A New Focus on Sustainability

Earlier during the COVID pandemic, many of us faced significant changes in our routines to access mainstay products we keep in our kitchens and prepare meals. As we saw food supply levels and variety be impacted by the pandemic, we also witnessed food system workers be influenced as well. Many companies went out of business or could not safely host workers on farms or in processing facilities. Several of these elements are linked to both environmental and social sustainability aspects of our food supply—where and how our food is grown, who readies our food for purchasing and when will it be able to reach consumers were all greatly impacted. Steadfast desired product characteristics This spring, the IFIC 2021 Food and Health Survey aimed to take a look at how environmental and social sustainability perceptions impact purchase decisions. As seen in past Food and Health Surveys, taste, price, healthfulness, and convenience remain top drivers for purchase decisions this year. In comparison to these drivers, only 31% of consumers say environmental sustainability is a top driver. This mirrors the results of IFIC’s 2020 Consumer Survey: Eating and Shopping During a Global Pandemic, a COVID-specific study performed in September 2020, when COVID infection rates were rapidly growing across the country. That study showed that 45% of survey takers reported price had the biggest impact on their decisions to buy food and beverages, with 27% reporting that taste was a top priority. In contrast, just 16% selected environmental sustainability (as one of their top three choices) and the lowest priority was a company’s mission and values, with just 14% ranking this aspect in their top three selections. Still, as seen in other Food and Health Surveys, our 2021 findings found that when asked if it’s important that the foods they purchase or consume are […]

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Diversifying MyPlate: Haitian Cuisine

The Dietary Guidelines for Americans and its associated MyPlate graphic are commonly referenced resources for learning about healthy and nutritious eating. The recently-updated 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans put a stronger focus on meeting dietary recommendations while keeping cultural preferences in mind, and resources highlighting culturally inclusive approaches are valuable tools for translating the general messages of MyPlate and the Dietary Guidelines to more Americans. This article is part of a series that shows how healthy eating can take on many different forms outside of the Western diet. While for many, meals might not exactly resemble MyPlate, the featured guest authors will demonstrate what healthy eating looks like in their culture, and how many of the food groups and principles can translate across cultures and cuisines. Each article in this series is written by a registered dietitian who is experienced in integrating culturally inclusive approaches into their work. About the Author My name is Carlie Saint-Laurent Beaucejour, a registered dietitian and Owner of Crave with Carlie LLC, a virtual nutrition counseling practice. I have a focus on women’s health, particularly Black women from Caribbean and American culture. As a Haitian-American woman born and raised on Long Island, who had no idea how much my parents’ culture and food would live through me, I have always had a love for food and how it brings people happiness and joy. I understand the battle my clients face with wanting to change their eating habits to better their health without losing their cultural food preferences, and I help to guide them in knowing it’s possible to incorporate both. The Connection between Haitian Food and Culture Food is a focal point of Haitian culture; it is how we show love, grieve and celebrate, and that has influenced my nutrition approach that all foods can […]

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Thinking Through Regulation and Safety Before Your Next – or First CBD Purchase

New foods and beverages can be fun and interesting to try. Certainly, those with added benefits such as those that provide alertness or induce calmness can add another layer of intrigue. New options that provide these behavioral inducements are becoming available very frequently; one of the more popular ones include cannabinoid ingredients. Cannabinoids are substances derived from the cannabis plant – also referred to as hemp, and include both the psychoactive and non-psychoactive compounds Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and Cannabidiol (CBD), respectively. Depending on where you live, you may have seen grocery stores and pharmacies carrying products containing CBD. Many of us may live in states that permit the sale of products containing THC from designated dispensaries. You may wonder what the differences are between products containing these two compounds, how they are regulated for safety and what further actions food regulatory agencies plan to take to formulate more structure around the sale of both types of products. Let’s walk through these components to answer some foundational questions. CBD and THC: What’s the Difference? While both CBD and THC compounds come from the cannabis plant, concentrations of both substances can vary between plant strains, and from plant to plant within the same strain. Additionally, even within one plant compound, concentrations can differ from one section to another; specifically, the flowering tops of female plants contain the highest concentration of cannabinoids. CBD is present in both male and female plants, while THC is found only in female Cannabis sativa or Cannabis indica plants. As mentioned above, CBD is non-psychoactive, while THC is psychoactive. Psychoactive compounds can influence how your brain works and result in changes in mood, emotion, awareness and behavior. In contrast, non-psychoactive compounds can impact the brain in a way that can change mental processes but do not change perception or […]

