get loss weight for woman: 2012

Senin, 31 Desember 2012

GI News—January 2013

Check out Jamie’s low GI 15-minute meal;
How honey helped to make us human;
The scoop on quinoa plus recipes to enjoy;
GI provisions in new health claims legislation for ANZ;
How low should a low GI diet go?
Why going meatless one day a week is a good idea.

Feet, forks, fingers, sleep, stress and love are the best medicine we have for preventing cancer and other chronic diseases says Dr David Katz and all are good for health anyway. Check out his Super Six in Food for Thought. This issue has all your favourite features including three low GI recipes to share with family and friends.

Good eating, good health and good reading.

Editor: Philippa Sandall
Web management and design: Alan Barclay, PhD
Contact email (for questions or permission to reproduce stories from this newsletter): info@gisymbol.com for technical problems or faults please contact smb.ginewstech@sydney.edu.au

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Food for Thought

Add years to your life and life to your years with Dr David Katz’s Super Six.
‘Feet, forks, fingers, sleep, stress and love are the best medicine we have for preventing cancer and other chronic diseases, and all are good for health anyway,’ says Dr David Katz.

Dr David Katz

‘Regular physical activity (feet) is associated with weight control, reduced inflammation, enhanced immune function and reduced cancer risk specifically. Optimal diet (forks) exerts far-ranging effects on every aspect of physiology, and similarly stands to reduce the risk of all chronic disease. Combine eating well and being active with a commitment to never hold a cigarette (fingers), and the risk of all chronic disease declines by roughly 80 per cent.

Those are my top three, but the list of health promotion priorities very reasonably extends to three more. The quality and quantity of sleep has profound effects on psychology, immunology and neurology. A linkage to cancer risk is suggested by a rudimentary connection of these dots. Much the same is true of stress, which can contribute to hormonal imbalances and inflammation that propagate cancer – or can be managed to prevent such effects.

And, finally, there is love. We are, from our earliest origins, social creatures much influenced by our relationships with others. While love may seem a “warm and fuzzy” topic, it is in fact the cold, hard scrutiny of clinical trials demonstrating that those with loving relationships are far less vulnerable to chronic disease and death than those without.

Combine all six salutary practices, and the evidence is clear that benefits reverberate all the way to our chromosomes, altering the behavior of genes in a way apt to reduce chronic disease risk in general, and cancer risk specifically.

I hasten to append to this paean for the power of lifestyle a proviso: there is never a guarantee. Think of it this way: lifestyle practices are the ship and sails, but there are still the wind and waves. The former we can control to increase the probability of a safe crossing; the latter, we cannot – and thus even a well-captained ship may founder. But the Super Six can assuredly put probability on your side. You'll need a little help with love, but the other factors are up to you. Don’t wait for that brush with mortality – I commend the Super Six to you right now.’

About Dr David Katz Known internationally for expertise in nutrition, weight management, and chronic disease prevention, Katz is the founding director of Yale University's Prevention Research Center. He is the editor-in-chief of the journal Childhood Obesity, President-Elect of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine, founder and President of the non-profit Turn the Tide Foundation, and a blogger/medical review board member for The Huffington Post.
www.davidkatzmd.com
http://twitter.com/DrDavidKatz

What’s New?

Prof Jennie Brand-Miller on how low should a low GI diet go?
‘The GI was introduced back in 1981 to rate the glycemic character of the carbohydrate in individual foods like bread, breakfast cereal, rice, pasta, apples etc.,’ says Prof Jennie Brand-Miller. ‘The purpose was to exchange one carbohydrate source with another for snacks and in your meals (e.g. replacing a high GI breakfast cereal like corn flakes with a low one like natural muesli). The decision behind the cut-offs for rating high GI (70 or higher) and low GI (55 or less) foods, was based on the scatter of GI values among the single foods that had been GI tested.

Increasingly we are asked about the GI of mixed meals and the effect of extra protein and fat in the food on GI and blood glucose response. Eaten alone, protein and fat have little effect on blood glucose levels, but that’s not to say they don’t affect your blood glucose response when they are combined with a carb-rich food. Protein will stimulate additional insulin secretion, resulting in lower blood glucose levels. Protein and fat both tend to delay stomach emptying, thereby slowing the rate at which carbohydrate can be digested and absorbed. So a high fat meal will have a lower glycemic effect than a low fat meal even if they both contain the same amount and type of carbohydrate.

We believe there’s a real need to define the difference between a low GI diet and/or meal and a low GI food. Because a low GI food is defined as 55 or less, people have made the reasonable assumption that a whole diet that averages less than 55 is low enough. In fact the average Australian and American diets already has a GI of 56 to 58 because we all eat low GI fruits and dairy products and of course sugar has a medium GI (65). To reduce the risk of chronic disease, we believe that a low GI eating pattern/diet must have much lower number.

GI=45

We would propose that a GI of 45 or less is a reasonable definition of a low GI diet or meal. This is because what we now know from numerous observational cohort studies around the world is that the daily average GI of the diet of people in the lowest quintile (20% of the population) is about 40–50. Similarly, in a meta-analysis we published in Diabetes Care of 15 experimental studies investigating the role of low GI diets in managing diabetes, the daily average GI was 45. Since this average GI has been proven to have significant health benefits in people with existing diabetes and in reducing the risk of chronic diseases like heart disease and diabetes, and importantly, people can and do achieve it in real life, we believe a GI of 45 or less is what we all need to be aiming for.’

Why we can't afford to be so dependent on so few crops.

Graziano da Silva

From the peaks of the Andes to the Asian steppes, from the Arctic coasts to the African savannah, roughly 30,000 edible crops have been identified throughout the world. At December 2012’s international Crops for the 21st Century seminar José Graziano da Silva reminded us that while some 7000 species of plants according to FAO estimates have been cultivated or consumed as food throughout human history, many of these species are disappearing today. ‘If we lose these unique and irreplaceable resources, it will be more difficult for us to adapt to climate change and ensure a healthy and diversified nutrition for all,’ he said. ‘Globalisation has created an abundance of food in some parts of the world, but has failed to end the chronic shortages that exist elsewhere. It has also created a homogeneity of products, accompanied by a loss of different culinary traditions and agricultural biodiversity.’

According to FAO, the caloric intake of most people on the planet is based today on only four crops: rice, maize, wheat and potatoes. ‘Our dependence on a few crops has negative consequences for ecosystems, food diversity and our health. The food monotony increases the risk of micronutrient deficiency,’ he said. ‘We are slowly forgetting how to identify, cultivate, cook and conserve hundreds of local varieties that have adapted over time to the climactic conditions and the characteristics of every kind of land. We are losing a precious fountain of knowledge that has been accumulated over generations to find in local nature a response to our needs.’

Field of wheat

To address these challenges, the FAO has called for the sustainable intensification of agricultural production via a food production model it calls Save and Grow, that also preserves and enhances natural resources. In calling for increased research on under-utilised crops, Graziano da Silva stresses that such species ‘play a crucial role in the fight against hunger and are a key resource for agriculture and rural development’.

He also underlined the importance of sustainable diets. ‘While almost 870 million people go hungry, an even greater number are overweight or obese. And even as inadequate access to food causes suffering in poor countries, every year consumers in industrialised countries waste 220 million tons of food, an amount equivalent to sub-Saharan Africa’s total annual food production,’ he said.

Get the Scoop

The scoop on quinoa.
The United Nations has declared that 2013 is International Year of Quinoa. It was extensively cultivated by pre-Columbian cultures from around 3000 BC, and along with corn and potatoes was a staple in Andean meals and referred to as the ‘mother grain’. During 2013, food security, agriculture, and nutrition experts want to work together to make sure that traditional growers in South America can keep up with the demand, and that the crop can continue to feed millions as the world’s rising population and growing food shortages make eradicating hunger a formidable challenge.

Quinoa

Photo credit: Lauran and Henriette Damen, Kindred Organics

What’s so super about quinoa? One of the things that make quinoa a ‘super food’ is its resilience. In a world where climate change and natural disasters are threatening many traditional types of agriculture, heartiness is a much-desired quality in a crop. It’s a cool climate crop and the world’s main producers are Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador but it is also being grown in the US. Here in Australia, Lauran and Henriette Damen of Kindred Organics in Tasmania are in their fifth year of growing, harvesting, cleaning and polishing organic quinoa on a commercial scale. ‘It’s an amazing crop,’ they told us, ‘but rather challenging to grow.’

