Hillary Kaufman, Author at Dirt to Dinner

September 19, 2024September 20, 2024

Farmers Rise to Climate Challenges

Dire warnings of the terrible effects of changes in our global climate seem to be all around us these days.

No part of our lives has more at stake in this discussion than our global agriculture and food system. Weather extremes and changes in weather patterns certainly have the potential to disrupt our modern, efficient food delivery system.

There is more at stake than short-term supply disruptions, or spikes in what we have to pay for the food we put on our family tables. Climate issues raise important questions about long-term food security for literally billions of people.

But as we enter the northern hemisphere harvest season, data from private and public sources suggest we’re more than holding our own in the quest to deliver food security for everyone, everywhere.

Despite significant weather-related disruptions to agricultural production in some parts of our world, our global network of agricultural production and trade once again has provided an abundant supply of the cornerstone commodities that form the foundation of our worldwide food system.

Climate Change – or Climate Peril?

The weather facts today are clear:

Catastrophic weather events continue to plague the planet, either as an element of global warming or part of a much longer-term cyclical pattern of cooling and warming. The debate doesn’t alter the fact that parts of our world have seen weather conditions that compromise farm productivity.

“Air temperatures on Earth have been rising since the Industrial Revolution. While natural variability, (e.g., solar flares, El Nino, La Nina) plays some part, the preponderance of evidence indicates that human activities—particularly emissions of heat-trapping greenhouse gases—are mostly responsible for making our planet warmer.

“According to an ongoing temperature analysis led by scientists at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS), the average global temperature on Earth has increased by at least 1.1° Celsius (1.9° Fahrenheit) since 1880. The majority of the warming has occurred since 1975, at a rate of roughly 0.15 to 0.20°C per decade.”

– National Air and Space Administration

The image below shows global temperature anomalies in 2022, which tied for the fifth warmest year on record. The past nine years have been the warmest years since modern recordkeeping began in 1880.

Climate and Productivity

Parts of the European Union, for example, have seen dry conditions and heat that cut production of major crops such as corn and wheat. EU corn production, for example is down 8 percent from its five-year average of production. Wheat is down 8 percent this year, driven largely by soil moisture conditions and heat.

But the picture is very different in other parts of the global farming system. The data can become almost mind-numbing.

But the conclusion is clear. The recent USDA World Agricultural Production report demonstrates that farmers worldwide continue to find ways to boost their output, no matter the climate changes.

For instance:

In the United States, corn production is up 10 percent above last year, driven to a remarkable average of 183 bushels per acre – more than 6 bushels above last year. Though size of the crop this year is likely to be a touch smaller than last year, production growth continues to be impressive.
In Canada, despite its challenging geographic location north of the corn belt, corn yields have increased to an estimate 163-167 bushels per acre. Soybean production is up 12 percent from last year.
The southern hemisphere is doing its part, too.
- In Brazil, soybean acreage has grown from roughly 10 million acres to more than 14 million, helping catapult that country ahead of the United States in production. Despite economic turmoil,
- Argentina has seen soybean production rise by 92 percent over last year, driven by more acreage and yields that are 70 percent above last year’s number.
Malaysian palm oil production also is up – increasing by 6 percent from last year.
In India, rice production is up a full percentage point for last year, despite very slight decreases in per-acre productivity.

This year, we’re seeing farmers exploiting favorable weather and moisture conditions to drive steady increases in our farm productivity.

Some parts of our world are in fact seeing record production, based on smart use of science, technology and farm management practices. Yield increases continue to meet global demand – and in fact, produce carryover supplies that hold down prices to farmers and contribute to a highly competitive international marketplace for feed grains, food grains and oilseeds.

The U.S Department of Agriculture explains the situation in clear language:

Productivity Has Replaced Resource Intensification as the Primary Source of Growth in World Agriculture

“Since the 1960s, global agricultural output has increased at an average annual rate of between 2 and 3 percent (in volume terms, holding prices constant)…. Output growth was high in the 1960s (think Norman Borlaug’s ‘Green Revolution’), slowed in the 1970s (due to severely cold weather) and 1980s, accelerated in the 1990s and 2000s, but slowed again in the most recent period …. In this latest period (2011–21), global output of total crop, animal, and aquaculture commodities grew by an average rate of 1.94 percent per year.”

– USDA Economic Research Service

Productivity and Food Security

The remarkable ability of our global food system to meet the supply challenge has help create a food security picture very different from the worst fears of hyperbolic headlines. The below chart graphically demonstrates this by plotting historical post-harvest wheat, corn and soybean stocks (commodities for sale by the farmers and others; also referred to as ‘reserves’).

In reality, we continue to have not just sufficient but abundant stocks of the basic commodities we rely upon.

There’s no immediate evidence of traumatic shock to our food supplies, from climate conditions, conflict-driven market disruptions or other of the many factors that cause concern about immediate food security.

As serious as the long-term questions posed by climatic change may be, there’s no cause for panic at this time.

USDA also summarizes the overall picture for basic food commodities in stark terms:

Abundant supplies, growing carry-out stocks
Continuing downward price pressures, especially for farmers
Continued strong demand and highly competitive international markets

Trade and Food Security

This year’s harvest data also contains a helpful reminder of the importance of trade in a truly global food system. The community of nations relies on an efficient system of moving commodities and food products from areas of abundance to areas of need. Trade helps balance the disruptions caused by climate events and conditions with a steady supply of the foods essential to food security – and, for many, to human survival.

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates that global agricultural exports rose in value by almost three times between 2005 and 2022 – to almost $1.9 trillion. For U.S. farmers, exports of agricultural products represented a market worth $195 billion, serving customers on more than 35 countries, according to USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service. Trade remains a critical component of our food security.

A Cautionary Note

To the layperson, growth of 1.94 percent may not sound all that impressive. But when applied to crops measured in the hundreds of millions and billions of bushels, it remains an impressive accomplishment.

Even so, many in the food security discussion caution that the overall growth in productivity – while laudable – may mask another element of concern. They worry that in some important parts of the world, notably some of the poorest areas most in need of greater farm productivity – may lag in the effort to boost yields. Lack of investment, political instability, vulnerability to weather extremes and drought and many other factors continue to pose serious challenges to improvement. However, that’s where the value of trade shines: when we move commodities from countries of surplus to countries most in need.

September 10, 2024September 12, 2024

Eating for Healthy Mitochondria

Are you ready for a pop quiz?

Which bodily component is responsible for producing over 90% of the energy in your body cells, makes up 40% of each heart muscle cell, can change shape to move around when needed, can grow and divide when more energy is required AND can produce hundreds of variations of proteins?

If you guessed mitochondria— ding ding ding — you are correct!

You have over 100,000 trillion mitochondria within your body right now that seamlessly work to create energy to keep your body functioning.

That amounts to a staggering 1,000 to 2,500 mitochondria in each of your cells, chugging away to keep all of your organs working as they should.

Biology Refresher: Mitochondria 101

Mitochondria convert food into cellular energy in the form of adenosine triphosphate, or ATP, through a process called oxidative phosphorylation. They efficiently break down carbohydrates and fatty acids, producing NADH, an enzyme used to generate ATP. ATP is unique because it cannot be stored and is immediately used as energy for our cells.

Foods that Fuel

While food is essential for mitochondrial performance, avoiding toxins and building muscle mass also play crucial roles.

For instance, even individuals with mitochondrial damage, such as those with Parkinson’s disease, can increase ATP production through strength training, as muscle cells contain more mitochondria.

Genetics also significantly influence mitochondrial function.

Particular diseases such as Alzheimer’s, muscular dystrophy, diabetes, Lou Gehrig’s disease, and certain cancers are linked to genetic mitochondrial dysfunction.

However, diet is a key factor in optimizing mitochondrial function, limiting oxidative stress, and promoting ATP production through essential vitamins, minerals, and amino acids.

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CoQ10 is the primary antioxidant in human cells

But what do antioxidants have to do with mitochondria and energy production?

Oxygen is a critical component in energy production and the oxidative phosphorylation process.
Antioxidants help protect mitochondria from any damage that can happen during this process – such as any strain on the cell from excess energy use.
This energy coupling leads to ATP formation as a carrier for both electrons and protons. And (bringing you back to biology 101 again), ATP can be converted into ADP—helping to support energy production further.
It is recommended that we get between 90-200 milligrams of CoQ10 per day. Foods rich in CoQ10 include soybeans, broccoli, peanuts, fatty fish, and oranges.

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Lipoic Acid and Acetyl L-Carnitine work hand in hand to improve age-related decline in mitochondrial bioenergetics

In other words, they aid in the recovery of fatty acids, increasing energy production and metabolic rate while reducing oxidative stress.

Lipoic Acid plays a crucial role in recharging other important antioxidants for mitochondrial health, like CoQ10 and vitamin E.
Acetyl L-Carnitine (“L-carnitine”) is an antioxidant that scavenges free radicals and promotes liver detoxification while boosting T-cell activation to help maintain immune function.
We should strive for between 600-1,800 milligrams of Lipoic acid per day, and about 3g of L-carnitine per day.

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Resveratrol induces pro-oxidant effects and antioxidant impact on mitochondria.

Resveratrol’s benefits to cellular integrity are vast. Here’s how to get more of this invaluable antioxidant:

Resveratrol improves mitochondrial respiratory activity, boosting cellular reprogramming efficiency and cell growth.
Resveratrol is in many of our favorite Mediterranean diet foods, including red wine, blueberries, dark chocolate, and peanuts.
While there is no formal recommended daily dose of resveratrol, in order to see a biological effect, academics suggest a rather large spread of 5mg and 100mg per day.

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Vitamin E‘s abundant health benefits

With regard to mitochondrial and cellular health, vitamin E has three key functions:

Vitamin E prevents thyroid hormone-induced changes
It significantly reduces the production of free radicals, and
Vitamin E also elicits beneficial reactions in our cells

Essentially, it is the cell’s first line of defense when it comes to protecting the mitochondrial membrane from the damage free radicals cause.

Aim for 15 mg per day just by simply mixing sunflower seeds, avocado, and kiwi in a smoothie.

Harmful Foods = Malfunctioning Mitochondria

To stress the importance of the above food groups for mitochondrial health, it is essential to understand just the number of functions that the mitochondria in your cells impact.

While diet alone cannot change illnesses from genetics or excessive toxic exposure, it can fortify your mitochondrial function and serve as a supplemental treatment for these diseases.

There are also foods we should avoid in excess, as they can adversely impact mitochondrial function:

Added sugars

Excess sugar is well known to have unfavorable effects on critical functions of our body, most notably our gut and brain health. This is no exception to your mitochondrial health.

Sugar inhibits the mitochondria from quickly burning energy, especially in fructose form. Sugar then winds up being stored as fat and producing damaging free radicals.

Be sure to balance your vegetable intake with the fruit servings in your daily diet and opt for whole fruits rather than processed fruit products.

Refined Carbs

Simple carbohydrates have also been found to be problematic with mitochondrial health.

White flour, when eaten, quickly turns to glucose once digested—it might as well be table sugar.

Mitochondria tend to function better on a lower carbohydrate diet, as they are able to efficiently create energy rather than frivolously burning junk. Try to keep carbohydrates between 225 and 325g daily.

For further reading and the latest research, refer to:

The Soil Health Institute’s research on livestock grazing and soil health
“Reducing Climate Impacts of Beef Production“ by The Nature Conservancy
Global Change Biology‘s meta-analysis on managed grazing systems
Animal Feed Science and Technology‘s study on feedlot diets
California Air Resources Board’s report on dairy methane digesters
Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems’ study on the carbon cycle of cows

September 5, 2024September 5, 2024

How bad is alcohol for us?

Sitting down for cocktails and dinner with friends and family is so enjoyable on a Friday or Saturday evening after a long week. But after tuning into an episode of Dr. Huberman’s podcast on drinking’s effects on our health, we took a closer look into how our body processes alcohol.

As it turns out, Dr. Huberman was onto something. New research has shown that the nice little drink in your hand can have more detrimental effects on our brain and body than we originally knew. In fact, emerging studies reveal that even low levels of alcohol consumption can have significant negative impacts on health.

So we gathered information from recent studies to answer some important questions:

How exactly and to what degree does alcohol (ethanol) and the development of alcohol tolerance affect our health?
How does drinking remap the brain’s neural network, leading to cognitive problems, behavioral changes and decreased mental health?
How does alcohol increase breast cancer risk and prompt other chronic illnesses, like hormone dysregulation and leaky gut syndrome?

Maybe those weekend cocktails are not such a good idea after all…

Alcohol metabolism, toxicity & cancer risk

When ingested, alcohol – also known as ethanol – is metabolized by the liver. This process involves converting ethanol to acetaldehyde, a toxic compound that damages cells and tissues. The liver uses the enzyme alcohol dehydrogenase to break down ethanol into acetaldehyde, which is then converted to acetate.

While acetate can be utilized as an energy source, the intermediate production of acetaldehyde is harmful and contributes to the toxic effects of alcohol.

The liver, being the primary site of alcohol metabolism, suffers significant damage from prolonged alcohol exposure. Acetaldehyde can induce oxidative stress, leading to liver inflammation, fatty liver disease, and cirrhosis over time.

But the damage doesn’t stop there. Acetaldehyde can circulate through the bloodstream, impacting various organs and systems. And ethanol and its metabolites can damage DNA and promote carcinogenesis through several mechanisms, including oxidative stress and interference with DNA repair processes.

The effects of metabolizing ethanol also influence hormone levels, increasing estrogen levels, a risk factor for breast cancer. This is why alcohol consumption is associated with an increased risk of various cancers.

Alcohol’s effects on the brain

Alcohol’s influence on the brain is multifaceted, affecting both structure and function:

Neurodegeneration:

Chronic alcohol consumption, even at low to moderate levels (7 to 14 drinks per week), can lead to brain atrophy, particularly thinning of the neocortex and other critical brain regions. In fact, Huberman suggests that anything beyond two drinks a week has negative consequences. This structural degeneration can impair cognitive functions, including memory and executive functions.

Neurotransmitter disruption:

Alcohol acts as a central nervous system depressant, influencing neurotransmitter systems. It increases the activity of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), an inhibitory neurotransmitter, while simultaneously inhibiting glutamate, an excitatory neurotransmitter. This dual action leads to the characteristic sedative effects of alcohol and impairs cognitive functions and memory formation.

Behavioral changes:

Alcohol reduces the activity of the prefrontal cortex, the brain region responsible for decision-making, impulse control, and social behavior. This suppression can lead to increased impulsivity, risk-taking behaviors, and reduced inhibition, contributing to alcohol-related accidents and injuries.

