Meredith Cummings: Support Wine for the Walk. 2D
HealthToday
T H U R S D A Y , S E P T E M B E R 13, 2007
SECTION D
WWW.TUSCALOOSANEWS.COM
CHILDREN
Food in kids’ ads higher in fat
If health advocates want to combat obesity by teaching young people how to eat better, they might want to cast an eye on competing messages on television. When researchers looked at what foods were being advertised on programs watched by children and adolescents, they found that most products were loaded with sugar, salt and fat. “The overwhelming majority of food-product advertisements seen on television by American children are
DID YOU KNOW?
Chickpea gains ‘cool’ status ATLANTA | Not unlike the stereotypical movie scene where the dowdy librarian takes off her glasses, lets her hair down and becomes a glamorous babe, the humble chickpea is revealing its sexy side on fashionable menus. At TAP, the contemporary-styled gastro pub, chickpeas are baked and spiced with Old Bay seasoning to create a crunchy bar snack that, according to general manager Mee Gray, “goes great with our beers.” Executive chef Mark Alba at Food Studio serves chickpeas with wild striped bass, manila clams and chorizo in a tomato broth. And at newly opened Valenza restaurant, chef Matt Swickerath punctuates plates of carpaccio of beef and arugula with a sprinkling of ceci — Italian for chickpea. “They’re a classic Italian ingredient, and I like the rustic flavor and texture they add,” Swickerath says. “We want to do honest Italian food here, and the little chickpea is nothing but honest.” Eating chickpeas, or garbanzo beans (as they’re called in Spanish cultures), is a time-honored tradition. They are used in cooking worldwide from the Mediterranean to the Middle East, Spain to Mexico and are an important ingredient in African and Indian cuisines. Noted food expert and author Sharon Tyler Herbst defines the chickpea in “The Food Lover’s Companion” as “a round, irregularshaped, buff colored legume slightly larger than the average pea with a firm texture and mild nut-like flavor.” Chickpeas can be eaten cold in salads, cooked into stews and soups, and even ground into flour and used in baking or as a batter in frying. Chickpeas are ground and shaped into balls to create the Mediterranean falafel. There, they have a satisfying meaty consistency and are often featured on vegetarian menus. If you like dipping carrots and celery or crackers into hummus, then you’re eating mashed chickpeas seasoned with lemon juice, garlic and olive oil. A popular grab-and-go offering in the prepared foods section at Whole Foods is the Mediterranean Platter with hummus and falafel. TAP’s chef Todd Ginsberg will add chickpeas to his Moroccan spiced lamb dishes. Also look for chickpeas dotting side servings of couscous at Basil’s Mediterranean restaurant. — Cox News Service
TIP FIVE A DAY MAY CHANGE
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently changed its guidelines for determining how many fruits and vegetables should be consumed in a day. While the rule used to be “Five a Day,” nutritionists are now stressing simply eating more, and they are taking into account, age, gender and level of physical activity to determine how much each individual should be eating. To learn more, visit www. fruitsandveggiesmatter.gov.
WOMEN
Dreams common for new moms
of poor nutritional content,” said the study, which is in the current issue of Pediatrics. It was led by Lisa M. Powell of the University of Illinois. The researchers focused on advertisements seen by two groups, ages 2 to 11 and 12 to 17. To gauge viewership, the study looked at the shows’ popularity ratings. The researchers considered more than 50,000 commercials seen by the younger group and more than 47,000 seen by the older one. The team found that 97.8 percent of the food advertised for the younger group was high in fat, sugar or sodium. The figure for the older group was 89.4 percent. Commercials for fast-food restaurants were not included. — N.Y. Times News Service
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Back in the game Some women, rebounding from a failed marriage or long relationship, are risking their emotional and sexual health when they hop back in the dating game.
