"Our sodium intake is regulated by the brain, and your brain won't let you go very far outside of that boundary," the Bee quoted study co-author David McCarron. "You may eat that whole bag of chips, but it just means that as you sit down you'll unconsciously go toward foods that are lower in sodium."
McCarron conducted the research with Judith Stern, an ANR academic. She said lawmakers should focus on more pressing public health issues, such as childhood obesity, instead of salt intake.
"They need to work on setting priorities," the Bee quoted Stern.
For the study, the researchers aggregated sodium intake data from 20,000 adults in 32 countries. They found the adult range of sodium intake to be between 2,700 to 4,900 milligrams of sodium a day, according to the article. Because the data includes many different dietary cultures, researchers concluded that humans, on their own, maintain a "normal" range of salt intake.
However, Bee reporter Anna Tong found several experts who take issue with the study's conclusions.
- The findings are scientifically plausible, "But as a consumer I don't believe it," - Christopher D. Gardner, an associate professor at Stanford Medical School
- "All experts agree that our current levels of sodium intake are causing heart attacks and strokes. This study is really an outlier." - Michael Jacobson, executive director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest
Potato chips.
A long, slightly irreverent diatribe on brain fitness in the independent online local news conduit the Sacramento News & Review does two things: it offers a UC expert the opportunity to present scientific information and it makes the old-school reader wonder, "Is this really the future of news?"
The article, by Matt Perry, annihilates the rules of conventional journalism:
- Written for the infinite scope of cyberspace, the harangue rambles on for more than 1,500 words.
- Science writing about aging is peppered with teenage slang. Who will read it?
- The writer inserts himself into the piece. To wit: "My eyes shift to (fitness trainer Scott) Estrada, who represents to me the future of health: fit, active, engaged, holistic … and completely responsible for his own health. Welcome to the future of fitness: not just a just a buffer body, but a healthier brain."
To its credit, the article provides UC Davis nutrition professor Liz Applegate a forum for research-based information. She told the writer she likens brain-damaging free radicals to small fires in cubicles around an office. Putting out these free radical fires requires a diet rich in fire extinguishers - antioxidants.
Perry said she recommended:
- A diet of varied colorful foods
- A Mediterranean diet
- Omega-3 fatty acids, folate and choline
In related news, a bastion of traditional journalism, the Associated Press today ran a story about what could be another sign of the traditional news industry's struggles. According to the story, San Francisco investment banker Warren Hellman is teaming up with the UC Berkeley's journalism school and public broadcaster KQED to create a nonprofit news organization to report local news. Bay Area News Project will use a combination of paid reporter/editors and (presumably unpaid) journalism students to produce stories for a Web site, KQED's radio and television outlets, and a print edition.
The study, by UCLA Center for Health Policy Research and the California Center for Public Health Advocacy, says 24 percent of California adults drink at least one sugary drink every day, according to news stories published by media outlets throughout the state.
Sacramento Bee reporter Anna Tong sought comment about the trend from Judith Stern of the UC Davis Department of Nutrition.
"When you eat food, it makes you full," she was quoted. "When you drink a soda, it doesn't make you feel full, so it's wasted calories."
According to the Fresno Bee, Central Valley residents drink more soda than people living in other parts of the state. In Fresno, Kings, Madera and Tulare counties 35 percent of adults drink soda every day. Rural Kings County adults led the state in daily soda consumption at 39 percent.
Imperial County had the highest rate of daily soda-drinking among children (60.7 percent) and Tulare County ranked first for teens (71 percent). The lowest rates of soda consumption for children, teens and adults were in Marin and Mendocino counties.
The study also found that soda drinking is linked to obesity. According to the Los Angeles Times story, 62 percent of adults who drink soda daily are overweight or obese, compared with 52 percent who don’t drink soda at all.
The stories reported that the new study may renew calls for imposing a soda tax. According to the Sacramento Bee article, a one cent per ounce soda tax would generate $1.8 billion per year in California. Currently, six states have soda taxes: Missouri, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia.
When soda is cut from the diet, UC Berkeley nutrition professor Patricia Crawford suggests parents give their children water to drink, not sports drinks or fruit juice.
“Nearly all fruit juices provide sugar that children don’t need,” Crawford said. “Sports drinks have fewer calories than sodas, but the calories add up. A student who drinks an extra 20-ounce sports drink every day for a year consumes enough calories to gain 13 pounds over the course of the year.”
For more from UC on healthful beverage choices, click here.
Drinking water
This week's Time magazine cover feature doubles as an opinionated rant about what ails the US food system. Perhaps some of it should be taken with a grain of salt; but there are plenty of ideas that make sense, even if they aren't scientifically proven.
I confess it is something of a stretch to include it in the ANR news blog, which covers news of ANR activities and experts. (It wasn't until the final page that I found information sourced from the University of California, perhaps from this ANR news release about the health benefits of grass-fed beef.) But the whole concept is so closely tied to what ANR does, I think it has a place here.
The story fills five pages on the Web and includes numerous photo essays and side bars. Since there is so much information, I thought it would be most interesting to present a few of writer Bryan Walsh's incriminations:
- The U.S. agricultural industry can now produce unlimited quantities of meat and grains at remarkably cheap prices. But it does so at a high cost to the environment, animals and humans.
- A food system — from seed to 7-Eleven — that generates cheap, filling food at the literal expense of healthier produce is also a principal cause of America's obesity epidemic.
- Unless Americans radically rethink the way they grow and consume food, they face a future of eroded farmland, hollowed-out countryside, scarier germs, higher health costs — and bland taste.
- In CAFOS (concentrated-animal feeding operations), large numbers of animals — 1,000 or more in the case of cattle and tens of thousands for chicken and pigs — are kept in close, concentrated conditions and fattened up for slaughter as fast as possible. . . . But animals aren't widgets with legs. They're living creatures, and there are consequences to packing them in prison-like conditions.
- Work in a CAFO is monotonous and soul-killing . . .
Walsh does have a kind word for farmers and opens the door for the service provided by UC Cooperative Extension. He writes that, "Farmers aren't the enemy — and they deserve real help."
Said organic Bay Area farmer Hahn Niman, featured extensively in the article, "We need to make farming real employment, because if you do it right, it's enjoyable work."
food
It's the most wonderful time of the year! Kids are going back to school and the media are covering the joyful moment with UC expertise.
For the Redding Record-Searchlight, that means providing advice on back-to-school breakfasts. Freelance writer Debra Moore spoke to three experts, including UC Cooperative Extension nutrition educator Lori Cocker.
"Breakfast on the go can mean using dinner leftovers, or serving fresh fruit and low-fat yogurt, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on whole grain bread, or anything healthy wrapped in a tortilla," Coker was quoted in the story. "Brown rice pudding with or without raisins, and whole grain hot cereal with fruit are also good options."
Even in hectic homes, Cocker said there's time to eat a nutritious meal before school."The key is to plan ahead and have things in the house that are ready to go or that are at least quick and simple," she told the reporter.
Other healthful breakfast ideas mentioned in the story:
- A cheese stick and a glass of milk
- A piece of toast with peanut butter
- A high fiber, low sugar breakfast bar
- Mickey Mouse whole wheat pancakes with fresh strawberries
- Omelets loaded with veggies
(USDA photo)