Mood and mental health:

Alcohol disrupts the balance of serotonin and other neurotransmitters involved in mood regulation. This disruption can exacerbate conditions such as depression and anxiety. Regular alcohol use can lead to a cycle of dependence and withdrawal, further complicating mental health issues.

Impact on the microbiome

Alcohol has a significant impact on the gut microbiome, the community of microorganisms living in our intestines.

Alcohol kills both beneficial and harmful bacteria, leading to dysbiosis (microbial imbalance). This disruption can cause “leaky gut syndrome”, where the intestinal lining becomes permeable, allowing toxins and bacteria to enter the bloodstream. This condition is linked to systemic inflammation and a host of health problems, including liver disease and increased susceptibility to infections.

Maintaining a healthy gut microbiome is crucial for mitigating some of alcohol’s negative effects. Consuming probiotics and fermented foods, such as yogurt and kimchi, can help restore microbial balance and reduce inflammation.

Strategies to mitigate the effects of alcohol

The scientific evidence outlined here underscores alcohol’s potential risks.

From neurodegeneration to mental health issues, leaky gut, and increased cancer risk, its deleterious effects seem frightening, and rightfully so.

But this can feel contradictory to the social norms that encourage moderate alcohol consumption, making it a real challenge to curb this habit. And for those who enjoy the taste, like a fine wine or specialty bourbon, implementing personal behaviors that support this research can feel stifling.

However, we can exercise a few healthy habits that can help our body recover from the effects of long-term alcohol consumption while instilling new, healthier behaviors now.

Hydration is key

Proper hydration and a balanced diet are essential for mitigating the acute effects of alcohol, such as hangovers. Alcohol is a diuretic, causing increased urine production and leading to dehydration. To counter this:

Drink plenty of water before, during, and after consuming alcohol
Electrolyte solutions can help replenish lost minerals and maintain physiological balance

Dietary choices

Certain foods and supplements can help mitigate alcohol-induced oxidative stress and support liver function:

Antioxidants: Foods rich in antioxidants, such as berries, nuts, and dark leafy greens, can help neutralize free radicals produced during alcohol metabolism
B vitamins: Alcohol consumption depletes B vitamins, which are essential for energy production and brain health. Supplementing with B vitamins, especially B1 (thiamine), B6, and B12, can help reduce some negative effects
Milk thistle: This herbal supplement has been shown to support liver health and protect against alcohol-induced liver damage

Improve gut health

Maintaining gut health is crucial for mitigating the negative effects of alcohol on the microbiome. Strategies include:

Probiotics and fermented foods: Consuming probiotics and fermented foods, such as yogurt, kimchi, sauerkraut, and kefir, can help restore the balance of gut bacteria and reduce inflammation
Prebiotics: These are non-digestible fibers that feed beneficial gut bacteria. Foods rich in prebiotics include garlic, onions, bananas, and asparagus
Zbiotics is a genetically-engineered probiotic drink that mitigates the effects of alcohol by breaking down the acetaldehyde.

Limit alcohol consumption

Reducing alcohol intake is the most effective way to avoid its negative health impacts. Strategies to limit consumption include:

Setting limits: Establish personal drinking limits and stick to them. For example, limit consumption to a certain number of drinks per week
Choosing healthy, non-alcoholic alternatives: The popularity of non-alcoholic beverages is growing, offering many options that provide the social experience of drinking without the negative health impacts. Non-alcoholic beers, wines, and mocktails can be enjoyable substitutes

August 22, 2024August 22, 2024

Inflation’s Effect on Family Budgets

In Mintel’s latest comprehensive report, Michele Scott, Associate Director of US Research for Food and Drink at Mintel, explores the evolving landscape of family meal planning and the challenges of inflation, budgets, and getting what consumers want.

This summary highlights the key findings and insights from the report, along with some takeaways and future outlook for consumers.

Key Findings and Insights

The primary focus of this report is on the balance between nutrition, convenience, and the associated stressors faced by families in the U.S. Here’s what today’s consumers prioritize:

Nutrition and Convenience

Nutrition is the most important attribute for families when it comes to feeding their children, with 84% of consumers agreeing on its significance. However, while nutrition is essential, families are not willing to pay extra for it.

Instead, ease and speed of meal preparation and cleanup are the attributes families are most willing to pay a premium for. This indicates a significant opportunity for brands to simplify the family meal experience.

Source for chart: Mintel

Economic Pressures and Inflation

The report highlights the ongoing impact of economic pressures on families, particularly inflation and the cost of living. Inflation has remained sticky, especially concerning food, making feeding the family a persistent challenge.

Despite improvements in the broader economy, food prices have stayed high, causing stress for families. With food being a non-negotiable purchase, grocery shopping has become particularly stressful, emphasizing the need for affordable convenience solutions.

Smaller Family Sizes and Budget Constraints

Families today are getting smaller, and budgets are tighter. This trend complicates the concept of “family size,” as bulk or multi-serving products need to be reframed in terms of value and convenience. Products that assist with meal planning and preparation resonate broadly, as they help manage both time and financial constraints.

Smaller family sizes create a need for products that offer flexible portion sizes or can be easily repurposed as leftovers, reducing food waste and maximizing value.

Frozen Food Popularity

The increasing popularity of frozen foods is a key trend identified in the report. Frozen meals reduce the pressure of expiration dates, making them a practical choice for families looking to balance convenience and budget. These products provide a solution that is both cost-effective and reduces food waste.

Struggling families, often working long hours to make ends meet, particularly benefit from the convenience and affordability of frozen foods. This trend indicates a shift towards products that can offer both ease of use and economic value.

Innovations in Family Meal Solutions

Bulk and Flexible Portion Products

Brands are introducing bulk proteins and flexible portion products to cater to families of all sizes. These products allow consumers to use exactly what they need, reducing waste and making meal planning more efficient. For example, pre-cooked bulk proteins can be used as needed, providing a quick solution for both small and large families.

Ready-to-Eat and Frozen Meals

Ready-to-eat (RTE) and frozen meals are increasingly popular, offering total meal solutions that mimic foodservice quality without the high price. Brands are focusing on quality and convenience, ensuring these meals are nutritious, quick to prepare, and cater to diverse tastes.

Private Label Innovations

Private labels are stepping up with innovative side dishes and snacks, often at lower prices than national brands. These products range from casual family dinners to special occasions, providing consumers with high-quality, convenient options. Examples include Target’s savory sides and Aldi’s grain and gluten-free snacks, which cater to dietary restrictions and preferences.

Kid-Friendly Meal Solutions

Products designed for easy preparation by children are gaining traction. Brands are creating tiered approaches, from simple heat-and-eat options to meals with minimal ingredients and safe cooking instructions. These solutions empower kids to help in the kitchen, reducing the burden on parents.

Single-Serve and Portion-Controlled Meals

Brands are breaking stereotypes of TV dinners with single-serve meals that offer high-quality, nutritious options. These meals cater to individual needs, whether due to scheduling conflicts or varying family member preferences.

Enhanced Meal Planning Tools

Brands and retailers are collaborating to offer comprehensive meal planning tools. These tools include pre-made shopping lists, meal plans, and product suggestions that simplify the planning process and ensure balanced, nutritious meals.

Takeaways from Savvy Consumers

Simplify Meal Planning

Look for products that offer meal planning assistance, such as pre-made shopping lists or meal kits, to save time and reduce stress

Embrace Convenience

For busy families, ready-to-eat and frozen meals provide quick, nutritious solutions without the prep

Value in Versatility

Smaller families benefit from products offering flexible portion sizes or repurposed as leftovers to reduce food waste and maximize value

Nutritional Balance

Families seek products balancing nutrition and ease of preparation to ensure healthy meals without added stress

Smart Shopping

Seeking out products that clearly communicate nutritional benefits and prep time make meal choices easier and faster

Looking Ahead

The future of family meal planning will likely see a continued emphasis on convenience as economic pressures and time constraints persist. Brands that can offer products that reduce meal-time stress will be in high demand. Smaller family sizes will drive the need for more flexible portion sizes and innovative solutions that cater to diverse family structures.

Are consumers willing to pay for sustainability?

As sustainability becomes an increasingly important issue, families are showing a bit more willingness to pay more for sustainable products.

However, the report highlights that convenience and nutrition are top priorities, with a significant portion of consumers also valuing sustainability in their purchasing decisions, it is not the top need in these economic times. This willingness is often balanced against budget constraints and the overall value perceived in the product.

As economic conditions fluctuate, the attributes families prioritize may shift. In times of economic prosperity, convenience products may become even more valuable. Conversely, during economic downturns, families may prioritize cost-saving measures, making affordable convenience solutions critical.

August 15, 2024August 16, 2024

Too much protein or not enough?

Today’s high-protein diet takes many forms. From the Atkins diet to the paleo diet and even some versions of the keto diet, protein is often touted as the miracle macronutrient. You’ve probably seen countless protein shakes, bars, and protein-fortified foods lining the shelves of your local grocery store.

How much protein do we need?

But first, let’s clear the air…protein is a critical component of our diet. It’s involved in virtually every biochemical function in our body, from building and repairing tissues to producing enzymes and hormones.

So, how much protein do our bodies need to conduct these essential tasks? To get a better idea, we spoke with Registered Dietitian, Jamie Kesmodel, MS, RDN, who works at Culina Health, a nationwide nutrition care provider.

The current recommended dietary allowance (RDA) for protein is 0.36 grams per pound (or 0.8 grams per kilogram) of body weight per day for adults. For example, a 175-pound person with an average physical activity level should aim to consume about 70 grams of protein per day. Or looking at it from a caloric standpoint, you should consume about 10%-35% of your calories as protein, which equates to 50 to 175 grams a day on a 2,000 calorie diet.

However, Kesmodel points out there’s no assigned gram amount per day for everyone, as our body’s protein needs are highly individualized, based on our body weight, muscle mass, activity level and duration, among other factors. Because of this, protein needs could increase to 1-1.5 grams per kilogram of body weight per day for those with rigorous physical activity or building muscle mass.

And others in the medical community push that recommendation even higher. Dr. Peter Attia, author of New York Times Bestseller, Outlive: The Science & Art of Longevity, stated in his podcast that most people are not getting enough protein. He continued, saying that the current RDA of 0.8 grams per kilogram of body weight is a “pathetic” amount and should be revised to 1 gram per pound of body weight.

But estimating this higher level of protein consumption is where things get murky because, as it turns out, several larger-scale, peer-reviewed studies reveal that consuming too much protein can have some pretty significant downsides.

Protein’s effect on the body

Despite protein’s necessity in our diet, myriad health risks may occur when consuming too much. Kesmodel highlighted some of the ways consuming too much protein may affect various organs and functions of our body.

Kidney & liver function

Our kidneys play a crucial role in processing or filtering the waste products from protein metabolism. When you consume excessive amounts of protein, we’re essentially making our kidneys work overtime. For those with existing kidney issues, this can quickly become a dire situation.

Separately, long-term protein supplementation has been associated with elevated levels of liver toxicity, apoptotic signals, and inflammation in some studies. But not all medical experts agree with this level of concern. Dr. Attia thinks that most people will never reach these concerning levels of protein, requiring most individuals to consume 3 to 4 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight.

Heart health

While protein itself isn’t necessarily bad for your cardiovascular system, the problem often lies in the source of protein. High-protein diets that rely heavily on saturated fats, like red meat, cheeses, and processed meats, may increase your intake of saturated fats, which are known risk factors for heart disease.

Cancer risk

Some studies have suggested that high consumption of red and processed meats may increase the risk of certain types of cancer, particularly colorectal cancer. Colorectal cancer, previously considered a threat to those over the age of 60, is now the leading cause of cancer death among adults under 50.

Weight gain

Surprisingly, excessive protein intake can hinder weight loss efforts.

While protein can help you feel full and satisfied, consuming more protein than your body needs doesn’t magically become muscle…some of the excess protein is stored as fat, if it’s not excreted as waste or broken down for energy.

Furthermore, be mindful of how you’re consuming protein. If you opt for highly-processed, shelf-stable protein bars and shakes, you’ll have less room in your diet for the fresh foods critical for long-term health: veggies and fruits.

Toxin exposure

Registered dietitian Kathy McManus, director of the Department of Nutrition at Harvard’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital, stated that many protein powders contain heavy metals, like lead, arsenic, cadmium, and mercury. A study reported in the journal Toxicology Reports found similar results, as well as additional contaminants linked to cancer and health conditions.

Type 2 diabetes risk

Excessive intake of whey protein may influence the onset of Type 2 diabetes through several physiological mechanisms, including insulin resistance due to high levels of branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs), including leucine.

Other findings

Recent research from the University of Missouri School of Medicine and the University of Pittsburgh found that consuming too much protein (e.g., 100 grams in a 2,000-calorie diet) may trigger cardiovascular and metabolic health issues.

Though these findings may be concerning, the study only had 23 human participants, and the results incorporated mice and cell studies. It should be further replicated with a higher sample size before reconsidering limitations, especially when revising nutritional guidelines.

What can we do to eat healthier?

So, what’s the takeaway here? Protein is still an essential nutrient, and getting enough is crucial for our health. As with most things in nutrition, the key is balance.

So we asked Jamie for some insightful tips to help us strike that protein sweet spot:

Focus on quality, not quantity

Choose whole foods when you can. Lean meats, fish, eggs, legumes, low-fat dairy, and plant-based proteins like nuts and seeds not only provide protein but also pack other beneficial nutrients.

Spread your protein intake throughout the day

Instead of loading up on protein at one meal, try to include a moderate amount at each meal. This can help with better absorption and utilization of the protein.

Don’t forget about other nutrients

A balanced diet includes carbohydrates and healthy fats, which provide an abundance of essential vitamins, minerals, and other micronutrients. Don’t let your protein obsession crowd out nutrient-dense foods, like avocadoes, leafy greens, berries, and olive oil.

Listen to your body

If you’re experiencing digestive issues, feeling overly full, or noticing other unusual symptoms after increasing your protein intake, it might be time to dial it back a bit.

Consider your individual needs

The human body is incredibly complex, and factors like overall diet, exercise habits, genetics, and individual health status all affect how we process nutrients.

Athletes, pregnant women, and older adults need more protein than the average person. Conversely, people with certain health conditions might need to limit their protein intake.

Be wary of protein supplements

There’s no doubt about it: protein powders are convenient.

However, these protein powders, bars and other products are highly processed.

