Foods in the news

Nutrition Action Healthletter, Nov, 2003 by Bonnie Liebman

You never hear much about most foods. When was the last time you read an article, saw an ad, or got wind of the celebrities study on, say, green peas? Or winter squash? Or peaches?

In contrast, some foods are downright celebrities. If it's not the latest study on chocolate, it's an ad campaign for lean beef. Judging by their manufacturers' Web sites (we checked them all in early September), foods like grape juice and tomatoes don't prevent just a single disease--cancer, for example. They've branched out to thwart heart disease, too.

Some foods get all the attention because their public relations arms keep stirring the pot and, in some cases, because their manufacturers can afford to fund (usually small, preliminary) scientific studies. Here's how to read past some of the hottest headlines.

BEEF BITS

"Only one more gram of saturated fat than a skinless chicken breast?" asks the Cattlemen's Beef Board's ad. "It's like finding out that chocolate brownies are as healthy as carrots."

The ads, which ran in September in 16 popular magazines, are funded by a "checkoff" promotion program that's overseen by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. (Part of the USDA's mission is to promote beef consumption, don't forget.) Beef producers contribute a dollar for each head of cattle they sell.

A three-ounce serving of chicken breast has only one gram of saturated fat. How could beef have only two grams?

The fine print: Most beef doesn't. As the ad's small print notes, the claim is "based on USDA data using the average of 3 oz. cooked servings of eye round roast, top round steak, top sirloin steak, boneless shoulder pot roast, round tip roast, and shoulder steak." What about ground beef, roast beef, tenderloin, porterhouse, T-bone, flank, ribs, and other cuts? They're all rattier.

Three ounces of porterhouse or T-bone (trimmed of all fat around the outside of the steak), for example, dispatches five or six grams of saturated fat to your coronary arteries. That's a quarter of a day's worth.

But let's say you stick with the few cuts named in the ad's tiny print (and leave the rest of the animal for everyone else). You'll still get more than two grams of sat fat that is, unless you surgically remove every hit of fat, even if it means cutting the meat into tiny pieces of what the USDA calls "separable lean." What if you cut off all but a quarter-inch of fat on the outside of the steak (like many restaurants do)? Expect about fore or five grams of sat fat in every three ounces.

And don't forget: A three-ounce serving is only the size of a deck of cards. Restaurants typically serve at least Six to nine ounces of sirloin, for example. So you'll need to multiply those five grams of sat fat by two or three.

ALL JUICED UP

"Welch's has funded--and will continue to fund medical research on the health benefits of grape juice," says the corporation's Web site (www.welchsintertnational.com). "We then publicize the results with assertive, carefully orchestrated public relations efforts." And those efforts pay off. "We have repeatedly observed a direct correlation between the publication of meaningful health news and increased grape juice consumption," Welch's adds.

The fine print: The site's "Recent Welch's Health & Nutrition News" oversells preliminary research. For example:

* "Study Shows Drinking Concord Grape Juice Slowed LDL. Oxidation; Inhibiting One Mechanism Which 'Bad' Cholesterol May Contribute To Cardiovascular Disease," the company notes. Grape juice slowed LDL, oxidation as much as vitamin E, says Welch's. It doesn't mention that vitamin E has tailed to prevent heart disease in several major trials.

* "Drinking Purple Grape juice Inhibits Breast Cancer Cell Growth In Animal Study," claims the company. "Purple grape juice fed to laboratory rats led to significant reductions in both mammary tumor mass and the number of tumor per animal." But the research--which is far from convincing human evidence--hasn't been published, despite the April 2002 press release.

* "Drinking Purple Grape Juice May Also Help With Urinary Tract Health." The company claims that "In laboratory test tubes, compounds in purple grape juice were as effective as those in cranberry juice in reducing bacterial adhesion associated with urinary tract infections." The press release was dated November 2001, but the study was never published.

Why bother with published research when you Call get SO much mileage out of your press releases?

LITTLE WHITE LIE-COPENES

"Tomatoes are great for you!" crows Hunt's Web site (www.hunts.com). Tomato sauce is indeed a rich source of lycopene, the pigment that gives some fruits and vegetables their red color. But Hunt's doesn't stop there.

Research suggests that lycopene is the most potent antioxidant, explains the Web site. And antioxidants "are believed to help lower the risk of many types of cancels, heart attack and other diseases."

The fine print: The evidence that lycopene may lower the risk of prostate cancer is impressive, though nowhere near conclusive. But "many" cancers? Heart disease? So far, the research is thin. For example, two recent studies of more than 70,000 nurses found no link between lycopene and heart disease or breast cancer risk.