Food Law Prof Blog

FDA Health and Diet Survey: Dietary Guidelines Supplement

The government's Health and Diet Survey: Dietary Guidelines Supplement -- Report of Findings (2004 & 2005) is available on the FDA website.  From the Foreward:

The choices we make every day of what to eat and how much physical activity to get play a vital role in how long we live, how much energy we have, and how healthy we are.  We live in a time of widespread availability of food options and choices. More so than ever, Americans need good advice to make informed decisions about their diets. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is committed to encouraging and helping the public adopt long-lasting, healthy lifestyles. The Dietary Guidelines for Americans (Dietary Guidelines) provide the science-based information we need to make smart choices from every food group, get the most nutrition out of the calories we consume and find a balance between eating and physical activity.

The Health and Diet Survey: Dietary Guidelines Supplement tracks national change of Americans' attitudes, awareness, knowledge, and behavior regarding various elements of nutrition and physical activity.  The Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (ODPHP) collaborated with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to leverage FDA's on-going household survey mechanism and include information based on the key recommendations from the Dietary Guidelines.   HHS initiated the baseline survey just prior to the launch of the Sixth Edition, Dietary Guidelines for Americans in January, 2005, and repeated the survey a year later.   

The survey findings indicate that although Americans believe healthy eating habits are important, sometimes knowledge and good intentions do not add up to making better choices and changing behavior.  Not surprising, there are differences in how Americans view their health and what is important to them related to their gender, age and education.  The survey also inquired where Americans turn for nutrition information, how reliable they consider Federal government nutrition information, how easy they think it is to access the information, and their familiarity with specific government nutrition offerings such as the Dietary Guidelines. 

The information from the Dietary Guidelines provides a blueprint for action.  However, putting knowledge into practice can be challenging and changing behavior is usually a long-term proposition.  Future fielding of this survey will help us monitor American eating habits and lifestyle choices over time, recognizing that adopting more healthy, active lifestyles will take a concerted effort - from the Federal government to health experts to the food and agriculture sectors to business leaders, state and local governments, scientists and researchers, and teachers and parents and individuals.

We hope you find this information helpful and encourage all of us to consider the role we can play to reinforce that developing healthy habits early in life is great, and it's also never too late to start.  Children need a healthy diet for normal growth and development, and Americans of all ages may reduce their risk of chronic disease by adopting a nutritious diet and engaging in regular physical activity.  At any age, at every stage of life, everyone can make healthier choices.

America’s diet -- need for Processed Food Reformulation?

According to a USDA study titled, “Dietary Assessment of Major Trends in the US Food Consumption; 1970-2005”, America’s fat consumption is up and Americans are failing to meet the Federal Dietary Guidelines. This study, coupled with a study conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics that shows the rise in obesity over the last 30 years, suggests that further reformulation of processed foods may be needed.

From an article in Food Navigator USA.com:

The USDA’s report reveals a swell in added fats consumption of 63 percent and a 19 percent increase in added sugar and sweeteners between 1970 and 2005.  This study correlates to the findings by the National Center for Health Statistics that “two-thirds of US adults were either overweight or obese between 2003-2004, compared with 47 percent between 1976 and 1980.”

The USDA report also “shows the average intake of added sugars and sweeteners is over the recommended levels, and consumption of refined grains is too high while Americans fall short on whole grains.”

These findings demonstrate areas where food manufacturers should be looking to improve their products. 

Thank you to William Mitchell College of Law student Heather McDougall for preparing this post.

Wales bans junk food vending in hospitals

On March 25, 2008,  the Welsh Assembly Government (Llywodraeth Cynulliad Cymru) banned the vending of junk food in NHS hospitals in Wales. Most junk food is expected to be removed from vending machines in the next six months. From a BBC news article:

“ Crisps, chocolate and sugary drinks are to be removed from vending machines in NHS hospitals in Wales.”

Health Minister Edwina Hart says Wales is the first part of the UK to commit to such a move to tackle obesity and diet-related disease.”

In a news announcement on the Welsh Assembly Government webpage, Health Minister Edwina Hart is quoted, saying:

“Diet has an important role to play in the prevention of obesity and chronic diseases such as coronary heart disease, diabetes, and certain cancers.”

“We need to create an environment where it is easier for people to make healthy choices and our public sector settings should be an exemplar of best practice, particularly our hospitals.”

The March 26, 2008 BBC article can be found at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/7311326.stm

A press release on the Welsh Assembly Government web page can be found at: http://new.wales.gov.uk/news/presreleasearchive/vending/?lang=en

Thank you to William Mitchell College of Law student Rebecca Steffen for preparing this post.