And most contain added sugars, artificial ingredients, and other less savory additives that may conflict with your overall health goals.

At D2D, we like single-ingredient protein supplements, like pea or whey protein.

Keep an eye on your overall calorie intake

Remember, excess protein doesn’t magically turn into muscle—it can contribute to weight gain if you consume more calories than you burn.

Do your research

Nutrition science is complex and constantly evolving. What we know today might be different from what we’ll discover tomorrow. That’s why it’s always a good idea to stay informed, but also verify dramatic diet claims. And always speak with your doctor to ensure that you are on the right protein track.

July 27, 2024August 1, 2024

Why should we eat fermented foods?

Imagine you’re at a baseball game and decide to add some sauerkraut to your hotdog. Or perhaps you’re rushing between meetings and grab a yogurt to tide you over until lunch. Maybe you’re unwinding after a long week with a little wine and cheese. Each of these tangy products, like sauerkraut and kombucha, is made using fermentation and contains live bacteria that can enhance your health.

Fermented foods like sauerkraut, yogurt, and other dairy products are rich in probiotics—beneficial bacteria that support gut health. These live bacteria can improve digestion, boost the immune system, and even contribute to better mental health. By incorporating fermented foods into your diet, you can enjoy delicious flavors while promoting overall well-being.

Fermented foods and your health

Your gut is teeming with healthy bacteria, creating a unique microbiome that some researchers refer to as our body’s “second brain”. Our other brain is the enteric nervous system which controls our entire gastrointestinal system.

Weighing only 2.2 pounds, it’s a bacterial ecosystem swirling around our intestines, brimming with flora, bacteria, archaea, and yes, even viruses. Our hardworking microbiome helps us digest our food, boost our immune system, and allow our bodies to absorb much-needed vitamins from food.

When we don’t have the right balance of gut microbes that meet our body’s specific needs, then we are more prone to chronic disease, from gastrointestinal issues to neurological, cardiovascular, and respiratory illnesses.

The Journal of Experimental Medicine reports increasing gut probiotics can help improve gastrointestinal conditions like diarrhea, inflammatory bowel disease (IBS), leaky gut syndrome, and liver disease. Scientists also point to the increase in probiotics that can help other conditions, such as neurological, cardiovascular, and respiratory illnesses; and even boost mental health and prevent obesity.

Fermented foods with live cultures are like a multiplier for microbiomes. They have been shown to help us increase the amount of “good bacteria” and probiotic material (12 strains of bacteria grown together) in our gut. When a fermented food with live cultures hits your belly, it releases healthy bacteria and enzymes that make the flora in your digestive system more efficient at synthesizing nutrients. We want those probiotics to stay healthy!

Eating fermented foods is like sending a superhero to your gut. She lands in your intestinal tract and starts busting through other digested food’s cell walls, releasing the nutrients. Without our fermented superheroes – those nutrients remain trapped in the cells, unused by our bodies.

Are all probiotics the same?

If we follow the definition laid out by an international panel of experts at the Gut Microbiota for Health World Summit in 2001 and 2014, all probiotics are the same.

A probiotic is a live bacterium that provides health benefits when consumed correctly (though the “right amount” is still under debate). A bacterium is only considered a probiotic if it can offer a health benefit to humans when ingested.

Robert Hutkins, a professor of Food Science at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, has dedicated his career to studying bacteria in fermented foods and their ability to survive in our gastrointestinal tract.

Hutkins emphasizes the importance of understanding what indeed constitutes a probiotic, especially in the context of fermented foods. Not every fermented food contains probiotics, as is the case with wine, beer, and canned sauerkraut.

According to Hutkins, foods such as yogurt, most cheeses, kimchi, and non-heated sauerkraut contain probiotics that can positively impact your health.

What can be confusing is that you’ve probably also seen other types of digestive-related ‘biotics’. In conjunction with probiotics, they are important for a healthy life.

Prebiotics feed your beneficial gut bacteria. When you eat fiber in a variety of fruits and vegetables, your body turns that into food to feed the beneficial bacteria. But before the prebiotics can turn into food for the much-needed bacteria, a fermentation process turns them into probiotics.

There are also postbiotics, the byproducts resulting from prebiotics feeding on probiotics.

What to remember is to eat your fruits, vegetables, healthy fiber, and fermented foods to gain the best balance of these bacteria to reduce inflammation and strengthen your immune system and overall well-bring. Your ‘second brain’ in the gut will take care of the rest.

How much fermented food is enough?

The experts behind Harvard Health say there is no guidance or data on how many probiotics to consume in a day, but some experts argue that fermented foods shouldn’t be singled out but included in an overall healthy diet.

Lori Zanini, a spokeswoman for the American Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, says about two to three servings a day of fermented foods should suffice. But, like anything, too much of a good thing isn’t always so good. Experts warn too many fermented foods in your diet could cause gas, bloating, and other gastrointestinal issues.

Sharon Flynn is the author of “Ferment for Good: Ancient Foods for the Modern Gut” and is considered one of Australia’s leading experts on fermented food. She says, like anything, it is possible to overdo it on fermented foods. But, Flynn notes, “You’re more in danger of having poor health from not including these things in your diet than you are from including them.”

The fermentation process

Food growers and producers have long recognized the benefits and popularity of fermented foods in live cultures.

They’re found in almost every culture and cuisine. Historians have even found signs of the fermentation process in food dating back to 7000 BC – making it likely this process has been around as long as humans.

Before refrigeration, fermentation would be one of the only ways to preserve food. If you lived in ancient or medieval times, fermented foods were less likely to make you sick. It’s why most people drank beverages like beer or malted water rather than water up until the 1900s.

Fermentation is a metabolic process that takes sugars and converts them into alcohol or acid. It removes energy from carbohydrates without oxygen.

Fermentation is also known as “culturing” – you can watch this 3-minute video to learn more about this process.

Looking beyond yogurt

Today, there is an increasing variety of fermented foods landing an increasing variety of fermented foods land on our grocery shelves every day.

Here’s a list of some uncommon, fermented foods starting to pop up in our local supermarket to support our nutritional goals. And here’s a website exploring the vast array of fermented foods across the globe.

Kombucha

The increasingly popular beverage can now be found on more grocery store shelves. It begins with a base of green and black tea. Sugar is added to the brewed tea and white vinegar or previously made kombucha for an acidic base.

Brewing kombucha also requires a SCOBY, short for “symbiotic colony of bacteria and yeast.” And don’t worry too much about the sugar used for the fermentation process; most of it is burned off by the time the product gets to the shelf, but check the labels to make sure extra sugar wasn’t added at the end process.

Check out how to make kombucha tea at home.

Kefir

Another item now regularly found on grocery stores shelves in America. Kefir is teeming with probiotics and good bacteria that can make your gut sing. It’s a drinkable yogurt but tangier and higher in probiotics than what’s traditionally found in supermarkets.

It’s fermented by taking kefir cultures ,adding them to a milk product, and letting it ferment for a day. Watch for the sugar content in some brands, though.

Try to make homemade Kefir with this recipe.

Tempeh

Tempeh is a soy-based product that tends to be popular with vegans and vegetarians because it has vitamin B12. It is also a complete protein with all nine essential amino acids needed for healthy bones and bodies.

Check out this marinated peanut tempeh recipe.

Miso

Miso is another culinary delight from Japan but more common in the United States than natto. Like natto, it’s made with boiled soybeans, but instead of being fermented using rice straw, it’s combined with molded rice and salt.

Here’s a recipe for Easy Miso Salmon.

Kimchi

Korean cooks use kimchi in almost every meal. Kimchi, unlike other fermented foods, can be made in different ways. It usually contains a comb of some vegetable (often cabbage), garlic, ginger, chilies, and fish sauce.

The most famous dish is known as Kimchi Jjigae (or Spicy Kimchi Stew); you can find the recipe here.

July 25, 2024August 1, 2024

A Guide to Summer Produce

Vegetables provide essential vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants that strengthen the immune system, prevent chronic diseases, and reduce inflammation. Failing to include sufficient fruits and vegetables in our diet can lead to nutrient deficiencies, inflammation, poor gut health, weakened immunity, resulting in an increased risk of heart disease, cancer, and obesity.

How do fruits and vegetables impact our health?

It is all about short chain fatty acids!

When you eat fruits and vegetables, they are digested in your gut, where the fibers and polyphenols act as prebiotics, feeding beneficial bacteria such as Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus. These good bacteria ferment the dietary fibers, producing short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) like butyrate, propionate, and acetate.

Resveratrol: A polyphenol that has been shown to reduce the risk of heart disease by improving blood vessel function and reducing inflammation. Consuming 1-2 cups of grapes can provide heart-protective benefits.

Vitamin K: Essential for bone health and blood clotting. One cup of raw kale provides 684% of the daily recommended intake.

Vitamin A: Supports vision and immune function. One cup of raw kale provides 206% of the daily recommended intake.

Vitamin C: Boosts immune function and skin health. One cup of raw kale provides 89% of the daily recommended intake.

Try this recipe for a Simple Kale Salad:

This salad is made with massaged fresh kale, freshly-squeezed lemon juice, Parmesan, a drizzle of olive oil, and a sprinkling of your favorite nuts.

Summer is a perfect time to consume a colorful array of fruits and vegetables that help reduce the risk of chronic diseases such as heart disease, cancer, and diabetes. By including these nutrient powerhouses in your daily meals, you can ensure that your body receives the vital nutrients it needs to function effectively and protect against illness.

Go ahead and embrace the natural bounty of summer produce!

July 18, 2024August 15, 2024

Climate Debate Shaped by Tractor Power

There is an important factor is at play in this year’s Farm Bill process – one not often mentioned but nonetheless being closely watched by Farm Bill observers. It’s the growing international debate over the pace and extent of ambitious green policies and programs – and the prominent role played by the farming community in that debate.

Climate Change Concerns Across the Pond

Farm protests first gained attention in the European Union, where farmers concerned about their precarious financial situation prompted marches, tractorcades, street protests and incidents of civil disobedience.

Ports have been blocked, the European Parliament pelted with eggs. Protests erupted in France, Germany, Spain, Poland, the Netherlands, Portugal – and more recently have spread across the globe.

Protestors decried the effects of increasing regulation, costly bureaucracy and especially restrictions on land use and inputs they argued cut into their financial security. The argument seems to have gained some political traction.

In Europe, the farmer protests and opposition from several member states already had led to a long delay in implementation of an ambitious Nature Restoration Plan. The Plan finally won overall approval after the June elections for the European Parliament.

However, critics in the farm community continue to argue that the plan lacks the clear and consistent funding it needs to be implemented. They also note that the environmentally focused Green Party suffered the loss of one-third of its seats in those same elections.

“A stunning defeat of the Green Party, which had performed so well in the 2019 elections, also shows European voters’ declining enthusiasm for the Green Deal and other climate policies.”

– Center for Strategic and International Studies, June 25, 2024

Discontent Down Under

Australian Pollster Kristy McSweeney echoed the European farmers’ economic worries by reporting that citizens down under make immediate economic and healthcare concerns their top priorities, well ahead of climate change issues.

McSweeney reports that only two in five citizens believe Australia will meet its emission-reduction targets for 2030 and 2050.

Many of those involved in the protests emphasize that their actions reflect practical concerns more than political ambitions. They continue to value the preservation and protection of the natural resources on which their livelihoods depend.

But they want to see climate policies tempered by economic reality, too. Green advocates remain suspicious, however.

Green Member of European Parliament (MEP) Jutta Paulus recently reported to Energy Intelligence that “it is likely that we will have more parties [in the European Parliament] that deny human-induced climate change and thus will very likely not only not prioritize climate and energy measures, but actively work toward dissolving things that have been reached.

Paulus continues, “the other side of the argument is that EU citizens and member states should have more choice in what green technologies they support so long as the overall 2050 net-zero target is met.”

“Whereas 2019 elections rode a wave of environmental support and awareness, 2024 results demonstrate voters are interested in a far more pragmatic stance on climate change issues.

Industry is reinforcing this trend, lobbying for policy approaches that maintain international competitiveness.”

– Energy Intelligence, June 12, 2024

Back in the USA

European politics and Australian public opinion may seem an unimportant sideshow in the Farm Bill debate. After all, another legislative extension will be largely invisible to consumers. Fundamental policies and programs will remain in place, with the most significant issue likely to center on how to appropriate and allocate the federal funds they require.

The existing policies and programs that farmers rely upon to make basic immediate production decisions will continue under an extension. But the indecision will make longer-term decisions more problematic.

However, the different perspectives offered in the Farm Bill debate so far indicate a parallel to the sentiments behind the widening circle of farmer-led protests – and the election results they helped generate.

The global picture takes on new importance when added to the political waters surrounding the forthcoming November U.S. elections.

U.S. policymakers will watch the political trends in the EU and elsewhere for signs of what may be coming in their political backyard. They can see the power of the farm community to influence voters – and the larger concerns that may be emerging about the balance of ambitious climate-change action and fundamental pocketbook issues for farmers and consumers alike.

What is happening in Europe may be a political object lesson for those who must vote on a Farm Bill with a 10-year price tag of $1.4 trillion.

July 10, 2024July 11, 2024

Farm Bill Remains on Life Support

As former Yankee catcher Yogi Berra is supposed to have said,

“It’s like déjà vu all over again.”

Inside the Farm Bill

What is the Farm Bill anyway? It’s a massive piece of legislation – 942 pages in one version before Congress, compared with about 1,200 pages in the average Bible. To many, it’s not blasphemy to think of the Farm Bill as the Bible for American agriculture.

The 2018 Farm bill contained 12 separate titles, including commodity support programs, crop insurance, conservation, trade, bioenergy, research, forestry, rural development, credit, nutrition and more. It provides the basic “rules of the road” for our entire food system.

The Farm Bill provides everyone, from farmers to consumers, with the guidance they need to make intelligent decisions about how we produce and consume our food and maintain a vibrant farming sector and thriving rural communities.

Historically, Congress has approved 18 separate farm bills since the 1930s, usually one every five years or so.

That’s no small feat legislatively.

But by combining farm support measures with nutrition programs – notably the old “Food Stamp” program, now called the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (“SNAP”) – rural and urban legislators have been able to come together to produce a much too complex and far-reaching piece of legislation.

The process consistently has produced farm policies and programs that have fed the nation.

And much of the rest of the world.

Political Pushback

Three of the past four Farm Bills have required one-year extensions, including the extension passed last November. Despite ambitious efforts by both House and Senate legislators, a fresh Farm Bill still hasn’t passed Congress. In fact, it’s so far from the final passage that many worry that yet another one-year extension is almost inevitable.

