August 2003

Despite the fact that things are always a bit slower and mellower in Summer, we had a nice turnout again for our July potluck. My only concern was the fact that, due to everyone wanting to watch the video, we had very little time to discuss the several issues on which decisions must be made. They are all therefore still pending, and this month we really need a good turnout, feedback, and discussion in order to be ready for the Fall.

One issue is, where should this year’s Pre-Thanksgiving Feast be held? Last year’s site was attractive, large enough, accessible, and logistically doable (though not perfect). It was on the expensive side, but we still made some money last year and have talked about raising the fee by one dollar per person for this year. Chuck and I are tending to think we should do that, and reserve the place as soon as possible. What do you think?

We have pretty much decided not to bother with the Outpost Wellness Fest – but in that case, we should be looking for other events to have a presence at. Anyone know of any other good health fairs for us to look into?

Also, what about World Vegetarian Day on October 1, and the Great American Meat-Out next March? Either or both would be good occasions to make our presence known to the general public, but we really need some ideas for what we might do.

So please come to the August potluck with notions to share, and/or phone us at (414) 962-2703 or email us at chuckgyver@aol.com.

Also, note that we have two events in August: the regular potluck and also a picnic at Jody and David’s.

Sunday, Aug. 3, 5:30 PM, regular potluck at the Friends' Meeting House, 3224 N. Gordon Pl. (from Humboldt Blvd. in Riverwest, go east on Auer a few short blocks to the parking lot). Focus will be Greek food; also, Dr. Dave of Green Salad Organics will speak.

Saturday, Aug. 23, 1 PM, irregular potluck picnic (and related activities) at Jody, David, and Dustin Paluch's, 1000 Lake Drive, South Milwaukee (on Lake Drive about 10 blocks south of College Ave., which is an exit off I-94); call (414) 764-7262

Sunday, Sept. 7, regular potluck at the usual time and place

Aug. 17, at noon (note the time), at Emily Feddersen’s place on North Silver Beach Rd., about a mile from Harrington Beach exit off I-43. Phone (262) 285-3331 for exact directions. Arrive early if you want to walk on the beach first.

We have been advised that the farmer’s market at Hart Park in Wauwatosa, which we listed last month, is in fact defunct. Sorry about that.

QUOTE OF THE MONTH

"As for butter versus margarine, I trust cows more than chemists."

-- Joan Gussow, 1986, cited in The Book of Poisonous Quotes

One of the issues that has received a good bit of press attention this month is obesity, over-eating, and dietary fats, good and bad. The issue will be treated further in the Dialog section below, but here we may note that the artery-clogging health problems of trans-fatty acids, found in margarine as well as many processed foods, are finally being brought to public awareness by the authorities. Specifically, the FDA has announced that by 2006, food labels will have to list the amount of trans fats that a food contains as well as its total fat, saturated fat, and cholesterol.

In a continuing follow-up to a story previously reported, Canadian investigators of the single case of mad cow disease that was discovered there are now speculating that the cow in question may have come from the U.S.

A different concern regarding cattle came from Italy, where thousands of head of cattle have been seized by authorities due to findings of abnormally high levels of dioxin in both the cattle and nearby soil. Dioxin has been linked to cancer and other health problems – and here in the U.S., the Institute of Medicine, a nonprofit health policy advisory body, is now recommending that our government should warn girls and women to limit their consumption of foods that could cause a buildup of dioxin in their bodies, since eating and storing this contaminant could endanger their babies during pregnancy and lactation. The main dietary sources of dioxin were listed as whole milk, meat, and other saturated-fat animal foods.

Another concern regarding animal foods was a report that Washington state now has a record number of shellfish beds that may have to be closed due to pollution with fecal bacteria, which come from farm animal waste runoff and sewer discharges. Meanwhile, a hospital in St. Louis reported an outbreak of salmonella poisoning which closed the hospital cafeteria until it could be cleaned up. Yet at the same time, the NY Times reported that federal border inspections of meat and poultry are declining, from 17% of imports inspected to only 6%.

Several food news items involved controversies. PETA recently filed a lawsuit against Kentucky Fried Chicken, asking the California Superior Court to force KFC to stop making what PETA says are false claims about the treatment of chickens raised for the chain. A bit of good news along similar lines is the announcement by the Humane Farming Association, that the U.S. Supreme Court handed them a victory in their fight to stop huge hog factory farms in South Dakota and Oregon. They also had news that veal production is still continuing to decline. And other agricultural fights in the news include: a lawsuit by Monsanto against a Maine dairy whose product labels indicate that its cows are not injected with Monsanto’s bio-engineered milk-production-boosting hormone; a lawsuit by Georgia dairy farmers against the city of Augusta for providing treated sewage sludge to farms as a fertilizer, which they claim so contaminated fodder that their cows died; and legislation by the European parliament to require labeling of genetically altered food, a move that responds to consumer wishes there but predictably brought howls of protest from the U.S. government , since corporate profit rises from selling U.S. farmers on growing the bioengineered crops that Europeans don’t want.