Nutritionally, it is an excellent source of low GI carbs (GI 53) and protein (around 8 grams per cup of cooked quinoa) and is rich in B vitamins and minerals including iron, phosphorus, magnesium and zinc. It is also gluten free.

It's also versatile. In the kitchen, you can use it in dishes that call for other grains or grain products including rice, couscous, bulgur or barley. It cooks in about 10–15 minutes and has a light, chewy texture and slightly nutty flavour. The beige/tan variety tends to have more flavour than the red – but a combination of the two makes a colourful dish. Here is a taste of the quinoa recipes we have published:

If you have their books, you may also like to check out

Jamie Oliver’s Blackened chicken with San Fran quinoa salad in Jamie’s 15 Minute Mealsand
Yotam Ottolenghi’s Avocado, quinoa and broad bean salad in Plenty.

In the GI News Kitchen

Spaghetti al gorgonzola.
This quick and easy pasta dish made with these simple ingredients absolutely belies its special occasion taste. Try it tonight with a crispy garden salad. Makes four 1-cup servings. Enjoy.

For the sauce
1/3 cup (80ml) evaporated skim milk (Italians use cream)
2 tbsp unsalted butter (Australian cooks use 1½ tbsp)
4–6oz (110–170 g) gorgonzola, crumbled
8oz (230 g) spaghetti

For the topping
2 tbsp walnut pieces, toasted
2–4 tbsp fresh mint, finely chopped
grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese, optional

Spaghetti al gorgonzola

Bring sauce ingredients to room temperature.
Cook spaghetti according to package directions until al dente. Do not overcook.
Warm the milk over low-medium heat in a large non-stick sauté pan. Add the butter and when it is melted add the gorgonzola. Stir until creamy. Remove from heat and set aside.
Drain the pasta, add to the sauce. Mix well.
Sprinkle the walnuts and mint on top of the spaghetti. Serve immediately with grated cheese on the side.

Per serve
1690 kJ/404 calories; 16g protein; 18g fat (includes 10g saturated fat); 47g available carbs; 2g fibre

Cut back on the food bills and enjoy fresh-tasting, easily prepared, seasonal, satisfying and delicious low or moderate GI meals that don’t compromise on quality and flavour one little bit with our Money Saving Meals packed with fresh produce including these delicious stuffed vegetables from the Low GI Vegetarian Cookbook (Hachette Australia)

Stuffed vegetables with barley, quinoa, pine nuts and pepitas.
You could substitute the pearl barley and quinoa with cooked brown rice or couscous. Any variety of fresh herbs, vegetables and nuts/seeds can be added to the stuffing mix. Serves 4.

½ cup pearl barley
½ cup quinoa
3 cups water
2 medium eggplants (aubergine), halved lengthwise
1 tbsp olive oil 1 onion, finely chopped
1 stick celery, diced
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tsp dried oregano
1 zucchini (courgette), finely diced
2 red capsicums, halved, deseeded
6 large vine ripened tomatoes
2 tbsp pine nuts
2 tbsp pepitas
2 tbsp freshly chopped mint
1 tbsp freshly chopped parsley
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Stuffed vegetables with barley, quinoa, pine nuts and pepitas

Stuffed vegetables with barley, quinoa, pine nuts and pepitas

Photo of vegetables stuffed with quinoa: Ian Hofstetter

Cook the pearl barley and quinoa in separate pans following packet instructions until tender. Drain well. Meanwhile …
Scoop out the flesh of the eggplants, leaving a 1cm (½in) shell. Sprinkle the shell with salt and turn upside down on kitchen paper to drain off the bitter juices. Dice the eggplant flesh.
Preheat oven to 180ºC (350ºF).
Deseed and dice 2 of the tomatoes. Cut of the tops of the remaining 4 tomatoes and scoop out their seeds, leaving a shell, set aside.
Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan over a medium–low heat. Add the onion and celery, cook stirring occasionally for 5 minutes or until soft. Add the garlic, oregano and zucchini, cook stirring for 1 minute more. Increase the heat to medium–high, add the diced eggplant and zucchini and cook stirring for 2–3 minutes or until light golden. Add the drained barley, quinoa, diced tomato, pepitas, pine nuts, mint and parsley and season.
Rinse the eggplant shells out and pat dry. Fill the eggplants, tomatoes and capsicums with the stuffing, place on a lightly oiled baking tray and roast for 30 minutes or until vegetables are soft and golden brown. Serve.

Per serve
1538 kJ/368 calories; 12g protein; 19g fat (includes 2g saturated fat); 31g available carbs; 13g fibre

Jamie’s 15 Minute Meals.
The cover describes the recipes in this book as ‘delicious,’ ‘nutritious’ and ‘super-fast’. And they are. We particularly like the fact that many are also low GI and that Jamie seems as keen on a can of legumes as we are! Check out www.jamieoliver.com for more information.

Lamb meatballs, chop salad and harissa yoghurt
‘This book is an expression of big, exciting flavours, fast, for busy people’ writes Jamie in his intro. This recipe is certainly all that. Recipe © Jamie Oliver 2012. Serves 4.

Meatballs
400g (14oz) lean lamb mince
1 heaped tsp garam masala
olive oil
1 pinch of saffron
½–1 fresh red chilli
2 spring onions
½ a bunch of fresh coriander (cilantro)
2 cloves of garlic
1 x 400g (14oz) tin of chickpeas
350g (12oz) passata

Salad
½ a cucumber
2 little gem lettuces
1 bunch of radishes
2 ripe tomatoes
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 lemon

To serve
1 heaped tsp harissa
4 heaped tbsp fat-free natural yoghurt
8 small wholewheat tortillas
1 orange

Lamb meatballs, chop salad and harissa yoghurt

Lamb meatballs, chop salad and harissa yoghurt

Photography © David Loftus, 2012

Ingredients out • Kettle boiled • Large frying pan, medium heat • Large lidded pan, medium-high heat

Mix the mince in a bowl with salt, pepper and the garam masala • Divide into 4, then roll each piece into 4 balls with wet hands, placing them in the frying pan as you roll them and adding 1 tablespoon of olive oil • Toss regularly until dark golden all over • Put the saffron into a cup, just cover with boiling water and leave to soak.
Finely slice the chilli, trimmed spring onions and coriander stalks (reserving the leaves), put them into the large pan with 1 tablespoon of olive oil, then squash in the unpeeled garlic through a garlic crusher • Fry for 40 seconds, then add the saffron and its soaking water, the drained chickpeas and the passata, cover and bring to the boil • In a small dish, swirl the harissa through the yoghurt.
Roughly chop and mix all the salad veg for the salad on a board • Add the extra virgin olive oil and lemon juice, then season to taste • Loosen the sauce with a splash of water if needed, then pour into the meatball pan and season to taste • Microwave (800W) the tortillas for 45 seconds • Serve it all with orange wedges and a scattering of coriander leaves.

Per serve
1945 kJ/465 calories; 34g protein; 18g fat (includes 5g saturated fat); 36g available carbs; 12g fibre

Jamie’s 15 Minute Meals is published by Michael Joseph, Penguin and is available in good bookshops and online.

We Are What We Ate

Alyssa Crittenden: How honey helped to make us human….

Dr Alyssa Crittenden

‘Most discussions of the evolution of the human diet implicate meat as the proverbial smoking gun responsible for many hallmarks of human evolution such as brain expansion, cooperation, family formation, pair bonding, tool making, and even selection of marriage partners. Some alternative interpretations discuss the importance of plant foods, like tubers (starchy underground storage organs – similar to potatoes), and suggest that the collection and consumption of plant foods is what made us human. The debate of the significance of meat versus potatoes, so to speak, appears to be rooted in deep evolutionary time. More recently, however, there has been a trend in incorporating a wider range of foods in evolutionary reconstructions of the human diet.

With the popularity of the “Paleolithic Diet” and “caveman cooking” steadily on the rise, it is increasingly important to turn to different lines of evidence to inform our thinking on the history of humans and their food. As new lines of evidence converge, it is becoming clear that the ancestral human diet was varied and included a combination of both animal protein and fat as well as plant foods; a Paleolithic menu that included meat, potatoes – and dessert!

