Nutritional advice in the USA

[Katy1]

Hi there,

One for all you American folk if you please.

I was having a discussion about the obesity problem that we are now facing here in Britain and the reasons why etc. I was sure that I heard once (a few years back) that there was very little advice for American citizens re: how many calories are in products and that the portions that are served in restaurants are large as standard.

Is this so? Here in Britain it is law to state on every product the amount of fat, calories, salt...you name it it tells you. It also states the daily guidelines for both men and women on most edible products. Is there enough information for people who want to be healthy over there in the 'States?

Thank you for your replies in advance.

Katy

[valerie]

We have nutrition information guidelines and have for years, and recently

a law went into effect that now they have to start listing trans fats, too.



You can get information sheets from other places, but you often have to

ask, they aren't right out front. But delis, etc. DO have them.



Restaurant portions can be large-ish but there's ways around that, too.

Order from the appetizer menu, split an entree with a friend, order

your "doggie bag" WITH your meal, and put away half of it for take

home right when your food arrives.



People really know what to do, I think, they just don't DO it!!



:-6

[tedhutchinson]

Anyone looking for nutritional advice may be interested in The World's Healthiest Foods which provides science based information relating to healthy eating.

I also like Center for Science in the Public Interest which does useful work drawing the public's attention to the worst examples of food pornography by shaming those companies who are behaving in an ethically challenged manner.

[tedhutchinson]

Well just start with this lot that will get your mouth watering.

Ten Foods You should Never Eat

[Katy1]

Thanks, so does that mean that all of your foods (tins, packets etc) have the information on it to say how many calories/grams of fat etc. that's in the product. You know, actually on the label?

I know it's such a complex one but why do you think that USA has such a problem? (We are on our way, right behind you lol). Do you think that it has anything to do with reliance on cars? I did see a programme abut some obese people in Texas and they literally drove to the end of the street to get to the shops.

[tedhutchinson]

Too much salt in ready meals and manufactured foods and restaurant meals is probably one of the leading causes for poor health.

See Here’s why—and how—to steer clear of salt.

[chonsigirl]

*hoping you didn't see the candy bar I ate today*

I think we have plenty of information on packages, the lettering is now so small you can barely read what's in anything.

[tedhutchinson]

But as you know we get our Vitamin D3 mainly from exposure of the skin to sunlight. We generally think of nutrition as the stuff we get through our diet and dietary sources of vitamin d serve only to prevent us getting rickets.

To get sufficient Vitamin D to stay healthy you simply have to go outside and expose your skin to sunlight.

As you may know Boosted Vitamin D Intake for Cancer Prevention? half of the elderly in the U.S. are vitamin D deficient as well as 35% to 40% of the younger population. I find this inexplicable when every day in the US you should be able to simply go outside and take your shirt off and get sufficient vitamin d for free. See Duration of Vitamin D Synthesis in Human Skin and Vitamin D: What's Enough?

What I find really strange about this is that when it is known that dark skinned people need six to ten times the exposure to sunlight as white skinned people, why the black leaders don't take this up as racial discrimination issue. The impact on black health is obviously greater and the fact that dark skinned people have worse health outcomes must be well known. Is it simply the reason that nobody cares because it is mainly dark skinned people who are so adversly affected and consequently as they are generally poorer it simply doesn't count.?

[Lon]

Sugar and carbs are the problem in my opinion. Huge amount of sweet soft drinks, potato chips, pizza, breads & rolls, pasta, ice cream, fried foods, and little or no exercise. Economic Socially deprived families do not know proper cooking and dietary habits. Wealthy people for the most part appear to be pretty fit.

[Blackjack]

Katy1 wrote: Do you think that it has anything to do with reliance on cars? I did see a programme abut some obese people in Texas and they literally drove to the end of the street to get to the shops.
I think it has more to do with that sort of thing than with what people eat, actually.