Photos:  Rebecca Steffen

Saturated Fat, Cholesterol, and Heart Disease --not connected

This is a video of a presentation to British Medical Association last November.  The presenter is a physician, Dr. Malcolm Kendrick.  He presents data about saturated fat, blood cholesterol, and heart disease and makes a very credible and compelling argument that eating saturated fat does not cause heart disease and that high blood cholesterol does not predict heart disease.There are 5 parts to Dr. Kendrick's presentation. If the embedded video doesn't work, here's the YouTube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPPYaVcXo1I 

Recent Efforts to Ban Junk Food Sales in Schools

According to an early December New York Times Article, federal lawmakers were considering a national ban on selling junk food in school vending machines. The measure, which was an amendment to the farm bill, faced significant hurdles before this beneficial change could become a reality.

Federal lawmakers are considering the broadest effort ever to limit what children eat: a national ban on selling candy, sugary soda and salty, fatty food in school snack bars, vending machines and à la carte cafeteria lines. Whether the measure, an amendment to the farm bill, can survive the convoluted politics that have bogged down that legislation in the Senate is one issue. Whether it can survive the battle among factions in the fight to improve school food is another.

No such luck.  On Thursday, December 13, 2007, the Senate dropped the amendment. According to a December 15, 2007 Washington Post Article :

The Senate on Thursday night dropped an amendment to the farm bill that would have banned fatty foods and high-calorie beverages at school snack bars, stores and vending machines, dealing a blow to its chances of passage.

The National School Nutrition Standards Amendment, sponsored by Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) and Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), would have been the first legislation to update the nutrition standards since 1979, a period in which scientific opinion on what foods are appropriate has drastically shifted. Link to the current bill: Bill Summary and Status

Thank you to William Mitchell College of Law student Helen McDonough for preparing this post. 

CSPI Report on Junk Food Marketing in Schools

Junk food marketing is prevalent in our schools.  The marketing influences children's food choices, and in turn, their health. Should foods marketed in schools meet certain nutrition standards?

From the Center for Science in the Public Interest press release:

WASHINGTON: Junk-food and soda makers directly market to young children right in their schools, according to a new survey of public schools in Montgomery County, Maryland. Conducted at the request of Montgomery County Council Member George Leventhal, chair of the Health and Human Services Committee, the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) found that the most prevalent forms of marketing in schools are signs on the exteriors of vending machines, food sales in vending machines, posters, and school fundraisers.

Eighty-three percent of schools have posters or signs with food or beverage marketing messages (such as posters for Rich’s ice cream or Little Debbie snack cakes), and less than half (42 percent) of those signs market healthier categories such as dairy.

more (press release)

Montgomery County survey (pdf)

Thanks to William Mitchell College of Law student Helen McDonough for preparing this post.

Hannaford's Chain concludes nutrition sells

The Hannaford Brothers grocery store chain, based in Maine, has developed a nutritional rating system to help guide customers towards healthier foods.  The system that Hannaford developed, called Guiding Stars, rated the nutritional value of the grocery items in the store on a scale of zero to three stars, with three representing the most nutritious products.  A survey of Hannaford customers found that 81% were aware of the system and half of the customers used it fairly often.

NY Times article

Wansink to head USDA Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion

USDA news release:

CENTER FOR NUTRITION POLICY AND PROMOTION

Washington, Nov. 19, 2007 -- Agriculture Under Secretary Nancy Johner for Food,Nutrition and Consumer Services today announced the appointment of Dr. BrianWansink as the Executive Director of the Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion(CNPP). Dr. Wansink currently serves as the John S. Dyson Professor of Marketing and the Director of the Cornell Food and Brand Lab in the Department of Applied Economics and Management at Cornell University, Ithaca, NY.

“Dr. Wansink is nationally recognized in his field of nutrition research which focuses on how to encourage consumers to eat more nutritiously and better control how much they eat,” said Johner. “Dr. Wansink’s work has been featured in national print and broadcast media. We feel quite fortunate in having Dr. Wansink join our team here at the Department of Agriculture (USDA), and look forward to working with him.”

At CNPP Dr. Wansink will be responsible for overseeing the planning, development and review of the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, the food pyramid known as MyPyramid.gov, and programs including the Healthy Eating Index, the USDA Food Plans, the Nutrient Content of the U.S. Food Supply, and the cost of raising a child.