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Diversifying MyPlate Series: Q&A on Culturally Sensitive Approaches in Nutrition

“All foods fit” is a common approach to a healthy and balanced eating pattern. However, due to a lack of representation of diverse foods as examples of healthy eating, and a gap in culturally sensitive nutrition guidance, many can be left feeling like their foods don’t exactly fit. In the nutrition field, there is a growing awareness of the importance of addressing this; in fact, the recently updated 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans put an emphasis on meeting dietary recommendations while keeping cultural preferences in mind. We asked Registered Dietitians (RD) Nazima Qureshi, Carlie Saint-Laurent Beaucejour, Sarika Shah and Michelle Jaelin to share their expertise for culturally sensitive approaches to nutrition in our Diversifying MyPlate Series. This series highlights how healthy eating can take on many different forms outside of the typical Western diet; it also emphasizes how diets from other cultures can align with nutrition recommendations in resources such as USDA’s MyPlate. This Q&A concludes our series on diversifying MyPlate and offers advice for how registered dietitians can integrate culturally sensitive approaches into their own practices. Q: How do you define a culturally sensitive approach to nutrition and dietetics, and why is this important? How do you integrate this into the work that you do? Nazima Qureshi, RD: A culturally sensitive approach to nutrition and dietetics is one that includes the client’s food preferences, traditions, and current cultural context. It is important to incorporate an understanding of their culture in order to provide recommendations that are relevant and sustainable. Culture isn’t just limited to ethnicity but also includes a person’s family traditions, as well as their lived experience; understanding this makes nutrition recommendations more personalized. I integrate this approach into the work I do by asking a lot of questions in my initial nutrition assessment and tailoring recommendations to […]

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Food and Inflammation Series: Is Gluten Inflammatory?

What we eat has long been recognized to impact our health – most notably, our risk for diet-related chronic diseases. More recently, the conversation surrounding how dietary choices are related to developing chronic inflammation has become a hot area in preventative nutrition. In this series, we will take a closer look at how some dietary factors are related to inflammation, starting with gluten. What is Inflammation? Inflammation is a natural process in the body and refers to the immune system’s response to an irritant. This is how the body protects and heals itself. If you have ever had a paper cut or burned your tongue on a hot cup of coffee, the process of healing the wound is the inflammatory response in action. These are examples of acute inflammation, which is a relatively short-lived response to injury, irritation, and/or infection. Acute inflammation can be brought on by infectious factors like bacteria or viruses, non-infectious factors like injuries and chemicals, or psychological factors like stress or excitement. In contrast, chronic inflammation is a long-term physiologic response that can last anywhere from weeks to years. Unlike acute inflammation, chronic inflammation is not always visible to the naked eye. It can be brought on by a number of factors, including autoimmune conditions, chronic stress, long-term exposure to pollutants, physical inactivity and certain dietary exposures. The constantly activated inflammatory response creates destructive reactions that damage cells and are linked to increased risk of conditions like diabetes, cardiovascular disease, dementia, depression, and certain cancers. The Connection between Food and Inflammation Inflammation is a complicated process; the connection between food and inflammation is still being researched. Some research shows that certain nutrients like vitamin E, magnesium, fiber and antioxidants like polyphenols can reduce inflammation. Diets that are high in refined starches, sugar, saturated and artificial trans […]

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Gut Check: Postbiotics and the Microbiome

