Vitamins: Supplements Vs. Food

What's in a pill? If it's an oil-based gel cap, it may contain...

• Gelatin (a protein chemically extracted and refined from skin, bones, intestines, and other organs of cows and pigs)
  
• Soybean oil (from genetically modified, omega-6-laden soybeans)
  
• Glycerin (from soybean oil, a byproduct of the growing biofuels industry. US makes crude glycerin which is shipped to China and other Asian countries and reimported as refined glycerin.)

... among other carriers, fillers, artificial colors and preservatives, in addition to the nutrient or active ingredient. In the case of fat-soluble vitamins, there's the issue of rancidity.

What if you're cutting back on omega-6 fats, or GMOs, or foods of animal origin? What if your budget is tight? How easy is it to get the RDA from food - for, say, the fat soluble vitamin E? (RDA for vitamin E for adult men and women is 15 mg (22.4 IU) alpha-tocopherol.)

Here are some vitamin E amounts I picked up from NutritionData (serving size, calories, vitamin E mg). In no particular order:

• Spinach, frozen, chopped or leaf, cooked, boiled, drained, with salt, 1/2 cup, 32, 3.4
  
• Chard, Swiss, cooked, boiled, drained, with salt, 1/2 cup, 17, 1.6
  
• Asparagus, cooked, boiled, drained, 4 spears, 13, 0.9
  
• Tomato products, canned, sauce, 1/2 cup, 30, 1.8
  
• Squash, winter, butternut, cooked, baked, without salt, 1/2 cup cubes, 41, 1.3
  
• Peppers, sweet, red, raw, 1 small (about 1/2 cup chopped), 23, 1.2
  
• Broccoli, cooked, boiled, drained, with salt, 1/2 cup chopped, 27, 1.1
  
• Kiwi fruit, (Chinese gooseberries), fresh, raw, 1 medium without skin, 46, 1.1
  
• Apricots, dried, sulfured, uncooked, 1 ounce (about 1/4 cup), 67, 1.2
  
• Seeds, sunflower seed kernels, dried, 1 ounce (bit less than 1/4 cup), 164, 9.3
  
• Nuts, almonds [Includes USDA commodity food A256, A264], 1 oz (23 whole), 162, 7.4
  
• Peanut butter, smooth style, with salt, 1 tablespoon, 94, 1.5
  
• Beans, kidney, all types, mature seeds, cooked, boiled, with salt, 1/2 cup, 112, 0.8
  
• Egg, whole, cooked, hard-boiled, 1 large, 77, 0.5
  
• Fish, salmon, sockeye, canned, drained solids with bone, 3 oz, 141, 1.8
  
• Beef, chuck, arm pot roast, separable lean and fat, trimmed to 1/8" fat, choice, cooked, braised [URMIS #1864], 3 oz, 263, 0.5

A single serving of spinach (32 cal, 3.4 mg), tomato sauce (30, 1.8), squash (41, 1.3), red pepper (23, 1.2), broccoli (27, 1.1), and almonds (162, 7.4) consumed in a day would meet the RDA, at 16.2 mg vitamin E for only 315 calories.

I often think since vitamin E is a fatty vitamin there wouldn't be appreciable amounts in non-fatty foods. Here's a chart from the data above that shows many low-fat, low-calorie foods have more vitamin E per calorie, that is, are more nutritionally dense, than higher-fat foods:


Click to enlarge.
For the case of vitamin E at least, foods may have the edge over supplements.
________Photo of vitamin E and Chart: Bix

Bites

Talk about second chances. Here's a pickup truck that crashed through a guard rail, flipped, and... I'll let you see what happened: Snopes

A blood test for colon cancer? Quest Diagnostics now offering one: ColoVantage. It won't replace colonoscopies, but if your blood tests positive there's no avoiding the dreaded scope: Quest

Woman emails maker of corn nuts: "Hi. Are your corn nuts genetically modified?" Maker's reply: "Thank you for your contact. We are not aware of any GMO free corn in the U.S. We feel it is a ridiculous concern based on very poor science." Anti-GMO activist Jeffrey Smith rings up corn nuts maker. The conversation: Huffington

Waistbands on men rise with age. By age 57 "the waistband can be just 7 inches under the armpit." Guardian
50-year-old Simon Cowell measures up: Daily Mail
________Thanks to BL for the truck story.