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Texas fitness policy for grades 3-12

In attempt to combat the trends and gain some knowledge of how healthy, or unhealthy, Texas students really are, lawmakers during the last legislative session passed a bill requiring school districts to annually assess the fitness and activity levels of all students in grades three through 12, and report those findings to the Texas Education Agency.   This bill, which piggy backs on recent changes in the Texas school nutrition policy, is now taking effect throughout the Texas school system.

Article:

http://www.lufkindailynews.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/11/18/student_health.html

Food nutrition policy:

http://www.squaremeals.org/fn/home/page/0,1248,2348_0_0_0,00.html
fitness bill:  (deals only with physical activity, not food)

http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/tlodocs/76R/billtext/html/SB00530F.htm

(Thanks to William Mitchell College of Law student Teri Carlisano for preparing this post)

Farm Policy a cause of obesity?

From the Danville Register Bee:

Fat? Blame Congress, at least partly
By SEAN MUSSENDEN, Media General News Service

. . .

It costs far less to get the calories from unhealthy foods with added oils or sweeteners than it does from nutritious foods like fresh vegetables. Energy-dense foods made with subsidized crops like soybean oil and high-fructose corn syrup have been linked to heart disease and diabetes.

"There's a huge cost disparity. It's not a coincidence that low-income people will gravitate towards cheaper, energy-dense foods that are nutritionally poor," said Adam Drewnowski, director of the nutritional sciences program at the University of Washington.

His studies have found that foods made from subsidized crops - like cookies and soda -- cost five times less per calorie than unsubsidized foods -- like carrots or orange juice.

Drewnowski finds it ironic that the Agriculture Department encourages people to eat vegetables like lettuce or carrots that are not subsidized, and therefore more expensive, while giving people an economic incentive through subsidies to buy foods it says they should eat sparingly.

"The farm bill is geared to production of calories, not nutrients," he said. "It's resulted in a diet that is energy rich but nutritionally poor."

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The Case for Real Food

From the New York Times Nov. 5, 2007: 

Is there more to a carrot than beta carotene? Is lycopene the best we get from tomatoes? And when we heap our plates with salmon, are we serving up something other than omega-3s?

For years the scientific community has viewed individual vitamins and nutrients as the best that food has to offer. Nutrition studies have isolated beta carotene, calcium, vitamin E and lycopene, among other nutrients, in order to study their health benefits in the body.

But now, after several vitamin studies have produced disappointing results, there’s a growing belief that food is more than just a sum of its nutrient parts. In a recent commentary for the journal Nutrition Reviews, University of Minnesota professor of epidemiology David R. Jacobs argues that nutrition researchers should focus on whole foods rather than only on single nutrients. “We argue for a need to return to food as the source of nutrition knowledge,'’ writes Dr. Jacobs with co-author Linda C. Tapsell, a nutrition researcher at the University of Wollongong in Australia.

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Parke Wilde on Impact of Industry on Nutrition: An Academic Perspective at the Tufts Friedman School Symposium Monday

The Tufts Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy's 2007 Friedman School Symposium,  takes place next week (Oct. 29 - 31). U.S. Food Policy blogger Parke Wilde will speak on  the Impact of Industry on Nutrition. Here is the abstract:

Economists are known as cheerful boosters for market answers to society’s most important questions, such as deciding what food to produce. Yet, the market’s wonderful and paradoxical power to benefit consumers depends on the quality of the information consumers have about food choices. With good information, and only with good information, consumer demand disciplines market forces and guides them in the service of the public interest and the public health.

For nearly twenty years, a key goal of federal policy in the food sector has been to improve consumer information about the nutrition qualities of food, without otherwise intervening much to spoil the free operation of the food market. In recent years, some shortcomings of this hands-off approach have been perceived. This presentation will discuss three policy areas where the failure of market incentives is most apparent and the economic case for greater public policy intervention is strongest: information about links between food and chronic disease, information about food in restaurants, and food marketing to children.

new MyPyramid for pregnant and breastfeeding mothers.

From a USDA news release:

WASHINGTON, Oct. 25, 2007 -- Acting Secretary of Agriculture Chuck Conner today announced the launch of a new MyPyramid web site designed specifically for pregnant and breastfeeding mothers. The new interactive guidance, found at MyPyramid.gov, provides unique, individualized nutrition guidance to meet the needs of expectant and new moms.

"The Department of Agriculture and the George Washington University Medical Center are pleased to announce this valuable on-line tool to assist pregnant and nursing mothers with easy access to important nutrition information," said Conner. "During this time of life, proper nutrition for mom and baby are critical. This tool will also be helpful to obstetricians and other health care providers. I am confident this addition to MyPyramid will be put to good use, based on the more than 3.9 billion hits to MyPyramid web sites since our 2005 launch."

