In the news, again, Listeria is a bacteria that can send even the healthiest individual to the hospital. More important is to know that for immune compromised individuals (pregnant women, the very young, elderly, those with HIV/AIDS, or on immune suppressing therapy, transplant patients, and those with diabetes or kidney disease) the risk is serious, even fatal.

Common in lunchmeat and hotdogs, but most recently found on cantaloupes from Colorado, Listeria can come into your kitchen and grow and spread quite easily. Don't let down your guard against this and other deadly germs! Following what the medical society terms 'universal precautions' can keep you and your family enjoying food instead of getting sick from it.

That is, wash hands, surfaces and food as if it needs it even if you think it's clean. The surface area of cantaloupe and avocados is vast due to the multiple indentions. Give even these seemingly innocent foods a quick wash with soap and water before cutting through the skin which otherwise would contaminate the interior.

Save your money and don't bother with so called 'fruit and vegetable wash sprays'. The research shows they don't do any better and might even miss what soap and water can do.

Make a habit of cleaning up spills in the refrigerator immediately. Spills can harbor bacteria allowing them to grow and spread. Keep things contained, labeled and even dated if you share the fridge with others. A rule of three days can never be wrong when you question whether something needs thrown out. A Chef that I interned with during my Dietitian training once joked that both in-laws and fish go bad after being in your home for three days! You've probably also heard, when in doubt- throw it out! A tummy ache, a trip to the hospital, or worse for say an infant or pregnant woman, is never worth a few dollars you spent on food.

Keep the risky business out of your kitchen. For other food safety tips; a personal pantry makeover; or meal planning tips for less waste make an appointment today with a personal Dietitian at Nutrition Solutions. We'd love to talk food with you!

Researchers at Georgetown University report a study in which they reviewed comprehensive scientific data and conclude there is no support for colon cleansing or detox preparations to rid the body of dangerous toxins or otherwise improve health.   The Journal of Family Practice reported their review and advises people to avoid colon cleansing due to adverse events including fatal injections.  

Beware of Fraudulent Weight-Loss 'Dietary Supplements'

Researchers at Newcastle University in the U.K. said that patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease who lose weight and exercise reduced their liver-fat levels and improved glucose control and insulin sensitivity. Their review of diet and exercise studies, published in the Journal of Hepatology, found that a number of lifestyle changes reduce intrahepatic triacyglycerol concentration, the first step toward liver disease, with an average weight loss of 4% to 14% resulting in IHTAG reductions of 35% to 81%.  Online source: Medscape.

Twenty-seven percent of all Americans age 17 to 24 (that's more than nine million young adults) - are too overweight to join the U.S. Armed Services, according to a new report by Mission: Readiness, a nonprofit group of more than 130 retired admirals, generals and other senior military leaders.

Weight problems have become the leading medical reason recruits are rejected for service. Other factors keeping young adults from joining the military include not having a high school diploma or having a serious criminal record.
 
Retired military leaders joined Sen. Richard Lugar (R.-Ind.) and U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack last week in support of new child nutrition legislation to help reduce the obesity epidemic and expand the pool of healthy young adults available for military service.
 
Mission: Readiness' recommendations call on Congress to enact a robust child nutrition bill that would:

• Get junk food and remaining high-calorie beverages out of the nation's schools.


• Support the Obama Administration's proposal of an increase of $1 billion per year for 10 years for child nutrition programs that would improve nutrition standards, upgrade the quality of meals served in schools and enable more children to have access to these programs.


• Help develop new school-based strategies, based on research, that help parents and children adopt healthier life-long eating and exercise habits.

Child nutrition advocates continue to push for child nutrition to be a priority in Congress this year. As of mid-week, 98 members of Congress had signed a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D.-Calif.) urging her support for securing President Obama's proposal.

U.S. Senate Says Yes to Nutrition for Children, Aug 5th 2010

A step toward addressing the health concerns of today's youth; a vast spread of issues from hunger to obesity, was accomplished Thursday with bipartisan action.
 
The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 was scheduled to expire September 30th, but will now continue to reach millions of children through programs like WIC, school meals, and before and after school food programs.
 
Healthy food choices and access are essential components of improving nutrition in U.S. youth.
 
This emphasis was supported by First Lady Michelle Obama in a recent Washington Post article which helped push the bill out of the Senate.
Read Michelle Obama's Washington Post article.