Bites

Do you shake or grind the pepper? You make be shaking the Salmonella too. Food Safety News, MarlerBlog

Run wearing shoes: strike the ground with your heel. Run barefoot: strike the ground near the ball of your foot, "making barefoot running comfortable." A whole different ballgame. BBC

The Mayo Clinic says you can be fat and skinny at the same time. Their 9-year study estimates 30 million Americans may fall into the new normal-weight-obesity category. I wonder if this will change how we track obesity prevalence. Wall Street Journal
________

Cost of Health Care

From The Cost of Health Care, National Geographic Magazine Blog, December 2009. Not scientific, but startling:


Click to enlarge.
Life expectancy seems to cluster around 80 years old regardless of healthcare spending.

The chart reveals something about health care spending vs. age of death, but not vs. quality of life. I don't know ... do you think all the money we spend has improved our quality of life? Relative to say Germany, France, Sweden? (Some countries aren't shown but their figures are included in one of the comments.)
________

Bites

Dr. Elisabeth Hagan in line as our next Food Safety chief at the USDA/FSIS (meat, poultry and eggs only). Bill Marler can sleep at night. No, wait. MarlerBlog

Panama wants to destroy tens of thousands of giant, genetically modified salmon before they can escape their pens and satisfy their enormous appetites on local unsuspecting prey. FIS

Over-the-counter weight-loss drug Alli has an imposter that's contaminated with the prescription drug sibutramine (known to cause heart problems). Check these photos of real vs. fake. FDA

Total antioxidant content of over 3100 foods, beverages, spices, and supplements. "The most comprehensive Antioxidant Food Database published." Bless their souls. Nutrition Journal, January 2010. Abstract, Table
________

omg

This Is Why You're Fat
________

Higher Mortality Linked To Coconut Oil And Animal Fat

A few people mentioned epidemiological, or population differences, in my previous posts about coconut oil.

I saw this study a while back. It found that in populations with similar genetic makeup, those consuming more saturated fat, that is, more coconut oil, palm oil, and animal fat, had higher mortality rates, including death from heart disease:

Differences In All-Cause, Cardiovascular And Cancer Mortality Between Hong Kong And Singapore: Role Of Nutrition, European Journal of Epidemiology, 2001

From the abstract:

"The majority of inhabitants in Hong Kong and Singapore are ethnic Chinese, but all-cause and cardiovascular mortality rates in these two regions are markedly different.

The most pronounced finding was that ischemic heart disease mortality in 1993–1995 was 2.98 and 3.14 times higher in Singapore than in Hong Kong

Of the five countries considered, Singapore has the highest all-cause mortality in both sexes in the period of 1960–1995.

The ratio of animal to vegetal fat was higher in Singapore (2.24) than in Hong Kong (1.08).

Singapore had higher serum concentrations of total cholesterol and [LDL] than Hong Kong, but the opposite result was observed for [HDL].

These differences can be most reasonably and plausibly explained by their differences in dietary habits, for example, a higher consumption of coconut and palm oil, mainly containing saturated fat, in Singapore."

If coconut oil is a health food, as it's being promoted, why wasn't it protective against heart disease, instead of being associated with a greater than 3 times higher heart disease death rate?

For that matter...

If a high intake of animal fat is healthful, why was it associated with higher mortality in this study?

If a greater intake of saturated fat is healthful, why was it associated with higher mortality?

If higher serum cholesterol is healthful, as I've read elsewhere, why was it associated with higher mortality?

I don't see that the jury is in on this.
________Photo of coconut butter from Wikipedia Commons.

Coconut Oil May Promote Inflammation

This is a follow-up to the chart in "Inflammatory Effects Of Common Oils" where coconut oil showed up as pro-inflammatory (using NutritionData's methodology).

Here's a small study that found a meal rich in coconut oil, where the fat is primarily saturated (compared to a meal high in safflower oil where the fat is primarily unsaturated) impaired the anti-inflammatory action of HDL, and resulted in impaired blood vessel function for several hours after the meal:

Consumption of Saturated Fat Impairs the Anti-Inflammatory Properties of High-Density Lipoproteins and endothelial Function, Journal of the American College of Cardiology, 2006

The aim of the study was:

"... to define the effect of consuming a single high-fat meal, differing in fatty acid composition, on the ability of high-density lipoproteins (HDLs) to inhibit the expression of proinflammatory adhesion molecules by endothelial cells and on large and small vessel function."

The meal:

"Subjects consumed 1 of 2 isocaloric meals comprising a slice of carrot cake and a milkshake containing 1 g of fat/kg of body weight. The first meal contained safflower oil. The second meal contained coconut oil."