With a crowded legislative agenda on Capitol Hill, a looming presidential election, and continuing political divisions still in play, hope for passage seems to be waning with each passing week. The ostensible reasons for the delay are familiar.

Politicians on both sides of the aisle point to a long list of philosophic and practical differences, most seeming to boil down to matters of how to divide the funds in a bill estimated by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) to cost an estimated $1.4 trillion over the coming decade.

Some of the key issues under debate include:

Allocating funds provided by the Inflation Reduction Act

President Biden’s Act of 2022 added $19.5 billion to existing conservation programs for “climate-smart mitigation practices” that contribute to carbon sequestration and reduction of greenhouse gases.

Some legislators favor moving those funds into the Farm Bill spending and expanding eligibility for producers.
GOP senators point out that about half of ‘traditional’ farm conservation activities currently are excluded from the IRA and want to use more of the IRA monies to support those activities.
Environmental groups and their political supporters want to make sure any funding shift does not weaken the federal commitment to addressing climate issues or in any way contribute to a shift in overall funding away from these environmental goals.

Increases in reference prices

Basically, a means of raising support payments to food producers in the face of inflation-driven costs increases and historically weak commodity prices.

Critics of the increases worry that the money for such added Farm Bill expenses would come from savings achieved by reductions in SNAP costs.
SNAP supporters question why farmers’ economic needs are more important than feeding hungry people.

Changes in SNAP payments and program eligibility

The CBO estimates that revised calculations and refinements to its eligibility standards would save as much as $30 billion over ten years.

Nutritional program costs represent nearly 82 percent of all Farm Bill spending – a share that has been steadily increasing over recent years.
Critics wonder what the SNAP program has to do with producing food. They think this should be a separate bill instead of hidden in payment to producers.
Budget hawks seek ways of controlling the costs – or at least temper the rate of growth in nutrition spending.

The central issue is how to spend the available money. In highly simplified terms:

One camp argues for using the available pot of money on a wider range of traditional farm and rural community support policies and programs; and

the other wants to preserve the Biden focus on policies and programs aimed at facilitating the movement of the farm and food community to more “green” practices – and equally important, protection of the people served by the SNAP program.

The Path to Passage

Part of the delay is procedural. Passing a Farm Bill is a complicated series of actions: developing and approving a bill by committees, passage by the House and Senate, reconciling differences through a House-Senate conference, and submission to the President for signature. It may not sound all that difficult, but it is.

Note that the House and Senate Agriculture Committees have spent almost an entire year listening to and engaging farmers, farm and commodity groups, consumers, health and nutrition experts, academics, local authorities and many others in discussions about farm policies and programs. Legislation of nearly 1,000 pages reflecting all these interests takes time to develop.

Maybe more importantly, the calendar is not the Farm Bill’s friend. The legislative time available for action is limited, and competition for floor time is intense. The House of Representatives averages about 151 days in session each year, and the Senate 168 days. Election years—especially presidential election years—usually provide members with extended time to campaign. This year is no different.

In the final six months of 2024, the U.S. Senate is tentatively scheduled to be in session for 53 days. In the House, it’s 42 days. “Tentative” schedules are just that, and they may be subject to change. Lame-duck sessions also are possible. But whatever decisions might be made for keeping Congress at work, the calendar – and history – don’t suggest a rosy outlook for Farm Bill resolution in 2024.

Opposing Points of View

Beyond the realities of the calendar, simple politics is part of the delay in resolving the fundamental issues.

First, the farm bill process has succeeded for almost a century because of the willingness of all parties involved to come to agreement, if not total consensus. Compromise on any issue has proved elusive to this Congress, obviously. But old Farm Bill hands also point out that this time around, as much as 70 percent of Congress has never been through a Farm Bill process.

One in four U.S. senators has been in office for six or fewer years. In the House, it’s 45 percent – almost half. There’s less experience with – or appreciation for – the importance of finding agreement on something as essential as the food security of the populace. Some members simply don’t have the background to see the Farm Bill as anything but yet another football to be kicked around the political playing field.

June 27, 2024

Xylitol & Heart Attacks: Should You Worry?

A recent study led by Cleveland Clinic analyzed over 4,000 individuals across multiple clinical sites. Data was collected over several years. The study ultimately found there was an association between blood levels of xylitol and an increased risk of heart attack and stroke.

However, the study did not address food intake by participant, so it cannot be determined if the xylitol levels were based on dietary exposure or endogenously-produced xylitol. Ultimately, the study was not comprehensive at evaluating the long-term effects of xylitol when consumed in moderate amounts.

Since the publishing of the study, many consumers have mistakenly lumped all sugar-free sweeteners together, deducing that all sweeteners should avoided for fear of heart attack or stroke.

This is a concern as consumers are searching for a sweetener that meets their needs. According to Mintel, “There is an opportunity to help consumers feel informed and in control when making their sugar and sweetener choices.” Hearing about the downside of an unproven study does not help.

So let’s focus on what we do know about xylitol…

What is xylitol?

Xylitol is a sugar alcohol used as a sweetener in various food and dental care products. It is popular because it has fewer calories than sugar and is known for not causing tooth decay. It is also found in fruit, vegetables, and berries.

Xylitol differs from other sugar alcohols in several key ways, making it unique and beneficial for specific uses. Unlike many sugar alcohols, xylitol has a sweetness comparable to sugar but with significantly fewer calories, making it a popular sugar substitute. It is particularly noted for its dental health benefits; xylitol helps prevent tooth decay by inhibiting the growth of Streptococcus mutans, the bacteria primarily responsible for cavities.

Additionally, xylitol has a lower glycemic index than other sugar alcohols, which means it has a minimal impact on blood sugar levels, making it a suitable sweetener for diabetics and those managing blood glucose levels.

While other sugar alcohols can cause digestive discomfort in large quantities, xylitol is generally better tolerated, though it can still cause issues for some individuals if consumed in excess. Overall, xylitol’s unique properties make it a versatile and advantageous sugar alcohol for both health and culinary purposes.

Products commonly containing xylitol:

Gum: brands like Orbit, Trident, and Eclipse
Sugar-free candy and mints: Brands like Werthers, Ice Breakers, and Spry
Sugar-free or low-sugar baked goods
Dental products, like toothpaste and mouthwash
Over-the-counter medications and chewable vitamins
Low-calorie foods and beverages, like gelatin desserts, condiments, and cereals

Cardiovascular implications

The researchers found a correlation between higher levels of xylitol in the bloodstream and an elevated incidence of these serious cardiovascular health issues outlined below. The study authors hypothesized that xylitol might influence cardiovascular health through mechanisms that are not yet fully understood, warranting further investigation.

Blood clotting

One possible explanation, according to the results, is that xylitol could affect platelet function, which plays a crucial role in blood clotting. Altered platelet activity might increase the likelihood of clot formation, leading to heart attacks or strokes.

Metabolic pathways

Xylitol is also metabolized differently from regular sugar, and this unique metabolic pathway might impact lipid levels, inflammation, and other factors involved in cardiovascular health.

Impact on blood vessels

There is also speculation based the study that xylitol could influence the health of blood vessels, potentially contributing to atherosclerosis (the buildup of fats, cholesterol, and other substances in and on the artery walls). Again, more research is needed here as to the exact levels that can cause these impacts, and over what span of time.

Xylitol’s other health effects

Dental benefits

Cavity prevention: Xylitol is well-documented for its role in preventing tooth decay. It inhibits the growth of Streptococcus mutans, the bacteria primarily responsible for cavities, by reducing their ability to stick to teeth and produce acid.

Saliva production: Xylitol stimulates saliva production, which helps in neutralizing acids and repairing tooth enamel.

Glycemic control

Lower glycemic index: Xylitol has a low glycemic index, making it a popular sugar substitute for people with diabetes. It does not cause significant spikes in blood glucose or insulin levels, which is beneficial for blood sugar management.

Weight management: Due to its lower calorie content compared to regular sugar, xylitol can be useful in weight management and reducing overall calorie intake.

Digestive issues

Laxative effect: At high doses, xylitol can cause digestive discomfort, including bloating, gas, and diarrhea. This is because it is partially absorbed in the small intestine, and the unabsorbed portion is fermented by bacteria in the large intestine, producing gas. Eating more than 30-40 grams of Xylitol is harmful.

Tolerance levels: Individual tolerance to xylitol varies, and some people may experience gastrointestinal issues even at lower doses.

Allergic reactions: While rare, some individuals may have allergic reactions to xylitol, manifesting as rashes, itching, or gastrointestinal distress.

Debunking misconceptions

A common misconception is that all sugar-free options are inherently bad for health. This is not true. Sugar-free products are often great low-calorie options for those looking to lose or maintain weight; they also can serve as insulin stabilizers.

However, be aware of how much of these substitutes you consume and their potential long-term health effects over time. There is currently no limitation nor recommendation on the amount of xylitol that is considered safe for consumption.

Balancing benefits and risks

While it offers significant advantages for dental health and blood sugar control, the recently published study needs to be investigated more thoroughly to determine if there is a real risk. So, what can we do?

Moderation is key

While the study does not specifically support moderation, and does not detail how much we should eat, we do know that any sugar can have adverse effects if eaten in too great a quantity causing inflammation, digestive issues, obesity, metabolic disorders, and so on. Remember for regular sugar, the recommended maximum daily intake should not exceed 9 teaspoons for men and 6 teaspoons for women.

Stay informed

Keep up-to-date with new research on sugar substitutes and their health effects. As more studies are conducted, guidelines on safe consumption levels may evolve.

Have a colorful and varied diet

Eating fruits, vegetables, and protein instead of excess sugar is crucial for maintaining a healthy and balanced diet. Fruits and vegetables are rich in essential vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and dietary fiber, all of which are vital for overall health.

These nutrients help to boost the immune system, reduce the risk of chronic diseases such as heart disease and cancer, and improve digestive health. Additionally, fruits and vegetables are a great low in calorie option and high in water content, which can aid in weight management and promote a feeling of fullness.

Protein, on the other hand, provides the essential amino acids necessary for building and repairing tissues, supporting immune function, and maintaining muscle mass.

Consuming adequate protein is important for metabolic health, as it helps regulate appetite and stabilize blood sugar levels. Unlike sugary foods, which can lead to spikes in blood sugar and contribute to weight gain and metabolic disorders, protein-rich foods promote satiety and sustained energy levels.

Use common sense

But don’t fret. You certainly are not going to have adverse effects from chewing gum or brushing your teeth given how little xylitol is in these products. Now, eating 5 sugar-free processed muffins daily for an extended period of time might not be the best idea…but that’s for several reasons. Focus on nutrient dense whole fruits, vegetables and proteins!

June 20, 2024June 25, 2024

Bird Flu: Another Pandemic?

As of this writing, in 2024 only three dairy farm workers have caught this virus. However, the concern is that it has been transmitted to humans from dairy cows and could potentially be transmitted from human to human. As of today, there is no evidence that it has transferred from person to person.

We spoke to Dr. Kenneth Odde, veterinarian, beef cattle operator, and former Professor at Kansas State University. who stated:

“The risk of a pandemic is very low. It will never be zero, but with everything I understand, it is low”.

Let’s start at the beginning…

In 1996, H5N1 was first detected in domestic waterfowl in southern China. It then spread to farmed poultry. A small number of people caught the virus who worked in very close proximity to their birds: touching, feeding, and cleaning their cages.

Over time, 860 people were identified with the virus and there was a 50% death rate. Governments and companies around the world began preparing for a pandemic.

However, the virus stayed mainly in Asia and was fairly dormant until 2003 when it affected widespread poultry.

Wild birds then spread H5N1 to Africa, the Middle East, and Europe. The H5N1 virus continues to evolve and has become well-adapted to spread efficiently among wild birds and poultry. In 2021, new variants of the H5N1 virus were spread by wild birds in the U.S. and Canada.

Because wild birds easily spread it, commercial poultry flocks have been affected across the country. H5N1 is highly pathogenic (deadly) to birds, and when one bird gets it, the entire flock is at risk and is culled. While not as prevalent, this has affected backyard poultry operations as well.

In March of 2023, we wrote about how H5N1 has affected mammals all over the country: sea lions, minks, otters, foxes, and even bears. At the time, the CDC said that these bird flu viruses didn’t have the ability to bind to the human respiratory system.

H5N1 in the news today

The concern today is that the virus has spread from wild birds to dairy cows.

Unlike birds, dairy cows are only mildly sick for about 7 – 10 days. Once a bird infects one cow, the virus spreads from cow to cow by contact with either through their respiratory system and/or unpasteurized milk droplets. For instance, workers could unknowingly spread the unpasteurized milk among cows. Or the milking equipment and transport vehicles could carry droplets of infected milk.

So far, in 2024, there have been three human cases with dairy farm workers. As a result, two individuals just had a minor eye infection which was easily resolved with antiviral medicine. The third did get flu-like symptoms and recovered with Tamiflu.

Because this is not widely tested among people, it is hard to know if more farm workers have had flu-like symptoms that would be attributed to H5N1. Symptoms can appear to be a mild cold or flu. Neither of these would make one think to go to a Dr. for an Avian Influenza test.

But there are a lot of unanswered questions. Why do some birds and animals react differently to the same virus? For instance, why do mammals such as sea lions, otters, and bears die from H5N1, and dairy cows can recover?

Dr. Odde explained that there is a difference in how a species receives the virus. Recent research shows that the receptor influences influenza symptoms within poultry or mammals. Receptors are proteins within the body that let a virus enter the cell. He also emphasized that many studies are being conducted right now to understand how the virus passes between and among species.

As you know, the best way to stay healthy is to wash your hands before touching your nose, eyes, and mouth. This is because humans have receptors in our respiratory system and you can get sick when a virus touches our respiratory system. The same principle applies to H5N1. Dr. Odde also reminded us that we have had much exposure to the flu over the decades so that humans will have some resistance to H5N1.

Chickens seem to be more susceptible as they receive the virus through their trachea in their respiratory system. Ducks do not have the same mortality rate and early studies show that the virus enters the cells through a different receptor.

Dairy cows receive the virus in their mammary glands as well as their respiratory system. This is not common and is a cause for concern for the replication of H5N1. As of this writing, H5N1 has been detected in 12 states and 92 herds.

Sources for USDA data: Commercial flock detections by state; HPAI in domestic livestock

Is our food safe?

Yes!

There is no need to be worried about the milk from the grocery store. The pasteurization process kills all bacteria and viruses. 99% of all dairy farmers who sell milk for public consumption follow the Pasteurized Milk Ordinance and participate in the Grade “A” milk program.

