News

From restaurant calorie counts and antioxidants to tainted milk and listeria-infected deli meat, this year had its share of nutrition highs and lows. The good news in 2008? Vitamin D continued to shine as a disease fighter, eating a big breakfast appeared to help shed excess pounds, and more Canadians said they're eating better.

But it wasn't all rosy. Some Canadian restaurants failed to live up to their promise to provide nutrition information, studies yielded disappointing results for antioxidant and B vitamin supplements, and sodium levels continued to alarm health experts.

Here's a year-end look at some of the stories that made headlines in 2008.

CHAIN RESTAURANTS FAIL TO SHOW CALORIE COUNTS

Did you know that a chicken fajita dinner at Kelsey's serves up 1,429 calories and 4,550 milligrams of sodium? Probably not.

In January, the Centre for Science in the Public Interest released the results of a survey of 27 Canadian restaurant chains that had committed to provide nutrition information to customers. The findings: 18 of the 27 chains failed to live up to their promise.

In 2005, the Canadian Restaurant and Foodservices Association established a voluntary nutrition information program that required, by the end of that year, participating chains to provide nutrient values for self-selected menu items through in-store pamphlets and company websites. While most participating fast-food chains have lived up to their promise, the majority of full-service restaurants, such as Kelsey's, Jack Astor's, and Casey's, have not.

What's more, not a single restaurant surveyed listed such key information as calories, saturated fat or sodium on the menu.

Meanwhile, south of the border, New York, Philadelphia, and the state of California passed nutrition labelling laws for chain restaurants mandating that calories and other key nutrient numbers be posted on menus and menu boards.

ANTIOXIDANT SUPPLEMENTS QUESTIONED

It was a bad year for antioxidants such as vitamins C and E, beta carotene and selenium. First, a report that pooled the results of 67 studies involving 232,550 participants concluded that antioxidant supplements do not extend life and some could even cause premature death.

In October, after researchers from the Cleveland Clinic discovered that selenium and vitamin E pills did nothing to ward off prostate cancer - and may even increase the risk of the disease - they instructed study participants to stop taking their supplements.

Then, in November, a study of 14,641 healthy men, aged 50 or older, from Harvard University's medical school revealed that supplements of vitamin E and C did not lower the risk of cardiovascular disease. Compared with men taking the placebo treatment, users of vitamin E and vitamin C were just as likely to suffer a heart attack or total stroke, or die from heart disease.

Evidence suggests you're better off getting your antioxidants from fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts and seeds. It is possible that supplements haven't panned out because it takes a network of antioxidants in foods to prevent disease.

B VITAMINS DON'T WARD OFF HEART ATTACK

A study of 3,096 patients with established heart disease suggested that vitamin B6, B12 and folic acid were ineffective against heart attack, death from heart disease and stroke.

The notion that B vitamins ward off heart disease stems from the fact that folic acid, B6 and B12 lower blood homocysteine, an amino acid made by the body during normal metabolism that is thought to damage the lining of the arteries.

Still, it is important to increase your intake of these nutrients from foods to help meet your recommended daily intake.

Folic acid is particularly important to help prevent neural tube defects in infants. Women of childbearing age should take a multivitamin with 0.4 milligrams of folic acid. Good food sources include legumes, cooked spinach, asparagus, artichoke, avocado, orange juice and enriched pasta.

VITAMIN D TAKES A BOW

There is one supplement you can feel confident about - vitamin D. In 2008, studies linked insufficient vitamin D levels to a higher risk of heart attack and stroke, adding to a growing body of evidence that the nutrient is a potent disease fighter. Having too little vitamin D is also thought to increase the risk of diabetes, multiple sclerosis, osteoporosis, obesity and certain cancers. Evidence of vitamin D's benefits was so compelling that, in June, the Canadian Cancer Society issued a recommendation to Canadians to start taking supplements of the vitamin.

Food sources of vitamin D include fatty fish, milk and egg yolks. Most of the body's vitamin D requirements, however, are met by the skin in response to sun exposure.

BIG BREAKFAST BEST FOR DIETERS

We've all heard that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. In July, a study found that eating a big breakfast - half your day's worth of calories - is also important for losing weight.

In the study, 94 overweight and physically inactive women followed either a 1,085-calorie, low-carbohydrate diet or a 1,240-calorie, modified-carbohydrate - or "big-breakfast" - diet.

The very low-carbohydrate dieters ate 290 calories for breakfast. The "big-breakfast" diet provided 610 calories for breakfast and included milk, lean meat, cheese, whole grain bread, added fat and a small piece of chocolate.

At four months, women on the low-carbohydrate diet lost, on average, 28 pounds and the big-breakfast dieters shed 23 pounds. But after eight months, the situation had reversed. The low-carb dieters regained about 18 pounds, while the big-breakfast eaters continued to shed weight, losing a further 16.5 pounds. The end result: Women in the big-breakfast group lost 21 per cent of their body weight compared with 4.5 per cent for the low-carbohydrate group.

It's thought that eating a big breakfast works because it controls appetite and cravings for sugars and starches by maintaining higher serotonin level in the brain, a chemical that helps regulate our carbohydrate intake. Eating too few carbohydrates - or skipping breakfast altogether - results in lower serotonin levels and can trigger cravings, especially in the afternoon and evening.

SODIUM LEVELS SOUND ALARM BELLS

If you have high blood pressure, chances are you watch your sodium intake. And for good reason. High blood pressure is clearly linked to a greater risk of heart attack and stroke.

In June, a report published in The Canadian Journal of Cardiology conveyed the urgent need to reduce sodium in our food supply. The study concluded that our current sodium intake contributes to 17,000 cases of heart disease and stroke each year. Decreasing our intake from 3,500 milligrams a day to the recommended daily intake of 1,200 to 1,500 milligrams could reduce the number of stroke cases by 20 per cent, heart failures by 25 per cent and heart attacks by 7 per cent.

FOOD SAFETY SCARES PERSIST

In 2008, the issue of food safety reached global significance with China's tainted milk scandal. It began in August when tests indicated that China's dairy companies produced milk containing the industrial chemical melamine. Tainted baby formula was responsible for killing six infants and sickening nearly 300,000 others. The crisis widened when the chemical was found in candy, instant coffee, pretzels and other Chinese products, sparking recalls in Asia, Europe, Canada and the United States.

Closer to home, a Maple Leaf Foods meat processing plant in Toronto was the source of an outbreak of listeria food poisoning that killed 20 people and left more than 30 seriously ill. The story raised concerns about Canada's food safety vulnerabilities as well as the importance of early public warnings.

It also reminded us of the need to be vigilant where we do have control - at home. It's estimated as many as 13 million food poisoning cases occur in Canada every year, most of which can be prevented by handling foods safely at home.

NUTRITION TOP-OF-MIND FOR CANADIANS

Good news: Canadians are clearly interested in nutrition and trying to adopt a healthier diet, according to a national survey released in October by the Canadian Council of Food and Nutrition. Eight out of 10 Canadians consider themselves at least somewhat knowledgeable about nutrition. Half of us think nutrition is "very important" when deciding what to eat. What's more, six out of 10 Canadians say they've made an effort in the past year to adopt a healthier diet. The top improvements include eating more vegetables, more fibre and whole grains, less fat, less sugar and fewer calories. Now that's good news for healthy eating in 2009.

Leslie Beck, a Toronto-based dietitian at the Medcan Clinic, is on CTV's Canada AM every Wednesday. http://www.lesliebeck.com.