Findings: The coconut oil meal reduced the anti-inflammatory properties of HDL, while the polyunsaturated fat meal actually enhanced those properties. (HDL was found to inhibit release of adhesion molecules from endothelium - from the lining of blood vessels. That's good. The presence of adhesion molecules (ICAM-1 and VCAM-1) can promote atherosclerosis.)

"Consumption of a saturated fat reduces the anti-inflammatory potential of HDL and impairs arterial endothelial function. In contrast, the anti-inflammatory activity of HDL improves after consumption of polyunsaturated fat. These findings highlight novel mechanisms by which different dietary fatty acids may influence key atherogenic processes."

Also, forearm blood flow increased more after the polyunsaturated than saturated fat (coconut oil) meal.

"Post-hyperemic forearm blood [microvascular] flow significantly increased 3 h after consumption of the polyunsaturated fat by 45 +/-14% and by 21 +/- 11% after the saturated fat meal."

The authors suspect it may be the result of fatty acid changes in the phospholipid layer (cell membrane) of the HDL after a meal.

Conclusion:

"The present study raises the possibility that the differential effects of dietary fats on the antiinflammatory potential of HDL and endothelial function may contribute to the apparent benefits of polyunsaturated over saturated diets observed in the epidemiologic literature."

________

"As Soon As We Think We Know Something, Curiosity Begins To Wither" - Dr. Gottlieb

Dr. Dan Gottlieb is a psychologist and family therapist who has worked in the Philadelphia area for over 40 years. In addition to his practice he hosts the award-winning mental health radio program, "Voices in the Family," was a regular columnist for the Philadelphia Inquirer, has authored 4 books, and lectures nationally on a variety of mental health topics.

Ten years into his practice, thirty years ago, Dr. Gottlieb was in a car accident that left him paralyzed from the chest down. It has given him a unique perspective on life and what it means to be human.

He currently posts to the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation forum. (He uses voice recognition software that converts speech to text.)

Here's something he wrote a few days ago on a thread about curiosity:

"I have a new person living at my house who has become my teacher. His name is Jake and he is 18 months old and he is curious about everything. Every second of every day he is awake he is curious. Of course it's not Jake, all small children are curious. The brain is naturally curious and once more information.

So what happens to us that curiosity has become so elusive. And that curiosity is often completely absent when we are in the presence of one of the most interesting, complicated, beautiful and unpredictable things on this earth -- a human.

It happened because we think we know. We think we know what the other person wants, thinks, and is going to say next. We think we know their motives and their agendas. What if we were wrong about everything we assume?

When we have these belief systems, we stop learning. Troubles me about all of these biased news stations on either side of the political spectrum. So that people can surround themselves with people who think like they do. That kills curiosity.

As soon as we think we know something -- almost anything, curiosity begins to wither.
The less we know the more curious we become.

As a matter of fact, I was going to change the title after my name on my business card. Instead of Daniel Gottlieb PhD I wanted to write Daniel Gottlieb DNS (don't know s**t)."

________

Should You Take Vitamin D2 Or Vitamin D3?

Michael Holick's opinion: It doesn't matter.

Michael Holick's opinion matters.

• Dr. Holick discovered the mechanism for how vitamin D is made in the skin. He identified the major circulating form of vitamin D3 in human blood (calcidiol also known as 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 or 25(OH)D3. This is the form that's measured to determine deficiency states.)
  
• He was the first person to isolate and identify the active form of vitamin D (1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3).
  
• He's authored over 300 peer-reviewed articles, 200 reviews, several book chapters, and edited 10 books.
  
• He's the author of The UV Advantage and the soon-to-be-released The Vitamin D Solution.

Vitamin D2, also known as ergocalciferol, is derived from plants (notably yeast).
Vitamin D3, also known as cholecalciferol, is derived from animals (notably sheep's wool).

In his study...

Vitamin D2 Is As Effective As Vitamin D3 In Maintaining Circulating Concentrations Of 25-Hydroxyvitamin D, Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, March 2008

Dr. Holick and his colleagues gave participants one of the following daily for 11 weeks at the end of the winter in Boston:

• Placebo
  
• 1000 IU vitamin D2
  
• 1000 IU vitamin D3
  
• Combination of 500 IU vitamin D2 and 500 IU vitamin D3

And found:

"The rise in the total 25(OH)D was identical to that observed for the groups who received either 1000 IU vitamin D2 or 1000 IU vitamin D3."

