nutrition

The United Kingdom isn’t messin’ around when it comes to false advertising and food company claims. Earlier this month, the iconic Nesquik bunny took a kick to the cottontail when the U.K.’s Advertising Standards Agency forced Nestle, the product’s maker, to remove its claim that the beverage is “a great start to the day.”
The agency upheld a claim by the Children’s Food Campaign that claimed the tagline encouraged poor nutritional habits in children.

This might sound like an odd-sounded phrase: organic Gatorade. But it’s real, and it will soon be on store shelves.
The organic Gatorade, made by PepsiCo, was announced by company CEO Al Carey last Monday at Beverage Digest’s Future Smarts conference.

“It’s a consumer interest. I think they’re very interested in non-GMO and organic, and to the degree you can make it meaningful to the consumer – do it,” said Carey.

Last week, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) opened a 90-day comment period for the public to share its thoughts concerning how the word “natural” should be defined on food labels.
To keep up with consumer demands for organic, GMO products, food companies have been slapping terms like “natural,” “all natural,” “simply made,” and “made with natural ingredients” on their goods, but there aren’t any formal rules or regulations that determine what they mean.

Yet another study has linked eating meat to cancer, but this time chicken was also linked to the disease. However, scientists were able to tease out more details about the association.

Childhood obesity has more than doubled in children and quadrupled in adolescents in the past 30 years, and a new study finds that all of those fast-food commercials you see on TV that are clearly aimed at young children are working, and they are compounding the obesity problem.
According to Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth University researchers, kids who watched television channels that aired fast-food commercials were more likely to eat at fast-food restaurants with their families.

In the U.S., children often consume double or triple the amount the federal recommended guidelines for sugar intake, but cutting the amount of sweets that kids consume for as little as 9 days is all it takes for youngsters’ health to start improving, according to a new study from researchers at the University of California-San Francisco and Touro University.

In the ancient science of Ayurveda, doctors often prescribe Indian Gooseberry, also known as Amla, or Amalaki (scientific name Phyllanthus emblica). The rejuvenating fruit has many uses; among them, the powerful fruit, full of B and C vitamins as well several other exceptional phytonutrients, helps to decrease blood glucose levels in diabetics and lower cholesterol.

I’d certainly like to bake some holiday cookies without GMOs, and when I initially heard McCormick would be rolling out a non-GMO vanilla, I thought it was pretty cool that like other food companies, McCormick is listening to its customers about what they really want in their food.
The company:

“…announced plans to take a leadership position in Organic and Non-GMO herbs and spices ahead of the peak holiday season.”

The U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry held a biotechnology hearing for the first time in 10 years last week to discuss the future of food technology as the industry responds to increased demand, production challenges, and consumers’ calls for a safe and transparent food supply. But the meeting came up short on transparency and carried on more like a Monsanto share-holders meeting than an unbiased inquiry into the pros and cons of biotechnology where it concerns the food supply.

If you ever buy kid’s meals at Wendy’s you’ll be happy to know that the apples they serve will not be GM ‘Arctic apples’ as per a recent statement by the company. The company confirmed in April via email to Friends of the Earth that it has no plans to sell Arctic apples.