EACH ISSUE OF THE WELL NEWSLETTER will feature one or more articles from health care professionals. Our contributing writers will be medical doctors, PhDs (or PhD students) and fitness trainers who will tackle issues that are important to your health and wellness.
Despite living in a time of unparalleled abundance, hunger is still a major contributor to our health woes.
How?
Ever go shopping hungry? What happens? I know in my case my cart’s a lot fuller on the days I shop hungry than the days I don’t, and the choices often differ as well.
Ever stop to think what happens when you sit down to a meal hungry?
You shop.
You shop from your plates, your fridges, your freezers, your cupboards, or worse still, from a menu.
And just like shopping in the supermarket you’re going to choose a great deal more and a great deal differently waiting until you’re hungry to eat than if you’d sat down not hungry.
I’m also betting that my definition of hunger is likely broader than yours. As far as I’m concerned, hunger doesn’t just come from your stomach, it also comes from your brain. Some folks like to call brain hunger, “appetite” and growling in your stomach, “hunger”. I don’t bother with the distinction. The drive to eat is second only to the drive to breathe in terms of importance to our survival. Consequently our body has many mechanisms and backup mechanisms in place to ensure that we do it. Just as there are a myriad of different physiologic pathways to encourage eating, so too are there a myriad of different sensations, emotions and rationalizations built in to encourage us to seek out food, specifically high calorie food.
So aside from stomach growling, brain growling consists of things such as cravings, compulsions, needs for a “taste” of a certain flavour/tartness/saltiness/sweetness, starting something and having difficulty stopping, and overt losses of dietary control and discretion.
When you’re hungry it’s easy to eat a full day’s calories at a single sitting. The good news is, given the world we live in, hunger is entirely preventable and were you to go out of your way with well planned meals and snacks to ensure the hunger hydra doesn’t rear its ugly heads, you can make it through the day in control of your portions, choices and your calories.
While it may feel unnatural to eat when you’re not hungry I can assure you, it’s the wise way to go and it’s very easy to do.
Here’s a basic hunger prevention strategy. Try it – you might be surprised at how well it works (note calorie range to represent minimums for women–men):
Breakfast within 30 minutes of waking, at least 350–450 calories with at least 15 grams of protein
Eating every 2.5 hours with between meal snacks of at least 100–200 calories a piece with at least 8 grams of protein
Lunch of at least 350–450 calories with at least 15 grams of protein
Dinner of at least 400–600 calories with at least 15 grams of protein
For every hour of sustained exercise add an additional 100–150 calories that are primarily carbohydrate based.
MOST AMERICANS KNOW that fried chicken is not a healthful food. But when fast-food giant Kentucky Fried Chicken began aggressively marketing grilled chicken as “the better-for-you chicken for health-conscious customers,” many consumers had no idea that KFC’s new product contains chemicals linked to cancer.
A Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) scientist visited six KFC stores, obtained two samples from each store, and sent them to an independent testing laboratory. Tests revealed that every piece of the grilled chicken product contained PhIP, a chemical that has been shown to increase cancer risk.
PCRM urged the chicken chain to withdraw the product, but so far the company has failed to take action. Now PCRM is suing KFC for continuing to sell the grilled chicken without warning customers of this health hazard.
The new KFC grilled chicken products were the focus of a controversial promotion by Oprah Winfrey, who offered coupons for free Kentucky Grilled Chicken meals on her Web site. PCRM has alerted Ms. Winfrey to these findings.
“Grilled chicken contains carcinogens, and consumers deserve to know it,” says PCRM president Neal Barnard, M.D. “KFC should post warnings to alert all customers to the risk associated with its new product.”
No Safe Level
PhIP is part of a chemical family known as heterocyclic amines (HCAs) and has been linked to cancer in numerous scientific studies. The National Toxicology Program administered by the National Institutes of Health has identified PhIP as carcinogenic, as has the International Agency for Research on Cancer.