"That, to me, proves that vitamin D2 is as effective as vitamin D3 in raising and maintaining 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels. That is consistent with the early literature that showed that 100 IU of vitamin D2 was effective in preventing rickets in children."¹

________¹ Michael Holick, PhD, MD: Vitamin D Pioneer, Alternative Therapies, May/June 2008.

FDA Tells Consumers To Throw Away Scratched Plastic

In 2008, the FDA said Bisphenol A (BPA) in plastics was safe. (BPA is a synthetic estrogen.)

"In 2008, the Food and Drug Administration conducted a review of toxicology research and information on BPA, and, at that time, judged food-related materials containing BPA on the market to be safe."
- FDA: Bisphenol A (BPA) Information for Parents

A few days ago, the FDA came out with a list of ways consumers can reduce their exposure to BPA, a chemical they still consider officially to be safe, and "not proven to be harmful." Some items:

• Discard all food containers (including baby bottles and infant feeding cups) with scratches, as they may harbor germs and may lead to greater release of BPA.
  
• Do not put boiling or very hot water, infant formula, or other liquids into BPA-containing bottles.
  
• There are small amounts of BPA in liquid infant formulas sold in cans. ... Do not heat cans. ... In rare cases, small amounts of BPA are found in infant formula sold in powdered form.
  
• In some pacifiers, the hard plastic shield designed to prevent swallowing might contain BPA.
  
• Some plastics that are marked with recycle codes 3 or 7 may be made with BPA. ... Do not put very hot or boiling liquid that you intend to consume in plastic containers made with BPA.

The warnings are not just for infants:

• Adults and older children should follow reasonable food preparation practices to reduce exposure to BPA.

Major manufacturers are making major changes:

• As of January 2009, "six major US manufacturers of baby bottles and infant feeding cups ... have not manufactured these products using BPA for the US market."

If FDA considers BPA to be safe, why are they acting to reduce our exposure?

FDA is taking reasonable steps to reduce human exposure to BPA in the food supply. These steps include:

• supporting the industry’s actions to stop producing BPA-containing baby bottles and infant feeding cups for the US market;
  
• facilitating the development of alternatives to BPA for the linings of infant formula cans; and
  
• supporting efforts to replace BPA or minimize BPA levels in other food can linings.

These are very specific recommendations (e.g. Look on the bottom of plastics. If they say 3 or 7 and are scratched, throw them out). Why would the FDA spend a chunk of their meager time, money, and resources warning the public about something not proven to be harmful?
________

Vitamin D and Prostate Cancer

This is interesting... Peter Frost questions the evidence supporting high oral doses of vitamin D:

"What effects, then, can we expect from artificially raising the vitamin D levels of black Americans? Keep in mind that we are really talking about a hormone, not a vitamin. This hormone interacts with the chromosomes and may gradually shorten their telomeres if concentrations are too low or too high. Similarly, cancer risk increases if concentrations are too low or too high. Prostate cancer is least likely when vitamin D levels vary between 16 and 24 ng/mL -- a range of values below the current recommended minimum of 30 ng/mL."
- Black-White Differences in Cancer Risk and the Vitamin D Hypothesis, Journal of the National Medical Association, December 2009

The reference for that highlighted text above was...

"Calcidiol* serum concentrations show a U-shaped risk of prostate cancer suggesting an optimal serum concentration of 40-60 nmol/L [16-24 ng/mL] for the lowest cancer risk."
- Vitamin D and Aging, The Journal of Steroid Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, December 2009

*Calcidiol, 25(OH)D, is vitamin D3 that has been hydroxylated by the liver. Serum calcidiol is an indicator of vitamin D status.

It will be interesting to see what recommendations the IOM makes regarding vitamin D intake. They've been holding a series of meetings on it. (The IOM is the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies. They publish the DRIs/RDAs.)

Here are the current recommendations for vitamin D that are likely to go up:



________

Inflammatory Effect Of Common Oils

Is coconut oil really that inflammatory?

Click to enlarge.
Inflammatory Factor (for 1 ounce = 2 tablespoons):*

Coconut oil ....... -111 (inflammatory)
Corn oil ....... -102
Sesame Oil ....... -42
Peanut oil ....... -6
Butter ....... -89
Canola oil ....... +141
Olive oil ....... +147 (anti-inflammatory)

* NutritionData's Inflammation Factor Rating:

"Estimates the inflammatory or anti-inflammatory potential of individual foods or combinations of foods by calculating the net effect of different nutritional factors, such as fatty acids, antioxidants, and glycemic impact.

Foods with positive IF Ratings are considered anti-inflammatory, those with negative IF Ratings are considered inflammatory. The higher the number, the stronger the effect."