To be sure this applied with H5N1, the FDA took milk samples from retail locations in 17 states representing 132 milk processing locations in 38 states. H5N1 was not present in any of the samples.

Raw milk poses the danger. Some people think that raw milk has more amino acids, vitamins, and minerals and is a better choice for your immune system. That is not necessarily true as homogenization and pasteurization doesn’t kill the benefits of milk, it only kills the pathogens. Drinking raw milk, can lead to food-borne illnesses, including H5N1 if it is present.

Eggs are safe to eat. Because Avian Influenza rapidly affects a poultry flock, the eggs are not sold on the market. However, like milk, if you cook your eggs properly and do not eat a raw egg, the chance of getting H5N1 is reduced even further.

The USDA is confident that the meat supply is safe. Ground beef samples were collected in states where dairy herds have tested positive for H5N1 and no virus particles were present. Cooking burgers to 120, 145, and 160 degrees Fahrenheit ensures further safety.

The USDA also reminds us that safe poultry follows the same guidelines as all meats. If handled and cooked properly, poultry is safe. As a reminder, CLEAN, SEPARATE, COOK, and CHILL are good guidelines for safe food in your kitchen.

Backyard poultry can also be affected by wild birds. If one of your chickens dies unexpectedly, you should get it tested by your veterinarian. Also, wash your hands after handling your chickens and the eggs. And of course, cook your eggs properly.

How is the government maintaining food safety with H5N1?

Three government agencies are focused on solving Avian Influenza:

The FDA is testing milk, poultry, and beef to ensure it is safe
The CDC protects public health, actively monitors the situation, and provides updates
The USDA is overseeing dairy producers and proper herd management

In particular, the USDA has added $824 million, to the $1.3 million designed for poultry, to give dairy producers the ability to monitor the health of their herds with continual testing to understand the scope of H5N1.

Once a farm has been disease-free for three weeks, they can then move their animals to different farms. This will also give the USDA an understanding of how producers with affected herds can show elimination of the virus.

Going beyond just the USDA, we spoke to Dr. Lisa Koonin, Founder and Principal at Health Preparedness Partners which helps businesses, nonprofits and governments plan for future health emergencies. She is also an Adjunct Professor at Indiana University. During her 30+ year career at the CDC, she worked as a Director and Deputy Director of the agency’s Influenza Coordination Unit.

“For every human infection that occurs, we are that much closer to a pandemic because the virus adapts to a human and can spread to other people or to animals and then to people.”

– Dr. Lisa Koonin

Dr. Koonin identified six suggestions for these agencies to prevent H5N1 from a widespread dairy pandemic.

Increase virus surveillance. Test dairy workers and cows in both affected and non-affected areas
Increase wastewater testing. Sewers that test positive for viruses and bacteria can give us an early warning if it is in the community.
Promote worker safety. Make sure that farm workers have protective equipment available.
Communicate with farmers and producers. It is important that those who operate dairy production and poultry farms know how to test, prevent and detect outbreaks.
Stay away from raw milk. Raw milk can contain a number of disease-causing viruses and bacteria, including H5N1.
Communicate with the public. It is important that current information about what is known about the outbreak is provided to the public in a timely way. People should avoid close, long, or unprotected exposures to sick or dead animals, including wild birds, poultry, other domesticated birds, and other wild or domesticated animals (including cows).
Prepare vaccines. It is not known if this virus will spread and become a widespread outbreak. However, several countries are developing and procuring vaccines just in case they are needed.

June 13, 2024June 13, 2024

Can we “hack” our gut health?

Hack Your Health: The Secrets of Your Gut, a documentary featured on Netflix, highlights the microbiome, the community of bacteria living inside our bodies, as a crucial player in gut health.

Each person’s microbiome is unique, much like fingerprints. The microbiome consists of approximately 100 trillion microbes, including bacteria, viruses, and fungi, that reside primarily in the intestines. These microbes help break down food, support the immune system, and communicate via the vagus nerve that connects our gut to our brain.

Hack Your Health follows the journey of four individuals, each with distinct gut health challenges. The variability in characters shows the complex nature of the gut and all that it impacts:

Michelin-starred pastry chef Maya learns that her anorexia and restrictive diet have severely impacted her gut health, necessitating a more balanced dietary approach to improve her well-being.

Daniell, the psychology student, discovers that her severe digestive issues and restrictive diet are linked to her gut microbiome, highlighting the need for personalized dietary adjustments.

Kimmie, labeled morbidly obese, finds that her lack of gut bacteria diversity affects her ability to feel full and lose weight, leading to tailored dietary recommendations to enhance her microbial diversity.

Competitive hot dog-eater Kobayashi realizes that his extreme eating habits have disrupted his hunger signals and gut health, prompting concerns about long-term damage and the need for a healthier lifestyle.

What the Documentary Gets Right and Wrong

The documentary is commendable for its scientific accuracy and approachable presentation of complex topics. It avoids the trap of pseudoscience by not offering overly simplistic solutions to complex problems. Instead, it emphasizes that gut health solutions are highly individualized, depending on one’s unique microbiome composition.

The documentary also accurately portrays the emerging science of the gut-brain axis, illustrating how the gut communicates with the brain and influences various bodily functions.

While the documentary is informative, it sometimes glosses over the intricate details of scientific studies, opting for a more infotainment approach. This style might leave viewers wanting a deeper dive into the science behind the microbiome and its broader implications.

Additionally, the documentary faced criticism for promoting untested claims about autism and gut health, which led to backlash from autism advocacy groups.

Scientific Insights & Treatments

To address their gut issues, Maya, Daniell, Kimmie, and Kobayashi send fecal samples for analysis. The results help tailor diets that could improve their microbiome diversity and overall health. One innovative treatment discussed is the “fecal microbiome transplant,” where healthy bacteria from a donor’s stool are transferred to the recipient’s gut.

This procedure has shown promise in treating conditions like Clostridium difficile infections and is being explored for other applications. But more underscore the new ways of diagnostics, such as as fecal sampling for additional information outside of just bloodwork.

What Does the Science Say About Our Gut?

Gut-Brain Axis

The gut-brain axis refers to the bidirectional communication between the gut and the brain. This connection influences various bodily functions, including mood, stress responses, and even cognitive functions.

For instance, the gut produces neurotransmitters such as serotonin, which is crucial for mood regulation. Dysbiosis, an imbalance in gut bacteria, has been linked to mental health conditions like depression and anxiety.

Immune System

Approximately 70% of the immune system is located in the gut. The gut microbiome plays a pivotal role in training the immune system to differentiate between harmful pathogens and harmless antigens. A healthy microbiome can prevent autoimmune diseases by maintaining a balanced immune response.

Metabolism & Weight Management

Gut bacteria are involved in the metabolism of food and the extraction of nutrients. They influence how we store fat, regulate glucose levels, and feel hunger or satiety. Dysbiosis can lead to metabolic disorders such as obesity and type 2 diabetes. Studies have shown that individuals with a diverse microbiome are more likely to maintain a healthy weight.

Inflammation & Chronic Diseases

A balanced microbiome helps control inflammation by producing anti-inflammatory compounds. Chronic inflammation is a risk factor for several diseases, including heart disease, cancer, and inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD). Dysbiosis is linked to increased intestinal permeability (leaky gut), which allows toxins to enter the bloodstream and trigger inflammation.

Digestive Health

The microbiome aids in digesting complex carbohydrates and fibers that the body cannot break down on its own. This process produces short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), which nourish the gut lining, reduce inflammation, and support overall digestive health. Conditions like irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and Crohn’s disease are associated with imbalances in the gut microbiome.

Key Takeaways for Consumers

While this documentary is not pseudoscience, it still lacks a bit of scientific depth. But here are some sound takeaways rooted in science from key points in the documentary:

Gut Diversity is Key

A diverse microbiome is crucial for good health. Each person’s microbiome is unique, and having a variety of bacteria can enhance resilience against diseases. Consuming a wide range of foods, especially plant-based ones, can help foster this diversity.

Plants provide different types of fibers, polyphenols, and other bioactive compounds that serve as substrates for various microbial species in the gut, promoting microbial diversity. A diverse diet boosts the production of short-chain fatty acids, such as butyrate, which play a crucial role in maintaining gut barrier integrity, reducing inflammation, and supporting immune function.

Individualized Solutions

There is no one-size-fits-all answer to gut health. Personalized approaches based on microbiome analysis can provide better health outcomes. For instance, Kimmie’s gut analysis revealed a lack of bacteria that help her feel full, leading to personalized dietary recommendations to increase her microbial diversity.

Similarly, Daniell’s restrictive diet was tailored to her specific gut needs. Understanding the unique composition of your microbiome can help in identifying the specific foods and treatments that are most beneficial for you.

Innovative Treatments

Treatments like fecal microbiome transplants (FMT) show promise but should be approached with caution and professional guidance. FMT involves transferring bacteria from a healthy donor’s stool to the recipient’s gut, aiming to restore a balanced microbiome.

This procedure has been effective in treating recurrent Clostridium difficile infections and is being investigated for other conditions such as irritable bowel syndrome and inflammatory bowel disease. However, it carries risks, including the potential transfer of harmful pathogens, and should only be done under medical supervision.

Fiber is Essential

Eating more plants and fibers is universally recommended for maintaining a healthy gut. Fiber acts as a prebiotic, feeding the beneficial bacteria in the gut and promoting their growth. High-fiber foods such as fruits, vegetables, legumes, and whole grains can help maintain a healthy gut microbiome.

The fiber in these foods is fermented by gut bacteria, producing short-chain fatty acids that support gut health and overall well-being. Increasing fiber intake can also improve digestion, reduce inflammation, and enhance immune function.

Hack Your Health: The Secrets of Your Gut is a compelling watch for anyone interested in the emerging science of gut health. While it may not delve as deeply into hard science as some might prefer, it offers valuable insights and practical advice in an engaging and accessible manner.

June 6, 2024June 6, 2024

Grocery Shopping Made Simple

This method, developed by Will Coleman, not only simplifies the shopping process but ensures that consumers maintain a balanced diet rich in essential nutrients. This approach aligns well with the Dirt to Dinner philosophy, emphasizing wallet-friendly trends, beneficial for health, and helpful in making informed, healthful, consumer decisions.

According to the International Food Information Council’s 2023 Food & Health Survey, 76% of Americans say price is highly impactful on their food purchasing decision, and nine out of 10 Americans have noticed an increase in the overall cost of food and beverages.

Besides cost being a driver of purchases, taste still ranks number one and healthfulness is important for 62% of Americans.

Shopping Method Countdown

The 6-to-1 grocery shopping method is a strategic approach to grocery shopping that encourages shoppers to purchase items across six distinct categories for every one discretionary item: 6 vegetables, 5 fruits, 4 proteins, 3 starches, 2 spreads and 1 treat.

The focus is on filling the cart with essentials that ensure a well-rounded ratio of nutrients, thereby simplifying decision-making.

So let’s start from the top…

Six Vegetables

Choose six vegetables to put in your cart!

The recommended daily intake of vegetables can vary based on factors like age, sex, and level of physical activity, but a general guideline from health authorities such as the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) suggests that adults consume between 2 to 3 cups of vegetables per day. This is part of their broader recommendation for a healthy eating pattern.

For instance, specific guidelines suggest:

Women aged 19 to 50 years should aim for at least 2.5 cups of vegetables daily.
Men in the same age range should target at least 3 cups daily.
Older adults or those less physically active might need slightly less.

Depending on your overall dietary needs, aim to incorporate about 5 to 8 ounces of starches into your daily meals. Explore the world of whole grains like quinoa, barley, and whole wheat bread that keep you feeling full and energized. Or indulge in the hearty comfort of potatoes and sweet potatoes, perfect for roasting, mashing, or baking.

And don’t overlook the pasta and rice – versatile staples that can be the foundation of countless delicious dishes. Tip: When you are in the store, avoid all white starches as possible; seek brown options—they are likely more balanced and lower in sugar!

Download printable here.

Health Benefits

Starches are a key source of energy and play a crucial role in maintaining blood sugar levels. Whole grains like quinoa and oats are linked to reduced risk of heart disease, diabetes, and certain types of cancer due to their high fiber content which aids in digestion and promotes satiety.

Two Sauces or Spreads

Download printable here.

Health Benefits: Sauces and spreads can enhance the flavor of meals while contributing to nutrient intake. For example, olive oil in pesto is rich in monounsaturated fats, which are beneficial for heart health and may reduce the risk of heart disease.

One Fun Treat

While generally limited in nutrients, allowing for occasional treats like dark chocolate can aid in sticking to a healthy eating plan by reducing feelings of deprivation. Dark chocolate is known for its cardiovascular benefits due to its high flavonoid content.

Here are a few treat examples and nutrients:

Square of dark chocolate: Flavonoids, iron, magnesium
Pack of sugar-free gummy bears: Sugars, small amounts of juice (if used)
A small serving of corn chips: Sodium, calories

By organizing shopping into six straightforward categories, Coleman’s method helps individuals make healthier food choices, reduce food waste, and save money—all of which are essential for maintaining a balanced diet and lifestyle in today’s fast-paced world. The method not only supports physical health by ensuring a nutritious diet but also promotes mental well-being by simplifying decision-making and reducing the stress associated with meal preparation.

May 31, 2024

Media Madness and the Search for Truth

How far down the rabbit holes of news and media do you want to go? The depths seem endless, especially as we approach another election.

Thankfully, our dear friend and media savant, Garland West, sheds some much needed insight to light a path of rationality back into our overzealous media consumption habits.

Now, it’s up to us to put Garland’s wisdom into good use so we may become well-informed, rational and responsible citizens.

May 23, 2024May 23, 2024

Does my produce have pesticide residues?

In the realm of healthy eating, fruits and vegetables reign supreme. However, alongside their abundant vitamins, minerals, and other micronutrients, we’re bombarded with a reminder of a less savory and potentially harmful aspect: the presence of pesticide residues on our produce.

A Brief History of Pesticides & the EPA

But first, let’s get one thing straight: pesticides have a very necessary place in our global food system. Without products like insecticides, fungicides and other pesticide types, all crops would be prone to rot, leading to famine, disease, global hunger…just to name a few. If we suddenly nixed all pesticides, our current situation with egregious food waste in this country would seem inconsequential.

However, too much of a seemingly good thing always has unintended consequences. In the 1940s, the advent of powerful broad-spectrum pesticides, like DDT, gave farmers an effective, long-lasting tool to protect their animals and crops from insects. Furthermore, these powerful tools also helped combat malaria, typhus, and other insect-born human diseases.

