Low-Fat Isn't Low-Calorie, Heart Doctors Warn< June 18, 2002 > Consumers need to go beyond popular "low-fat" food labels to look at the nutritional content and calories-per-serving behind the noisy promotions crowding supermarket shelves. In particular, we need to be aware that olestra, a fat substitute found in potato chips and other snack foods, reduces our body's absorption of several nutrients, including vitamins A, D, and E. These are the messages of a new American Heart Association (AHA) statement about fat substitutes, which appears in a recent issue of Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association. The simple fact is that Americans, despite eating less fat, are still growing markedly fatter, the experts say. "We are seeing obesity occurring at younger and younger ages, and [type 2] diabetes is now occurring in children at very high rates," says Judith Wylie-Rosett, a member of the AHA's Nutrition Committee and the author of the statement. "We often think that, if we serve low-fat products, it will take care of the obesity problem, but it won't. It needs to be both calorie expenditure and modulating calorie intake." Dr. Henry Anhalt, medical director of the Kids Weight-Down Program at Maimonides Medical Center in New York City, sees evidence of the skyrocketing obesity epidemic in his office every day. Some recent examples he cites: a 15-year-old patient weighing 350 pounds who suffers from type 2 diabetes, and a 4-year-old weighing 200 pounds who had to be wheeled into the office. By the year 2030, an estimated 90 percent of children will be overweight, and half will be obese, Anhalt says. At the same time, low-fat products are glutting the market. By 1998, there were more than 5,000 reduced-fat, processed food products on supermarket shelves, according to the statement. All this emphasis on low-fat has served to obscure a necessary emphasis on calories. "It's a tremendous marketing tool, and the public is so gullible that they buy it without turning the package around and seeing what it translates into in terms of calories," Anhalt says. Wylie-Rosett looked at 13 different fat substitutes currently on the market, measuring their effect on digestion, absorption (movement of food from the intestines to the circulatory system), and metabolism of vitamins and minerals. Olestra distinguished itself from the other products in that it reduces the movement of certain nutrients from the intestines into the bloodstream. And although Procter & Gamble, which manufactures the product under the brand name Olean, has compensated for this effect by restoring the nutrients in question, Wylie-Rosett wonders whether we are missing other important phytochemicals. "It's an unanswered question," says Wylie-Rosett. "We've taken care of the nutrients that have a dietary requirement and that's about as far as we've gone," says Suzette Middleton, a senior nutritionist at Procter & Gamble. "None of the potential phytochemicals have been established as having much meaning. If it turned out any of those nutrients were required, it would behoove us to make sure we offset those." Overall, the association's statement "was very balanced," Middleton says. "I think, overall, they concluded that within the context of an overall diet as well as lifestyle, reduced-fat foods—including those with olestra—can play a beneficial role." The increasing number of low-fat foods are not always bad, though the long-term health benefits are not clear. It is that the right choices need to be made and portion sizes need to be taken into account, Wylie-Rosett says. Many low-fat products are good options, Wylie-Rosett adds. She cites as examples a large salad with a low-fat dressing and naturally low-fat foods such as fruits and vegetables. The best advice is to stick to the American Heart Association's pyramid guideline and limit your total fat to less than 30 percent of total calories, Wylie-Rosett says.
"Keep a varied diet which has nutritious foods in it," Anhalt says. "But the concept that you can eat cookies that are sugar-free or low-fat ice cream is missing the forest for the trees." Difference Between AHA's Food Pyramid and US Department of AgricultureThe Food Guide Pyramid was developed by the US Department of Agriculture and US Department of Health and Human Services. The American Heart Association's food pyramid has been adapted slight to be more consistent with its Dietary Guidelines for Healthy American Adults. The key differences in the AHA guidelines include:
Always consult your physician for more information. Online Resources:(Our Organization is not responsible for the content of Internet sites.) American Academy of Pediatrics Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics National Osteoporosis Foundation |
For more information on diet and nutrition, please visit ____________. In Other News About Your Health:Bananas Help Boost Bone MassAdd another potential health benefit to diets rich in bananas, melons, potatoes, and other potassium-packed foods: They could help women stave off osteoporosis, especially if they love to sprinkle on the salt. Potassium appears to counteract the bad effects of high-salt diets by preventing bones from decaying at a fast rate, says study author Dr. Deborah Sellmeyer, an assistant adjunct professor of endocrinology and metabolism at the University of California at San Francisco. Sellmeyer is not prepared to say women take potassium supplements, which are now available only by prescription. However, the findings of her study, which appear in the May issue of the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, do provide more evidence of the importance of a balanced and proper diet, she says. In a relating finding, Sellmeyer's research confirmed that diets high in salt can cause bone loss, she says. "Typically, we think worrying about dietary salt is for people with high blood pressure or stroke. This brings in another group of people who are at risk," Sellmeyer says. An estimated 44 million Americans over the age of 50 suffer from osteoporosis—weak bones that increase the risk of fracture—or have low bone mass, according to the National Osteoporosis Foundation. Women are at special risk, but the bones of men can also decay as they become older. It is no secret that calcium and vitamin D are important to strong bones, and experts frequently recommend that women make sure they consume enough calcium. Researchers had also suspected that potassium plays some role in osteoporosis, "but we don't know very much" about it, says Dr. Robert P. Heaney, a professor of medicine at Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska. Always consult your physician for more information. Don't Let Your Kids Be TV DinersIf your kids' dinnertime and TV time is one and the same thing, chances are they are idling away more hours than they should. And that could be setting them up for serious health problems. The reason: Kids who eat their meals in front of the tube add extra hours to their weekly viewing time, according to a study published in the June issue of the Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics. That is significant because prior research has linked excessive TV watching with childhood obesity, says Brian Saelens, the study's lead author and a psychologist at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center. And obesity in kids can lead to problems like type 2 diabetes and heart disease. The results of the study ... "TV dinners" accounted for more than 20 percent of viewing hours. "Each meal eaten in front of the TV adds 38 to 73 minutes of time to overall television watching," Saelens says. "It's unlikely that it takes children this long to eat meals." Moreover, the body mass index (BMI) of children who watched more than two hours a day was around the 85th percentile for their age group. Saelens warns that BMI levels—the ratio of weight to height —this high increase their chances of becoming obese adults. Dr. Susan Buttross, a professor of pediatrics at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, says Saelens' study complements the current literature. A recent study, published in a recent issue of Pediatrics, examined the TV routines of children under age 4 and found that the more shows they watched, the more weight they gained. Drawn-out dining also reduces opportunities for high-energy games, she adds. "At age 6 when children play, most of them play actively. They play things like hide-and seek, tag and ball games. But when they're eating in front of the TV, they're getting at least five less hours of activity time," Buttross says. Saelens suspects that blurred boundaries between mealtime and TV time are only partly responsible for extended viewing. "I think it might also be a proxy measure for a parent's permissiveness or the [lack of] rules in the house about TV watching," he says. "I'd encourage parents to plan things for after the television is turned off," he suggests. "This gives a child something to look forward to and that way it feels less like a punishment for excessive watching and more like a reward for doing other things." |