Update: Maybe coconut oil really is inflammatory.________Chart: Bix, from NutritionData's data

Living Strong

A poignant story:
At a Mighty 104, Gone While Still Going Strong, NYTs, January 11

On Monday, Joe Rollino, said to be, for his size, one of the strongest men who ever lived, was struck by a minivan and died. He was 104.

"Mr. Rollino stayed away from meat. And cigarettes. And alcohol. He said he walked five miles every morning, rain or shine."

The photo is of Mr. Rollino at 103 years old. That's incredible.
________Thanks to Seinberg.
Photo credit: drdarden.com

APHA Issues Statement Against Use Of Hormones In Beef And Dairy Cattle

The American Public Health Association (APHA) came out against the use of exogenous hormones in general, and against one type of GMO in particular, in a recent statement:

Policy Statement: Opposition to the Use of Hormone Growth Promoters in Beef and Dairy Cattle Production, APHA, November 2009

Excerpts:

"There is clear evidence that hormones originating outside the body can interfere with our own hormone function."

"Many hormone-related chronic diseases are common or on the rise, including breast and prostate cancer, thyroid disease, obesity and diabetes, endometriosis, uterine fibroids, and infertility."

"Biological plausibility and scientific findings now suggest that exogenous hormones such as those used in our food system may be one such contributor to these negative trends."

"It is widely acknowledged that the use of these hormone growth promoters results in residues in meat."

In a 2007 study, for example, sperm concentration of male offspring was found to be inversely related to their mothers’ self-reported beef consumption while pregnant, with possible links hypothesized to the 6 steroid hormones routinely used in US beef production.¹

It isn't just meat and dairy that may be problematic:

"Residues of these hormone growth promoters also persist for weeks to months in manure and feedlot runoff, raising concerns about the added exogenous hormone load to the environment."

The section on GMOs used in dairy cows (rbGH: recombinant bovine growth hormone) is particularly damning:

"Although some studies (including several funded by Monsanto) have failed to demonstrate that rbGH harms dairy cows, virtually all independent analyses of the data reached a different conclusion."

Canada, the European Union, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan have prohibited its use. Not the US:

"In 2007, nearly 43% of large herds were treated with rbGH."

Hormone Growth Promoters Just One of Many Environmental Endocrine Disruptors

The APHA Statement referenced and echoed the Endocrine Society's Statement from last summer (that I blogged about here):

"In its first scientific statement issued in June 2009, the Endocrine Society ... determined that 'Results from animal models, human clinical observations, and epidemiological studies converge to implicate EDCs [endocrine disrupting chemicals] as a significant concern to public health. ... Scientific knowledge about [EDCs’] effects on humans . . . appears sufficient to justify societal approaches to limiting population exposures.' "

Endocrine disruptors include hormones (GMO or conventional) fed to livestock as well as chemicals in plastics, pesticides, fuels, and cosmetics. EDs bioaccumulate in the food chain - they accrue in the fattier tissues of fish and other livestock. (In the future, a certification process may test animal products for ED concentrations.)

All of us have more of these chemicals in our bodies than did people just 50 years ago. Which leads me to the genetic issue...

The APHA Statement mentions epigenetic changes arising from EDs. These are changes in the activity of genes that don't require changes to the genes themselves. (Mutation is a change in a gene, the DNA itself.) Many endocrine disruptors, e.g. steroid hormones and Bisphenol A in plastics, are fat soluble and can easily diffuse through fatty cell membranes. Once inside the cell they bind to receptors and disrupt normal functioning of genes.

Epigenetic changes can cause us, a population, to experience gene-based biological outcomes - diseases such as obesity and diabetes - in a time period shorter than typical human generational cycles (100s of years). I saw that Marion Nestle is discussing Genetic Causes of Obesity on her blog. While it's true that "Obesity rates rose sharply in the early 1980s, with no possibility for so rapid a change in the genetic composition of the population," there was and is a strong possibility of epigenetic changes in this timeframe.

Maybe it's not so much the fat in our diet that's predisposing us to obesity, diabetes, heart disease, thyroid disease, breast and prostate cancer, and other hormone-related chronic diseases. Maybe it's the substances dissolved in that fat. This will be an exciting, if disturbing, area of study in the coming years.
________
¹Semen Quality Of Fertile US Males In Relation To Their Mothers' Beef Consumption During Pregnancy, Human Reproduction, 2008

Is The Selling Of Junk Food At Non-Food Stores Contributing To Obesity?