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USDA PROVIDES DISASTER FOOD ASSISTANCE TO SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

WASHINGTON, Oct. 25, 2007—Acting Agriculture Secretary Chuck Conner today approved the State of California's request to operate a Disaster Food Stamp Program (DFSP) in San Diego County from October 21 to November 19, 2007.

"Our thoughts and prayers go out to all who have suffered losses as the result of the continuing wildfires in Southern California," said Conner. "We are closely coordinating with other federal departments to meet the immediate and long-term needs of those affected by the wildfires. In addition to the 2,500 USDA Forest Service firefighting personnel who are assisting, this food assistance to individuals and families in San Diego County will help to ensure their needs are met."

. . .

Disaster benefits are provided like regular program benefits – through a debit card that can be used at authorized food retailers to buy food. These systems are commonly referred to as Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) systems.

USDA's Food and Nutrition Service can authorize the issuance of emergency food stamp benefits when the President declares a major disaster. FNS works closely with States to prepare plans for the Disaster Food Stamp Program.

Administered by the Food and Nutrition Service, the Food Stamp Program is the cornerstone of USDA's 15 nutrition assistance programs that form the nation's nutrition safety net. The Program provides a vital supplement to the food budgets of 26 million low-income men, women and children each month. For more information on the Food Stamp Program and USDA, visit http://www.fns.usda.gov/fsp or call 1-800/221-5689.

read the USDA news release

USDA AWARDS $2.5 MILLION FOR RESEARCH ON FOOD AND NUTRITION ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS

USDA News Release:

Washington, Oct. 24, 2007—Acting Agriculture Secretary Chuck Conner today announced $2.5 million in grant and cooperative agreement awards in ten states and the District of Columbia for research on food and nutrition assistance.

"USDA administers 15 domestic food and nutrition assistance programs that work to provide a nutritional safety net for children and low-income adults" said Conner. "Sound research helps these programs continue to operate effectively and efficiently."

The goal of the research is to examine, evaluate, and enhance USDA's food and nutrition assistance programs. The grants and cooperative agreements will fund projects in California, the District of Columbia, Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Tennessee, South Carolina, and Utah.

University of Wisconsin to lead Farm-to-School efforts in Midwest

UW news release:

UW center will lead efforts to expand farm-to-school programs in Midwest

The Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems at the University of Wisconsin-Madison has been named as lead agency in a six-state area for a new national program to encourage schools to serve more locally grown food.

As regional lead agency for the National Farm-to-School Network, CIAS will be the hub for farm-to-school activities in the Great Lakes region, encompassing Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Indiana.

The national network is supported by a three-year, $2.4 million grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. The national network allots funds to the regional agencies with the proviso that its contributions be matched dollar-for-dollar with funds from other sources.

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CDC School health study results available

From CDC:

The School Health Policies and Programs Study (SHPPS) 2006 is the largest, most comprehensive assessment of school health policies and programs in the United States ever conducted.

This new report describes key school health policies and practices across all eight school health program components: health education, physical education and activity, health services, mental health and social services, nutrition services, healthy and safe school environment, faculty and staff health promotion, and family and community involvement. In addition, SHPPS 2006 includes new topics—crisis preparedness and response, and the physical school environment—which reflect new issues and concerns in school health and public health.

According to the New York Times,

The survey, which is conducted every six years, shows that more schools than six years ago offer salads and vegetables and that fewer permit bake sales. More states and school districts insist that elementary schools schedule recess and that physical education teachers have at least undergraduate training. More states have enacted policies to prohibit smoking at school and to require courses on pregnancy prevention.

Perhaps most striking, 30 percent of school districts have banned junk food from school vending machines, up from 4 percent in 2000. Schools offering fried potatoes in their cafeterias declined, to 19 percent from 40 percent.

"

FDA to hold public hearing on salt and sodium

From an FDA/CFSAN news release:

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is announcing a public hearing concerning FDA's policies regarding salt (sodium chloride) and sodium in food. FDA also is announcing the availability for comment of a citizen petition, submitted by the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), requesting that FDA make changes to the regulatory status of salt, require limits on salt in processed foods, and require health messages related to salt and sodium. The purpose of the hearing is for FDA to share its current framework of policies regarding salt and sodium and to solicit information and comments from interested persons on this current framework and on potential future approaches, including approaches described in the citizen petition.

The public meeting takes place November 29, 2007.  For more information and to register online go to the FDA website announcement.