It appears that the human sweet tooth has a long history in human evolution. New research proposes that honey may have been important in human evolution. Upper Paleolithic (8,000 – 40,000 years ago) rock art from all around the world depicts images of early humans collecting honey. The images range from figures climbing ladders to access hives residing high in trees to figures smoking out hives filled with honeycomb. Honey and bee larvae are important foods consumed by many populations of hunters and gatherers worldwide. Foragers in Latin America, Asia, Australia, and Africa include honey and bee larvae as major components of their diet.

The Hadza hunter-gatherers of Tanzania, the population with whom I work, even list honey as their number one preferred food item!

The Hadza consume honey and larvae of both stingless bees and stinging bees, including the African killer bee (Apis mellifera). The Hadza locate the hives with the assistance of a wild African bird, the aptly named honey guide (Indicator indicator). The honey guide bird and the Hadza honey hunter communicate back and forth through a series of whistles and the bird guides the honey hunter, tree by tree, to the bee hive. Once the honey hunter has located the hive, he pounds wooden pegs ito the trunk of the tree, climbs to the top where the hive is located, chops into the tree to expose the hive, and smokes it out by placing burning brush into the opening. Smoking the hive acts to pacify the bees by dulling the senses of the guard bees who protect the opening of the hive. The bees see the smoke as a habitat threat and focus on collecting enough honey to rebuild their hive elsewhere. This allows the hunter to collect the honeycomb without being stung by the killer bees. The honey guide bird patiently waits outside of the hive and as the honey hunter obtains his honeycomb prize, the honey guide bird is rewarded with its delicious prize – wax from the comb and bees.

Hadza man up tree

Honey is a highly nutritious (and delicious!) food source, composed primarily of fructose and glucose. Combined with larvae, which is high in protein, fat, and B vitamins, honeycomb is nature’s energy bar. The ethnographic cross-cultural evidence of honey consumption, combined with depictions of honey hunting portrayed in rock art around the world, suggest that honey has long been been a part of human history. Early humans, and their expanding brains, would have greatly benefited from consuming honey and bee larvae because the human brain needs glucose to fuel the high metabolic demands of neural development and function. The Paleolithic diet likely included meat, plant foods, and honeycomb – one of the sweet secrets to human evolution!’
– The Importance of Honey Consumption in Human Evolution. Food and Foodways
– Clip from an upcoming documentary on the Hadza (the population with whom I work)
– David Attenborough follows a honeyguide bird

Dr Alyssa Crittenden is Lincy Assistant Professor of Anthropology (and honey enthusiast!), University of Nevada, Las Vegas

GI Symbol News with Dr Alan Barclay

Dr Alan Barclay

New health claim legislation for Australia and New Zealand includes provisions for GI.
Food Standards Australia and New Zealand’s (FSANZ) draft food standard to regulate nutrition content claims and health claims on food labels and in advertisements was recently approved by the Legislative and Governance Forum on Food Regulation clearing the way for its implementation in early 2013. Once law, all health claims need to be supported by high quality scientific evidence and will only be permitted on foods that meet specific eligibility criteria including the Nutrient Profiling Scoring Criterion (NPSC), which identifies healthier foods and drinks. The NPSC model is still undergoing development as part of the process of developing a new front-of-pack labelling system for Australia.

Under the new standard:

General level health claims such as ‘calcium is good for strong bones’ can be supported either by pre-approved or industry self-substantiated food/health relationships.
High level health claims such as ‘calcium reduces the risk of osteoporosis’ however, will require pre-approval by FSANZ.

What about GI? We are delighted to see that the new standard includes specific requirements for claims about the glycemic index, making Australia and New Zealand one of the few countries in the world that officially allows claims about GI on food labels. It specifically requires a food or drink to be tested in vivo (in humans) according to AS 4694 – 2007 (the Australian standard for GI testing). On top of this, to make a generic GI claim, a food or drink must meet the requirements of FSANZ’s Nutrient Profiling Scoring Criterion.

What about the GI Symbol? The new Standard also allows Certification Trademarks owned by bona fide not-for-profit organisations like the GI Foundation’s GI Symbol (or the Heart Foundation’s Tick) to be used. Foods that carry the GI Symbol have always met the requirements of AS 4694 – 2007, and in fact must now meet the requirements of ISO 26642:2010 (the international standard for GI testing).

As foods that use the GI Symbol have already met the Symbol program’s very stringent nutrient criteria, which identify healthier low GI choices within food categories, they do not need to additionally meet FSANZ’s Nutrient Profiling Scoring Criterion.

In 2013, here at the GI Foundation we will be developing a range of high level health claims about the GI and these will only be able to be used on foods that carry the GI Symbol. Stay tuned…

The GI Symbol, making healthy low GI choices easy choices

New GI Symbol

For more information about the GI Symbol Program
Dr Alan W Barclay, PhD
Chief Scientific Officer
Glycemic Index Foundation (Ltd)
Phone: +61 (0)2 9785 1037
Mob: +61 (0)416 111 046
Fax: +61 (0)2 9785 1037
Email: alan.barclay@gisymbol.com
Website: www.gisymbol.com

GI Update with Prof Jennie Brand-Miller

Prof Jennie Brand-Miller answers your questions.

Jennie

I have heard it’s a good idea to go meatless one day a week. Why is that?

The beta cells of the pancreas, which make insulin, are under constant assault from our modern Western way of eating – it's not just too many high-Gl carbs, it's also too much saturated fat. Both increase your risk of obesity, type 2 diabetes and heart disease. One way to cut the saturated fat is to have a "meat-free" day. Make it the one day of the week where you make a concerted effort to give legumes the starring role in your diet. There are plenty of vegetarian recipes in our Low GI Vegetarian Cookbook but if you've not in the mood to cook, then try a healthy high protein-low GI felafel wrap. You'll need to buy Goodness Superfoods™ wholegrain barley wraps, some hommus, tabbouli and felafel balls (all at your local supermarket). Spread the hommus over the wrap, then the tabbuouli, then squash 2-3 balls and wrap. Heat for 30 seconds in the microwave and voila…tonight's meal.

GI testing by an accredited laboratory
North America
Dr Alexandra Jenkins
Glycemic Index Laboratories
20 Victoria Street, Suite 300
Toronto, Ontario M5C 298 Canada
Phone +1 416 861 0506
Email info@gilabs.com
Web www.gilabs.com

Australia
Fiona Atkinson
Research Manager, Sydney University Glycemic Index Research Service (SUGiRS)
Human Nutrition Unit, School of Molecular and Microbial Biosciences
Sydney University
NSW 2006 Australia
Phone + 61 2 9351 6018
Fax: + 61 2 9351 6022
Email sugirs@mmb.usyd.edu.au
Web www.glycemicindex.com

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Jumat, 30 November 2012

GI News—December 2012

Dr Alan Barclay on why healthy low GI food doesn't need to cost more;
Eating carbs mostly AFTER 5pm: are there benefits?
What would batman eat? Helping kids make healthier choices;
Kids prefer a colourful range of food on the plate;
Low GI emergency pantry;
Coffee sobers you up: Nicole Senior investigates;
Six recipes to enjoy including three fruity desserts for festive fare.

In Food for Thought Prof David Katz suggests we ‘embrace health as a kind of wealth. Investing in health and treating it as something of great and universal cultural value – something we raise our kids to aspire to as they aspire to being rich – is a true, potential game-changer for the future of food, ourselves, and our planet.

Good eating, good health and good reading.

Editor: Philippa Sandall
Web management and design: Alan Barclay, PhD
Contact email (for questions or permission to reproduce stories from this newsletter): info@gisymbol.com for technical problems or faults please contact smb.ginewstech@sydney.edu.au

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Food for Thought

Embrace health as a kind of wealth.
Heading into the festive season, we are bombarded with ideas for a ‘cracking’ Christmas feast which mostly seems to involve spending a lot of time, money and calories on a day’s good cheer. We thought that it might be timely to ponder Dr David Katz’s comment that the truly great hope for the future of food involves treating health more like wealth. The following is reproduced with his very kind (as ever) permission.

Dr David Katz

‘In the beginning food was money and money was food. Food was the first currency, and modern currency is spoken of in terms of food – we are “breadwinners,” we “make dough,” and we “bring home the bacon.” We respect how money will affect the quality of our lives, but overlook it with regard to food. We invest in wealth, but generally, not health. Our time horizon for money is distant; for food, it’s only as far away as our next donut. We measure the value of food as calories per dollar, an obsolete metric in an age of epidemic obesity and caloric excess.

