What a Survey on DNA in Food Tells Us About Science Communications

Headlines on the latest consumer survey popped up all over my feeds this week. They varied from exasperated (80% Of Americans Support Mandatory Labels On Foods Containing DNA. DNA!) to insulting (Are Americans really dumb enough to worry about food containing DNA?). Oklahoma State University’s Agricultural Economics Department asked consumers, “Do you support or oppose the following government policies?” 86.5% of respondents support mandatory country of origin labels for meat. A large majority (82%) “support mandatory labels on GMOs.” But curiously, about the same amount (80%) also “support mandatory labels on foods containing DNA.” Yes, DNA: the building block of all living things and practically every food. So what are we supposed to take away from this? Should science communicators be crying into our cereal? Should we be sitting smugly, proclaiming, “See, it’s the audience’s fault”? Here’s what these headlines say to me: Is this survey taker answering what she thinks she’s answering? 1. Dig deeper into surveys. There is a lot of data circulating about what food issues Americans do or don’t support. Remember how influenced this information can be by survey design. One example is around biotechnology labeling, which is a key parallel these headlines draw with the OSU survey. In our IFIC Food Technology survey, we ask what information consumers would like to have that isn’t on the label. Only about 4% of those surveyed say that they want information about biotechnology. That’s a dramatically different percentage than when you just give a survey taker a yes-or-no option. 2. Improve scientific communications. When a lot of different scientific concepts come together, it’s easy to muddy the waters. DNA, selection, modification, genetics, engineering. It’s not surprising that many folks can’t explain all these notions and how they fit together. For those of us who focus on science communications, don’t let […]

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Going Whole Hog on “Nose-to-Tail” Eating

A few months ago, a friend of mine invited me to celebrate her birthday at an upscale restaurant. This particular restaurants was known for one dish in particular: pig cheeks. I agreed, mostly because I couldn’t imagine how they would serve this dish to our table. When the meal arrived, we all stared (along with most of the restaurant) at what amounted to half of a pig’s head staring back at us. To some, reading this is enough to make you sick. But eaters, chefs, and butchers alike are starting to use meat from the entire animal, include parts you would usually discard. Like pig’s cheeks. This practice, sometimes called ‘whole animal’ or ‘nose-to-tail,’ exists for a few different reasons. Some find creativity and adventure in cooking and eating unique cuts of meat from animals. Others do it for claimed health benefits. Many folks feel it is one approach to being sustainable in our production of animals, not letting any parts of it go to waste. What are ‘nose-to-tail’ cuts? If pig’s cheeks aren’t quite your thing, you still have a range of options to choose from. Some examples of muscle-cuts include lamb neck, tomahawk steak, tri-tips, or even short ribs. On the flip side there is offal, if you have the stomach for it! That includes an animal’s entrails and organs, such as liver, heart, kidney, tongue, and even tripe (stomach) and bone marrow. Special health benefits? Many claim that eating the whole animal comes with health benefits. Meats, especially red meats, can be high in protein, B-vitamins, vitamin D, iron, and zinc. Any of these unique cuts could provide sources for at least some these nutrients, but it’s important to keep in mind total saturated fat and calories. The 2015 Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA) recommends Americans select lean cuts of meat and to limit your portion sizes […]

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5 Nutrition and Food Safety Pregnancy Myths

Pregnancy can be both an incredibly exciting and nerve-racking time. And as the logistical reality of pregnancy sets in, women who are expecting often swiftly come to understand all the ways they may not be able to eat exactly as they did before—particularly when it comes to the safety of many foods and beverages. But not to worry: If you’re pregnant or trying to become pregnant, there are a wealth of resources to help you eat well during this special stage of life. In this article, we round up and debunk some of the most common myths surrounding nutrition and food safety during pregnancy so that you can feel more confident about your food choices and eating patterns over the next 9 months. Myth 1: You need more calories during all stages of pregnancy. Ever heard the phrase “eating for two”? It can be a little misleading. You might be surprised to learn that you don’t need any extra calories to feed a growing baby until the second and third trimesters of your pregnancy. For the first trimester, you can eat about the same amount as you did before you were pregnant. Then, in the second trimester, your calorie needs will increase by about 340 calories per day—about the amount in two tablespoons of hummus, one pita bread and raw veggies or about five ounces of yogurt, one fourth cup granola and one cup berries. In the third trimester, you should aim for about 500 extra calories per day. Note that these calorie needs may differ depending on your pre-pregnancy weight, activity level and if you are carrying multiples, and it’s best to speak with your healthcare provider about your specific needs. If counting calories makes your head spin, try focusing on tuning into your hunger and fullness cues. Your […]