Over the past few years, there’s been a wave of research and news surrounding the impact of what we eat on our gut microbiome and digestive health. From Greek yogurt to probiotic-boosted chocolate to dietary supplements aimed at supporting digestive health, the options for nurturing the bacteria living in our gastrointestinal tract are seemingly endless. And more recently, there’s been a new addition to the conversation around gut health: Postbiotics. This article explains what postbiotics are, how they’re used, and what we know about their potential health benefits. What are postbiotics? To better understand postbiotics, let’s recall what we know about other gut-health-related terms. Prebiotics are substances in foods that humans can’t digest—mainly dietary fiber—that become food for the millions of bacteria living in our stomach and intestines. Also known as probiotic microorganisms, these gastrointestinal bacteria ferment prebiotics. The end products of the fermentation process are postbiotics. Postbiotics are not useless waste products—instead, they are bioactive, meaning they can have beneficial effects on our bodies and our health. Spurred on by growing awareness and the increasing use of the term “postbiotics” in research and in commercial products, in 2021 the International Scientific Association of Probiotics and Prebiotics (ISAPP) formally defined a postbiotic as a “preparation of inanimate microorganisms and/or their components that confers a health benefit on the host”. What are some examples of postbiotics? There are many different types of postbiotics, ranging from familiar nutrients like vitamin B12, vitamin K, folate and some amino acids—yes, these nutrients can be made by our gut bacteria!—to less-familiar varieties like short-chain fatty acids, enzymes, lipopolysaccharides, fragments of bacterial cell walls, bacterial lysates, and cell-free supernatants. What are the health effects of postbiotics? The health effects of postbiotics have been studied both for prevention and treatment of certain health conditions. In humans, evidence […]

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Let’s Learn About Chocolate

Chocolate has a long history, with origins dating back thousands of years to the ancient Aztec, Maya, and Olmec cultures of Central and South America. The Aztecs consumed a ceremonial drink called cacahuatl that they made from the beans of the cocoa trees that were indigenous to their region. The English word chocolate is thought to be a combination of the Aztec words cacahuatl and chocolatl, which meant “hot water.” How Chocolate Making Begins Today, chocolate has become one of the most globally produced and consumed delicacies. It’s a treat that transcends borders and languages, with the leading producers in Africa and South America and largest per capita consumers in northern Europe. Chocolate production starts with harvesting beans from cocoa trees that are grown in tropical climates around the world, including Africa, the Caribbean, Central and South America, and Indonesia. Cocoa bean shells are then removed to collect their meat, or nib. Cocoa nibs are subsequently ground into chocolate liquor, which contains a mixture of cocoa solids and cocoa butter, the naturally occurring fat in cocoa beans. Chocolate liquor can then be pressed to separate cocoa butter from the solids. Despite their names, cocoa butter does not contain dairy, and chocolate liquor does not contain alcohol—although it does naturally contain small amounts of caffeine. Types of Chocolate While many people prefer a certain type of chocolate, they may not be aware of what makes one type different from another. Here’s a rundown of five types of chocolate, starting with a newer variety that you may never have heard of. Ruby Chocolate If you’ve never heard of ruby chocolate, you’re not alone. Ruby chocolate is a relative newcomer to the chocolate scene. It’s so new that a standard of identity has not been established for ruby chocolate in the U.S. (as […]

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Food and Inflammation Series: Is Sugar Inflammatory?

What we eat has long been known to impact our health, and a wealth of research suggests that our eating patterns impact our risk for diet-related chronic diseases. More recently, the conversation surrounding how some dietary choices may lead to the development of chronic inflammation in the body has become a hot area in preventative nutrition. In our Food and Inflammation series, we take a closer look at how different dietary factors are related to inflammation. Our first article focused on gluten. In this next article, let’s look at the connection between sugars and inflammation. What Is Inflammation? Inflammation is a natural process in the body that refers to the immune system’s response to an irritant. In fact, inflammation is how the body protects and heals itself. If you’ve ever had a paper cut or burned your tongue while drinking a hot cup of coffee, your body’s process of healing that wound was the inflammatory response in action. Cuts and burns cause acute inflammation, which is a relatively short-lived physiological healing response. Acute inflammation may also be brought on by infectious factors like bacteria and viruses, non-infectious factors like injuries and chemicals, and psychological factors like stress and excitement. In contrast, chronic inflammation is a long-term physiological response that can last anywhere from weeks to years. Unlike acute inflammation, chronic inflammation is not always visible to the naked eye. It can be brought on by a number of factors, including autoimmune conditions, chronic stress, long-term exposure to pollutants, physical inactivity, and the foods and beverages we regularly eat and drink. A state of constant inflammatory response can create chains of destructive bodily reactions that damage cells and are linked to increased risk for adverse health conditions like diabetes, cardiovascular disease, dementia, depression, and certain cancers. The Connection Between Food and […]

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