And the bad: From fatty restaurant meals to failing school cafeterias and poor Western diets, 2007 made us think about how we eat

Written by LESLIE BECK, published in the Globe and Mail, December 26, 2007

The past 12 months brought a mix of nutrition stories to the forefront. It’s fair to say it was a bad year for deli meats, alcoholic beverages and the provinces’ school nutrition policies. Even restaurant meals were exposed for their shockingly high calorie and sodium counts.

But the year’s news wasn’t all bad. Vitamin D supplements and dark chocolate grabbed positive headlines. We also welcomed a new and improved food guide to help us eat better.

In keeping with tradition, my last column of the year looks back at 2007’s nutrition headlines. Here’s a recap.

In July, researchers revealed that people with hypertension who ate a small daily serving of dark chocolate, top, had lower blood pressure. In November, a lab analysis found that a sampling of restaurant meals from Kelsey’s, Jack Astor’s, Milestone’s and the Keg each contained more than 1,000 calories. 

In an effort to help Canadians make healthier food choices, Health Canada unveiled a revised food guide in February.

It was high time. Since 1992, when the food guide was last revised, much had changed in nutrition. We now know about the evils of trans fats, the cardio-protective effects of fish and whole grains, and the importance of vitamin D.

While many praised the new Eating Well with Canada’s Food Guide for providing advice targeted to specific groups such as children, women and older adults, others criticized it for its potential to promote weight gain by recommending too much food.

While it might not be perfect, the latest version is a much needed departure from the previous one-size-fits-all approach. It also includes far more ethnic foods to meet the needs of a culturally diverse population.

Following the new food guide might not help you lose weight, but it will certainly help you make healthier food choices. For more information log on to http://www.healthcanada.gc.ca/foodguide.

RESTAURANT MENUS SLAMMED

In March, the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a Washington-based consumer group, slammed North American Chinese-restaurant food for its high calorie, fat and sodium content.

Consider this: A dinner-sized order of lemon chicken weighed in at 1,400 calories, 13 grams of cholesterol-raising saturated fat and 700 milligrams of sodium. Orange crispy beef had 1,500 calories, 11 g of saturated fat and 3,100 mg of sodium. Even an order of stir-fried greens delivered 900 calories and 2,200 mg of sodium.

Restaurant menus were brought to the forefront again in November when The Globe and Mail and CTV’s Canada AM commissioned an independent lab to analyze popular meals at four national chains - Kelsey’s, Jack Astor’s, Milestone’s and the Keg.

The findings: Just about every menu entree contained more than 1,000 calories. Including an appetizer, a beverage and a dessert lifted calorie counts to over 2,000. To put those numbers in perspective, the average adult needs about 2,000 calories and no more than 2,300 mg of sodium for the entire day.

Meals were awash in more than just calories. Most provided more than a day’s worth of fat, saturated fat and sodium. To eat healthier in 2008, consider preparing most of your meals at home.

VITAMIN D SUPPLEMENTS

CUT CANCER RISK

Vitamin D continued to make headlines this year. But unlike previous studies that linked a daily vitamin D supplement to a reduced cancer risk, in June the first randomized, controlled trial - the most reliable form of scientific evidence - substantiated that vitamin D is an important tool in fighting breast, lung and colon cancers.

In the four-year study of 1,179 healthy, postmenopausal women, researchers found that those taking 1,110 IU (international units) of vitamin D each day in conjunction with calcium were 60 per cent less likely to get cancer than their placebo-taking peers.

The growing evidence that vitamin D guards against cancer - and the fact that Canadians don’t get sufficient sunlight during winter to produce enough of the nutrient - prompted the Canadian Cancer Society to recommend adults take 1,000 IU of vitamin D per day in the fall and winter. (Older adults, people with dark skin, those who don’t go outdoors often, and those who wear clothing that covers most of their skin should take the supplement all year round.)

In September, 2007, an analysis of 18 randomized controlled trials involving 57,311 people found that those who took at least 528 IU of vitamin D daily had a 7-per-cent lower risk of death than those given a placebo.

To figure out how much vitamin D you need to take, add up how much you’re already getting from your multivitamin and calcium supplements. Choose a supplement that contains D3, instead of D2, which is less potent.

WESTERN DIET BOOSTS

COLON CANCER RECURRENCE

In August, a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association suggested that when it comes to survival after a diagnosis of colon cancer, it’s what you don’t eat that matters most.

In the study of 1,009 patients treated for stage three colon cancer (cancer present in the colon and the lymph nodes), those who followed a “Western” diet and ate more red meat, fatty foods, refined grains and sugary desserts were 3.3 times more likely to have their cancer return than patients whose diet included more fruit, vegetables, legumes, fish, poultry and whole grains.

Researchers speculate that, following surgery for stage three colon cancer, eating a typical Western diet could allow residual microscopic cancer cells to proliferate and spread.

DARK CHOCOLATE LOWERS BLOOD PRESSURE

It was a good news/bad news story. In July, researchers from Germany revealed that people with borderline or mild hypertension who ate a daily serving of dark chocolate experienced a decline in blood pressure.

But unfortunately for chocolate lovers, the findings don’t justify eating an entire bar of dark chocolate each day. The blood-pressure-lowering effect was limited to 30 calories worth of dark chocolate - roughly the number of calories in one Hershey’s Kiss.

Dark chocolate’s heart-healthy effects are attributed to flavonoids, natural compounds in cocoa beans that give dark chocolate its bittersweet taste. Flavonoids are thought to reduce blood pressure by increasing the production of nitric oxide, a substance that causes blood vessels to widen and relax.

For more flavonoids, choose dark chocolate that contains at least 70-per-cent cocoa solids, and then exercise portion control.

PROVINCIAL SCHOOL-NUTRITION POLICIES GET LOW MARKS

Despite the fact that childhood obesity is an epidemic in Canada, provinces are doing little to expose kids to nutritious foods in school cafeterias, tuck shops and vending machines.

In October, a report released by the Ottawa-based Canadian division of the Centre for Science in the Public Interest revealed that not one province scored an A for its school-nutrition policy.

Only Alberta, which has a draft policy, earned a B. Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, and Labrador scored a C, while seven other provinces barely passed with a D, or failed.

The report graded school nutrition policies on how they compare to new nutrition standards for calories, saturated and trans fats and sodium levels in school foods set by the U.S. Institute of Medicine. (Advice from the IOM is often used as the basis for Canadian nutrition policy.) The report urged all levels of government to develop and support cross-Canada policies that contain nutrition standards for all foods sold in schools.

The dismal results also highlighted the need for parents to push the government for change.

LIFESTYLE AND CANCER LINK STRONGER THAN EVER

The report that created the biggest stir this year was released in November by the American Institute for Cancer Research and the World Cancer Research Fund. The 517-page report reviewed the results of 7,000 studies from a pool of half a million and rated cancer risks from obesity, meat, alcohol and inactivity.

The report - the second in 10 years - recommends staying slim, being physically active, limiting high-calorie foods and beverages, reducing red meat, reducing sodium and eating plenty of fruits and vegetables to cut the risk of cancer.

While these guidelines may not sound new, the evidence supporting many of them is much stronger than a decade ago. The report found convincing evidence of a link between being overweight and six types of cancers (colon, kidney, pancreatic, breast, esophageal and endometrial), five more than we knew about 10 years ago. It also found strong evidence that processed meats and alcohol boost cancer risk.