But then its surge in application came at a cost.

By the ‘60s, word got out that excessive use of DDT posed unacceptable acute and long-term health risks to humans, including seizures, birth defects, and cancer, as well as damaging wildlife and the environment. In response to the outcry, the U.S. government took swift action and created the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to protect human health and the environment from toxic chemicals, including now-prohibited pesticides like DDT, aldrin, and hexachlorobenzene (HCB).

Pesticide Reporting

Now, in conjunction with the USDA, various crops are monitored annually for pesticide residues with the annual Pesticide Data Program (PDP).

This year’s report is based on data from the 2022/23 season and includes multiple samples from over 20 fresh crops, like green beans, potatoes, and blueberries. Popular crops not tested this particular season, like apples, oranges, and avocadoes, will be included in the next rotation of tested crops.

The USDA then reports its findings in a comprehensive summary released on the PDP website. Once released to the public, consumer information agencies like Consumer Reports and the Environmental Working Group reinterpret the USDA’s findings to create these derivative reports, like the notorious “Dirty Dozen” list.

When you use the massive PDP database to start weaving information together across various crops over a multitude of years, you often find a conflicting story. Suddenly, these reports stating that you’re ingesting endocrine-disrupting and cancer-causing nerve agents feel sensational, at best, against the opposing PDP data that show a downward trend year-over-year in highly toxic pesticides.

Non-governmental or non-academic, consumer-centric reports can generate fear and deceive us into believing that ingesting any fresh fruit or vegetable is detrimental to our overall health, or that organic produce is free from all pesticides.

Despite the many claims in these consumer reports, available evidence suggests that the low levels of pesticide residues typically found on produce are unlikely to make most people sick or cause cancer.

Focusing on Facts

With that stated, we can’t ignore some of the pesticide residue data these reports found. Specifically, reports from the PDP and Consumer Reports shared the below facts based on information from the PDP database when the USDA’s initiative began in 1994:

The good news:

99% of the samples tested in this year’s report had residues below the EPA’s legal limits (or “tolerances”)
28% didn’t have any detectible pesticide residues

Despite growing fears about the long-term effects of Roundup, or glyphosate, the controversial herbicide was only detected on crops largely intended for animal feed – soybean grain and corn grain
The World Health Organization (WHO), and its Joint Meeting on Pesticide Residues (JMPR) committee, have found that pesticide residues in food are unlikely to cause cancer in people through dietary exposure:

“JMPR’s risk assessment found that based on the weight-of-evidence approach, these compounds are unlikely to cause cancer in people via dietary exposure. This means it is possible to establish safe exposure levels – acceptable daily intakes (ADI) – for consumers.”

The bad news:

Green beans had numerous residues exceeding current tolerance levels
- The USDA found 16 unique pesticides on these samples, some of which the EPA canceled use or banned over a decade ago, like methamidophos
Of all produce exceeding EPA tolerances, 66% were from imported crops
- Crop samples from Mexico reported the highest residue levels, including green bean samples with multiple residues exceeding EPA tolerances
- Largely imported crops include blueberries, grapes, tomatoes and watermelon (rind removed).

An Optimistic Outlook

Though some of these findings sound concerning, we found plenty of information that shows the needle moving in the right direction.

Here are some of the highlights we found in these reports over the last few years, plus some information gathered from conducting our own research in the PDP database and other farming resources:

Lower toxicity

D2D analysis shows top residues found across most fresh produce crops are less toxic than previously reported years, as indicated by WHO‘s pesticide toxicity classifications
- Lesser toxic fungicides include boscalid, azoxystrobin, and fluopyram; insecticides bifenthrin and imidacloprid

Increased localization

The USDA’s most considerable residue risks stem from just a few pesticides concentrated in specific foods grown on a small fraction of U.S. farmland
- CR’s food safety expert, James E. Rogers, emphasizes that this concentrated risk makes it easier to identify problems and develop targeted solutions.

Better technology

Farmers and food producers continue to implement improved pest management practices, including advanced technologies
- Precision ag systems in the field
  - AgZen’s patented pesticide droplet optimizer
  - FruitScout’s crop load manager platform
  - John Deere’s comprehensive machinery and production management tools
- Scientific applications for crop management
  - Organism-derived biopesticides, like biocontrol technology and research company, Bionema
  - Genetically modified plant-incorporated protectants, like Monsanto’s Bt corn (now owned by Bayer)
  - Insect growth regulators that inhibit a pest’s life cycle

What can we do right now?

It’s more like what you can’t do.

It feels counterintuitive, but don’t eat fewer fruits and vegetables because of pesticide concerns. The health benefits of eating lots of produce far outweigh the potential risks from these residues.

There’s no doubt about it: produce is loaded with vitamins, minerals, and micronutrients necessary for a healthy body and well-functioning brain.

If anything, we all should eat more produce.

And yes, while some pesticides can negatively affect health and the environment, the levels found on most produce are extremely low and not linked to adverse health effects.

If we follow the food-prep tips below, the surface residues will be largely eliminated, allowing us to enjoy our fresh foods without fear.

Wash fruits and veggies under running water for 15 to 20 seconds.
- For those especially concerned about residues, consider one of the following methods:
  - Soak your fresh produce in a bath for a few minutes with 5 parts water and 1 part vinegar, then rinse; or
  - Soak your produce in a solution of one teaspoon of baking soda per two cups of cold water for 10-15 minutes, then rinse
Peel and trim produce when possible
Eat a variety of produce from different sources to reduce exposure to a single pesticide or environmental contaminant
- If you can only tolerate certain produce items, consider purchasing the following alternatives:
  - Selecting the organic counterpart, which the PDP reports to have fewer residues despite having the same nutrient density as conventional
  - Frozen produce has already been through rigorous cleaning and processing, further reducing residues than its fresh counterparts
Try to stick with produce farmed in the U.S.

The key is moderation and making informed choices, not eliminating nutrient-rich produce from your diet due to pesticide fears.

May 16, 2024May 23, 2024

Will Consumers Pay to Go Green?

After years of serious debate about the reality or extent of actual climate change, governments around the world have responded to rising public support for “green” policies and programs.

For the United States, it’s a 2021 pledge by President Biden in the Paris Climate Accord to cut GHG emissions in half by 2030. Biden’s ambitions continue for the United States by stating that we will reach 100% carbon pollution-free electricity by 2035 and net-zero emissions economy by 2050, just 26 years from now.

International leaders also speak of commitments to massive greenhouse gas (GHG) reductions by mid-century, and businesses around the world have jumped on the prevalent environmental bandwagon with ambitious GHG reductions of their own. But things have changed since the glory days of the Paris Accord.

The subject of climate change has had sufficient time to percolate in the public mind. The issue has moved on from an initial era of awareness-building – years of helping define the issue in the public mind and marshaling political support for ambitious targets and extensive policies and programs. We now appear to be entering the next stage of public discussion and debate, focusing on the practical realities of moving the issue from an abstraction to reality.

As more and more of the policies and programs initiated in the undoubted enthusiasm for a better environment begin to gain traction, people are beginning to ask questions – sometimes difficult questions.

The Evil of Fossil Fuels

The largest area of concern centers on the extent of our dependence on fossil fuels. We’ve successfully created the picture of a self-destructive reliance on an energy source that is deemed to be harmful to the environment and to people. It’s so bad, critics argue, that we have no choice but to embrace draconian actions that effectively cut our use of fossil fuels – and cut it now rather than later.

Reduced use of petroleum products in the transportation industry and generation of electricity is a key objective, as is the development and use of other non-fossil fuel energy sources, including such renewable sources as solar, tidal, biofuels and wind. In short, transforming it fundamentally transforms our entire energy system.

According to 2022 government data, nearly 80% of U.S. energy consumption comes from fossil fuels, with the country consuming almost 20.3 million barrels of petroleum, about a fifth of the global total, every day.

The best-intentioned efforts, however, have proven to have some sobering realities. The largest of those realities is the sheer scale of the challenge. We have built an enormous economy on the basis of fossil fuels. Our gross domestic product is now roughly $25.5 trillion. Retooling such an economic engine away from dependence on fossil fuels will take money – a lot of money – not to mention the time needed to make such a transition without sending the economy into a tailspin.

Proponents of aggressive change believe that the huge costs of transformation will indeed lead to short-term run-up in consumer costs, as the price for new technologies and equipment and support systems come into play.

However, over time, they argue that these price-run-ups will be offset by improved efficiencies and lower costs that come from moving to a low-carbon energy model.

Analysis by leading consulting organizations echo this argument. But those same consultants also acknowledge that the cost of transitioning to net-zero emissions of GHG by 2050 will cost an extra $3.5 trillion per year. Cynics pointedly ask for an example of cost reductions actually being passed back to consumers, once the increases have been implemented.

Who Pays?

The question of “who pays” has become an increasingly troublesome matter to more than energy consumers. The food and agriculture sector is not immune to the economic questions posed by the wide range of green policies and regulations imposed in the name of protecting people and the planet.

The most immediate issue raised by people across the food chain is the enormous role played by energy costs in producing commodities and food products. Farming and ranching have massive energy needs and agriculture contributes approximately 11% of global green house gas emissions.

Nitrogen fertilizers are derived primarily from natural gas and make up one of the most critical crop inputs and remain a key to productivity. Field equipment such as tractors, combines, and trucks demand fuel, as well as power for moving, storing, drying, and maintaining crops. Basic processing of commodities into the food ingredients used by food manufacturers also demands significant energy. Warehousing and distribution of food to retailers and restaurants is inherently transportation-dependent.

Moving to vehicles not dependent on fossil fuels is a noble objective. But once again, the reality is that such a transformation in a system as large as the U.S. food system will be an expensive proposition. The more rapid the required conversion, the higher the risk of short-term adverse effects on the producer bottom-line.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates that our national food system accounts for 12.5 percent of U.S. energy use (2012). Between 1998 and 2002, more than half of the increase in U.S. energy use came from the food system, USDA noted.

If you want the gee-whiz numbers this represents, consider an estimate from USDA’s Economic Research Service (ERS) that found the U.S. food system consumed about 12 quadrillion British Thermal Units (BTUs) in 2012. Each of those 12 quads works out to the energy in about 8 billion gallons of gasoline, or 293 billion kilowatt hours of electricity., or 36 million tons of coal. No matter how detailed or debatable the conversion arithmetic, that’s a lot of wind turbines and solar panels.

Food inflation has averaged roughly 3.2 percent each year for most of the past century. A host of factors during the Covid pandemic converged to drive food inflation to 6.3 percent in 2021 and a whopping 10.4 percent in 2022. (Inflation rates in other parts of the world remain elevated as well. In the European Union, for example, food inflation peaked in mid-2023 at 19 percent before dropping to “only” 5.9 percent by year’s end.)

Cutting through all the numbers leaves one clear message: consumer food costs remain under considerable inflationary pressures for multiple reasons. Energy costs – and the immediate transitional costs imposed by a growing roster of green requirements – will help maintain these pressures.

Post Covid, the inflation rate has dropped back to more traditional rates. But the rising concern with further disruptions to global energy markets – and the unrelenting cost pressures on producers and others across the food chain from green policies and other cost sectors – once again have people looking a bit nervously over their shoulders about future food costs.

Green Politics

The worry over continuing food inflation – and the possible role of green policies in fueling that pressure – have taken root across many of the countries at the heart of the Paris Climate Accord and their ambitious targets for moving to a more carbon-neutral global energy system.

The issue has prompted vocal protests and confrontational demonstrations from European and UK farmers – and generated rising concern among the elected officials who must reconcile those protests with existing and planned green commitments.

EU and UK farmers argue they are being squeezed on a number of economic fronts. Shifting marketing flows in the wake of the Ukraine conflict have increased supplies, with resultant price pressure on commodities. The Middle East is fraught with conflict and the future is uncertain in regard to oil prices. Cuts in diesel subsidies and other energy-related supports have added to costs and hurt producer bottom lines, German farmers contend. Restrictions on nitrogen-based fertilizers and sequestration of some farmlands have hurt productivity and profitability, others argue.

Complying with a growing roster of green requirements involves ever-more bureaucracy and takes more and more time and expense. Protests have spread across France, Germany, Spain, Romania, Poland, Greece, Portugal, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom.

As one farmer summed up the litany of complaints to CNN, “We are no longer making a living from our profession.”

Eurostat findings tends to support the complaint: data shows a nearly 9 percent drop in the prices paid to EU farmers from 2022 to 2023.

Put that in perspective by imagining what you would do with that drop in your own household income – especially in an inflationary period.

The protests have reached sufficient size to prompt elected officials – many facing autumn elections – to rethink the extent and, perhaps more importantly, the timing of the ambitious green agenda. Some changes and restrictions have been rolled back or delayed. At this time, the discussion seems to focus on getting farmers more involved in the planning and development of green policies and programs and looking at time frames that provide greater opportunity for transition and adaptation.

European Commission President U chief Ursula von der Leyen has given up on an ambitious bill to reduce the use of chemical pesticides and softened the European Commission’s next raft of recommendations on cutting agricultural pollution. “We want to make sure that in this process, the farmers remain in the driving seat,” she said at the European Parliament. “Only if we achieve our climate and environmental goals together will farmers be able to continue to make a living.”

Evolutionary reality seems to be gaining traction over economically revolutionary good intentions.

Back in the U.S.

U.S. policy-makers still debating a massive long-term Farm Bill aren’t ignoring what is going on in the EU on the farm front. Many of the concerns and complaints heard across Europe and the UK sound all too similar to what U.S. producers may be thinking and saying.

Consumer attitudes also come into political play. Current estimates place the U.S. inflation rate at 3.5 percent, down significantly from the 7 percent and 6.5 percent seen in 2021 and 2022 but up slightly from last year’s 3.4 percent. Energy and food inflation, however, remain well above this level and represent two of the most powerful drivers of the cost increases facing consumers in the United States and elsewhere around the globe. Inflation hits hard. The other day in the grocery store, we overheard a child asking for a watermelon and his mother said no, at $7 it is too expensive. Sensitivity to those points of view grows especially strong as November looms.

How other countries handle the economic and political realities of ‘going green’ may offer some important advice on how to make that transition acceptable to everyone – none the least the American farmers and ranchers worried about their financial security, or the average food consumer tired of unrelenting increases in the costs of feeding their families.

May 9, 2024May 23, 2024

Is Whole-Fat Dairy Healthy?