None of this is all that hard to fix. Our culture could embrace health as a kind of wealth. A cultural commitment to investing in health could be the normal expectation for any responsible adult. Experts who provide guidance toward better choices – dietitians, health coaches, and other qualified experts – could be valued universally as we value financial planners and investment counselors. And financial rewards for choosing better nutrition, courtesy of those with skin in the game, could put a high polish on the already luminous prize.

Food is a product of culture. The inertia of culture makes it tougher to turn than the Titanic. But the looming collisions (diabetes, obesity etc) are cause to get the job done -- and we can. The best way to predict the future ... is to create it. Unlike genes, culture is a medium of our devising. We created it – and we can update it. And by so doing, we can create the more nourishing future of food we would all like to predict.

So here’s a thought for the festive season and new year – investing in health and treating it as something of great and universal cultural value – something we raise our kids to aspire to as they aspire to being rich – is a true, potential game-changer for the future of food, ourselves, and our planet.

About Dr David Katz
Known internationally for expertise in nutrition, weight management, and chronic disease prevention, Katz is the founding director of Yale University's Prevention Research Center. He is the editor-in-chief of the journal Childhood Obesity, President-Elect of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine, founder and President of the non-profit Turn the Tide Foundation, and a blogger/medical review board member for The Huffington Post.
www.davidkatzmd.com
http://twitter.com/DrDavidKatz

What’s New?

Eating patterns in Canada – culture seems to count when it comes to obesity.
Quebec has the lowest combined rates of overweight and obesity of any Canadian province. It now turns out that it is also the one province in Canada that truly maintains a true and distinct eating Culture (that is culture with a capital C). According to the 15th edition of Eating Patterns in Canada, Quebec households are less calorie conscious than other Canadians and take great pleasure in eating. The vast majority (82%) feel that it is important to enjoy full and regular meals each day, which compares to 60% of western Canadians and 63% of Ontarians. They are also less likely to skip meals. While some believe that breakfast is the most important meal of the day it is lunch and dinner that are of most significance. Most of these meals are prepared at home, with 6 out of 10 lunches and 6.5 out of 10 dinners in Quebec households being made from scratch. They also enjoy dessert with dinner more often – about 112 times a year compared with about 89 times in Atlantic Canada, 57 in Ontario and 55 on the west coast. And they are the least likely to snack.

Prof Arya Sharma

Prof Arya Sharma says: ‘While I am generally cautious about inferring cause-and-effect, I am also the first to support any move to improving eating culture. Improving eating culture in the rest of Canada requires a discussion of ‘values’ – and apparently, Quebecers place a higher value on home cooking, regular eating, and finding pleasure in food than the rest of us. Changing this culture will take more than taxing and banning foods. Indeed, I am confident that changing culture will eventually change consumer behaviour, which in turn will ultimately change supply. No easy task – but perhaps worth a wider discussion. In the mean time, perhaps more of us should enjoy our desserts.’
– 15th edition of Eating Patterns in Canada (EPIC).

Eating carbs mostly AFTER 5pm at dinner reduces diabetes and cardiovascular risks.
Eating carbs mostly at dinner (rather than throughout the day) could benefit people suffering from severe and morbid obesity according to new research published in two papers in Obesity and in Nutrition, Metabolism & Cardiovascular Diseases.‘The idea for this research came about from studies on Muslims during Ramadan, when they fast during the day and eat high-carbohydrate meals in the evening, that showed the secretion curve of leptin was changed,’ explained Prof. Madar.

Ramadan feast

Here's what the researchers from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem did. They randomly assigned 78 police officers to either the carbs-mostly-at-dinner diet or the control carbs-throughout -the-day diet for 6 months and measured the effects on the secretion of leptin, considered to be the satiety hormone, whose level in the blood is usually low during the day and high during the night; ghrelin, considered the hunger hormone, whose level in the blood is usually high during the day and low during the night; and adiponectin, considered the link between obesity, insulin resistance and the metabolic syndrome, whose curve is low and flat in obese people. The results showed that eating carbs mostly at dinner led to changes in daylight hormonal profiles in favor of the dieters whose:

satiety hormone leptin’s secretion curve became convex during daylight hours with a nadir in the late day hunger hormone
ghrelin’s secretion curve became concave, peaking only in the evening hours
curve of adiponectin, considered the link between obesity, insulin resistance and the metabolic syndrome, was elevated.

At the same time this dietary pattern led to lower hunger scores, and better anthropometric (weight, abdominal circumference and body fat), biochemical (blood glucose, blood lipids) and inflammatory outcomes compared to the control group. So much for the 'no carbs after 5pm brigade'.

A diet rich in slowly digested carbs reduces markers of inflammation in overweight and obese adults.

Dr Marian Neuhouser

Among overweight and obese adults, a low glycemic load diet rich in slowly digested carbohydrates significantly reduces markers of inflammation associated with chronic disease, according to a new study by Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center published in Journal of Nutrition. In the study, the 80 participants (half normal weight and half overweight) completed a 28-day high glycemic load diet and 28-day a low glycemic load diet in random order. The diets were identical in carbohydrate content, calories and macronutrients. ‘This finding is important and clinically useful since C-reactive protein is associated with an increased risk for many cancers as well as cardiovascular disease,' said lead author Dr Marian Neuhouser. It also modestly increased blood levels of a protein hormone called adiponectin, which plays a key role in protecting against several cancers, including breast cancer, as well as metabolic disorders such as type-2 diabetes, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease and hardening of the arteries.

Higher dietary glycemic load diet linked to worse colon cancer survival.
Lifestyle has been shown to play an important role in the development of colorectal cancer. Risk factors, such as obesity and physical activity have been shown to directly influence insulin levels and recent studies have shown a direct link between host factors that lead to hyperinsulinemia and cancer recurrence and mortality in colorectal cancer survivors; however, the influence of glycemic load and other related dietary intakes have on the survival of colon cancer patients is unknown. Researchers have now identified a link between higher dietary glycemic load and total carbohydrate intake and increased risk of cancer recurrences or death among stage 3 colon cancer patients, a finding that suggests that diet and lifestyle modification can have a role in improving patient survival, according to a study in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

Kid stuff.

Batman

#1 What would Batman eat? Having trouble getting your child to make healthier eating choices at their favorite fast food restaurant? Priming them with the simple phrase: ‘What would Batman eat?’ may be the answer! In a recent field study by Brian Wansink and colleagues published in Journal of Consumer Research, 22 children in a summer camp were asked if they would like French fries or apple slices with lunch. On one day, they were shown pictures of real or fictional role models and asked what the role models would choose, before making their own decision. The use of this simple prime increased the amount of children who selected apple slices from 9.1% to 45.5%! Making the connection between eating healthy and being an admirable adult clearly helps children to make healthier eating decisions. So, next time you are at a fast food restaurant, be sure to ask them ‘What would Batman eat?’

Colourful plate of food

#2 Should you plate food for your child the same way you do for yourself? In Brian Wansink and colleagues' study in Acta Paediatrica, pre-teen children and adults were shown 48 different photographs and asked for their preferences based on different dimensions of food presentation. These included the number of components and colors on the plate, the position of the main component, crowded plate versus an empty plate presentation, organizational levels and design. The results suggest amazing opportunities to encourage more nutritionally diverse diets among children. While adults prefer three components and three colors on their plates children preferred seven components and six colors, more than double the adult preference of three!

#3 Is childcare ‘making kids chubbier’? A Canadian study which followed children from 1.5 to 10 years old reports they were 65% more likely to become overweight if cared for in a nursery-style setting, than those cared for by a parent, and who had little exposure to other forms of childcare. Before you start feeling even guiltier as a working parent with a child in child care, check out what NHS Choices has to say. ‘…this interesting study raises more questions than it answers. It is unclear why childcare arrangements would be associated with weight gain, and the study cannot show a cause and effect relationship between centre-based childcare and obesity. The researchers speculate that some childcare centres may have ‘obesogenic’ features (those that promote weight gain). It’s also worth bearing in mind that the study was performed in Canada, and it may be that the results cannot be translated to the UK, or other countries. However, it serves to highlight the importance of good diet and plenty of physical activity for all children, regardless of where they are looked after.’