In a different area of controversy, the FDA plans to loosen the rules for health claims on food. On the one hand, this means that supplements should be able to start saying again what they’re good for; on the other hand, it means that food manufacturers will be able to make health claims for their products in the hopes of sucking you into buying them (i.e., a candy bar with soy isolate in it can trumpet the healthiness due to the soy). Let the buyer be aware! Finally, the Physicians’ Committee for Responsible Medicine is still up in arms about the Atkins diet, warning on its website and in its publication that these diets are nutritionally unbalanced and could lead to potential heart, kidney, bone, and liver problems. (Mainstream scientists are now also warning that people who already have kidney problems should steer clear of high-protein diets.)

At the same time, there’s plenty of good news about vegetarian foods. Italian researchers found that people who ate pizza at least once a week were less likely than others to develop cancers of the digestive tract – presumably because of the olive oil and tomato sauce (both vegan ingredients, be it noted). There was also a study described in the PCRM publication which found that people who ate the most fruit as children had substantially lower rates of cancer as adults. A University of California—Davis study found that organically grown produce had higher levels of cancer-fighting antioxidents than commercially grown produce. Delicious Living magazine featured the benefits of nuts this month, citing nuts’ proven ability to reduce rates of both type 2 diabetes and heart attacks, pointing out that the fats in nuts are mostly the "good" kinds, and listing the particular nutritional goodies of various nuts: Bra-zils are rich in fiber (and lower in fat); cashews are high in B vitamins and heart-healthy oil; chestnuts have vitamin E and folic acid; hazel-nuts are rich in selenium (an immune-system booster); peanuts provide copper, iron, and folic acid; and walnuts are high in calcium, vitamin E, and fiber.

A food in season now is cantaloupe, high in beta-carotene, vitamin C, potassium, iron, and calcium. And the insert in a loaf of Natural Ovens of Manitowoc bread listed the following as healthy, fat-burning foods: apples, barley, berries, broccoli, buckwheat, cabbage, garlic, grapefruit, green leafies, hot peppers, kiwi, legumes, melons, mustard, oats/oat bran, tofu, onions, tomatoes, and whole grain breads (sounds like a cuisine!).

The PCRM publication reported on a study which found that men with the highest intake of dairy foods also had the highest intake of Parkinson’s disease. Another item reported there was a study in Illinois which found that saturated and hydrogenated fats in the diet apparently increased the risk of Alzheimer’s disease, with those who ate the most of these fats having more than double the risk of those who ate the least. When this study was reported in the NY Times, the finding was announced as an indication that fish can help prevent Alzheimer’s, since the study’s participants who stayed well had eaten fish (high in omega-3 fatty acids) at least once a week. The Times did mention that "some participants" had gotten their good results from eating the omega-3s found in vegetables and nuts rather than fish; the PCRM report focused on the healthy fats in flaxseeds, almonds, peanuts, avocados, olives, and canola, soy, sunflower, and olive oils as being the protective factors that made the difference.

If you’re interested in hearing PCRM’s president, Dr. Neal Barnard, in person, he’ll be in town on August 19. Dr. Barnard will be giving a free lecture (and promoting his new book, Breaking the Food Seduction), at the Loos Room in Centennial Hall, 733 N. 8^th St., in downtown Milwaukee, at 7 PM.

DIALOG

There is a whole new intensity and variety to the debate about what foods should be eaten.

Everyone seems to be talking about what is now being called the obesity epidemic. The NY Times ran a lengthy article on new recognition that the easy and cheap availability of fattening foods, plus huge serving sizes of everything, are a big part of the problem. World Health Organization officials have been meeting with governments and trade and consumer groups to try to develop recommendations on controlling the sale of fatty, sugary, salty, and high-calorie foods. A consumer group called Commercial Alert discussed in a recent newsletter the things that schools might be asked to do to prevent and reverse American children’s trend towards obesity (such as making healthful food avail-able to children in school while banning junk food, and stopping corporations from promoting junk foods in educational settings). And in response to these pressures, some big corporations like Krafts, McDonald’s, and Frito-Lay are starting to announce that they will move towards reducing portion sizes and cutting fat and sugar contents of many products. Consumer advocates suspect that such moves are merely reactions to looming lawsuits and new regulation, since profits depend on keeping consumers saturated with these very items.

Then there is the increasing attention to the health differences between different kinds of fats, and especially to the problems for heart health of trans-fatty acids. Thus margarine was once considered a health food because it has no saturated fat, but is now being seen as an even worse cardiac culprit than butter, and we are now being warned of the need to inspect the fine-print ingredients lists of almost all processed foods for vegetable shortening and for partially hydrogenated or hydrogenated oils – the major sources of trans-fats.

Then there is the whole new idea of so-called functional foods: regular food items that have been doctored up with particular nutrients or other substances believed to be beneficial. The problem lies in the range of such items. Some seem like good ideas, such as ordinary orange juice which has had calcium added to it so as to help people like me eat enough dietary calcium. But then there are otherwise-refined-food cereals promoted as healthy due to added dietary fibers. And then there are such very questionable items as "energy drinks" which are really just water beefed up with vitamins, amino acids, minerals, and lots of caffeine, or the candy bars with a dose of soy isoflavones thrown in.