A new study may have some important ramifications for beach season: Just because a food promotes fitness does not make it good for the waistline.

That was the basic finding of a recent study published in the Journal of Marketing Research. The analysis found that people who were chronically concerned about their weight and ate fitness-branded foods actually ended up eating more and working out less.

The report’s findings may come as something of a shock to health-conscious consumers, many of whom spend a king’s ransom at places like Whole Foods just to feed their dietary wants. Meanwhile, the study suggests there may be an inverse correlation between how people eat and how much they work out.

Source: Eating ‘healthy’ food may not make you fit: Study

There were plenty of tasty tidbits packed into the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee report that came out back in February.

As we reported, the panel of nutrition experts that wrote the report said it was OK to eat an egg a day. The scientific evidence now shows it won’t raise the amount of LDL cholesterol – the bad kind of cholesterol — in your blood or raise the risk of heart disease.

The panel, which advises the government on how to update the Dietary Guidelines every five years, also pushed the envelope a bit by recommending a plant-focused diet — not only because it promotes health, but because it’s also more environmentally sustainable.

But as two leading nutrition researchers argue in an opinion piece out this week in JAMA, the journal of the American Medical Association, there was another, even more important recommendation in the committee’s report that’s largely been overlooked: It’s all about fat.

For many years, the government has put a cap on how much fat we consume – recommending that we get only 20 to 35 percent of our daily calories from this nutrient.

What the new report advised instead was to “put the emphasis on optimizing types of dietary fat and not reducing total fat.” The advice to limit total fat to prevent obesity was also gutted.

This is a subtle but powerful change, Dariush Mozaffarian and David Ludwig write: “With these quiet statements, the DGAC report reversed nearly four decades of nutrition policy that placed priority on reducing total fat consumption throughout the population.”

Fat Thanks to Sona S. for the tip!

Source: Farewell, Low-Fat: Why Scientists Applaud Lifting A Ban On Fat : The Salt : NPR

Thanks to Democratic Congressman Tim Ryan, salad may soon be added to the list of government-enshrined responsibilities.  Yes, salad.

The Salad Bars in Schools Expansion Act, which was introduced by the Ohio congressman last week, aims to increase fruit and vegetable consumption by school-age children. It would create a grant program to install salad bars in public schools across the nation.

This, the congressman says, would be the “easiest” and most “effective” way to meet the new nutrition standards of the USDA for schoolchildren. Instead of merely hoping that kids will pick up a pre-packaged salad and not chicken nuggets, a salad bar would give them the opportunity to load their plates with foods they enjoy — that is, assuming they enjoy eating salad. And assuming no food fights ensue.

There could be worse ideas. And unlike First Lady Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move!” initiative, there are no strings attached. Schools would apply for grants. Those selected would be chosen on a “competitive basis,” with priority given to schools having “not less than 50 percent of the students [who] are eligible for free or reduced lunches,” schools in “food deserts,” or schools that “already provide nutrition education to students.”

Source: Ohio Congressman Pushes Salad Bars in Schools | The Weekly Standard

Atlanta, Ga. (CBS ATLANTA) — The average American woman now weighs as much as the average American man weighed in 1960.

Both U.S. men and women have been packing on the pounds since 1960, with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showing that the average American woman now weighs 166.2 pounds – nearly identical to what American men weighed in the 1960s. And U.S. men have expanded greatly in the same time period, having gained nearly 30 pounds from the 1960s to 2010 – 166.3 pounds to 195.5 pounds today.

The CDC data shows that both sexes have gained almost an inch in height from the 1960s, which factors into some of the overall weight gain. But women have seen an 18.5 percent increase in weight gain from 1960 and men have shown a 17.6 percent increase in overall weight gain.

Today’s American male weighs nearly as much as 1.5 American females from the 1960s, with today’s U.S. male weighing an average 195.5 pounds and having a nearly 40-inch waist circumference (39.7 inches).

American women today have an average waist circumference of 37.5 inches and weigh in at 166.2 pounds, up from about 140 pounds in 1960.

Source: CDC: Average American Woman Now Weighs As Much As 1960s US Man « CBS Atlanta