Get the Scoop

Preparing for an emergency is the smart thing to do.

We originally ran this story early in 2011 after the catastrophic earthquake and aftershocks in Christchurch (NZ), the big freeze in Europe, blizzards in the US and disastrous floods in Australia, Brazil and Sri Lanka. Super-storm Sandy and its aftermath reminds us that you can be without electricity or gas for several weeks. It’s vital to have ready-to-eat food on hand to keep everyone fighting fit until the disaster has passed. And this is where canned foods come to the fore, enabling you to whip up a variety of healthy, tasty low GI meals in minutes. Opt for low(er) salt/sodium products when there is a choice and check use-by dates. Drain canned foods and rinse if you have clean water. Tip: Make sure you have a can opener! Because you can’t depend on refrigeration after cans or jars have been opened, buy sizes that you and your family can consume at one sitting. Here are our 10 top pantry picks.

Canned beans, chickpeas and lentils and bean dishes such as chilli beans, refried beans, lentil and pea and ham soups – OK cold but quickly heated on a camp stove

Canned fish –such as tuna, salmon, sardines, crabmeat, prawns, mackerel, herrings

Canned meats and meat dishes such as chilli beef and beans, ravioli, spaghetti Bolognese and broths (OK cold but quickly heated on a camp stove)

Cans, jars or tubs of fruit in natural juice; dried fruit such as apple, apricots, dates, peaches, pears, prunes, sultanas, fruit and nut mixes, fruit straps

Cans and jars of vegetables such as artichoke hearts, asparagus, bamboo shoots, beetroot, cabbage/sauerkraut, capsicum, carrots, corn kernels, mushrooms, peas, tomatoes

Nuts (not salted) and nut/seed mixes

Dry cereals such as fruit and nut muesli (natural or toasted), muesli bars

Grainy crackers and crispbreads, oatmeal biscuits and shelf stable flat breads and wraps such as white corn tortillas and reduced-carb wraps

Powdered milk, small containers UHT milk,

And if you have a heating source such as a camp stove or gas bottle barbecue, you can expand your options to include foods that don’t need much water to cook such as instant noodles and ready to eat basmati brown rice

What to drink? Bottled water, single-serving-sized juice that doesn't need to be refrigerated, diet soft drinks.

In the GI News Kitchen

American dietitian and author of Good Carbs, Bad Carbs, Johanna Burani, shares favourite recipes with a low or moderate GI from her Italian kitchen. For more information, check out Johanna's website. The photographs are by Sergio Burani. His food, travel and wine photography website is photosbysergio.com.

This December, we bring back an old favourite from Johanna’s kitchen as she hasn’t had time to create something special for us – she is out there on the front line helping survivors of super-storm Sandy in New Jersey.

[JOHANNA]

Flourless chocolate hazelnut cake.
This cake isn’t an Italian recipe at all, but it was a huge hit in my household one Christmas in Friuli. It is built around rich and nutty tasting ingredients that melt in your mouth. White flour is replaced by fibre-rich, vitamin-and mineral-dense ground hazelnuts. The lasting mouth feel is the result of the primarily unsaturated fat in the nuts. This cake stands proudly on its own – no frosting or ice cream can add to its most satisfying taste. If you must, try just a slight dusting of powdered sugar on the top of the cake. Because of the amount of sugar, the GI will be moderate. Enjoy it for dessert when entertaining and special occasions like birthdays. It will feed a crowd. And if you are worried about the calories, just have a sliver instead of a slice! Serves 12

3½ cups ground roasted hazelnuts (approx. 375 g/13 oz)
1½ cups sugar
2 tbsp vanilla essence
¾ cup unsweetened cocoa (approx. 70 g/2½ oz)
12 egg whites

Flourless chocolate hazelnut cake

Preheat the oven to 180ºC (350ºF). Coat a spring-form pan with vegetable spray.
Mix the hazelnuts, sugar, vanilla and cocoa in a medium sized bowl. Beat egg whites until stiff and dry. Gently fold them into the chocolate nut mixture.
Pour the batter into the greased pan. Bake for 40–50 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool before serving.

Per slice (when cut into 12 slices)
Energy: 1402 kJ/ 334 cals; Protein 9 g; Fat 20 g (includes 2 g saturated fat and 0 mg cholesterol); Carbs 34 g; Fibre 5 g

What about those 12 egg yolks? Here are some ideas from the ever-amazing chef and food writer Kate McGhie:

Make mayo/hollandaise
Whisk through pasta (carbonara or alfredo) or stir fries
Poach the yolk and then chop and use in salads (potato is excellent) or on asparagus with salmon and a lemon-oil dressing
Use in custard or lemon curd.
Freeze. I pop a yolk into each cavity of an ice block tray, add a pinch salt for savoury use or sugar for sweet and freeze. When frozen I pop them into a freezer bag.

Cut back on the food bills and enjoy fresh-tasting, easily prepared, seasonal, satisfying and delicious low or moderate GI meals that don’t compromise on quality and flavour one little bit with our Money Saving Meals packed with fresh produce including these side dishes for festive fare – Sweetcorn and coconut salad from Kate McGhie’s Cook: recipes, stories and kitchen wisdom and Kate McIntosh’s Sweet potato and pistachio quinoa.

Sweetcorn and coconut salad.
A simple corn salad is ramped up with lively flavours and an unexpected burst of chilli heat. You can make this a day in advance and store, covered, in the fridge says Kate McGhie. Serves 4–6

3 cups fresh corn kernels
2½ cups milk
1 tsp butter
2 small red chillies, finely chopped
½ tsp ground cumin
2cm (1in) piece fresh ginger, peeled and grated
pinch turmeric
2 tbsp shredded coconut
6 sprigs coriander (cilantro), roughly torn

Corn on the cob

Place the corn and milk in a pan and simmer for 45 minutes or until reduced by three-quarters. Season to taste with a little salt if you wish.
Melt the butter in a pan and swirl the chillies, cumin, ginger and turmeric. Add to the corn mixture with the coriander and coconut. Stir well, cook for 2 minutes more and serve warm or cooled.

Per serve (for 6 people)
Energy: 760 kJ/200 cals; Protein 7 g; Fat 6 g (includes 4 g saturated fat and 14 mg cholesterol); Carbs 23 g; Fibre 3 g

Sweet potato and pistachio quinoa.
This dish can be served warm with lamb, chicken or fish such as mackerel and swordfish or served cold as a salad says Kate McIntosh. Serves 4–6 as a side dish

1 orange-fleshed sweet potato (about 400 g), peeled and cut into 2cm (3/4in) dice
200g (7oz) quinoa
3 cups light chicken stock (low sodium)
3 tbsp pistachios, chopped quite finely
1 tbsp chopped fresh mint
2 tbsp chopped coriander
2 tbsp chopped parsley
rind only 1 preserved lemon, finely chopped
2 tbsp olive oil
freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Sweet potato and pistachio quinoa

Preheat the oven to 180ºC (350ºF ).
Roast the diced sweet potato for about 20 minutes or until tender
Cook the quinoa following the packet instructions in 3 cups (750 ml) chicken stock, then drain.
For a warm dish, heat a large pan, add all ingredients and stir over low heat until warmed through. If serving cold, simply toss all ingredients together and season to taste.

Per serve (for 6 people)
kJ/Cal 1269/302; Protein 8 g; Fat 12 g (includes saturated 2 g) Carbohydrate 38 g; Fibre 5 g

Three fruity desserts for festive fare ...

Mango, passion fruit and lime fruit salad.
Kate McIntosh’s dessert is absolutely delicious and truly made in minutes. Serves 2

2 medium ripe mangoes, peeled and cut into dice (about 2 cups mango dice)
2 ripe passion fruit

Dressing
½ cup (125 ml) mango puree
pinch of ground ginger
1 lime, juiced

Mango, passion fruit and lime fruit salad

Mango, passion fruit and lime fruit salad

Combine the mango puree, ginger and lime juice in a small bowl to make the dressing.
Place the mango dice into a serving bowl. Scoop out the passionfruit pulp and seeds and add to the mango dice, then gently stir through the mango-lime dressing.

