Only 4% of Americans are Eating Enough Vegetables

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Americans are still not having enough vegetables despite the widely publicized benefits of eating them. According to a recent report released by the National Fruit and Vegetable Alliance, only 4 percent of Americans meet their daily required consumption of veggies. The National Fruit and Vegetable Alliance’s 2015 Report Card has given the marketing of vegetables an F grade while the consumption of vegetables among kids has received a D grade. Meaning most Americans are no healthier than an average school kid.

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People who eat fruits and vegetables as part of their daily diet have a reduced risk of many chronic diseases. Health experts encourage people to make half their plate fruits and vegetables.  But even with the growing popularity of vegetable-inspired meals and veggie-forward restaurants, people still don’t consume enough vegetables at home. The Alliance’s 2015 Report Card says that the problem is moving from bad to worse. During the past five years, the average consumption of veggies declined by 6 percent.

Fruits and Vegetables are Important for Health

Veggies are a vital part of healthy eating and provide a source of many nutrients, including folate (folic acid), fiber, potassium, and vitamins A, E and C. Garlic, tomatoes, spinach, and broccoli are superfoods because they provide additional benefits. Potassium helps to maintain healthy blood pressure while fiber in vegetables contributes to lower risk of heart disease and reduces blood cholesterol levels. Folate (folic acid) on the other hand helps the body form healthy red blood cells.

kid's healthBut why are Americans not eating enough veggies? The Alliance’s report offers some reasons as to why. First, it says that dinner looks different these days with the growing popularity of one-dish meals and convenience items such as sandwiches and pizzas. These have pushed the vegetable side off the plate. Secondly, when it comes to preparing meals at home, parents are not as strict on making sure their kids have enough fruits and veggies. “Parents don’t want to make tailored meals for everyone at home and be line cooks” explains Elizabeth Pivonka, the CEO and president of the Produce for Better Health Foundation, and a registered dietitian. About 35 percent of parents view getting their kids to eat veggies as a battle, just behind getting them to stop bickering and to clean their room.

The National Fruit and Vegetable Alliance has developed a plan that will increase accessibility of vegetables in schools, communities, on menus and worksites. The organization will promote efforts that will give people the motivation and nutrition education to eat more veggies.

NutriFusion® Can Increase Daily Vegetable Consumption

We have consistently seen this problem in nutrition and healthy eating over the past 5 years. We developed our stabilized whole fruit and vegetable powders to help packaged food companies deliver better nutrition. Our formulas can give foods as much as 50% of the daily value of complex vitamins from vegetables. Our goal is to help children and adults eat healthier packaged foods made from natural ingredients like fruits and vegetables. If you are interested in learning more, please visit the consumer packaged food page.

Belly Fat is More Dangerous For Heart Than Obesity

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Do you consider yourself healthy? In the context of body fat most people will answer by their BMI, and if their BMI is normal, their response will be positive too. Recent research has proved that this is not the case. Even if you have a normal BMI, it doesn’t mean you are healthy and especially if you have fat residing in the middle of your body i.e. belly, it may prove more harmful than obesity.

In a 14-year long research study conducted by health scientists, it was found that men who have an average weight and BMI (body mass index) but carry fat around their bellies are twice as likely to die as compared to the obese men. The study proved that women are also affected by this harmful fat, but their numbers are slightly lower than men, i.e. women having belly fat are 32% more likely to die than their obese counterparts.

This is an alarming situation as normal BMI was considered as a standard measure for one’s health, but the recent research has proved otherwise. This leads us to the question, why is belly fat more dangerous than obesity?

Belly Fat, Not Obesity Is The Silent Killer

All fats do not behave alike. For instance, you need a layer of fat called subcutaneous fat to protect your vital organs from the external environment. The other bad kind of fat that we are talking about here is called visceral fat, and it encircles your organs. It does not just sit there; it secretes harmful toxins and chemicals that increase inflammation throughout your body. Due to its proximity to your heart, it severely affects your cardiovascular system.

Visceral fat secretes a chemical called Interleukin 6 which further increases the inflammation. Ultimately, the metabolism of your body is governed by excess body fats that affect adiponectin – a protein that regulates sugar levels and breaks down fatty acids. When the body doesn’t have enough of adiponectin, it tells the system to store more fat that leads to more and more accumulation of visceral fat and this vicious cycle continues. The body is overwhelmed with cholesterol that leads to building up of plaque in your arteries causing the arteries to clog. With the passage of time, the arteries narrow down further causing hindrance in blood transport, increasing blood pressure and ultimately leading to a fatal heart attack.