I don't know. But by the looks of this upcoming study in the American Journal of Public Health there's no shortage of Hershey's at Home Depot:
The Ubiquity of Energy-Dense Snack Foods: A National Multicity Study

It looked at over 1000 non-food stores in the US and found that 41% sold candy, soda, chips, and other packaged snacks - mostly within arm's reach of the cash register.

Drug stores and gas stations were fairly flush with the stuff. But creeping up the list were clothing stores, hardware stores, garden supply shops, auto repair shops, book stores, and furniture stores.

Is there such a thing as a snack store anymore?

This was notable: Availability of snack foods did not vary by racial or socioeconomic characteristics. Another of my preconceptions up in smoke. (Another misconception was that people of lower income spent less time preparing meals than their higher-income counterparts. According to the USDA's Economic Research Service, people in lower-income households spent more time preparing meals.)
________That photo of what appears to be drive-by vending was taken in Tokyo in 2006. It's from abuckingham's flickr photostream.

Debate, Vigorously And Often

A lot here I'm working on (less the manliness):
How To Debate Politics* Like A Gentleman, from The Art of Manliness

* Or diet (vegan vs. meat-eating), or healthcare (public vs. private), or food production (local vs. global), or ...

Excerpts:

• The other person has a reason for thinking as they do. Try to see their reasoning. This might not help:

  - I’m a very intelligent man and I believe X.
  - This other guy believes Y.
  - Therefore this other guy is a complete moron.

• Do not ask questions as a way to dig up material to pounce on and attack. Take the time to really understand their sides of the issues.
  
  
• Consume media that presents news from both sides.

  You must make an effort to read, listen, and watch news that may make your blood pressure soar, but will leave you better informed and ready to make fair assessments.

• Concede a point where appropriate.

  An intelligent and secure man is able to say, “Yeah, that’s a good point. I hadn’t thought of that."

• Don’t use inflammatory language.

  The man who is insecure with the simple, bare validity of his argument will be tempted to resort to inflammatory language and insults.
  
  Example:
  
  During his days as a young state assemblyman in New York, Teddy Roosevelt would frequently lose his cool during debates on the Assembly floor. He’d call his opponents “cold blooded, narrow-minded, prejudiced, obstinate, timid, old psalm singing Indianapolis politicians” or “oily-Gammon, churchgoing specimens,” or simply “classical ignoramuses.”
  
  Young Roosevelt quickly became the laughing stock of the Assembly and of the state newspapers with his outbursts. After bitterly insulting a senior assemblyman, Roosevelt was rebuked severely, and tearfully apologized for his unbecoming behavior.

I liked that last example. Can you see a politician today tearfully apologizing? (Is an apology a sign of weakness?)________Comic from xkcd.

Who Spends More Time Preparing Food?

This was interesting...

The USDA publishes a magazine on issues related to farming and food called Amber Waves. From the latest issue:

*SNAP is the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. It used to be called the Food Stamp program.

The graph shows:

• People in lower-income households, whether they receive food stamps or not, spend more time preparing food than people in higher income households.
  
• People in lower-income households, whether they receive food stamps or not, spend less time eating and drinking than people in higher income households.¹
  
• All groups spent about the same amount of time grocery shopping.

Final observation ... Everyone spent on average 2 hours a day in procuring food, preparing food, eating, and cleaning up.

How many hours do you spend?
________ ¹ The eating and drinking category refers "to those occasions where food consumption was reported as the “primary” or main activity," say, mealtimes.

Request

Over the holidays one of my family members underwent unexpected heart surgery.

There are probably a lot of people reading this who have good ideas about heart health, having faced the same situation. So I'm throwing this out there ...

If you've had heart surgery, even if you haven't, can you name one or two things you do that you find indispensible in keeping the pump going? Something you really believe in.

Thank you.
________

Portable Foods

This was surprising:

Where do you most often eat your midday meal?



I didn't think that many people were home during the day. Most of my life I've eaten my midday meal away from home. At school, at work, in the car or on the train. No matter how many gung-ho articles there are about how easy it is to eat healthfully when you're on the road, it hasn't been my experience. Even brown-bagging means getting up earlier to pack it.

Some of my recent portable foods:

• Sweet potato
  
• Squash (the drier kabocha-type)
  
• Dried mission figs
  
• Pumpkin seeds
  
• Soy nuts
  
• Grape tomatoes
  
• Chunks of my sprouted wheat bread experiments that no one else will eat

I'm open to suggestions.
________Photo: Bix