Per serve
700 kJ/167 calories; 3 g protein; 0.6 g fat (includes 0 g saturated fat); 33 g carbohydrate; 6 g fibre

Baked spiced pears with zabaglione sauce.
Johanna Burani’s pears with cinnamon and cardamom are a marriage made in culinary heaven. Serves 4

2 ripe Bosc pears
2 tbsp sugar, divided
¼ tsp ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground cardamom
1 egg yolk
2 tbsp marsala wine

Baked spiced pears with zabaglione sauce

Preheat the oven to 180ºC (350ºF).
Peel, halve and core the pears. Place them cut side down in a rectangular baking pan with just enough water to cover the bottom of the pan.
Combine 1 tablespoon of the sugar with the spices, and sprinkle half of this mixture over the pears. Bake the pears for 5 minutes in the preheated oven. Turn the pear halves over, sprinkle with the remaining sugar-spice mixture and continue to bake for another 5 minutes. Pears are done when they are easily pierced by a fork but still hold their shape. Large pears may take a little longer to cook. Remove from the oven, place in individual dessert dishes and set aside.
To make the sauce, combine the egg yolk and remaining tablespoon of sugar in a very small saucepan and mix vigorously for at least 5 minutes with a wooden spoon. Slowly add the marsala and mix well. Heat over low heat stirring constantly for approximately 1 minute or until the mixture thickens WITHOUT COMING TO A BOIL. Pour the sauce over the pear halves and serve warm or at room temperature.

Per serve (Serving size: ½ pear with 2 tbsp of sauce)
Energy: 416 kJ/ 99 cals; Protein 1 g; Fat 2 g (includes less than 1 g saturated fat and 55 mg cholesterol); Carbs 21 g; Fibre 2 g

Easy mango crumble.
You can use fresh in season or canned or frozen mango cheeks or slices in Catherine Saxelby and Jennene Plummer’s deliciously versatile recipe (from Zest). It also works with other summery fruits and other nuts like pistachios or macadamias. Serves 4–6

100g (3½oz) almond bread or biscotti, roughly crushed
½ cup rolled oats
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp wheatgerm
2 x 400g (14oz) cans mango slices in syrup, drained, (reserve 2 tbsp of the syrup), or 8 frozen or fresh mango cheeks
1 tbsp chopped pistachio nuts
2 tbsp maple syrup low fat vanilla yoghurt and maple syrup to serve

Easy mango crumble

Preheat oven to 180ºC (350ºF).
Combine the crushed almond bread, oats, brown sugar, wheatgerm and the 2 tablespoons of reserved mango syrup in a large mixing bowl.
Cut mango into chunks and arrange in a shallow ovenproof dish. Scatter over the crumble mixture and bake for 20–25 minutes until the topping is crisp and golden. Serve with yoghurt and a drizzle of maple syrup.

Per serve
Energy 1260 kJ/ 300 cals; 17 g fat (includes 6 saturated fat g); 2.5 g fibre; 7 g protein; 28 g available carbohydrate

Busting Food Myths with Nicole Senior

Nicole Senior

Myth: Coffee sobers you up.
Sorry, the only thing that sobers you up if you have drunk too much alcohol is TIME. It’s not a question of having a cup of strong black coffee to wake you up, nor a cold shower. It’s a question of getting the alcohol out of your body. And that takes time. If you have a large glass (250ml) wine, you need to allow about three hours for your body to break down the alcohol. So imagine how long a night on the town takes …

Man drinking lots of coffee

In fact, there are no hard and fast rules about how long the alcohol will stay in your body—it depends on your age and weight, whether you’re male or female, what sort of metabolism you have, how much food you’ve eaten, the type of alcohol over what period of time, how stressed you are and whether you are on any medication.

Downing a mug of coffee may be the worst thing you can do, according to a Temple University study (in mice) published in Behavioural Neuroscience. In the laboratory, caffeine made ‘drunk’ mice more alert but did not reverse the learning problems caused by alcohol, including their ability to avoid things they should have known could hurt them. The same results have been found in people who combine caffeine-loaded energy drinks with alcohol: the caffeine makes them more alert but their judgment is still impaired by the alcohol. In effect, the caffeine-alcohol combination makes you feel like you can, but actually you can’t: the potential for injury and misadventure is obvious.

The good news is that another study (in rats this time) has shown that a cup of coffee and an aspirin may help with the sore head the next day.

Key info: Coffee may make you feel more alert when you have drunk too much – but it doesn’t help you make better decisions or drive safely. Only time breaks down alcohol in the body.
Hungry for more? See http://rethinkingdrinking.niaaa.nih.gov and http://www.drinkaware.co.uk/alcohol-and-you/health.

Nicole Senior is an Accredited Practising Dietitian and Nutritionist and author of Food Myths available in bookshops and online and from www.greatideas.net.au

GI Symbol News with Dr Alan Barclay

Dr Alan Barclay

Put your money where your mouth is
This is a popular challenge in a variety of situations, but I have rarely heard it in the context of what we actually do put in our mouths. As Dr David Katz points out in Food for Thought ‘We respect how money will affect the quality of our lives, but overlook it with regard to food’.

‘Healthy food costs more’ is a popular tabloid headline along with hard-luck stories such as ‘I can’t afford healthy food’. But healthy food does not cost more. Not if you make the most of the inexpensive, filling and healthy staples that our parents and grandparents enjoyed. This includes naturally low GI foods like traditional oats; legumes such as beans, chickpeas and lentils (dried or canned) and split peas (channa dal), grain foods like barley (pearl), burgul, pasta, noodles and low or lower GI rices; starchy veggies like carrots, potatoes (Carisma and other lower GI varieties), taro, yams, parsnips and sweet corn; fresh green and salad veggies and fruit in season; and dairy foods like milk and yogurt (or the calcium enriched soy alternatives). For frugal low GI food know how, check out websites like food cents and Money Saving Meals (which has recipes packed with low GI ingredients).

And cooking healthy food doesn’t have to take longer. Check out Jamie’s 15-Minute Meals. This man knows how to make the most of a can of beans or a packet of pasta to create meals that will have the family coming back for more and the kids eating their greens. Possibly.

We do appreciate that some healthy low GI foods such as bread can cost a little more than the high GI alternatives. This is because the quality of the ingredients usually needs to be higher in order for the product to have a low GI, and processing techniques may also be different. However, quality really counts when it comes to your daily bread because for many of us, it is the number one source of glycemic carbohydrate in our diet. This is partly because it is such a versatile product – we can eat it for breakfast, use it to make sandwiches for lunch, and serve it with dinner all of which makes choosing a lower GI bread one of the easiest ways of lowering the overall glycemic impact of our diet. I realise for families, it's tempting to take advantage of supermarket price wars that drive prices down on staples like bread, but the cheap white stuff on offer is going to drive those BGLs up, and is not a good long-term investment.

So, invest your hard-earned cash in your health and buy healthy, low GI food and a low GI bread (it will also keep you feeling fuller for longer). In Australia and New Zealand, it is easy to find low GI breads – simply look for those that carry the GI Symbol:

Bürgen® Soy-Lin GI 52
Bürgen® Pumpkin Seeds GI51
Bürgen® Rye GI53
Bürgen® Fruit & Muesli GI53
Bürgen® Wholemeal Seeds GI39
Bürgen® Wholegrain & Oats GI51
Cripps 9 Grain Sandwich GI53
Tip Top Original 9-grain GI53
Tip Top 9 Grain Wholemeal GI53
Tip Top 9 Grain Mini Loaf Original GI53
Tip Top 9 Grain Pumpkin Seeds GI53
Tip Top 9 Grain 9 Seed GI53

If you don't have the GI Symbol to guide you, look for quality breads like authentic sourdoughs, dense grainy breads and pumpernickel or rye bread.

The GI Symbol, making healthy low GI choices easy choices

New GI Symbol

GI Update with Prof Jennie Brand-Miller

Prof Jennie Brand-Miller answers your questions.

Jennie

Nutrition recommendations during lactation.
The energy cost of lactation depends largely on how much milk your baby is drinking. Assuming human milk provides about 3 kilojoules per mL, and that you are producing 1 litre a day, that’s a whopping 3000 kilojoules in the milk itself. But there’s a ‘tax’ in making all this milk, so in fact you need to ingest an extra 3700 kilojoules/day. However, most women have stored some extra fat during pregnancy which they want to lose during the first few months of their baby’s life. Allowing for this, the science suggests you need to get about 2000 extra kilojoules a day – about 20 per cent more than usual. Most women just eat more but some women do less physical activity than usual.

