"vitamins" news and stories

In a bid to compete with Coca Cola's Odwalla line of smoothies and vitamin-fortified fruit drinks, which the company acquired in 2001, Pepsi has bought the company Naked Juice. Naked Juice offers a line of more than 20 different juices, juice blends and smoothies, all of which are 100% natural and free from added sugars, preservatives and artificial colorings. A privately held company, their annual revenue is about $150 million, which has led financial analysts to speculate Pepsi probably paid around $450 million for Naked Juice, although the terms of the sale were not disclosed. Naked Juice will benefit from this new partnership by gaining access to more retailers and a much bigger marketing department, which they will be able to take advantage of to promote their "super premium" juices, raising their brand awareness for health and wellness conscious consumers.

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Every time we turn around it seems that there is some expert or some study telling us that another food is "bad" for us. And given a little more time, there will be another person saying that the food is, in fact, "good." Red meat -- a category that includes beef, pork and lamb -- has been subject to this time and again and it is getting difficult to keep track of all the things that it can -- and cannot -- do. Fortunately, an Independent columnist neatly summarized the benefits and risks of eating red meat.

Benefits

• High in zinc, which is important for a healthy immune system.
• Contains more iron than most foods, and it is more easily used by the body than iron from other sources
• Also a good source of other vitamins and minerals, including phosphorus, potassium, magnesium, selenium and b vitamins.
• Excellent source of complete proteins
• A high-protein diet based on lean red meat has been shown to help weight loss

Risks

• An increased risk of bowel cancer was found for people who ate more than two servings of red meat per week.
• The Mediterranean diet, which is low in red meat, has been shown to decrease the risk of Alzheimer's disease
• Excessive amounts of red meat can lead to a higher risk of osteoporosis due to an acid byproduct from digesting very large amounts of protein.
• Eating red meat every day can double the risk of Arthritis
• Red meat is high in saturated fat and cholesterol
• A recent study found that rating more than one serving of red meat per day can double the risk of breast cancer, especially in young women.

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A new study published by the USDA's Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion says that Americans aren't eating enough servings of fruits and vegetables. The USDA looked at the results of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey III from 1999 to 2000 to collect data from over 8,000 people, ages 2 and up and compared them to the new (MyPyramid) and old (5 servings a day) nutritional guidelines.

They found that based on the old guidelines, only 40% of people were getting the recommended amounts. Based on the new recommendations, which are significantly higher, only 10% of people would be eating the suggested amount of fruits and vegetables.

Wait - 1999? The problem with the study is that it is comparing old data to our new standards. Granted, people weren't eating enough vegetables in 1999 and you can be sure that not all people are eating enough now, but dietary trends have changed enough that the comparison might not yield accurate results. In the past 7 years, there has been a tremendous growth in organic and natural foods, heirloom fruits and vegetables and in healthier eating overall. The trends are so much more prevalent now than they were when the data for the survey was collected, that it is likely the numbers are more encouraging, even if we're only up to 15% instead of 10%.

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Stonyfield Farms is looking to make yogurt even healthier. In Canada, their Organic YoBaby Plus Fruit & Cereal Yogurt, made for infants and toddlers, is now fortified with MEG-3 brand omega-3, giving it the same heart-healthy fatty acids that are found in foods like fish. Omega-3 is also found in breast milk in the same concentration that Stonyfield is using in its yogurt; it was likely the inspiration for the idea to add MEG-3 to the product in the first place, as soft yogurts are considered to be a good "transition" to solid foods.

Yogurt isn't the only food to recently gain the benefits of omega-3s. Some research is being done with pork and omega-3s. The question is whether the infusion of the fatty acid into other foods will be able to reproduce all the health benefits of the naturally occurring acids in fish.

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Revamping frozen novelties, like ice cream bars and ice cream sandwiches, into more health-conscious variations seems like a natural thing to do with summer coming up in just a few short months. After all, it is the time of year that people start to remember that they are going to have to put on a bathing suit at some point. Yoplait is releasing a line of Frozen Yogurt & Cereal Bars and Sandwiches. Though the name sounds like it might be breakfast food, the bar is actually an ice cream-like frozen yogurt rolled in a crushed cereal coating. This gives the bar a tasty crunch to contrast with the cool, creamy yogurt. For those people who can't help indulging at breakfast time, it is refreshing to know that the bars are low fat and contain as much calcium as a glass of milk, have the same live-active culture as yogurt and all the vitamins and minerals that dry cereals are typically fortified with, including vitamins A, C, D, B6 and B12, as well as zinc and iron. The bars come in three flavors: Strawberry, Vanilla & Wildberry, and Vanilla & Raspberry. Look for them in your local supermarket this month!

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