To read the Center for Science in the Public Interest position on salt and to read the petition to the FDA, go to the CSPI website.   

Farm Bill Markup October 24

The California Coalition for Food and Farming website includes a table of Farm Bill Priorities and proposed funding amounts.  After a number of delays, the Senate Agriculture Committee is scheduled to take action on their version of the Farm Bill next week.   The full Senate could vote as early as October 29. 

WTO and US anti vegetable policy -- U.S. Food Policy Blog

Parke Wilde has an interesting post on his US Food Policy Blog:

WTO rules against U.S. policies that discourage fruit and vegetable production on land that gets crop subsidies

From a nutrition perspective, the most blatantly counter-productive U.S. farm subsidy policy may be the prohibition against growing fruits and vegetables on land that is eligible for direct subsidy payments.

This is a bit complicated, so bear with me.
(Click here to go bear with him.)

Industry money and the debate on fish

The New York Times Dining and Wine section ran this article on the debate about whether or not to eat fish (possibility of mercury poisoning v. benefits of Omega-3 fatty acids):

Industry money fans debate on fish

By MARIAN BURROS

Published: October 17, 2007

MANY health advocates were surprised earlier this month when a children’s health coalition that includes federal agencies and professional medical associations contradicted government warnings about mercury contamination and recommended that women of childbearing age eat more fish.

Since then several coalition members have renounced the findings, some criticizing the coalition’s leadership for taking thousands of dollars from the fishing industry to promote the recommendations. The coalition’s leaders did not present the recommendations to its members before releasing them.

Anatomy of a school lunch -- Barriers to organic food

National School Lunch Week -- an article in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer outlines the challenges to school lunch programs trying to serve healthier, more local food:

Many barriers keep organic food out of school lunches by Jennifer Langston

. . .

The ingredients in this single school lunch of nachos served in September traveled more than 7,500 highway miles before reaching a cafeteria tray in Seattle.

The beef came from California ranches by way of a federal program that provides commodity items to schools at no cost. Tomatoes ripened in the San Joaquin Valley. Beans likely traveled from Minnesota or North Dakota.

Those items could have been bought from farms in our backyard, but weren't.

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Junk food as human rights issue

A black market in junk food has evidently arisen in a Canadian high school after a provincial wellness policy banned junk food from the school.

Last week, Free Press reporter Nick Martin discovered a burgeoning black market in the halls of Kelvin. Some students, outraged because a tough new WSD policy forbids the sale of junk food, were dealing candy and pop out of their lockers.

The junk food policy, part of an overall provincial nutrition drive, was put into effect to combat obesity and lifestyle-related health issues. School vending machines have been stripped of chips, candy and soft drinks. They've been replaced with healthier choices like milk and juice.

Winnipeg Free Press: Kelvin students run 'black market' in sweet treats, by Nick Martin

Winnipeg Free Press columnist Lindor Reynolds, Junk food as human rights issue? Come on!

 

"De facto" standard against sugary beverages in schools

The other ABA (the American Beverage Association) says it will not oppose proposed new standards prohibiting sugared soft drink sales in schools. From WebMD:

Major soft drink manufacturers agreed last spring to a voluntary deal that takes sugared sodas and other drinks out of elementary and middle schools. But for years it has opposed efforts to make new standards part of national law.

The industry is no longer opposing a new national standard, said Susan Neely, president of the American Beverage Association, the trade group representing Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, and other drink makers. The reason for the shift, she suggested, is that the nutritional requirements are unlikely to be much stricter than voluntary standards already endorsed by the industry.

“We are moving full-caloried soft drinks out of the nation’s schools,” Neely told reporters at a forum on the new proposals Friday. “It is basically a de facto national standard.”

WebMd article by Todd Zwillich
American Beverage Association ad campaign

More Label Symbols?

Should the FDA establish a national healthy-food symbol? If so, which foods are healthy? FDA public hearings this week address this question.  The live audio webcast is available on the CFSAN website (today's live webcast is there, and yesterday's is archived).

Agenda: http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/labsymb2.html
Audio: http://www.connectlive.com/events/fda0907/index.html

AP Article by Andrew Bridges: FDA Asks Groups to Consider Food Labels,

WASHINGTON (AP) — Next month, General Mills Inc. and Kellogg Co. will begin emblazoning their breakfast cereals with symbols that summarize complex nutritional information — part of the growing use of logos to steer harried grocery shoppers toward healthier choices.

