New York study says menu labeling affects behavior

By David Morgan Mon Oct 26, 3:57 pm ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – New York's mandate that fast-food restaurants post calorie information on their menus has changed consumer habits, the city said on Monday, contradicting a recent independent study showing no effect.

The city's Department of Health and Mental Hygiene released preliminary data showing evidence that people bought food with fewer calories at nine of the 13 fast-food and coffee chains included in a study on the effects of menu-labeling laws that went into effect in 2008.

Researchers surveyed more than 10,000 customers at 275 locations in early 2007 and another 12,000 this year.

They found statistically significant decreases at four chains -- McDonald's, Au Bon Pain, KFC and Starbucks -- and said diners who saw and acted on calorie information bought food containing 106 fewer calories on average than those who did not notice the postings.

All told, 56 percent of fast-food customers reported seeing the calorie information, researchers told the annual meeting of the Obesity Society in Washington.

The earlier study by researchers at New York University and Yale University, which included 1,156 adults who ate at Burger King, KFC, McDonald's and Wendy's immediately before and after the rule went into effect, found no change to consumer habits in low-income neighborhoods.

The city's researchers said their study was more representative of dining habits because it included more people over a longer period of time and not limited to outlets in low-income neighborhoods.

In July 2008, New York became the first U.S. city to require fast food restaurants to post calorie counts in large type on menu boards.

The system has since become a model for similar rules intended to combat obesity and promote good nutrition in California, other parts of New York state, the cities of Seattle and Portland, and elsewhere.

Health advocates see menu labeling as a tool for fighting obesity. About one-third of U.S. adults are obese, a condition that increases the risk of heart disease, diabetes, cancer and other medical problems, and another one-third are overweight.

Both the city and New York University studies were funded by the nonprofit Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Lynn Silver, assistant commissioner for New York's Bureau of Chronic Disease Prevention and Control, said government findings show diners are noticing and acting on the labels.

"Dietary change is likely to come gradually; it will start with consumers interested in making informed, healthy eating decisions and we hope industry will respond by offering more healthier choices and appropriate portion sizes," she said in a statement.

But city researchers also found that the labeling laws' influence can be overcome by restaurant marketing.

The privately held Subway restaurant chain, which has promoted its menu as a vehicle for weight loss and healthy eating, posted calorie information on some of its menus before the labeling laws went into effect in 2008.

The number of calories purchased at Subway more than doubled during the study period, which coincided with an advertising campaign to promote larger 12-inch sandwiches. The calorie gain at Subway was roughly the same as losses at seven other food chains, researchers said.

Scientists say curry compound kills cancer cells

Wed Oct 28, 12:15 pm ET

LONDON (Reuters) – A molecule found in a curry ingredient can kill esophageal cancer cells in the laboratory, suggesting it might be developed as an anti-cancer treatment, scientists said on Wednesday.

Researchers at the Cork Cancer Research Center in Ireland treated esophageal cancer cells with curcumin -- a chemical found in the spice turmeric, which gives curries a distinctive yellow color -- and found it started to kill cancer cells within 24 hours.

The cells also began to digest themselves, they said in a study published in the British Journal of Cancer.

Previous scientific studies have suggested curcumin can suppress tumors and that people who eat lots of curry may be less prone to the disease, although curcumin loses its anti-cancer attributes quickly when ingested.

But Sharon McKenna, lead author of the Irish study, said her study suggested a potential for scientists to develop curcumin as an anti-cancer drug to treat esophageal cancer.

Cancers of the esophagus kill more than 500,000 people across the world each year. The tumors are especially deadly, with five-year survival rates of just 12 to 31 percent.

McKenna said the study showed curcumin caused the cancer cells to die "using an unexpected system of cell messages."

Normally, faulty cells die by committing programed suicide, or apoptosis, which occurs when proteins called caspases are 'switched on' in cells, the researchers said.

But these cells showed no evidence of suicide, and the addition of a molecule that inhibits caspases and stops this "switch being flicked' made no difference to the number of cells that died, suggesting curcumin attacked the cancer cells using an alternative cell signaling system.

U.S. researchers said in 2007 they had found curcumin may help stimulate immune system cells in the Alzheimer's disease.

F.D.A. to Clarify Standards for the Front of Food Labels

By WILLIAM NEUMAN

Published: October 21, 2009

The government said it wants nutrition labels to be more frank, and that could be a challenge for the Smart Choices program.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/21/business/21food.html

Rules to Eat By

The Food Issue

BY MICHAEL POLLAN

Published: October 11, 2009

For all the authority we grant to science on nutrition, culture has a lot to teach us.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/11/magazine/11food-rules-t.html

Calorie Postings Don’t Change Habits, Study Finds

By ANEMONA HARTOCOLLIS

Published: October 6, 2009

A study of New York City’s pioneering law suggests that people’s stomachs are more powerful than their brains.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/06/nyregion/06calories.html

In Schools, New Rules on Snacks for Sale

By JENNIFER MEDINA

Published: October 7, 2009

The new snacks and drinks will be more nutritious — but probably less popular, as the estimate of future income for schools from vending machines is revised downward.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/07/nyregion/07contract.html

Kids Eat Few Fruits, Veggies .

Fewer than 10% of U.S. high-school students are eating the combined recommended daily amount of fruits and vegetables, a finding that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention called "poor" in a report.

The report, based on 2007 data, found that 13% of U.S. high-school students get at least three servings of vegetables a day and just 32% get two servings of fruit. Fewer than one in 10 get enough of both combined.

Some states—including Arkansas and North Carolina—were significantly below those averages. But some New England states, particularly Vermont, were notably better.

The CDC said the report was the first to give such detailed information on adolescents' fruit and vegetable consumption. The data come from a national survey of about 100,000 high-school students.

CDC officials said the findings indicate a disheartening gap between how people should be eating and what they are actually consuming in an era of rampant obesity.

Federal nutrition goals for 2010 call for at least 75% of Americans to eat two servings of fruit each day and at least 50% to eat three vegetable servings.

"This is a call for states, communities, schools and families to support increased fruit and vegetable consumption," said Heidi Blanck, a CDC senior scientist who worked on the report.

The CDC also released data on a survey of adults. It found fruit and vegetable consumption was basically unchanged from when a similar survey was done in 2005: About 27% got at least three servings of vegetables a day, and 33% got two servings of fruit.

People who participated in the survey were asked, essentially, how many times a day they had fruits or vegetables.

Vermont and other states that had higher rates of fruit and vegetable consumption were also more likely to have fruit available in school vending machines or at snack shops, Ms. Blanck said.

—Copyright © 2009 Associated Press