Current consumer attitudes toward milk and dairy products are increasingly influenced by health concerns, environmental considerations, and the rise of plant-based alternatives. Many consumers have moved toward low-fat dairy options or non-dairy substitutes, perceiving them as healthier choices due to longstanding recommendations to limit saturated fat intake.

Findings from the latest dairy study highlight the potential cardiometabolic benefits of full-fat dairy. By presenting evidence that full-fat dairy may not only be harmless but potentially beneficial, these insights could encourage consumers to reconsider their choices in the dairy aisle.

This shift could lead to a renewed interest in whole-milk products and fermented dairy, balancing the dietary landscape with a broader acceptance of various dairy fat contents based on individual health benefits rather than a one-size-fits-all dietary guideline.

The comprehensive review, “Whole-Milk Dairy Foods and Cardiometabolic Health: Dairy Fat and Beyond,” authored by Avinash Pokala and colleagues , challenges longstanding beliefs about the relationship between full-fat dairy consumption and cardiometabolic health.

Historically, full-fat dairy products, which are high in saturated fats, have been thought to contribute to cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes. This study scrutinizes this hypothesis by reviewing recent evidence from observational studies and randomized controlled trials.

Scope and Key Findings

The review critically examines extensive research to assess the impact of full-fat dairy products on health. It categorizes the evidence based on the type of dairy product (fermented vs. non-fermented) and explores the role of specific components like milk polar lipids. The study also considers how the dairy food matrix—comprising fats, proteins, and bioactive molecules—interacts to influence health outcomes.

Cardiometabolic Activities of Dairy Fat

Contrary to previous guidelines that recommend limiting full-fat dairy, the study finds that dairy fat intake has a neutral to beneficial effect on cardiometabolic health. It references several large-scale studies and meta-analyses which suggest that full-fat dairy consumption does not increase the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and may, in fact, offer protective benefits against metabolic syndrome (MetS) and diabetes.

Positive Effects of Fermented Dairy Products

Fermented products like yogurt and cheese consistently show beneficial effects in improving lipid profiles and potentially lowering CVD risk. For example, a meta-analysis cited in the review demonstrates that yogurt consumption is associated with a reduced risk of type 2 diabetes, attributing these effects to the fermentation process which may enhance the bioavailability of bioactive peptides and other nutrients.

Role of Milk Polar Lipids

Milk polar lipids, concentrated in the milk fat globule membrane, are shown to improve blood lipid profiles and contribute to cardiovascular health. The study discusses evidence from controlled trials where milk polar lipids were found to regulate lipid absorption, reduce inflammation, and improve gut health, thereby offering a mechanistic explanation for the cardioprotective effects of full-fat dairy.

Reevaluation of Dietary Recommendations

The review strongly advocates for updated dietary guidelines that reflect the complexity of dairy foods and their varied impacts on health. It suggests that the current recommendations may oversimplify the effects of fats found in dairy products and do not account for the protective components like polar lipids and probiotics found in fermented dairy.

Several previous studies align with these findings, supporting the beneficial effects of full-fat dairy on cardiometabolic health. For instance, the Prospective Urban Rural Epidemiology study found that higher dairy fat intake was associated with lower risk of diabetes and high blood pressure.

Additionally, a systematic review and meta-analysis published in the European Journal of Nutrition concluded that dairy consumption, irrespective of fat content, was linked to reduced risks of metabolic syndrome, hypertension, diabetes, and obesity. These studies collectively challenge the traditional views on dairy fat and support a more differentiated understanding of its impact on health.

Implications at the Grocery Store

The review encourages consumers not to avoid full-fat dairy categorically. Instead, it suggests evaluating the overall nutritional content and considering personal health needs. For instance, individuals without a high risk of cardiovascular issues might benefit from including full-fat dairy in their diet.

Additionally, consumers should note the specific benefits of fermented dairy products. These products not only aid in digestion due to their probiotic content but also provide enhanced cardiometabolic benefits. This study underscores the importance of personalized dietary choices that consider the nutritional benefits of dairy products in the context of an overall diet and individual health profiles.

Dairy Considerations beyond Diet

Outside of the obvious health take aways for consumers based on the new information in this study, consumers are increasingly making their dietary choices based on both nutrition and environmental considerations.

The dairy industry has the potential to contribute positively to environmental sustainability through various innovative practices and technologies. Here are some ways the industry can help the environment:

Sustainable Farming Practices

By adopting more sustainable farming practices, such as managed grazing, the dairy industry can enhance soil health, increase carbon sequestration, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Managed grazing involves rotating dairy cattle through pasture lands, which can help maintain soil fertility and reduce erosion.

Renewable Energy

Dairy farms can utilize manure as a resource by converting it into biogas through anaerobic digestion. This process not only reduces methane emissions—a potent greenhouse gas—but also produces renewable energy that can power the farm and potentially supply electricity to local communities.

Efficient Use of Resources

Implementing precision agriculture techniques can help dairy farmers use water, feed, and energy more efficiently. Precision feeding programs optimize the amount of feed for cattle, reducing waste and minimizing the environmental impact of feed production.

Waste Recycling

By improving waste recycling processes, dairy farms can turn by-products like manure and wastewater into valuable resources such as organic fertilizers and irrigation water, thereby reducing dependency on chemical fertilizers and promoting water conservation.

Packaging Innovations

The dairy industry can also make a significant environmental impact by innovating in packaging solutions. Developing biodegradable or recyclable packaging can reduce waste and the carbon footprint associated with traditional plastic packaging.

Collaboration & Certification

Engaging in partnerships with environmental organizations can help dairy farms implement best practices and become certified in sustainable agricultural methods. Certifications can serve as a signal to consumers who are concerned about the environmental impact of their purchases.

Educating Consumers

The industry has a role in educating consumers about the importance of sustainable dairy production and the environmental benefits of supporting local and sustainably produced dairy products.

By focusing on these areas, the dairy industry can transform from being part of the environmental problem to an active part of the solution, contributing to a more sustainable agricultural sector and helping mitigate the impact of climate change.

May 1, 2024May 23, 2024

Brewing Longevity: Coffee’s Health Benefits

Coffee gives us a great morning boost – and it is not just the caffeine! A recent study published in Nature Metabolism brings to light the significant role of trigonelline, a naturally occurring compound in coffee, in enhancing muscle health and function, particularly against the backdrop of aging.

Trigonelline is an alkaloid that serves as a precursor to NAD+. This molecule is crucial for energy production in cells, particularly within mitochondria — the powerhouses of cells.

New Research on Trigonelline

As we age, our mitochondria’s efficiency in energy production wanes, partly due to declining NAD+ levels. This decline is linked to several age-related conditions, including sarcopenia, which is characterized by the loss of skeletal muscle mass and strength.

Think of trigonelline in the body like a key that unlocks the energy production factory in muscle cells. Just as a key starts a car and revs the engine, trigonelline helps turn on the mitochondria, boosting energy output and enhancing muscle function, especially as we age. This ensures the body’s engines run smoothly and efficiently.

These effects were observed across various species, including humans, where higher blood levels of trigonelline were positively correlated with better muscle strength and function.

Conversely, lower levels were associated with sarcopenia, or muscle loss.

The implications of these findings are vast.

For one, it suggests that daily consumption of coffee, a rich source of trigonelline, could offer a simple, natural way to support muscle health and mitigate some aspects of aging.

The study, however, does not specify the exact amount of coffee required to achieve these benefits, as trigonelline content can vary widely among different coffee types and preparations.

Generally, a moderate intake of black coffee (approximately 3-4 cups per day) is considered beneficial for most people, but individual responses can vary.

Debunking Myths

But what about coffee’s negative effects? Does the trigonelline make up enough for them?

First, let’s dispel some of these outdated coffee myths:

⊗ Coffee causes dehydration

While caffeine has a mild diuretic effect, the fluid content in coffee helps to maintain hydration levels. Studies suggest that for regular coffee drinkers, this diuretic effect is minimal.

⊗ It causes heart disease

Numerous studies have shown that moderate coffee consumption does not increase the risk of heart disease. In fact, some research indicates that it may have protective effects against certain cardiovascular issues.

⊗ It’s addictive

While caffeine can be mildly habit-forming, it does not stimulate the brain’s reward circuitry in the same way as addictive drugs. Most people can manage or reduce coffee consumption without the severe withdrawal symptoms associated with true addiction.

⊗ It stunts growth

Scientific evidence does not support the idea that coffee consumption affects growth. This myth may have originated from the misconception that coffee causes osteoporosis, which it does not when consumed in moderation.

⊗ It causes cancer

In 2016, the World Health Organization moved coffee off its “possible carcinogen” list, acknowledging the lack of evidence that coffee causes cancer. Some studies suggest that coffee may even reduce the risk of certain types of cancer.

Coffee Health Facts

And there are plenty of other reasons to enjoy your cup of joe, in addition to minimizing muscle loss.

♥ Antioxidants

In addition to trigonelline, coffee is rich in powerful antioxidants, like chlorogenic acid and caffeine, which can neutralize harmful free radicals. This antioxidant activity is linked to a reduced risk of diseases such as heart disease and certain cancers.

♥ Caffeine

As the most well-known active ingredient in coffee, caffeine has been studied extensively. It’s known to enhance brain function, improve mood, and boost metabolism. A study published in “The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition” suggests that caffeine can increase metabolic rate by up to 11% and enhance physical performance.

♥ Chlorogenic Acid

This is another significant component, believed to help lower blood sugar levels and potentially reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes. A study in “The Journal of Nutrition” found that chlorogenic acid might improve glucose metabolism, which is crucial for managing diabetes.

♥ Magnesium & B Vitamins

Coffee contains essential nutrients, including magnesium and B vitamins, which play crucial roles in numerous bodily functions, including energy metabolism and DNA repair.

It’s also worth noting that while coffee’s potential health benefits are promising, it’s important to consume it in moderation and be mindful of individual tolerance levels. Additionally, the healthiest way to enjoy coffee is black, or with minimal added sugar, to avoid counteracting its benefits with unnecessary calories.

This study, a collaboration among international researchers, underscores the potential of dietary interventions to improve health outcomes, especially in aging populations. It opens doors to further research on trigonelline’s role in human health and its potential in dietary supplements or as part of a broader strategy to combat age-related muscle decline.

Reputable Sources for Food Info

How do these myths and truths come to exist in people’s minds? It is all about the source.

In the landscape of nutrition and health information, the importance of consulting reputable sources cannot be overstated.

These sources, like Dirt to Dinner, are grounded in scientific research and peer-reviewed studies, and offer reliable and evidence-based insights, ensuring the advice you follow is beneficial for your health. They help sift through myriad information available, distinguishing between evidence-based facts and unfounded claims to help eliminate unfounded myths such as these.

This careful approach to gathering information is essential for making informed decisions about your diet and health, contributing to a well-rounded understanding of nutrition’s role in overall well-being and helping to navigate through common myths and misconceptions.

April 16, 2024

Navigating Nutrition, Health & Wellness Trends

Healthy Aging: Embracing Quality Life Years

The quest for healthy aging transcends the mere desire to extend life; it’s about enriching those additional years with vibrant health. The report underscores the significance of nurturing heart health, managing weight effectively, and maintaining hormonal balance.

For heart health, it champions the consumption of omega-3 fatty acid-rich foods like salmon, flaxseeds, and walnuts. The report also recommends whole grains and leafy greens to regulate blood pressure.

Weight management strategies include a balanced diet of lean proteins, complex carbohydrates, and healthy fats, highlighting foods such as quinoa, lean chicken, avocados, and legumes to preserve muscle mass and metabolism.

To support hormone health, incorporating phytoestrogen-rich foods like soy products, along with antioxidants from berries and nuts, is advised for hormonal balance and endocrine system support.

The Evolution of Clean Labels: Seeking Simplicity & Transparency

Today’s consumers crave simplicity and transparency in their food choices, a shift evident in the rise of minimally processed foods. This trend towards clean labels reflects a growing skepticism towards overly processed foods and complex ingredients. The advice here is clear: seek out products with short lists of whole, recognizable ingredients (click here for what we mean by this!), and exercise caution around items with artificial preservatives, colors, and flavors.

It is not that those ingredients are bad for you, but you want to look for foods that have more healthy nutritious ingredients that add value to your body. The report also points to a burgeoning interest in traditional and artisanal food-making processes, which promise less processed and more nutrient-dense food options. Our tip: Shop the perimeter of the store and avoid added sugars in processed food choices! As Mintel reports:

“Go back to the basics to help consumers age and live well by keeping hearts healthy, supporting weight management and improving muscle mass.”

Purposeful Processing: Marrying Innovation with Nutrition

Purposeful processing emerges as a strategic approach for brands to align products with health and wellness objectives without compromising on flavor or quality.

Techniques like fermentation, which boosts gut health, and cold-pressing, preserving nutritional integrity, are highlighted.

Consumers are encouraged to explore products leveraging these innovations, as they tend to offer superior nutritional profiles.

Adding in more plants to your diet, (but don’t forget the benefits of dairy and meat in moderation), the report advises looking for products that highlight the natural benefits and flavors of plantsover those laden with additives to mimic animal products.

When looking for animal products, seek quality fish, meat and poultry.

Aging Populations: Forward-Thinking Nutrition

An aging population necessitates a proactive stance on nutrition. For the aging demographic, it calls for nutritious, accessible, and easy-to-prepare food options to meet older adults’ unique needs. Suggestions include focusing on foods that support cognitive health, bone density, and hydration, such as fatty fish, calcium and vitamin D-fortified dairy, and easily consumable fruits like berries and melons.

“According to the United Nations, one in six people (1.4 billion people) will be aged 60 or older by 2030.

While seniors are a diverse group with diverse needs, protein and hydration are two important areas to focus innovation on.”

Key Takeaways for Consumers: Navigating the Nutrition and Wellness Landscape

Prioritize Holistic Health: Embrace a diverse diet that bolsters heart, weight, and hormone health with a focus on nutrient-dense foods. Moderation and variation is key!
Embrace Transparency: Opt for products with straightforward labelling (see our label guide here!) and appreciate the value of traditional food processing methods.
Explore Innovation: Remain open to trying products that incorporate purposeful processing technologies to boost nutritional value without sacrificing taste. Embrace new technologies in the food space, they may just benefit you from a nutrition standpoint and a sustainability standpoint!

This analysis of the Mintel report provides an educational guide for consumers aiming to make informed decisions about their health and nutrition amidst changing global food trends. The key is to remain curious, adaptable, and informed, paving the way for a healthier, more sustainable lifestyle. But how do we know where to get our nutrition research?