Registered dietitian and American Dietetic Association President Jessie M. Pavlinac in support of the new White House initiative on childhood obesity to be led by First Lady Michelle Obama:

With all American Dietetic Association members, I was gratified to hear President Obama speak during his January 27 State of the Union Address on efforts Mrs. Obama will lead to address childhood obesity in our country. Mrs. Obama announced the initiative at a recent meeting of the U.S. Conference of Mayors. As the President said: "I want to acknowledge our First Lady, Michelle Obama, who this year is creating a national movement to tackle the epidemic of childhood obesity and make our kids healthier."
 
Few if any issues matter more than the health of our nation's children. Recently I wrote to Mrs. Obama on behalf of the more than 70,000 ADA members, the majority of whom are registered dietitians, thanking and congratulating her for putting good nutrition and healthful eating front and center in her priorities as First Lady. I will continue to keep her informed of the important work of ADA and our members.
 
As a registered dietitian, it has been inspiring to see Mrs. Obama's dedication - as both First Lady and as a mother - to stressing the importance of consuming fruits and vegetables; to the nutrition and societal rewards of, when possible, planting and growing some of one's own food; and to her overall focus on healthful eating and a healthy lifestyle. ADA shares the Obama Administration's concerns about the number of children who are overweight or obese, and who are at increased risk for chronic illnesses like diabetes, and we are working to reverse current trends and to help parents, schools and communities raise healthy, well-nourished children.
 
To name only one example among many, the American Dietetic Association Foundation's Healthy Schools Partnership is a program designed to develop long-term solutions to the youth obesity epidemic. The Healthy Schools Partnership program was funded by the American Council for Fitness and Nutrition Foundation as part of the Healthy Weight Commitment campaign. The program places registered dietitians in schools as "RD Nutrition Coaches," working with physical education teachers to help children change eating behaviors with short, one-on-one coaching sessions while being physically active.
 
Our country's registered dietitians specialize in offering guidance that is personalized, doable, practical and affordable. RDs know what does and doesn't work. We can cut through the clutter of information that is often overwhelming, scattered and inaccurate, and serve as a person's lifeline to eating right.
 
Our nation has paid a high price for overlooking or ignoring the important role of food and nutrition in improving people's health - a price paid in lives and dollars alike. Right now, as health reform makes its way through Congress and toward President Obama's desk, we have the opportunity to reverse trends, lower costs and help people get and stay healthy.

This, according to the results of a study reported in the October issue of the Annals of Epidemiology, Sept 2009.

"Basically, it isn't BMI that matters in older adults - it's waist size," lead author Preethi Srikanthan, MD, from the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, said in a news release. "Other studies have suggested that both waist size and BMI matter in young and middle-aged adults and that BMI may not be useful in older adults; this is one of the first studies to show that relative waist size does matter in older adults, even if BMI does not matter."
 
The goal of this study was to evaluate the association between 3 measures of obesity and all-cause mortality in a group of healthy older adults, using data from the MacArthur Successful Aging Study, a longitudinal study of high-functioning men and women aged 70 to 79 years at baseline. The association of BMI, waist circumference, and WHR with all-cause mortality risk was determined with use of proportional hazards regression to adjust for sex, race, age at baseline, and smoking status. The investigators tested for obesity interactions with sex, race, and smoking status and performed stratified analyses based on the results of interaction testing.
 
In both unadjusted and adjusted analyses, there was no association between all-cause mortality and BMI or waist circumference, whereas all-cause mortality increased with WHR. There was an interaction with sex, with a graded relationship between WHR and mortality in women (relative hazard, 1.28 per 0.1 increase in WHR; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.05 - 1.55). In men, a threshold relationship was observed (relative hazard, 1.75 for WHR > 1.0 vs WHR ≤1.0; 95% CI, 1.06 - 2.91).
 
"WHR, rather than BMI or WC [waist circumference], appears to be the more appropriate yardstick for obesity-related risk stratification of high-functioning older adults, and possibly all older adults," the study authors write.
 
Limitations of this study include possible underestimate of BMI because height and weight were self-reported. In addition, WHR, waist circumference, and BMI were based on single measurements.
 
"Given our use of self-reported weight and height data, these findings need to be confirmed in other cohorts of older adults," the study authors conclude. "Further research into the mechanisms underlying the increased health risks associated with high WHR is also needed, specifically to delineate the role of intra-abdominal visceral fat, relative to pelvic bone size, gluteal muscle, and gluteal fat, in older adults' health risks."
 
This study was partly supported by the National Institute on Aging. The study authors have disclosed no relevant financial relationships.