Scientists have not found a safe level of PhIP consumption—it appears to increase cancer risk even at very low levels. Grilled chicken is the largest source.
PhIP and other HCAs are formed from the creatinine, amino acids, and sugar found in muscle tissue. They are produced by long cooking times and hot temperatures. When chicken and other meats are grilled, pan fried, or barbecued, these chemicals are produced. Every KFC sample also tested positive for at least one additional HCA.
As mutagens, HCAs can bind directly to DNA and cause mutations—the first step in cancer development. Recent studies have shown that the consumption of well-done meats is associated with an increased risk of cancers of the colon, rectum, esophagus, lung, larynx, pancreas, prostate, stomach, and breast.
Protecting Consumers
PCRM is suing KFC under a California public health law known as Proposition 65. The law states that consumers must be warned about products that contain known carcinogens. PhIP has been on California’s list of cancer-causing chemicals for more than a decade.
KFC is not the only restaurant serving carcinogen-containing grilled chicken. Last year, PCRM filed suit against McDonald’s, Chick-fil-A, Chili’s, T.G.I. Friday’s, Outback Steakhouse, Burger King, and Applebee’s for knowingly exposing customers to PhIP without warning them of its risks.
The lawsuit is based on independent laboratory tests that found PhIP in 100 grilled chicken samples from the seven restaurant chains. Burger King was the first of the restaurants to settle the lawsuit. As part of its agreement with PCRM, Burger King has posted warning signs in its California restaurants to alert customers that its grilled chicken products contain PhIP.
But KFC and the other six defendants continue to fight the lawsuits and have yet to inform customers about the cancer-causing chemicals in their products.
Appetite for Destruction
Much is at stake in this fight. As consumers have become more aware of the dangers of red meat, which has been clearly linked to increased risk of cancer and heart disease, many have turned to chicken, believing that it is a healthful alternative.
But Americans’ chicken-heavy eating habits haven’t made us any healthier. Rates of obesity and diabetes continue to climb. And research has convincingly linked the chemicals found in grilled meats to increased cancer risk.
“No parent would knowingly serve carcinogens to a child, and most parents have no idea these chemicals are in KFC’s grilled chicken,” says Kristie Sullivan, M.P.H., a PCRM toxicologist who oversaw the testing process. “It’s time for KFC to set the record straight.”
Learn more about grilled chicken and PhIP at PCRM.org ... and if you are still sitting on the fence about KFC, please read this article on the “Death Wish” Product Amidst an Obesity Epidemic.
ANEW REPORT reveals that only a dismal 12 per cent of Canadian children are getting the recommended levels of daily physical activity, ranging from a low of 7 per cent in New Brunswick to a high of 15 per cent in British Columbia. Health Canada’s physical-activity guidelines recommend that school-aged children and youth get at least 90 minutes of exercise daily.
The problem begins with pre-schoolers — only half of whom are active as part of their daily routines — and hits its nadir in the teenage years, when barely 5 per cent of girls are minimally active, according to the annual report card published by Active Healthy Kids Canada.
“We’ve socialized movement out of the lives of our kids for the convenience of parents and institutions,” said Mark Tremblay, the chief scientific officer of AHKC, in an interview. “From a very young age all they hear is: ‘Sit still,’ ‘no running’, ‘do your homework, don’t go outside,’ ‘wait for a ride,’ and so on. When you impose a structure of inactivity you see the results we’re seeing.”
That includes one in four children aged 2 to 5 who are already overweight or obese, and that number grows as they approach adulthood. Rates of lifestyle-related disease such as Type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure are also occurring more frequently at younger ages. With 88 per cent of school-aged kids failing to meet the recommended minimum of 90 minutes a day, Canada gets an F for physical activity in the new report card.
While Canada does not have a standard for pre-schoolers, international guidelines suggest they should spend at least two hours a day being active through many sessions of play, games, transportation and other activities.