The proliferation of such symbols is a worldwide phenomenon, with government regulators in Britain, Sweden and elsewhere establishing logo systems that concisely indicate how nutritious food products are. In the United States, however, corporations have been left to devise their own schemes. That's led to a patchwork of systems that some fear further confuses consumers already unsure about how to eat wisely.

On Monday, the Food and Drug Administration took a first step toward clearing matters up, inviting food companies, trade groups, watchdog organizations, medical experts and its overseas counterparts to share how front-label symbols, like the "traffic light" system used in Britain, can improve public health.

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Genome Evolution Influenced by Diet

It seems we humans are evolving to digest the food available.  Maybe someday we will be able to eat junk food and stay healthy!  A New York Times article, Study Finds Evidence of Genetic Response to Diet by Nicholas Wade, describes research showing that people from countries with high starch diets have genetic adaptations to their diet:

Researchers studying the enzyme that converts starch to simple sugars like glucose have found that people living in countries with a high-starch diet produce considerably more of the enzyme than people who eat a low-starch diet.

The reason is an evolutionary one. People in high-starch countries have many extra copies of the amylase gene which makes the starch-converting enzyme, a group led by George H. Perry of Arizona State University and Nathaniel J. Dominy of the University of California, Santa Cruz, reported yesterday in the journal Nature Genetics.

The production of the extra copies seems to have been favored by natural selection, according to a genetic test, the authors say. If so, the selective pressure could have occurred when people first started to grow cereals like wheat and barley at the beginning of the Neolithic revolution some 10,000 years ago, or even much earlier.

Link to the article

Food, Law, and Culture panel presenters wanted

Christopher Buccafusco (Phd candidate, U. Chicago) is soliciting paper presentations for panels on "Food, Law, and Culture" for the annual Law, Culture, and Humanities Conference to be held at UC Berkeley and San Francisco State University, March 28-29, 2008. The conference is sponsored by the Association for the Study of Law, Culture, and the Humanities.

Last year we organized two panels with papers on such topics as the legal regulation of margarine, taxation and the family farm, cultural identity and the 21st Amendment, and federal school lunch programs. Recent work in the humanities and social sciences has begun to explore food’s role in culture, and our goal will be to apply this interdisciplinary scholarship to critically examine the place(s) of food in the law. Important questions include: How can we explain the law’s varying treatment of food? What role does law play in shaping cultural ideas about food and food production? And, inversely, how does food culture affect the law? My work, for example, analyzes the treatment of culinary creativity by modern intellectual property law.

Topics can include, but are not limited to:

Intellectual property rights in genetically modified foods Hunger strikes and force-feeding prisoners Last meals Food torts, e.g,. exploding sodas, fingers in chili, coffee in the lap Government regulation of food and alcohol Obesity regulation Dietary laws and regulations in different cultures Trademark rights in appellations of origin Farm subsidies and international trade Linguistic classification of food, e.g. kosher, 1st Growths, Organic Sumptuary laws Famine Labeling, packaging, and branding Rationing Food stamps Ethanol production and the food supply

The deadline for submissions to the conference is October 15, 2007, so please let me know as soon as possible if you think you might be interested in joining the panel. Abstracts can wait until closer to the deadline. Also, please circulate this to any colleagues that might be interested. Feel free to contact Chris Buccafusco directly at chrstphr@uchicago.edu.

Kids resist healthy eating efforts

This one is kind of depressing. An Associated Press article by Martha Mendoza says that nutrition education efforts aren't working.

PANORAMA CITY, Calif. -- The federal government will spend more than $1 billion this year on nutrition education -- fresh carrot and celery snacks, videos of dancing fruit, hundreds of hours of lively lessons about how great you will feel if you eat well.

But an Associated Press review of scientific studies examining 57 such programs found mostly failure. Just four showed any real success in changing the way children eat -- or any promise as weapons against the growing epidemic of childhood obesity. . . .

The results have been disappointing :

Last year a major federal pilot program offering free fruits and vegetables to school children showed fifth-graders became less willing to eat them than they had been at the start. Apparently they didn't like the taste.

Read the AP article in the Boston Globe

Kate Houston named FNCS Deputy Under Secretary

USDA News Release:

WASHINGTON, June 15, 2007 - Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns today announced the appointment of Kate Houston as Deputy Under Secretary for Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services. As Deputy Under Secretary, Houston will be responsible for improving the health and well-being of Americans by developing and promoting science-based dietary guidance and administering the U.S. Department of Agriculture's 15 nutrition assistance programs.