[tedhutchinson]

Blackjack wrote: I think it has more to do with that sort of thing than with what people eat, actually.Which fits in with the low Vitamin D levels. If people go straight from house to car to multistory carpark to shopping mall, without getting any direct exposure to sunlight then they will be vitamin d deficient. The vitamin d endoctrinal system contols calcium metabolism and that has an impact on obesity.

Vitamin D and calcium, when taken together, suppress spontaneous food intake and burn fat.

Asia Pac J Clin Nutr. 2004;13(Suppl):S82.

Asia Pac J Clin Nutr. 2004;13(Suppl):S56.

J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2003 Jan;88(1):157-61. shows that vitamin d levels are lower in obese people.

To get your vitamin d tank topped up you need to be getting regular skin exposure to direct sunlight. Not sufficient to tan or burn just enough to start the skin glowing.

Otherwise a regular 4000iu of Vitamin D3 Cholecalciferol daily or a weekly dose of seven times that amount, to get adequate supplemental calcium, at least 1500 mg/day. See previous post in this thread for more details.

[Katy1]

Hi Ted,

With the vitamin D issue in mind....why is that some of the hottest States (receiving the most sunlight) in the USA are also the most obese and the Scandinavian countries who's daylight is restricted and weather affects, has some of the lowest obesity levels in the world?

It is an interesting theory re: vitamin D but doesn't seem entirely right!

Katy

[Lon]

Blackjack wrote: I think it has more to do with that sort of thing than with what people eat, actually.


It's really quite simple. If you take in more calories than you burn each day, you will gain weight no matter what you eat.

[tedhutchinson]

Katy1 wrote: Hi Ted,

With the vitamin D issue in mind....why is that some of the hottest States (receiving the most sunlight) in the USA are also the most obese and the Scandinavian countries who's daylight is restricted and weather affects, has some of the lowest obesity levels in the world?

It is an interesting theory re: vitamin D but doesn't seem entirely right!

KatyIt's obviously a complex question and I'm not for one moment suggesting that vitamin d3 is the answer to all ailments however it's role is far more important than was previously thought and it's a pity that because it's free from sunlight nobody has a financial interest in promoting it thus their is no money available for researching it's effects. So much for capitalism.

But if you look at a few basic questions you see it must have a role.

Weight increases with higher latitude, Weight increases with lower altitude Weight increases in the winter Ann Hum Biol. 1988 Sep-Oct;15(5):353-64.

While the seasonal variation in weight is well known, the variations with latitude and altitude are less well known. Different explanations exist for all three associations but vitamin D provides a parsimonious explanation as vitamin D decreases with higher latitude, lower altitude and with the winter.

When aboriginal populations migrate from high altitude to low altitude, without significantly changing their diet, body fat increases. As vitamin D production is less at lower altitude, a vitamin D theory of obesity would predict such a change. High Alt Med Biol. 2004 Spring;5(1):27-31.

Saudi Arabians, who often cover their skin and make little vitamin D, show no associations between altitude and weight, while central Asians, who do not cover their skin, are leaner at higher altitudes where more vitamin D would be made in the skin.

Ann Hum Biol. 1995 Sep-Oct;22(5):459-65.

Ann Hum Biol. 2000 Jan-Feb;27(1):19-28.

Current scientific literature makes it likely that vitamin D reduces weight.

Higher calcium intake is consistently associated with lower body weight, a topic recently reviewed by Heaney. As vitamin D significantly increases calcium absorption, it seems likely that higher intakes of vitamin D would decrease body weight, even if the vitamin itself had no direct effect on weight.

J Am Coll Nutr. 2002 Apr;21(2):152S-155S.

Genetic abnormalities of the vitamin D receptor (called VDR polymorphisms) are associated with body weight and fat mass.

Patients with VDR polymorphisms have reduced vitamin D activity at their receptors and usually show an increased incidence of vitamin D related diseases. Although VDR polymorphism studies are often contradictory, they tend to show associations with body weight.

