UK residents choose healthy diet over vitamins

Thu, 25 Jun 2009 11:01:42 -0400

The number of Britons who rely on supplements to provide them with their daily vitamins and nutrients has fallen significantly, according to new reports. Instead, many are looking towards a healthy diet to fulfill their nutritional needs, a move credited to enhanced health education and a lagging economy.

American Medical Association resolution supports sustainable food systems

Thu, 18 Jun 2009 13:54:42 -0400

A new policy passed this week by the AMA promises to support practices and policies that promote ecologically responsible, sustainable, and healthy food systems within the health care system. Approved at the AMA’s annual meeting, the resolution encourages medical professionals to aid in education the public and public health organization about foodways that “provide food and beverages of naturally high nutritional quality.”

Illinois General Assembly passes Local Food Farms and Jobs Act

Wed, 10 Jun 2009 16:04:23 -0400

Congratulations to the Illinois Local and Organic Food and Farm Task Force, whose dedication and effort resulted in the passage of legislation supporting local and organic agriculture.

BOOK REVIEW: The Unhealthy Truth

Wed, 03 Jun 2009 21:25:44 -0400

This mom’s fight for clean food motivates action to break the hold of Big Food.

By Betsy McCann

Medical group urges ending use of GM foods

Mon, 01 Jun 2009 14:30:21 -0400

A physicians group has concluded that genetically modified foods “pose a serious health risk” to humans and animals alike, based on animal feeding trials. The group called for the institution GM food labels, stressed the importance of public education, and proposed more long-term studies on its effects.

According to the studies, exposed rats experienced alarmingly high infant mortality rates and infertility, as well as marked change in immune system health—a possible connection to the rise in food allergies among today’s children.

Grazier, urban and organic farmers win NRDC Growing Green awards for sustainble ag leadership

Thu, 07 May 2009 13:00:46 -0400

Widely decorated urban agriculture and youth empowerment leader Will Allen (Growing Power, Milwaukee); widely free-ranging grazing and direct marketing guru Joel Salatin (Polyface Farms, Virignia); and veteran California market farmer and organic leader Judith Redmond (Guinda, CA) are the farmer winners in the 2009 Growing Greener Awards from the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC).

“Big Food” tactics closely mirror those of “Big Tobacco”

Fri, 10 Apr 2009 12:27:58 -0400

In a Yale 360 Interview Kelly D. Brownell, psychologist and director of the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale University, argues that the food industry avoids regulation of unhealthy, obesity-causing foods with the same fervor – and tactics – that the tobacco industry has fought oversight.

What to do when overwhelmed by the “abundance of roughage” in your CSA box

Mon, 30 Mar 2009 09:53:57 -0400

Over the years, Catherine Price learned to be a creative, resourceful CSA customer. She had to, especially when faced each year with an overabundance of seemingly less-than-exciting fall veggies. “It's a problem that affects anyone who tries to eat seasonally or consume a wider variety of vegetables, as an increasing number of Michael Pollan-ated Americans are trying to do,” she writes.

What we don’t know CAN hurt us: the case for keeping an eye on additives and sticking to whole foods

Fri, 27 Mar 2009 12:14:15 -0400

A new study reveals that estrogen-mimicking compounds – impostors that can bind to estrogen receptors in our bodies and influence hormone activity – are present in two widely used food additives. Which raises the question, how many more harmful compounds are hiding in the more than 3,000 preservatives, flavorings, colors and other additives found in processed foods, and what happens when they build up over time in our bodies? Until the FDA requires testing for estrogenic activity in these chemicals, we may be in the dark about what’s on our plates.

Proposed rule for new anti-mad cow measures stirs controversy

Fri, 27 Mar 2009 11:14:35 -0400

Congress will delay a new FDA rule that imposes extra precautions against bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad cow disease, finding that the rule may lead to a significant cost and logistical problem in disposing of dead cattle – even leading to increased improper disposal of cattle.

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