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(HealthNewsDigest.com) – It is estimated that there are already 2.1 billion overweight people in the world and the number is growing. With a projected population of 9.6 billion worldwide by 2050, both population growth and obesity will severely test the world’s health and food resources. Since 1939, the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) has been dedicated to the advancement of food science grounded in current scientific fact. IFT’s FutureFood 2050 (www.:futurefood2050.com) recently looked at the worldwide obesity issue by asking experts in the field how this battle of the bulge might be won. Each expert had a different take on what would help the world trim down.
Dr. Brain Wansink, Director of the Cornell University Food and Brand Law is the leading advocate for mindful eating. We make hundreds of food decision daily, most without thinking. Breakfast – to eat or not? Toast – with butter and jelly? Coffee – cream or milk? And so the decisions go on throughout the day, with little thought from us. Wansink believes if people made more mindful of choices they can eat better. He looks at the influence of small things that can make a difference in our food decisions such as:
- Eating on a small plate rather than a large one.
- Positioning menu items so that healthy choices appear first.
- Putting the best choices first in the school lunch line.
- Offering foods with a lot of chewing satisfaction.
Hank Cardello, Director of the Obesity Solutions Initiative at the Hudson Institute, wants food scientists and food companies to modify the foods we all love to make them healthier. He cites examples such as McDonald’s hamburgers that are leaner than competitors and Chick-Fil-A which reduced the amount of chicken in sandwiches, both changes save calories. Or 100-calorie packs of Oreo cookies and 90-calorie cans of Coke to limit portion sizes. Cardello believes these small consistent changes will remove calories from our meals and ultimately institute better habits without giving up foods people love.
Walmir Coutinho a physician from Brazil and president of the World Obesity Federation cautions that as developing countries thrive their populations get heavier. His home country of Brazil is poised to become the fattest on Earth by 2030 unless the current overweight trend can be slowed. As people become upwardly mobile, they can drive instead of walk. They might buy their first refrigerator. Extra income allows them to purchase more food and foods they could not afford in the past – cookies, salty snacks, and soda. Dr. Coutinho believes the government and food companies need to work together to educate people about how best to use their new found wealth.
Julian Mercer, a leading obesity researcher in the United Kingdom is examining how hunger and satiety are regulated with the ultimate goal of producing foods that offer more satisfaction for longer periods of time. He wants to fight fat from the inside out tapping into the food-gut-brain partnership to better understand hunger, fullness and overeating. He has helped develop a line of ready-to-eat, high protein meals, called Simply Fuller Longer. The premise for these meals is supported by research showing that high protein diets result in eating less. Mercer is also involved in a project to see if fiber can be manipulated to make it more filling with the goal of adding this enhanced fiber to foods to make them more filling. He cautions that the food we develop to promote satiety and slow down eating has to also be tasty or all our scientific efforts will be rejected by the consumer.
Barry Popkin, a professor of nutrition at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill wants to tax unhealthy foods and make food labels easier to use. Popkin would like to see developed nations tax sweetened beverages and sugary desserts. He thinks government should mandate front-of-package labeling to give consumers with limited nutrition knowledge objective information on healthy and less-healthy choices to encourage better options.
Dr. Louise Aronne, Director of the Comprehensive Weight Control Center at Weill Cornell Medical College believes that we need to use medication as part of our patient strategy to combat obesity. Though diet and exercise are important tools for weight loss, when they aren’t working, medication may be an option to consider. Dr. Aronne would like to see more research in this field to offer more effective drugs to patients.
Though each expert’s work focused on a different area of obesity research, they all agreed on one thing, prevention is far better than treatment. If we can help people maintain a healthy weight, starting in childhood, all these strategies to control weight will be far more effective.
© 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 sales of more than 8.5 million books.
Look for:
The Diabetes Counter, 5th Ed., 2014
The Fat and Cholesterol Counter, 2014
The Most Complete Food Counter, 3rd ed., 2013
The Calorie Counter, 6th Ed., 2013
The Complete Food Counter, 4th ed., 2012
The Protein Counter, 3rd Ed., 2011
The Ultimate Carbohydrate Counter, 3rd Ed., 2010
The Healthy Wholefoods Counter, 2008
Your Complete Food Counter App: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/your-complete-food-counter/id444558777?mt=8
For more information on Jo-Ann and her books, go to: www.TheNutritionExperts.com.
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