Eur J Endocrinol. 2004 Mar;150(3):323-8.

Calcif Tissue Int. 1995 Aug;57(2):161-2.

Eur J Endocrinol. 2001 Apr;144(4):385-9.

Blood parathyroid levels, which are elevated in vitamin D deficiency, predict obesity.

Vitamin D deficiency is associated with elevated parathyroid hormone levels. If vitamin D deficiency caused obesity, than obese patients should have elevated blood parathyroid hormone levels. In fact, the association between obesity and elevated parathormone levels is well known.

Eur J Endocrinol. 2004 Aug;151(2):167-72.

Scientists have found that vitamin D blood levels are lower in obese subjects than in thin subjects.Morbidly obese patients have been reported to present with vitamin D insufficiency 80% of the patients presented low vitamin D levels

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/quer ... med_docsum

If vitamin D deficiency explains some cases of obesity, then studies have consistently shown that 25(OH)D levels are lower in obese subjects.

Starting in 1981, at least ten studies have shown exactly that, some of which are listed below. Some studies have also shown a linear association, that is, the higher your 25(OH)D levels, the less you weigh. Not only weight, but percentage of body fat, increases as 25(OH)D levels fall.

Am J Clin Nutr. 1981 Nov;34(11):2359-63.

J Clin Invest. 1985 Jul;76(1):370-3.

Obes Surg. 1993 Nov;3(4):421-424.

J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2003 Jan;88(1):157-61.

Obese subjects obtain lower 25(OH)D levels when exposed to ultraviolet light or when they take supplemental vitamin D. Obese subjects appear to deposit some their vitamin D in their excessive fatty tissue, thus impairing their ability to raise their 25(OH)D levels.

Am J Clin Nutr. 2000 Sep;72(3):690-3.

The theory that vitamin D deficiency contributes to some cases of obesity, would mean that obesity is linked with other diseases associated with vitamin D deficiency, such as cancer, diabetes and heart disease.

Obesity and vitamin D deficiency are comorbid with numerous diseases such as heart disease, hypertension, diabetes, osteoarthritis, osteoporosis, depression and even periodontal disease. This is consistent with the theory that vitamin D deficiency plays a role in obesity.

J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2004 Jun;89(6):2583-9.

Can J Public Health. 2004 May-Jun;95(3):179-83.

J Periodontol. 2003 May;74(5):610-5.

As obesity is associated with early death, and low vitamin D levels are more likely in the winter, then you are more likely to die in the winter. Scientists have known about and debated the cause of excess winter deaths for years.

If vitamin D deficiency is one of the treatable causes of obesity, then a study has shown that the more vitamin D in your diet, the less you weigh.

A Norwegian group reported just that. The authors concluded, “placebocontrolled

intervention studies with calcium and vitamin D, in which the primary end point is

weight change, are warranted.”

J Nutr. 2003 Jan;133(1):102-6.

Above research somewhat edited and updated a bit comes from John Cannell, MD

The Vitamin D Council http://www.cholecalciferol-council.com/

Boosted Vitamin D Intake for Cancer Prevention? http://www.medpagetoday.com/Pediatrics/ ... n/tb1/2404

Shows that taking a serum level of 20 ng/mL or lower (a person spending every day outdoors with arms legs exposed would have naturally about 75ng/ml) as a sign of deficiency half of the elderly in the U.S. are vitamin D deficient as well as 35% to 40% of the younger population. Dark skinned people of course need six to ten times more exposure that white skinned hence if they stay indoors by the air conditioning, work shifts, drive in cars and never spend time sunbatheing outdoors their levels will be lower than ideal.

I don't know anything about Scandinavia and sun practices. Will try to find out but I seem to have the opinion that they crave the sunlight , take lots of holdays in sunny places and spend rather more time naked and exposing their skin to sunlight than is customary elsewhere.