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(HealthNewsDigest.com) – As a registered dietitian, I attended the annual Food & Nutrition Conference and Exposition, known by professionals in the field as FNCE. Out the 70,000-plus dietitians in the US nearly 10,000 attended as well as 2,000 exhibitors. It is a massive undertaking and most cities, this year Boston, light up with all these bright and healthy women in their midst. There are male dietitians, too, but sadly they are still few and far between. A dietetics meeting is estrogen-driven. FNCE focuses, annually, on food and nutrition trends and new products appearing on the market.
Childhood obesity is in the crosshairs. The American Dietetic Association has just unveiled a grassroots campaign, Kids Eat Right. This program is encouraging registered dietitians to volunteer in their community to promote healthy eating and prevent childhood obesity. The three arms of the program will be shop smart, cook healthy, and eat right, with messages aimed at moms and kids. Social media will be used to give healthy tips and recipes and a new website has been developed, kidseatright.org, to offer family resources.
Sodium is out! Not only are policy makers considering lowering the daily sodium recommendation to 1,500 milligrams a day, down from the current 2,300 milligrams, but companies are all scrambling to lower the overall sodium in their products. Exhibitors were proudly sampling lowered sodium soup, bread, chips, wraps, vegetable juices and frozen meals. Most companies are aiming for at least a 20% sodium reduction in their brands. Some of these foods are already on the market and many more are in the pipeline ready to debut.
Nuts are in! Once a no-no food, nuts are now a go-to snack. Trade associations for walnuts, peanuts, almonds, pistachios, and tree nuts were all sharing the health benefits of nuts. The emphasis was on the healthy fats, antioxidants and minerals rich in all nuts. Almonds were packed in small tin boxes to demonstrate a serving size – a handful or no more than a quarter cup. The pistachio group proudly said you could eat 49 nuts for this same-sized serving, whereas the peanut people could only offer 28 nuts in a quarter cup. For walnuts it was less. In this case, size is not an advantage.
Low gluten foods are good. At least that is what all the vendors wanted you to believe. There were hundreds of low-gluten choices on display, making you believe we should all ditch bread and pasta and go gluten-free. For those with true gluten intolerance or diagnosed celiac disease, these newly developed breads, chips, pasta, crackers, wraps, meals and tortillas are great choices. For people who can eat wheat and wheat-containing foods, gluten-free foods will not help them lose weight or eat healthier. It will be interesting to watch this trend and see how long it lasts with the current zeal.
Non-meat foods are becoming mainstream. More and tastier meat substitutes are being developed. The choices will entice the whole family and it will become harder to tell the difference between meat and poultry subs and the real thing.
Fresh foods are fabulous. Watermelons, avocados, pears, strawberries, blueberries, mushroom and potatoes were all promoted as healthy wholefoods. Did you know that mushrooms are a great natural source of vitamin D and watermelons are an excellent source of vitamin C?
Protein packs an extra punch, but in unexpected places. There were protein packed pretzels, chips, crackers and energy bars. One company developed a dark chocolate-flavored, hemp protein and another offered a fruit flavored protein shot.
In the midst of all these foods where a large number of nonsugar sweeteners. Beside traditional brands such as Equal, Splenda, Sweet ‘N Low, newer brands include Ideal, SunCrystals, SweetLeaf and Fibrelle containing 7 grams of fiber in a tablespoon. I question whether eating a nonsugar sweetener to meet fiber needs is really the best eating advice but this sugar substitute is currently on the market.
And, if all this is not enough, I got to sample red velvet mini cupcakes made using avocados as a healthy fat substitute. They were excellent with 70 calories and 2 grams of fat per cupcake.
© NRH Nutrition Consultants, Inc.
Jo-Ann Heslin, MA, RD, CDN is a registered dietitian and the author of the nutrition counter series for Pocket Books with 12 current titles and sales in excess of 8 million books. The books are widely available at your local or on-line bookseller.
Current titles include:
The Calorie Counter, 5th Ed., 2010
The Ultimate Carbohydrate Counter, 3rd Ed., 2010
The Complete Food Counter, 3rd ed., 2009
The Fat Counter, 7th ed., 2009
The Healthy Wholefoods Counter, 2008
The Cholesterol Counter, 7th Ed., 2008
The Diabetes Carbohydrate and Calorie Counter, 3rd Ed., 2007
For more information on Jo-Ann and her books, go to The Nutrition Experts
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