Losing weight: If you entered pregnancy being overweight, then now’s a good time to lose those extra kilos. You should do it slowly. Losses of approximately half a kilogram a week do not seem to affect milk production or your baby’s rate of growth. If you started pregnancy underweight, then make sure you eat three meals a day and are not losing weight. If your appetite is poor, then make an extra effort to eat small, energy dense healthy snacks (for example, nuts and dried fruit) between meals. During lactation, you’ll need an extra 15–20 g of protein a day – that’s relatively easy to obtain in our diet.

Nutrients that may be deficient in your diet while breastfeeding include folate, calcium, and vitamins E, D and B6.

Folate: You’ll need about 130 micrograms more folate a day than you did pre-pregnancy. While a supplement is not necessary during lactation, make sure you are eating folate-rich foods – leafy green vegetables being one of the richest sources.
Calcium: There’s about 250–300 mg of calcium in a litre of human milk, equivalent to an extra serving of dairy or equivalent per day.
Vitamin D: Human milk provides small amounts of vitamin D, around 50 micrograms per litre. This is drawn from stores in your liver but these are depleted within eight weeks of birth. As it’s near impossible to obtain sufficient Vitamin D just from food (even with the ideal diet) so you need to expose your skin to brief periods of sunlight at appropriate times of the day.

If you are struggling to find time to eat, preparing a snack and something to drink (a glass of water) ahead of time, so it is ready when you sit down to feed baby, is a good option. It also makes sure you are refuelling and rehydrating as baby takes his or her nourishment from you.

Top 10 breastfeeding snacks

Wholegrain toast or raisin toast
Wholegrain sandwiches
Glass of milk or soy milk or a fruit smoothie
Yoghurt
Dried fruit and nut mix
Wholegrain crispbreads with cheese or avocado and tomato
Hummus or tzatziki dip with vegetable crudités
Muesli or porridge with low-fat milk or soy milk
Small can of baked beans or four-bean mix
Roasted chickpeas

This is an edited extract from my latest book (with Dr Kate Marsh and Prof Robert Moses), The Bump to Baby Low GI Eating Plan for Conception, Pregnancy and Beyond (Hachette Australia). You can visit us HERE.

We are delighted to let GI News readers know that a US edition is on the way. The publisher is Matthew Lore of The Experiment. Matthew has published many of our books in the past and we are very happy to be working with him on this. We will keep you posted re publication details.

The Bump to Baby Low GI Eating Plan for Conception, Pregnancy and Beyond

The Bump to Baby Low GI Eating Plan for Conception, Pregnancy and Beyond

New GI values from SUGiRS: Nudie coconut water.
Coconut water has long been a popular drink (fresh, canned or bottled) in tropical climes, especially in India, SE Asia, Brazil, the Caribbean, Africa and many Pacific islands. It is simply the watery fluid inside the coconut, so it’s a type of juice (but from a nut not a fruit). Like other juices, it is low GI. Compared with say fresh orange juice, it has similar carbs per serving, more potassium, sodium, magnesium and calcium but not as much in the way of vitamin C. SUGiRS recently tested Nudie Coconut Water and here are the (rounded) results:

‘Straight Up’ Nudie Coconut Water (350ml bottle): GI 55, available carbohydrate 18g, fibre 1g, GL 10

You can check out the nutrition information panel HERE.

GI testing by an accredited laboratory
North America
Dr Alexandra Jenkins
Glycemic Index Laboratories
20 Victoria Street, Suite 300
Toronto, Ontario M5C 298 Canada
Phone +1 416 861 0506
Email info@gilabs.com
Web www.gilabs.com

Australia
Fiona Atkinson
Research Manager, Sydney University Glycemic Index Research Service (SUGiRS)
Human Nutrition Unit, School of Molecular and Microbial Biosciences
Sydney University
NSW 2006 Australia
Phone + 61 2 9351 6018
Fax: + 61 2 9351 6022
Email sugirs@mmb.usyd.edu.au
Web www.glycemicindex.com

Copyright and Permission

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include all or part of the work in advertising or a product for sale, or
modify the work.

Rabu, 31 Oktober 2012

GI News—November 2012

Bring on the beans;
Gut bacteria and diabetes;
Exploring how gut microbes react to probiotic yogurt;
Nicole Senior investigates the myth that most people can't digest milk;
Prof Jennie Brand-Miller on diet and breast milk;
Emma Stirling with the scoop on yogurt;
Two low GI recipes to enjoy including one from Yotam Ottolenghi's new book: Jerusalem.

‘The 1.5kg (3.3 pounds) of bacteria that we carry in our intestines have an enormous impact on our health and well being. There is growing awareness that these resident microbes contribute to a wide array of critical body functions that can influence almost every aspect of our physiology from hormonal balance to metabolic rate, immune system function and inflammation. In this issue, we look at the growing body of evidence to suggest that disruptions to the normal flora of our GI tract may be implicated in a wide array of gastrointestinal and metabolic disorders including irritable bowel syndrome, obesity, metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes.

Good eating, good health and good reading.

Editor: Philippa Sandall
Web management and design: Alan Barclay, PhD
Contact email (for questions or permission to reproduce stories from this newsletter): info@gisymbol.com for technical problems or faults please contact smb.ginewstech@sydney.edu.au

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Food for Thought

The gut microbiota – a new piece of the obesity puzzle?
Our GI (gastrointestinal) tract is home to a diverse collection of bacteria, viruses and archaea, collectively known as the gut microbiota. Patricia Lopez-Legarrea from the University of Navarra, Spain and Nicholas Fuller from The Boden Institute, The University of Sydney bring us up to date on recent research and describe a randomised controlled trial that they are undertaking to compare the effects of three different diets on microbiota composition.

Nicholas Fuller

It is estimated that a healthy adult’s gut consists of at least 100 trillion (10 to the power of 14), bacteria. It’s well known that these bugs are integral to our wellbeing – evolution has aligned our interests. ‘We are not just on friendly terms with our gut bacteria – the relationship is infinitely more intimate than that – we are married to them … we are colonised by bacteria from birth, and potentially in utero,’ writes Katrina Ray in Nature Reviews. ‘Indeed, our mothers play a vital part in providing the first building blocks for the development of our resident microbiota, jump-starting the stepwise colonisation of our intestines and the rest of the human body through skin-to-skin contact and breastfeeding. Once the gut microbiota becomes established and stabilised by age 2–3 years, these bacteria have a crucial role in nutrition and health … they have a fundamental role in synthesising vitamins and in helping to breakdown non-digestible products that provide energy to the human body.’

Recent research in humans and animals now suggests that changes to the gut microbiota composition are also related to metabolic disorders such as obesity, metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes.

Bacteria

Obesity Back in 2004, Backhed and colleagues observed that normal mice had 42% more adipose (fat) tissue compared with germ-free ones. Subsequently, they transplanted microflora from normal mice to the germ-free mice and observed that the germ-free mice had a 57% increase in their total body fat content in a period of two weeks. In 2005, Ley and colleagues observed interesting differences in the microbiota composition when they compared genetically obese mice to normal-weight mice. The obese mice showed a greater presence of bacteria with a higher expression of enzymes related to energy extraction, bowel fermentation and to the reduction in stool residual calories. In subsequent work, they transplanted the microbiota from obese mice to normal-weight mice and found that they developed obesity within two weeks. Translating the findings of these animal studies to people is now an important area of research.

Metabolic syndrome Researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine have identified 26 species of bacteria in the human gut microbiota that appear to be linked to obesity and related metabolic complications. These include insulin resistance, high blood glucose levels, increased blood pressure and high cholesterol, known collectively as the metabolic syndrome, which significantly increases an individual's risk of developing diabetes, cardiovascular disease and stroke. The results of the study were published in PLOS ONE. ‘We identified 26 species of bacteria that were correlated with obesity and metabolic syndrome traits such as body mass index (BMI), triglycerides, cholesterol, glucose levels and C-reactive protein, a marker for inflammation,’ says the senior author, Claire M. Fraser, Ph.D., professor of medicine and microbiology and immunology and director of the Institute for Genome Sciences (IGS) at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. ‘We can’t infer cause and effect, but it’s an important step forward that we’re starting to identify bacteria that are correlated with clinical parameters, which suggests that the gut microbiota could one day be targeted with medication, diet or lifestyle changes.’

