WHO and Food Companies Work Together to Control Chronic Disease
Chief executive officers from multinational food companies, including Nestle, Unilever, Coca-Cola, Kellogg's, PepsiCo, and McDonald's, met with WHO Director-General Dr Gro Harlem Brundtland, MD, to discuss ways the food industry can collaborate to encourage healthier diets and increase physical activity worldwide. Cardiovascular disease, cancers, diabetes, respiratory disease, obesity, and other noncommunicable conditions account for almost half of the world's diseases, many of which involve diet-related risks. WHO is preparing a Global Strategy on Diet, Physical Activity and Health for presentation to the World Health Assembly in May 2004.
(http://www.who.int/mediacentre/releases/2003/pr38/en/print.html, May 12, 2003)
James Beard Foundation Award Goes to Nestle
Marion Nestle, PhD, won an award for her book, Food Politics: How the Food Industry Influences Nutrition and Health, from the James Beard Foundation. The Foundation honors food and beverage industry professionals for their achievements.
Top Food Trends for 2003
It comes as no surprise to Nutrition Today readers that among the top trends are an increase in the use of convenience foods and a decrease in the number of meals eaten outside the home. The top 4 attributes of foods that consumers say they are willing to try are: ready-to-eat, heat-and-eat, packaged for on the go, and no utensils required. Some other consumer facts: in 2002, 8 out of 10 shoppers tried to influence their health through the purchase of specific foods, with buying food to prevent cancer and heart disease topping the list of their concerns. However, in buying food, a clean neat store, high-quality fruits and vegetables, and low cost top the list of highly rated criteria from the consumer's standpoint.
(Institute of Food Technology, April 23, 2003)
Gaps in Biotech Crop Reviews?
A report, Post-Market Oversight of Biotech Foods: Is the System Prepared? commissioned by the Pew Initiative on Food and Biotechnology, has identified gaps in the postmarket regulation of biotech foods, including the US Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service's (APHIS) lack of authority to control the use of biotech crops once they are approved for large-scale planting, the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) inability to enforce growers' compliance to its policies, and the lack of a postmarket inspection program for biotech food by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
The full report is available at http://pewagbiotech.org/research/postmarket/PostMarket.pdf.
(Crop Biotech Update, April 25, 2003)
AHA Releases Prevention Guidelines for Cardiovascular Disease in Children
This new American Heart Association report includes population guidelines for cardiovascular health promotion in children and adolescents, as well as individualized guidelines for high-risk groups. Goals are given for diet, smoking, and physical activity. The report recommends achieving a healthy eating pattern, appropriate body weight, desirable lipid profile, and desirable blood pressure. It suggests that fat intake be unlimited up to 2 years of age. After age 2, foods high in saturated fat are limited to <10% of calories, <300 mg/day of cholesterol, and <6 g/day of salt, and a minimum of 1 hour of physical activity daily is recommended.
(Current Awareness, Apri1 15, 2003)