There is Hope…

Fortunately getting rid of visceral fat is very easy. The key is healthy diet complemented with exercise. A sound nutrition plan will help you to stop this toxic fat from increasing, and rigorous exercise will help you burn it. Having said that, this is the only option if you want to stay healthy because surgeries like liposuction are not an option for visceral fat. Health is a lifestyle change so get ready to set up a nutrition plan and workout. Your dedication will keep your belly trimmed and your heart happy.

Inspired by: USA Today

General Mills Faces Lawsuit Over Cheerios Protein

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Cheerios manufactured by General Mills is a very familiar brand of breakfast cereals for people residing in the United States. It was launched under the brand name of CheeriOats but then changed its name to Cheerios in 1945. GM developed Cheerios Protein this past year to grab the attention of health-conscious consumers seeking more protein in their breakfast.

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General Mills is in another consumer crisis due to their protein claims. They are being sued on the grounds that the exact proportion of proteins as written on the packaging is not the same as is present in the actual cereal. The lawsuit was filed by the consumer advocacy group, Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), claiming that Cheerios Protein has just “irrelevantly” more protein than usual Cheerios, yet considerably more elevated amounts of sugar. If you ask a typical mom, she’ll probably consider giving her child a breakfast with more protein. Consumers must be protected from exaggerated health and nutritional claims.

Cheerios Protein Also Known As Cheerios Sugar

As indicated by CSPI and the cereal’s nutritional labels, Cheerios Protein has seven grams of protein for each serving while standard Cheerios has only three grams. In any case, a serving size of Cheerios protein is 55 grams, while the serving size of plain old Cheerios is 28 grams. Additionally, the protein-packed cereal has 17 grams of sugar, while the classic assortment has only one gram. On the off chance that you read the label, Cheerios Protein incorporates nine unique sweeteners, extending from chestnut sugar to corn syrup to molasses. When you look at the breakdown of sugar in the two brands, the 200 calories of normal Cheerios contains only 2 grams of sugar, while Cheerios Protein has an excess of 14 grams of sugar in the same serving size.

“Consumers who buy Cheerios Protein probably think they’re doing themselves a favor, and that this more expensive product is essentially a protein-fortified version of original Cheerios,” CSPI Litigation Director Maia Kats said in an online proclamation. He further added, “In fact, the main thing that distinguishes Cheerios Protein from original Cheerios is the huge amount of sugar and extra calories.” (Star Tribune)

 

General Mills Responds To Claims

CSPI claims that Cheerios Protein contains more sugar than protein and should be firmly rejected by the F.D.A. as an unauthorized claim. General Mills, however, believes otherwise.They added to their statement by saying:

“We don’t normally respond to these publicity-seeking lawsuits from CSPI, but we do reject their comparisons as unauthorized claim” General Mills also said. “Cheerios Protein is accurately labeled, and provides a good source of protein in every labeled serving.”

In response to the charges General Mills had something interesting to say, they believe their product is playing by the F.D.A. rules as the standard for a “good source of high-quality protein.” It will be interesting to see how this lawsuit plays out over the next year.

For the Full Article From Star Tribune: Click Here

NutriFusion® is Here to Help

We hate to see consumer goods companies continue to make mistakes with nutritional and health claims on their products. Our team developed a way to stabilize the nutrients in fruits and vegetables. We didn’t stop there, we have now found ways to stabilize proteins and omega fatty acids. Our products could help you add back valuable nutrients and proteins to your breakfast foods. When you are looking for supercharged nutrition from organic, non-GMO produce that can withstand all the steps of processing, choose NutriFusion®.

Learn more about our products!

67% of Parents Reward Children with Sweets

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In July of 2105, Great American Cookies® released a survey about how parents reward their children for good behavior. The study showed that over 60% of parents rewarded their children with sweets. It’s obvious that we need to find healthier alternatives to reward our children for good behavior. See the infographic below for more details on the survey.

Sweets for Kids

This infographic details the top reasons parents reward their kids and how they’re rewarded. (PRNewsFoto/Great American Cookies)

 

Boost Your Sweets with NutriFusion®

Kids deserve to be rewarded for good behavior, but we have to find a more nutritional way to do so. While it would be optimal to reward our kids with cauliflower or asparagus, they simply do not see these as rewards. Since we started the company, we have been trying to help companies develop “better for you” packaged food products. One our first endeavors into sweets was with the Girl Scouts of America. We helped the Girl Scouts redevelop the Mango Cremes to be micronutrient packed with vitamins and minerals from fruits and vegetables.