What next? Dietary intake is considered one of the main factors that modify the number and variety of our gut bacteria. In this context, we and other researchers from The Boden Institute at the University of Sydney are currently carrying out a 12-month, randomised controlled trial to evaluate the effects of three energy-restricted diets (500 calorie (2100kJ) per day deficit) on the composition of gut microbiota. The diets are:

Low fat/lower GI (less than GI 55)
High protein/moderate GI (protein 25% total energy)
Mediterranean/moderate GI (omega-3 consumption greater than 1.3g).

Our study consists of a 6-month intervention period with one of the three diets, followed by a 6-month weight maintenance period with visits at 9 and 12 months. We will collect blood and stool samples to perform the corresponding analyses. It is hoped that the findings will both help to pinpoint those people who will respond to dietary treatment and will optimise dietary strategies. We will be reporting our findings in about a year’s time, so watch this space.

What’s New?

Bring on the beans.
In Archives of Internal Medicine, Dr David Jenkins and colleagues report on a study that found consuming about 1 cup (190g) of cooked legumes (beans, chickpeas or lentils) helped people with diabetes manage their blood glucose. It also lowered total cholesterol and triglycerides. The 3-month study with a group of 121 people with type 2 diabetes found that a daily dose of beans had a greater effect on reducing blood pressure as part of a low GI diet compared with a high wheat (insoluble) fibre diet. Even better, after three months, hemoglobin A1c levels had dropped from 7.4% to 6.9% in people eating beans, while it had fallen from 7.2% to 6.9% in those getting extra whole wheat. Even though the drops were not huge says Jenkins, they were impressive in part because the whole-grain comparison diet is a healthy one and in part because people in the study were already on diabetes and blood pressure medications. ‘We hope that this could be the point that allows a person with diabetes to delay medication use,’ he said.

What about wind? The study didn’t find any more gastrointestinal complaints in the legume group, although the comparison group also got a lot of fibre, which could have drowned out a potential effect.

Beans

It’s easy to boost your bean intake – home-cooked or canned – simply top some toast with baked beans for a light meal, serve dhal with that curry, add chickpeas to stir fries, red kidney beans to chilli, lentils to a ragu, a 4-bean salad to that barbecue menu, and enrich casseroles and soups with beans and lentils. Here are some flavoursome favourites from The GI News Kitchen to try:

Exploring how gut microbes react to probiotic yogurt.
No matter what the advertisements are, or are not, allowed to say, it would be good to know if probiotic yogurt, in addition to its nutritional value, has a beneficial effect on the gut. A parallel series of human (twin) and animal (mice) studies shows that daily consumption of yogurt does not significantly alter the gut’s bacterial makeup but does induce changes in the way bacteria metabolise carbohydrates. Jeffrey Gordon and colleagues took a closer look at the gut microbiomes of seven sets of twins and of mice who consumed a specific brand of yoghurt over a 4-month period. They analysed the bacterial composition and specific gene expression patterns of both human and animal gut microbial communities before, during and after consumption of the yoghurt. Although they found that in both humans and mice, consumption of yogurt did not change the species and gene content of their gut microbial communities, further analysis of gut bacterial gene expression and of substances called metabolites in the urine of mice revealed that yoghurt consumption incited marked changes in many metabolic pathways, especially those related to carbohydrate processing. Although it remains unclear whether eating a yogurt a day will keep the doctor away, the results show that probiotic foods may change our gut microbiomes in subtle, complex ways that warrant further investigation.

Yoghurt

Dietitian Glenn Cardwell explains the difference between probiotics and prebiotics.
‘You have probably heard of probiotics, healthy bacteria that help to keep your bowels in good health. They are often associated with yoghurts and supplements. Another term is prebiotics, compounds that are needed as food for the probiotics. Prebiotics naturally occur in bananas, asparagus, leeks, onions, garlic, chicory and wholegrains like wheat, rye, barley and oats. Asparagus, which is now in season in Australia, is one of the best dietary sources of inulin an important prebiotic that encourages the growth of healthy bacteria in the gut, which, in turn provides a barrier to gut infection. So support local produce and green your meals with fresh asparagus. Not only will you enjoy the flavour, you’ll be getting plenty of fibre and natural prebiotics to keep you healthy on the inside. Want help cooking up ideas? Check out the Australian Asparagus Council’s free recipes.’

Gut bacteria could cause diabetes.
New research published in Nature shows that the composition of our gut bacteria could play an important role in the development of type 2 diabetes. Researchers examined the intestinal bacteria of 345 people from China, of which 171 had type 2 diabetes. The team identified clear biological indicators that someday could be used in methods that provide faster and earlier diagnosis of type 2 diabetes. The research, also demonstrated that people with type 2 diabetes have a more hostile bacterial environment in their intestines, which can increase resistance to different medication. Similar studies carried out on people with type 2 diabetes in Denmark also discovered a significant imbalance in the function of their intestinal bacteria and composition. ‘It is important to point out that our discovery demonstrates a correlation. The big question now is whether the changes in gut bacteria can affect the development of type 2 diabetes or whether the changes simply reflect that the person is suffering from type 2 diabetes,’ says author Karsten Kristiansen from the University of Copenhagen.

What’s new?
www.eatgoodcarbs.comThis website is dietitian Johanna Burani’s personal invitation to her virtual office. ‘Come in anytime. No appointment needed!’ she says. ‘By creating this blog, I plan on explaining how and why low glycemic good carbs prevent blood sugar highs and lows; help regulate blood fats; promote weight loss by suppressing hunger and cravings; increase energy and physical endurance.’ She also provides tips for food shopping and reading food labels for good carb ingredients, how to cook with good carbs, and how to find them when eating out. ‘Since I love to cook and spend a lot of time doing so in my homes in New Jersey and in Friuli (northeastern Italy), I’ll also share with you some of my original low GI recipes,’ says Johanna.

A regular contributor to GI News, Johanna is a Registered Dietitian and Certified Diabetes Educator with over 25 years experience in nutritional counseling. She is the author of the best selling Good Carbs, Bad Carbs, has co-authored five other books on glycemic index, and writes for mainstream diabetes magazines and websites as well as for professional publications. Although she loves to write and do research, her first love is her patients. A team player in an endocrine practice in Wayne, New Jersey, Johanna specialises in empowering people to improve their health with practical nutrition information that incorporates the concept of the glycemic index.

Seven ways to calm your upset stomachThe medical term for persistent upper abdominal pain or discomfort without an identifiable medical cause is functional dyspepsia (indigestion) according to a new book from Harvard Medical School – The Sensitive Gut. Eating often triggers symptoms of functional dyspepsia. Sometimes the discomfort begins during the meal, other times about half an hour later. It tends to come and go in spurts over a period of about three months. Roughly 25% of the population is affected, and it hits men and women equally. If you suffer from indigestion (and you know it is indigestion and not an ulcer), here’s what they suggest you do to help get some relief.

Avoid foods that trigger your symptoms.
Eat small portions and don't overeat; try eating smaller, more frequent meals and be sure to chew food slowly and completely.
Don't lie down within two hours of eating.
Avoid activities that result in swallowing excess air, such as smoking, eating quickly, chewing gum, and drinking carbonated beverages.
Reduce your stress. Try relaxation therapies, cognitive behavioural therapy, or exercise. An aerobic workout 3–5 times per week can help, but don't exercise right after eating.
Get enough rest.
Keep your weight under control.

Glycosmedia App for iPhone and iPadUK-based Glycosmedia runs a website and free digital weekly diabetes news service that lists the latest research, reports and news in diabetes for healthcare professionals and people who want keep informed about diabetes. The new Glycosmedia App will present the latest diabetes information as soon as possible after publication saving busy professionals from having to spend time trawling through the plethora of information available. The Glycosmedia editorial team broadcast the information immediately on the App and on Twitter linking news item references to the original sources. The information on the home screen of the App is presented by date, or can be browsed by category via another screen. Interesting articles can be saved to your Favorites folder and/or shared with colleagues by email or via Twitter. The App can be downloaded free from iTunes. For more information or to provide feedback, contact Jim Young, Editor-in-chief, Glycosmedia jim@glycosmedia.com.