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Going Beyond the Grill: Nutrition Tips for Dad

My dad does most of the grocery shopping. He did while I was growing up, and he still does for my mom and for my brothers and sisters who live at home. But, even though he grills sometimes, my dad doesn’t really cook (spoiler: my mom does most of it). And, actually, if I had to guess, I would say that my dad is not really that interested in food at all. While I sometimes wish my dad paid more attention to food, like me, I know that he’s not unique in that regard. Many American men don’t read nutrition facts panels, ingredients lists, or other information about the healthfulness or nutritional benefits of different foods. HOWEVER: Men do tend to trust friends and family to let them know which foods to eat or avoid. In the hopes that maybe you’ll trust me, Dad, here are my top food and nutrition tidbits for you to keep in mind the next time you’re buying groceries, grilling, or figuring out what to order at a restaurant: 1. Fiber matters: Fiber consumption is associated with a plethora of health benefits, from weight management to blood glucose control to gut health. Many plant foods are good sources, including fruits and veggies, beans, oatmeal, and even (your favorite) popcorn. 2. Eat fish twice a week for heart health: Salmon, sardines, and tuna are all great options rich in omega-3 fatty acids. Canned fish is just as good as fresh! 3. Frozen vegetables and fruits can be just as nutritious as fresh ones: I know you figured this one out a long time ago since frozen produce also can be more affordable when feeding a big group, but it never hurts to have a reminder. Frozen produce may offer even more nutrients than fresh. 4. Keep […]

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The Case for CRISPR

When some people hear the term “selective breeding,” they assume it’s a fairly recent technology. Well, they would be off just a little bit — by about 12,000 years, to be precise. Practices such as breeding crops for desirable traits are almost as old as agriculture itself. Fast-forward to barely 150 years ago when we first began to understand genetics. Our working knowledge of DNA dates back only to the mid-20th century, and only then did genetic engineering get more sophisticated. Just a few decades removed, the intersection between science and food is at perhaps the most exciting place yet. With the rise of “big data,” we are beginning to see the connection between genetics and the food we eat, also called nutrigenomics. And now we stand on the cusp of a potentially revolutionary technology called “CRISPR.” It might sound like a drawer in your refrigerator, but it’s actually a tool that could bring enormous benefits to the food system. What is CRISPR? Before we dive into CRISPR, trust us, you may want to be sure to brush up on some basic genetics and biology so that the terms we use aren’t too foreign. CRISPR is one of many methods to alter the genetic information in the cells of living things — plants, fruits, vegetables, etc. That genetic information is called DNA, which are chains of molecular building blocks called nucleotides. DNA can produce proteins that define what an organism’s cells do or don’t do — kind of like how software controls the operation of a computer. Snippets or “sequences” of DNA called genes, pass down inherited traits over generations, tend to be stable, changing only slightly over time as organisms evolve and adapt to new conditions. Sometimes these changes are visible, such as the color of a flower, and […]

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Gut Check: Fiber and the Microbiome