“It’s in a kid’s DNA to want to run and move. It helps them grow and learn,” said Kelly Murumets, president and CEO of Participaction. “But our society is imposing sedentary behaviours beginning at a very young age.”
She said one of the most troubling aspects of modern life is how much time children spend glued to the screens of television, computers and electronic games.
On average, Canadian children spend about six hours every weekday and seven hours daily on weekends watching TV, chatting online or engaging in virtual games.
The Healthy Active Kids report card gives Canada an F grade for screen time because 90 per cent of children exceed recommended maximums.
Health groups such as the Canadian Paediatric Society recommend that children younger than 2 not watch any TV. Yet the average age at which kids begin watching TV is now five months. From ages 2 to 5, a one-hour-a-day limit is recommended, and from age 5 and up no more than two hours daily.
“Over the years we’ve removed active play from the lives of children and replaced it with electronic play,” said Dr. Tremblay, who is also director of the healthy active living and obesity research group at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario.
“It’s seductive, it’s convenient, it’s a cheap babysitter, but it’s really bad for their health.”
The report card issued grades in 21 different areas related to physical activity.
In addition to the failing grades on physical-activity levels and screen time, it gave the federal government an F for its investment policies. According to the report, Ottawa spends half the amount in did in 1986 on promoting physical activity, about 30 cents per capita annually.
The provinces and territories earned the highest grade in the report card, a B+, because nine of the 13 jurisdictions now have a physical-activity strategy.
The report notes that there are large discrepancies between physical education time mandated by government and the actual programs implemented in schools, which earned a grade of C-. Manitoba is the only province with mandatory phys-ed through to the end of high school.
According to the report, fewer than one-third of children either walk or bike to school, so a D grade was given for active transportation.
Families, too, got a D because it is rare for them to undertake activities together and only 27 per cent of parents know what Canada’s physical-activity guidelines are.
Active Healthy Kids Canada, a charitable group, has been publishing its annual report card since 2004.
FRUCTOSE IS A SUGAR that naturally occurs in low amounts in fruits and vegetables, making up as much as 5 to 10 percent of any given fruit by weight. In 1971, however, scientists discovered a way to synthesize a cheap syrup composed of 55 percent fructose and 45 percent glucose. Because normal table sugar is composed of only 50 percent fructose and 50 percent glucose, the sweetener was dubbed “high fructose corn syrup” (HFCS) and quickly became the most popular sweetener in the U.S. food and beverage industry.
HFCS is six times sweeter than sugar and costs only half as much.
Researchers put 16 volunteers on a controlled diet, supplemented with either fructose (derived from corn) or glucose. After 10 weeks, both groups of participants had gained equal amounts of weight. Participants in the fructose group, however, showed an increase of fat cells around major organs including their hearts and livers, and also underwent metabolic changes that are precursors to heart disease and diabetes.
“This is the first evidence we have that fructose increases diabetes and heart disease independently from causing simple weight gain,” lead researcher Kimber Stanhope said. “We didn't see any of these changes in the people eating glucose.”
The effect seems to occur because fructose is not broken down in the digestive system like other sugars are. Instead, it moves directly into the liver, where it interferes with that organ's ability to process fat. The researchers noted that over the long term, participants on the fructose diet would also have gained more weight.
Health professionals agree that everyone could stand to cut back on their sugar intake.
“Historically, we never consumed much sugar,” said Barry Popkin of the University of North Carolina, and a health policy adviser for the U.S. government. “We're not built to process it.”
The provinces and territories earned the highest grade in the report card, a B+, because nine of the 13 jurisdictions now have a physical-activity strategy.
The report notes that there are large discrepancies between physical education time mandated by government and the actual programs implemented in schools, which earned a grade of C-. Manitoba is the only province with mandatory phys-ed through to the end of high school.
The effect seems to occur because fructose is not broken down in the digestive system like other sugars are. Instead, it moves directly into the liver, where it interferes with that organ's ability to process fat. The researchers noted that over the long term, participants on the fructose diet would also have gained more weight.
