. But until they know, you might want to hedge your bets and throw a few extra strawberries into that smoothie.

Filed under: Health & Medical, Food News

USDA Introduces New Regulations for Safer Meat

COMMENTS 1

by Jason Best, Posted Apr 6th 2011 @ 2:00PM

meat food safety Photo: Charlie Neibergall / AP Photo

Hoping to significantly reduce the number of the most serious food-related recalls, the U.S. Department of Agriculture proposed new regulations this week aimed at the nation's meat processors.

As often happens in these sorts of situations, it's not until new regulations are proposed that the rest of us (a.k.a. the happy-go-lucky meat-buying public) start to understand just how unprotected we'd been up until now, kind of like that cartoon character that sleepwalks onto a tightrope, only to wake up and see the Grand Canyon yawning beneath him.

Currently, meat processors large and small are required to test their products for nasty bugs like E. coli, Listeria and Salmonella, but seemingly contrary to common sense, they can go ahead and send their tested meat to market without waiting for the test results.

Huh?

Filed under: Health & Medical, Food News

Some Food Addictions as Powerful as Drugs

COMMENTS 10

by Jason Best, Posted Apr 5th 2011 @ 1:00PM

addicted to chocolate Photo: Wurth_Skidder, Flickr

We toss around the word "addicted" a lot when it comes to food: "I'm addicted to chocolate," or "I'm addicted to cheese fries." So should it really come as a surprise that maybe some of us really are addicted to our favorite foods?

This according to a study published this week in the Archives of General Psychiatry. Researchers took a sample of about 40 women ranging in weight and scanned their brains as they were tempted with the promise of either a tasty chocolate milkshake or a "calorie-free tasteless solution" (which sounds like water to us).

What they found were that parts of the brain that have previously been associated with drug and alcohol addiction were also activated in the women who were anticipating the shake. These areas were even more active in participants who scored high on tests measuring their level of "food addiction."

Filed under: Health & Medical, Food News