Kids who eat lower-calorie meals won’t snack more later, as long as they are eating about the same amounts they are accustomed to. Researchers presented those findings yesterday at the Obesity Society’s annual meeting in New Orleans, reports USA Today. For four days over two weeks, researchers at Pennsylvania State University fed 26 children at a child-care center breakfast, lunch and snack, and gave them take-home dinners and snacks.
The same menu was served each week, but one week the kids were given low-fat and low-sugar versions of the foods as well as more vegetables. The changes included 1 percent milk instead of whole, fruit served in juice instead of syrup, and pasta made with low-fat dairy and pureed vegetables.
The researchers wanted to know if the kids would naturally compensate for the reduced-calorie menus by eating extra amounts later in the day or the following day. But they didn’t. Instead, they ate about the same amount they had previously, consuming 400 fewer calories over the two days they were served the lower-calorie foods. “People tend to eat the same weight of food from day to day, and that’s what these kids did,” Penn State nutritionist Barbara Rolls told the newspaper.
The lesson for parents who are worried about their child’s weight is to come up with lower-calorie versions of their kid’s favorite foods. Use skim milk and low-fat dairy products, for example, or substitute pureed vegetables in recipes.
Should Pregnant Women Eat More Seafood?
For years, pregnant and nursing women have been warned to limit the amount of fish they eat, because many marine species may contain high levels of mercury, which endangers newborns and fetuses. Yesterday, however, a children’s health group challenged the conventional wisdom, advising pregnant women and nursing mothers to eat more fish so as to ensure optimal brain development in their babies.
Fearing mercury contamination, many pregnant women avoid seafood altogether. That may actually harm newborns, according to some scientists. (John McConnico for The New York Times) What’s going on here? Currently, the Food and Drug Administration advises pregnant women to limit their weekly seafood consumption to no more than 12 ounces, or about two servings, per week.
The newest recommendation comes from the National Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition, a nonprofit group that focuses on childhood health issues. That group’s scientific advisors say that pregnant women and nursing mothers should eat at least 12 ounces of fish per week. Although both recommendations acknowledge that pregnant women can safely eat about two servings a week, fears of mercury contamination in seafood have prompted many pregnant women to forgo fish entirely.
And here’s the conundrum: an increasing number of studies indicate that omega-3 fatty acids, found mostly in fish, are essential to brain development in fetuses and newborns. Earlier this year, a report in The Lancet, a medical journal, concluded that women who had eaten more than 12 ounces of fish per week during pregnancy produced better developed, more intelligent children. “Advice that limits seafood consumption might reduce the intake of nutrients necessary for optimum neurological development,” wrote scientists from the National Institutes of Health and the University of Illinois at Chicago.
“The real problem here are the women who are just eliminating fish from their diet,” said Judy Meehan, executive director of the National Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition. “Eating 12 ounces is a very safe, smart move, and nobody is disputing that.'’ While none of the research cited yesterday in the coalition’s recommendations has been funded by the fish industry, the coalition is using a grant from the National Fisheries Institute, a seafood industry group, to fund its educational campaign, according to Ms. Meehan.
For women who want the health benefits but worry about mercury and other toxins, the wisest course is to choose fish with the lowest levels of mercury. A recent report in The Journal of the American Medical Association concluded that the health benefits are likely greatest from such oily fish as salmon, herring and sardines — which are all generally low in mercury anyway. Among the fish to avoid are shark, swordfish, king mackerel and tilefish, all of which may contain high levels of mercury.
Alvaro Castillo has been writing about health and specializing pregnancy along with how to deal with the first year of their baby’s life for 10 years, helping women with positive results. For more information check out his website at http://www.myhomeparent.com or visit his blog http://myhomeparent.blogspot.com to share your opinion