“People aren’t going to stop eating cookies, but because of the processing done by the food industry we can actually put some of the nutrition back in and provide a healthier alternative to the consumer.” – William Grand, Founder and CEO of NutriFusion®

NutriFusion® is not a substitute for eating fruits and vegetables, but it does significantly improve the nutritional profile of packaged foods, snacks, and beverages. Click the button below to learn more about the science of NutriFusion®.

USDA Fruit and Vegetable Program Stops Childhood Obesity

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In July of 2015, the University of Arkansas released the results from a new study on the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program. The program is intended to help elementary schools increase the amount of fruit and vegetables offered to students. The USDA believes this program can help our children overcome many of the challenges with childhood obesity.

University of Arkansas Research Study

U of A sampled elementary schools throughout their state once the FFVP began. They found that childhood obesity rates dropped from 20% to 17%. While it is early in the program, this is some of the first research to support the idea that fruit and vegetable consumption can lead to decreases in weight.

The study calculated that the fruit and vegetable program costs were about $50 to $75 per child per year to reduce the obesity rate by 3 percent. That’s a staggeringly small cost compared to the $280 to $339 per-student per-year cost of an effort to reduce childhood obesity by just 1 percent as estimated by other researchers in 2011.

“By this measure, our results suggest that the fresh fruit and vegetable program is a very cost-effective obesity prevention tool,” Nayga said. “Moreover, prevention of childhood obesity is in addition to the other nutritional benefits that come from increased fruit and vegetable consumption.”

Qian, Nayga, and Thomsen worked with Arkansas Center for Health Improvement research director Heather Rouse. Their work was supported by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture and the Arkansas Biosciences Institute. The study was published in the June 2015 journal Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy.

For the full article: Childhood Obesity Study

For more information: http://aaes.uark.edu

 

How Can NutriFusion® Help Tackle Childhood Obesity?

Our patent-pending process allows us to stabilize the vitamins and minerals in fruits and vegetables. NutriFusion® fruit and vegetable ingredients are being used to power the nutrition in a wide variety of packaged foods across the world. We believe our products can support the USDA’s program by being mixed in with a variety of beverages and foods at schools across the U.S. Our children wouldn’t have to sacrifice taste and would still get their daily value of natural vitamins and minerals from fruits and vegetables. Together, we can tackle childhood obesity.

Kid’s Health: Schools Need Help With Nutrition

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Welcome to the NutriFusion blog! We are excited to start sharing news on the trending topics on health, food, and nutrition. Our first post revolves around the current problems with kid’s health and school lunches. In our post today, we focus on a recent article from the New York Times.

Schools Report Varying Results in Their Efforts to Comply With Nutrition Guidelines

Angie Gaszak, a school system nutritionist, says they are trying to make sure that the kids eat healthily and serve them things that they will eat. Angie is part of a growing amount of school nutritionists trying to find the balance to comply with the Child Nutrition Bill that President Obama signed in 2010. The bill requires schools to update their nutritional standards to reduce sodium and sugar and increase the number of fruits and vegetables in school lunches.

Many of the kids are just not buying into the healthy lunches and food waste is starting to pile up at schools across the country. According to the Center for Disease Control, 17% of children in America are overweight. Childhood obesity is a serious problem, but schools believe the nutrition bill should be phased in more gradually.

The current pushback from lawmakers and schools is the investment in new machines and fresh produce to serve healthier lunches that comply with the law. However, 95% of school are in compliance with the law. Tom Vilsack, the agriculture secretary, is optimistic in helping the 5% comply with the law. So far his group has contributed $98 million to schools to fund new equipment and fresh produce.

Schools are frustrated. They believe that students should be eating healthier, but they need more flexibility to deliver on this issue. The Child Nutrition Bill is causing massive problems for schools because of the strict sodium regulations. One official talks about a salad that they had to stop serving because the dressing had too much sodium. On the other hand, some schools are finding the regulations easier to deal with than others. A school district in Georgia, suggest that the laws are not too harsh, and schools need to play with the menu. The sodium regulations are actually on weekly averages, so it’s relatively easy to serve food high in sodium one day and very little sodium the next day.

Some school districts have seen success by working with food manufacturers to re-develop existing student favorites to meet the new nutritional guidelines. It’s important for students to eat well every day and not have to change their diets very much. We believe our products are a great example of how food manufacturers could enhance popular foods to meet the new guidelines. Our powdered fruits and vegetables can be added to almost any processed food or beverage to add the daily vitamins and minerals that are essential to kid’s health.

For the Full Article: http://nyti.ms/1jNabGo