Still free in the USA to disregard science on assorted ingestibles

lizkat

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Yep in the latest round of US Dietary Guidelines, the food and beverage industry has once again managed to swat down a fair number of pesky scientific suggestions on stuff like reducing % added sugars in commercially processed foods. Medical profession wanted to see a reduction to 6% from current 10%.

Not that many people actually read those ingredient labels anyway, eh? God forbid anyone should accidentally avoid lining up for a future with a lower risk of type 2 diabetes. Might interfere with profit margins for suppliers of HFCS and assorted granular sugars.​
So for whatever reasons put forth by industry groups, 10% added sugar is still the magic number to aim for on that can or box. It will be up to consumers to figure out how to dilute the stuff inside with something else to make sugar content lower per serving... and after all, we are all so very good at arithmetic and indeed have so much spare time to mess around with what was supposed to be a convenience food.​
The guidelines also left unchanged the guidelines for male consumption of alcohol despite the scientific committee having suggested the safe limit for men be reduced to one drink per day the same as for women. (So guys get a free pass from industry to ignore inconvenient ideas from those spoilsports in white lab coats. Not every heart attack can be laid at the doorstep of an extra martini anyway, eh? Maybe it was always about bacon. Pro tip though: Don't ask the guys in lab coats about bacon either.)


The scientific committee, which was composed of 20 academics and doctors, had recommended cutting the limit for added sugars in the diet to 6% of daily calories from 10% in the current guidelines, citing rising rates of obesity and the link between obesity and health problems like Type 2 diabetes, heart disease and cancer. The committee also recommended lowering the limit for alcoholic beverages for men to one drink per day from two, matching the guidance for women. It pointed to research linking greater alcohol consumption to a higher risk of death.

Well there are a few saving graces tacked in this time around, although they're applicable (for the first time) to food for kids under the age of 2.

The new guidelines do include the scientific committee’s recommendation that children under age 2 consume no added sugars at all. This is the first time the guidelines have included recommendations for babies and toddlers. Added sugars are those found in processed foods—in everything from soda to breakfast cereal—as well as honey and sugar itself. They don’t include sugars naturally found in foods like fruit and milk.
 

lizkat

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Sure, let’s ignore the scientists once again because Trump likes to eat at McDonald’s. Hundreds of Trump appointees and not a spine to be found anywhere among them.

Yep the Don't Tread on Me flag appears ever more popular all over the USA no matter the topic.

Do headstone engravers ever get asked to carve "Dead at 48 but the Food Was Great" on a tombstone?
 

Mark

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as japan ramps up its guidelines for covid-19 vaccinations, it has announced that even without any other outward or already manifested pre-existing conditions, all persons with a BMI of >30 actually have the mother-of-all-pre-exisitng-conditions and those persons will be in the 2nd wave along with persons aged >70 (65 is the new 50 in aging japan...) with medical professionals being in the 1st wave.
 

SuperMatt

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as japan ramps up its guidelines for covid-19 vaccinations, it has announced that even without any other outward or already manifested pre-existing conditions, all persons with a BMI of >30 actually have the mother-of-all-pre-exisitng-conditions and those persons will be in the 2nd wave along with persons aged >70 (65 is the new 50 in aging japan...) with medical professionals being in the 1st wave.
Interesting. A slight tangent: I recently read an interesting piece about the BMI:

 

lizkat

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... and I squirreled away an interesting piece about research into making rice less caloric in a specific way, i.e. less digestible, since in some cultures white rice is a mainstay and it's going to remain a feature at meals no matter what.

So scientists figured out that cooking the rice with coconut oil and then refrigerating it and then reheating it prior to serving does change the sugar composition to a more resistant starch that doesn't tend to go directly "from lips to hips" so to speak. The calorie intake from rice prepared in this way is reduced by almost 50%, and the reduction is maintained if the rice is reheated. Of course it requires planning ahead because the time for refrigeration that is required is at least 12 hours. The next step for researchers was to be to work with other than coconut oil, like sunflower oil.

 
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