"Kate Houston brings extensive nutrition policy experience and a strong commitment to community outreach to this position," Johanns said. "Her understanding of food and nutrition-related issues and her commitment to improving the lives of fellow Americans has served USDA well and I'm confident the department and the American people will continue to be well-served as Kate takes on this new role."

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Latest ARS Food and Nutrition Research Briefs

From the USDA Agricultural Research Service:

New research findings about copper's role in heart health, and the cholesterol-fighting potential of blueberries, are highlighted in the newest issue of the Agricultural Research Service's Food and Nutrition Research Briefs and its recently launched Spanish-language edition (Informe de investigaciones de alimentos y nutrición).

View the English edition at www.ars.usda.gov/is/np/fnrb/fnrb0407.htm and the Spanish edition at www.ars.usda.gov/is/espanol/np/fnrb/fnrb0407.es.htm.

The popular online newsletter reports discoveries from researchers at ARS laboratories nationwide who are conducting nutrition investigations, creating ways to make our food safer, developing nutritious new foods—and more.

Among other findings, the current issue reports that:

• Studies of catfish genes may lead to superior, farm-raised catfish for the future.
   
• Augustprince and Early Augustprince, two luscious new freestone peaches for southeastern U.S. orchards, can help meet peach lovers' demand for the delectable fruit.
   
• Beneficial bacteria bashed Listeria monocytogenes, a foodborne pathogen, in laboratory experiments with freshly cut melon.
   
• ARS' newly updated flavonoid database is a handy, informative listing of the levels of these phytonutrients in about 400 fruits, vegetables and other foods.
   
• Onions may soon be even more nutritious, thanks to studies by ARS scientists and their university collaborators.

New York City Initiatives on Food Support Programs and Healthy Lifestyles

New York City Press Release 5/23/07:

Mayor Michael Bloomberg and New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn today launched three initiatives to improve access to food support programs and promote healthy lifestyles in lower income communities: the creation of a public-private partnership that was awarded a $500K grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation to encourage healthful eating and more active lifestyles; the implementation of technology that will enable more community-based organizations to enroll families in the Food Stamp program; and the addition of School Meals programs and other food benefits for low-income children and families to ACCESS NYC's online screening tool. 

Read the press release

New York State Food Policy Council

New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets News Release:

Governor Eliot Spitzer [Sunday] announced that he has signed an executive order establishing a New York State Council on Food Policy. The Council will coordinate state agriculture policy and make recommendations on developing food policy that will help ensure the availability of safe, fresh, nutritious and affordable food for all New Yorkers, especially low income residents, senior citizens and children. The Council will look at ways to increase sales of New York agricultural products to New York consumers, with a special emphasis on expanding the consumer market for organic food.

"Ensuring that all New Yorkers have access to safe, fresh and nutritious food is a top priority that the Council on Food Policy will be addressing head-on," said Governor Spitzer. "The Council will bring the public, producers and government together to explore ways in which we can improve our existing food production and delivery systems, expand capacity, and in particular, address the critical needs of children and low-income New Yorkers. Additionally, by expanding the sale of locally grown products, we can help struggling farmers, and expand the local agriculture and state economy." . . .

In addition to coordinating food policy, the Council will develop a strategic plan to ensure access to affordable, fresh, healthy, nutritious food and expand agricultural production, especially locally-grown and organically-grown food. The sale of organic food is an emerging market, with more than $13 billion spent on organic food in 2005

The Council will make recommendations to the Governor on state regulations, legislation and budget proposals in the area of food policy to ensure a coordinated and comprehensive inter-agency approach to state food policy issues. The Council will deliver a written annual report to the Governor.

Americans Still Don't Eat Enough Produce

A recent study published in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report reports only about 27% of Americans eat fruits or vegetables at least three times a day.  Another 33% eat produce twice a day.

The study is available on the CDC website here.

Florida School District serving Faux Fat in School Lunches

From the South Florida Sun-Sentinel:

The district began widespread use of Z Trim [a water and corn-fiber gel] about a month ago but has been testing it since early this year in recipes to see what students and faculty think. The goal is to reduce the amount of fat in bread, cake, cookies and salad dressing by half while eliminating the yuck factor associated with some other faux fats.

The Illinois company marketing the product, Z Trim Holdings, touts it as a safe way to reduce calories while maintaining a pleasing taste and texture in foods such as rolls, cake, salad dressing and mayonnaise.

"I'm excited because we've found another food product that helps us to improve the health and lifestyle of students naturally," said Jonathan Dickl, the Volusia district's new food-services director. "It's something we believe in."

In January, Dickl read a news article about Z Trim and decided Volusia schoolchildren could benefit from it.