By Sarah Bruyn Jones Staff Writer
S
ingle mom. Divorced twice. Depressed. With a sexually transmitted disease.That may not sound like the typical scenario, but a local researcher has found that more and more middle-aged women are endangering their health when they hit the dating scene after a long-term relationship dissolves. Bronwen Lichtenstein, an assistant professor of criminal justice at the University of Alabama who specializes in women’s issues, has discovered that middle-aged women are putting both their mental and sexual health in jeopardy when they rebound from a failed marriage or long-term relationship. Her findings suggest there is an unaddressed public health issue when it comes to the sexual health of older women. Lichtenstein said she interviewed 20 women in West Alabama between the ages of 35 and 66. On average, the women had recently left a long-term relationship (75 percent were marriages) that had lasted 10 and a half years. Nine had an STD, which Lichtenstein said was typical for the population. “They had not dated for a long time and didn’t know what to do how to go about it,” she said. “In essence, they were acting like a teenager and not being very careful.” Not only did Lichtenstein discover that the women were failing to practice safe sex and about half had a diagnosed STD, but she also found that they were desperate to meet men. So desperate, she said, that they were going to Wal-Mart, Publix and other such stores to pick up men on Friday and Saturday nights. “There’s a whole dating scene for this age group going on in Wal-Mart and Publix,” she said. Women in that age group also use what Lichtenstein called passive-aggressive behavior to let men know they are interested. Lichtenstein said women are in the electronic section of Wal-Mart or the cereal aisle of a grocery store bumping shopping carts, or asking for advice or help. This behavior, she said, that could lead to communication problems when it comes to discussing safe sex and sexual health with a new partner. She said that even during her interviews the women never referred to sex by name. Instead they talked about “going crazy” or about having “flurries.” When prompted to talk about healthrelated concerns involving their behavior, the women in the study mentioned concerns about emotional and physical well-being such as rape or depression. Sexual health was never included. SEE DATING | 3D STAFF GRAPHIC | ANTHONY BRATINA
New mothers and women who are about to have babies often do not get a lot of sleep. And when they do, a new study suggests, their dreams may make them sorry that they did. Writing in the current issue of Sleep, researchers say they have found that pregnant women and those who have recently given birth commonly have dreams in which their baby is in danger. The dreams can be so vivid that the women call out in their sleep and move around in bed. The researchers, Tore Nielsen and Tyna Paquette of Sacred Heart Hospital in Montreal, said pregnancy and birth were known to influence dreams. In a high number of cases, the dreams are of infants in peril, provoking “anxiety in the mother that often spills over into wakefulness.” The researchers posed questions to 273 women who were pregnant, had just given birth or were in a control group. One dream in particular recurred among different women, and involved a fear that the baby was lost somewhere in the bed. — N.Y. Times News Service
THE NEW YORK TIMES
NUTRITION
FDA considers food label signs
WASHINGTON | Next month, General Mills Inc. and Kellogg Co. will begin emblazoning their breakfast cereals with symbols that summarize complex nutritional information — part of the growing use of logos to steer harried grocery shoppers toward healthier choices. The proliferation of such symbols is a worldwide phenomenon, with government regulators in Britain, Sweden and elsewhere establishing logo systems that concisely indicate how nutritious food products are. In the United States, however, corporations have been left to devise their own schemes. That’s led to a patchwork of systems that some fear further confuses consumers already unsure about how to eat wisely. On Monday, the Food and Drug Administration took a first step toward clearing matters up, inviting food companies, trade groups, watchdog organizations, medical experts and its overseas counterparts to share how frontlabel symbols, like the “traffic light” system used in Britain, can improve public health. The FDA stressed the meeting was a preliminary step as it considers whether to establish a national symbol system. Any action is likely years away — and, even then, any system is likely to be voluntary. Absent federal action, food manufacturers and retailers have taken matters into their own hands. PepsiCo Inc. uses the “Smart Spot” symbol on diet Pepsi, baked Lay’s chips and other products. Hannaford Bros., a New England supermarket chain, uses a zero- to three-star system to rate more than 25,000 food items it sells. And in Britain, the government has persuaded some food companies to use a ranking system with green, yellow and red lights to characterize whether a food is low, medium or high in fat, salt and sugar. “A whole range of consumers like it and can use it. And the important thing is that we know that it is actually changing what is happening in the marketplace,” said Claire Boville, of Britain’s Food Standards Agency, citing increased sales of foods flagged with the green and yellow symbols. Last week, Hannaford reported similar results. Tesco PLC, Britain’s largest grocery chain, uses a slightly different symbol system that lists percentages of guideline daily amounts for various nutrients. — The Associated Press