If I were to go out and do a Jimmy Kimmel-esque Pedestrian Question on why fiber is good for us, I’ve got a few guesses on how it would go: “Fiber keeps you regular (hehe)” “I think fruits and vegetables have a lot of it?” “It feeds our gut” “You’re the dietitian, aren’t you supposed to be the one telling me?” All of these responses would technically be correct – including the last one (and yes, that’s a large part of my day job). We’ve recently written about the basics of fiber and its many health benefits, including lowering cholesterol, blood glucose control, weight management, and yes, constipation relief. But exactly how does a nutrient that we’re not even able to digest play such a big role in our health? A large part of the answer lies in our microbiome. Right now, every one of us has billions of bacteria living in us and on us (sorry if you’re in the middle of lunch right now). Most of these are concentrated in our lower digestive tract, known as the colon. And ongoing research is coalescing around the idea that some of fiber’s benefits aren’t delivered directly to our bodies, but are mediated by our gut bacteria. Humans are total pros at breaking down fats, protein, and many forms of carbohydrates. But we’re not great at metabolizing fiber – we just don’t have the right enzymes. So while the rest of our food is being digested and absorbed along the gastrointestinal tract, fiber passes through essentially unchanged until it hits the colon. There it’s broken down by many types of bacteria that use fiber for their food supply. We humans are then gifted with the byproducts of this bacterial feast, which are called short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs). The cells lining our […]

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Gut Check: Whole Grains and the Microbiome

We’re back again with another edition of Gut Check. This time, we’re exploring the connection between whole grains and the gut microbiome. If you’ve spent some time poking around FoodInsight, you’ve probably noticed that we’re big fans of whole grains. Diverse foods like oatmeal, popcorn, brown rice and whole wheat bread all have one thing in common: the entire grain seed of the plant — including the bran, germ and endosperm — is intact in the final product. This distinguishes them from refined grains like white bread or white rice, where processing leaves only the endosperm, the largest, carbohydrate-rich component of the grain, in the finished product. The bran and the germ are full of vitamins, minerals, a small amount of healthy fats and a good deal of fiber. When we lose those parts of the seed, the nutrients leave right along with them. Like we mentioned in our first Gut Check post, our microbes love fiber, a vital component of whole grains. So how does eating whole grains impact our gut microbiome? Let’s take a closer look. Our Gut Loves Grains We humans, as incredible and talented as we are, aren’t able to digest fiber. We just don’t have it in us. Literally — we don’t have the enzymes needed to break it down. When we eat a piece of whole wheat bread or a bowl of popcorn, some components of the food are broken down in the stomach and small intestine, but fiber passes through the gastrointestinal tract intact. When it reaches the large intestine, it’s fermented by the gut microbiota. The end result of this fermentation is the production of the short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) butyrate, propionate and acetate. These SCFAs are then either taken up by the intestinal cells themselves (which use butyrate for energy) or […]

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Gut Check: Low-Calorie Sweeteners and the Gut Microbiome

We’re back again with another edition of Gut Check, our series on the relationship between food and the gut microbiome. So far, we’ve taken a closer look at how whole grains, fiber, and fermented foods affect our gut microbes. In this article we’re taking a closer look at low-calorie sweeteners (LCSs) and the growing body of research on their connection to our microbial communities. LCSs (sometimes referred to as non-nutritive sweeteners, high-intensity sweeteners, artificial sweeteners or sugar substitutes) provide sweetness without adding a significant amount of calories. They have a long history of safe use in a variety of foods and beverages, ranging from soft drinks to candy to tabletop sweeteners. In the U.S., the most common LCSs are acesulfame potassium (ace-K), aspartame, monk fruit, saccharin, stevia and sucralose. LCSs are some of the most studied and reviewed ingredients in the world today. And yet, research on their relationship to the gut microbiome is very much in its infancy. Most LCSs are not metabolized by our digestive enzymes, so they travel through the digestive system intact and pass out of the body unchanged. Because of this, scientists have long thought they have no effects on the body. However, recent research has revealed that some LCSs may influence the bacteria in our gut. Most of these studies have been done in animal models and have shown wide-ranging results—from reductions in total bacterial count to increases in short-chain fatty acids, which are made by gut bacteria and are thought to be beneficial for gut health. The translation of these results to humans can be tricky and, in many cases, it’s just plain impractical. A primary reason? Lab animals are often genetically identical to each other and live their lives in the same environments, while in humans the microbiome is reflective of widely […]

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