Dietitians say the imitation fat is innocuous because it's made from natural ingredients; the U.S. Food and Drug Administration categorizes it as generally safe. The Center for Science in the Public Interest agrees. The nonprofit nutrition-advocacy group says that Z Trim is a good way for food companies to add fiber to their customers' diets while decreasing the amount of saturated and trans fats.

NYC mayor Michael Bloomberg the Food Candidate?

Interesting editorial piece at Scrippsnews.com on the food-related accomplishments of New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg. 

Whatever his other merits _ he's apparently a pretty good mayor _ Bloomberg would bring a novel but important issue to the presidential race, the voters' weight and nutritional well-being, in short, food.

You don't normally turn to The New York Times' Dining Out section for serious political commentary, but there it was recently, a takeout on the Big Apple politics of food under the subhead, "How the Mayor Became The City's Most Powerful Foodie."

Simon and Fried on State Laws on School Vending

Michele Simon and Ellen Fried have published State Laws on School Vending: the Need for a Public Health Approach at 62 Food and Drug Law Journal 139-150 (2007).

School nutrition has taken center stage in the national debate over how to reverse rising rates of childhood obesity. State legislative activity, sluggish at first, has quickly intensified in recent years.

However, the article asserts, a closer look at the laws themselves is critical to prevent an exaggerated perception of progress from overshadowing reality. This article reviews several of the state laws that have been enacted thus far, and the compromises that enabled their passage. Much more needs to be done to improve school food. Moreover, the emerging patchwork quilt of laws strongly suggests a need for a more thoughtful public health approach that includes sound legal analysis outside of the realm of political compromise.

Soda Drinkers Consume More Calories

A study published in April's American Journal of Public Health finds that people who drink sugary soda do not reduce their caloric intake from other sources.  Overall, they tend to consume more calories than non-soda drinkers, and tend to become obese more often. 

Effects of Soft Drink Consumption on Nutrition and Health: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis, Lenny R. Vartanian, PhD, Marlene B. Schwartz, PhD and Kelly D. Brownell, PhD, American Journal of Public Health, April 2007.

Abstract: In a meta-analysis of 88 studies, we examined the association between soft drink

consumption and nutrition and health outcomes. We found clear associations of soft drink intake

with increased energy intake and body weight. Soft drink intake also was associated with lower

intakes of milk, calcium, and other nutrients and with an increased risk of several medical

problems (e.g., diabetes).

Study design significantly influenced results: larger effect sizes were observed in studieswith stronger methods (longitudinal and experimental vs cross-sectional studies). Several

other factors also moderated effect sizes (e.g., gender, age, beverage type). Finally, studies

funded by the food industry reported significantly smaller effects than did non–industry-funded

studies. Recommendations to reduce population soft drink consumption are strongly

supported by the available science.

Oregon Considering Banning Junk Food from Schools

The Oregon legislature is considering a bill that would require school foods to be healthy, but the measure is controversial. 

We're teenagers. We don't want healthy food," explained Kaleb Lewis, a junior at Portland's Cleveland High School.

The debate is triggered by House Bill 2650, which would cap the amount of fat, sugar and calories for food sold in schools. A House subcommittee took up the measure, the third attempt in three sessions to target junk food in schools.

According to a dietician interviewed for the Oregonian article, at least 10 states have already adopted such legislation.

This is where nutritional information passes through policy on the way to becoming law.  Why cap the amount of fat?  What if the information we have about fat is wrong?  What if the information we have about fat is old and outdated?  What if Atkins is right?  What about almonds?  Could a snack be more healthy than almonds?  Here's what the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations has to say about almonds:

Almonds have high levels of unsaturated fatty acids, which make up 93% of their total fat content. The most important if these is oleic acid. Frequent consumption of this helps to reduce levels of cholesterol in general and "bad" or LDL cholesterol, while building up "good" or HDL cholesterol. Being a foodstuff of vegetable origin, almonds do not contain cholesterol.

Due to their high vitamin E content, almonds provide an extra dose of antioxidants, playing an important part in the prevention of coronary illness and cancer. A 30g portion of almonds provides 50% of the recommended daily amount of vitamin E. They also contain vitamin B6 in smaller amounts.

Almonds have the highest fibre content of any tree nut, which is important in facilitating and regulating colon transit, so avoiding constipation and preventing cardiovascular illness.
Almonds are an important source of minerals such as calcium, necessary for the formation and maintenance of bones and teeth, magnesium, potassium, copper, phosphorus and zinc.

Food Policy Coordinator for New York City

New York City has appointed