Other Considerations

In addition to the insights provided, Mintel mentions that it’s crucial to consider the impact of digital technology and social media on consumer health choices and perceptions.

The rise of health and wellness apps, online communities, and influencer-led health trends significantly influence dietary decisions, often blurring the lines between scientifically backed advice and anecdotal evidence. Understanding how to critically evaluate these sources of information and discern credible advice from mere fads is essential for consumers aiming to make informed health decisions. [HP1]

Furthermore, the role of mental health in overall wellness, emphasizing the importance of a balanced approach that nurtures both the mind and body, remains a critical area for exploration. The Mintel report focuses on the physical aspects of health, but the psychological impacts of diet, including how food choices can affect our mood and stress levels, are equally crucial. Incorporating foods known to support mental health, such as those rich in omega-3 fatty acids, magnesium, and probiotics, can be another actionable step for consumers.

To avoid falling for societal misconceptions about health and nutrition, consumers can take several proactive steps:

Critical Evaluation: Learn to critically evaluate health and nutrition information, checking the credibility of sources and the evidence behind claims. Are studies peer reviewed? Is the website selling their product which supports their analysis? Who is funding the study? Does it come from a reputable university or research engine? Is it an EDU or ORG website? This skepticism can help navigate through marketing hype and focus on scientifically backed advice.
Personalization: Recognize that dietary needs are highly individual. What works for one person may not work for another due to differences in metabolism, lifestyle, and health conditions. Consulting with healthcare providers or dietitians can help tailor dietary choices to individual needs.
Long-term Perspective: Adopt a long-term perspective on health and nutrition, focusing on sustainable changes rather than quick fixes (aka no fad dieting!). Slow and steady often wins the race when it comes to lasting health improvements.

By adopting these practices, consumers can navigate the forest of nutrition and wellness with confidence, making informed decisions that support their health and well-being in a balanced and sustainable way.

April 9, 2024April 11, 2024

Can Fast Food be Sustainable?

Chipotle’s ambitious initiative to embrace and invest in the future of food through its $100 million Cultivate Next venture fund demonstrates a forward-thinking approach to the customer experience and increases access to real food.

“Our decision to double our commitment to our Cultivate Next venture fund is a clear indicator that we are investing in the right companies that we can learn from and utilize to improve the human experience of our restaurant teams, farmers, and suppliers,” said Curt Garner, Chief Customer and Technology Officer, Chipotle. Garner continues:

“The parallel growth of Chipotle and our partners will continue to further our mission to Cultivate a Better World by increasing access to real food.”

Technologies in play

The significant investments in the fund include Hyphen. The Hyphen robot represents a joint venture between Chipotle and Hyphen, aiming to revolutionize how Chipotle prepares its bowls and salads. These menu items, which form a large chunk of Chipotle’s online orders, are assembled with the help of an automated system that accurately dispenses ingredients into dishes as they move along a lower conveyor belt.

This innovative approach is designed to boost order preparation speed and precision, freeing staff members to dedicate more time to customer interactions and other essential duties. Currently under evaluation, this technological enhancement seeks to refine Chipotle’s digital service capabilities and elevate the overall dining experience for its customers.

Another fund component is an investment in GreenField Robotics, which is revolutionizing farming practices with its innovative approach to regenerative agriculture. The company leverages artificial intelligence, robotics, and sophisticated sensors, to deploy autonomous robots that manage weeds in crop fields without harmful chemicals.

These robots are designed to operate day and night, navigating between rows of crops to target and remove weeds precisely, thus significantly reducing the reliance on traditional herbicides. This method supports the health of the soil and the ecosystem and presents a sustainable and cost-effective alternative to conventional farming methods.

Nitricity is another component of the innovation investment. Nitricity is a company that produces nitrogen fertilizers through a sustainable and innovative process. This process involves creating “artificial lightning” to break down nitrogen from the air, which is then combined with rainwater to form nitrate, a natural fertilizer. This method is inspired by the natural process where lightning breaks atmospheric nitrogen into nitrates that nourish the soil.

Nitricity’s approach aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions associated with traditional nitrogen fertilizer production methods, such as the Haber-Bosch process, which is energy-intensive and relies heavily on fossil fuels. The investment aligns with Chipotle’s sustainability goals and commitment to enhancing food integrity throughout its supply chain.

By incorporating Nitricity’s climate-smart fertilizer into its agricultural practices, Chipotle aims to support more sustainable and environmentally friendly farming practices.

The Meati Foods investment enhances Chipotle’s menu with sustainable plant-based protein options that are aligned with its Food with Integrity standards. Using a fermentation-based process, Meati develops alternative proteins derived from mushroom roots, specifically mycelium. This method results in products that mimic chicken and steak in texture, flavor, high protein, high fiber, and no cholesterol.

Cultivated indoors, Meati Foods ensures its products are grown clean and free from common agricultural contaminants. Through the “Eat Meati” brand, the company is committed to offering nutritious, whole-food options that are environmentally friendly.

Zero Acre Farms is a food company focused on healthy, sustainable oils and fats that is on a mission to end the food industry’s dependence on vegetable oils. The company has introduced a new category of healthy oils and fats made by fermentation that are more environmentally friendly. Chipotle is in the early trials of testing Zero Acre Farms at its Cultivate Center test kitchen in Irvine, California.

Industry Players Invest in Fast Food’s Future

Several other fast-food companies invest significantly in food innovations, leveraging technology to address global challenges such as food security, affordability, and safety. These companies are exploring various technologies, including artificial intelligence, robotics, sustainable packaging, plant-based alternatives, and blockchain for supply chain transparency.

Here’s a list of notable players alongside Chipotle that are actively investing in the future of food:

McDonald’s is incorporating AI learning into its operations, making strides in the alternative packaging space, providing plant-based options, and investing in improved supply chain technologies—all ways that they are investing in and prioritizing health and sustainability.
KFC is experimenting with 3D bioprinting technology to create lab-grown chicken nuggets to offer more sustainable and ethical meat options.
Domino’s Pizza uses drones and autonomous vehicles to reduce delivery times and costs.
Burger King focuses on sustainability through initiatives like reducing greenhouse gas emissions and offering plant-based burger options like the Impossible Whopper, made from soy leghemoglobin, the same ingredient in the Impossible Burger, to cater to a broader range of dietary preferences.
Starbucks invests in sustainable practices, including efforts to reduce waste and water use. It is also exploring plant-based menu items to provide more environmentally friendly and healthier options.
Wendy’s utilizes food safety and quality assurance technology, implementing advanced tracking and monitoring systems in its supply chain.
Taco Bell is innovating its menu to include vegetarian and low-impact food options, aiming to make the fast-food industry more inclusive and sustainable.

Impact of Innovations on Food System

Why should we care about the investments these companies are making? The impact spreads far beyond the decision of “what’s for lunch today” and will untimely touch our children’s and their children’s lives.

Food Security: Innovations, especially in plant-based proteins and lab-grown meats, can significantly contribute to food security by providing alternative sources of nutrition, ensuring a stable food supply in the face of growing global demand and environmental challenges.

Affordability: Automation and AI in food preparation and delivery can lower operational costs, potentially making food more affordable for consumers. These companies can offer competitive pricing while maintaining quality by optimizing supply chains and reducing waste through better inventory management.

Safety: Technological advancements such as blockchain for transparent supply chains and AI for monitoring food quality can enhance food safety. These technologies allow for better tracking of ingredients from farm to table, ensuring that food meets health standards and reducing the risk of contamination and foodborne illnesses.

Answering a Call-to-Action by Consumers

These investments also answer a call from consumers, who, in recent years, have put the majority of the onus on food companies to lead the way for positive change. Today’s consumers are increasingly conscious of their food choices’ health, environmental, and social impacts. This heightened awareness drives demand for healthier, more sustainable, affordable food options. Consequently, consumers rely on food companies to make significant investments and changes to meet these expectations.

Consumers are seeking convenient, nutritious options tailored to various dietary needs, such as low-calorie, low-fat, plant-based, and allergen-free options. They expect food companies to innovate to reduce the use of artificial ingredients, preservatives, and high sugars and fats without compromising taste or affordability.

There’s also a growing demand for food produced in an environmentally friendly and ethically responsible manner. Consumers are looking for companies that invest in sustainable agriculture practices, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, minimize water usage, and ensure animal welfare. They are also increasingly interested in local sourcing and reducing food miles. Moreover, sustainable packaging solutions to reduce plastic waste are critical to consumer choices.

While consumers strongly desire healthier and more sustainable food options, they also demand affordability. The challenge for food companies is to balance the cost of implementing innovative and sustainable practices with the need to keep prices accessible to a broad audience. This requires efficient production and distribution practices and, sometimes, rethinking entire supply chains to maintain competitive pricing.

To build and maintain consumer trust, food companies must be transparent about their practices, including sourcing, ingredient lists, nutritional information, and environmental impacts. Technology, such as blockchain, often facilitates this transparency by tracing the journey of food from farm to table, assuring consumers of the quality and safety of their food.

In response to these consumer expectations, food companies increasingly invest in research and development to create new products that meet these criteria. Companies like Chipotle are adopting innovative technologies to improve food production efficiency, exploring alternative ingredients to make their products healthier and more sustainable, and reevaluating their supply chains to increase transparency and reduce environmental impact.

These investments are not only a response to consumer demand but also an acknowledgment of food companies’ role in addressing global challenges like climate change, health issues, and food security. By aligning their strategies with consumer expectations, food companies can ensure long-term viability and contribute to a more sustainable and healthy food system.

April 3, 2024April 12, 2024

Why are foods with sugar & fat so irresistible?

You know those moments when you’re faced with a gooey chocolate chip cookie or a crispy slice of bacon, and it feels like your brain is staging a full-blown rebellion against your dieting efforts? Well, it turns out there’s some fascinating science behind why these irresistible foods have a hypnotic hold over us.

Picture your brain as a bustling city with a network of roads. Now, imagine the flow of traffic on these roads is the signals sent by your gut, specifically, the vagus nerve. This nerve is like the messenger between your tummy and your brain, and its job is to tell your brain what’s going on in your belly.

For the longest time, scientists were like detectives trying to crack the case of why we’re so drawn to unhealthy foods. They were on a mission to discover the secret behind our food cravings. But the real puzzle was this: why do our brains go crazy over fats and sugars, especially when they team up in delightful duos like donuts or cookies?

What does new research reveal?

In the February 2024 issue of the Monell Chemical Senses Center‘s Cell Metabolism Journal, a team of scientists unraveled this culinary enigma. They discovered that it all starts in our gut, not in our taste buds.

You see, there are dedicated pathways in our vagus nerve for various things, including a pathway for fats and another for sugars, that act like separate lanes on that culinary highway we talked about. When you munch on something fatty, the fat pathway lights up like a neon sign in Las Vegas, and when you indulge in something sweet, the sugar pathway does a little happy dance.

Now, here’s where it gets even more interesting. Imagine these pathways as two separate party invitations: one for fats and another for sugars. When you’re at a party, you’re having fun, right? Well, our brain is no different. It enjoys these food parties, too. But here’s the kicker – when you combine fats and sugars, it’s like sending out a double invitation to the brain’s ultimate party central.

These two pathways join forces, and your brain responds with a surge of dopamine, the pleasure chemical, making you want more of that irresistible combo.

So, what does all of this mean for your eating habits? Well, your brain can be secretly wired to seek out these high-fat, high-sugar combos, even when you’re consciously trying stay away from these foods.

It’s like your gut has a sneaky food agenda, and it’s operating undercover.

But don’t despair! There’s a glimmer of hope on the horizon. The scientists behind this discovery believe that understanding this gut-brain connection could lead to some pretty cool strategies and treatments. By tinkering with these pathways, we might have a shot at making healthier food choices, even in the face of those devilishly tempting treats.

So, the next time you find yourself eyeing that mouthwatering chocolate cake, remember: it’s not just about will power; it’s a brain party happening on a microscopic level. And while the battle between your taste buds and your brain rages on, science is on the case, working to help you make healthier choices without sacrificing all the delicious fun.

Issues with overindulging

Overindulging in foods rich in sugar and unhealthy fats can have serious health consequences. One of the most immediate risks is weight gain, as these foods are often calorie-dense.

Weight gain can contribute to obesity, a significant risk factor for various health problems such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and certain cancers.

Liver health can be compromised by high sugar intake, particularly fructose found in common sweeteners like table sugar and high fructose corn syrup. This can lead to non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), which may progress to more severe liver problems.

Mental health can also be impacted, as sugar and fat-rich diets can cause mood swings, irritability, and even symptoms of depression.

Inflammation is another concern associated with these diets, contributing to conditions like arthritis, autoimmune diseases, and a heightened risk of certain cancers.

Dental health is affected by excess sugar consumption, as it provides a breeding ground for bacteria in the mouth that produce acids, leading to tooth decay and gum disease.

Additionally, excessive sugar intake can disrupt the balance of gut bacteria, potentially leading to digestive problems.

Tips to combat The Urge

While the scientific discoveries about our brain’s response to fats and sugars are fascinating, you don’t have to surrender to your cravings. Here are some practical tips to help you combat the effects of these food temptations:

Be Mindful of Portions

Instead of completely avoiding your favorite treats, practice portion control. Enjoy a small piece of that chocolate or a single bite of your favorite high-fat snack. Savor the flavor without going overboard.

Diversify Your Diet

Make sure your meals are balanced and include a variety of foods. Incorporate plenty of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean proteins, and healthy fats into your daily meals. This can help reduce the intensity of your cravings for high-fat, high-sugar items.

Stay Hydrated

Sometimes, thirst can be mistaken for hunger. Before reaching for that sugary or fatty snack, have a glass of water. Staying hydrated can help reduce cravings.

Plan Your Indulgences

Designate specific times or days when you’ll allow yourself to enjoy your favorite treats. Knowing that you have a treat coming up can make it easier to resist spontaneous cravings.

Keep Temptations Out of Sight

If you have a weakness for certain foods, try not to keep them readily accessible at home or in your workspace. Out of sight, out of mind!

Get Moving

Exercise can boost your mood and reduce cravings. So, when you’re hit with a craving, take a brisk walk or do a quick workout to distract your mind.

Mindful Eating

Pay attention to what you’re eating and savor every bite. Eating mindfully can help you enjoy your meals more fully and prevent overindulgence.

Healthy Alternatives

Seek out healthier alternatives to satisfy your cravings. For example, if you’re craving something sweet, opt for fresh fruit or a small piece of dark chocolate. If you’re craving something savory, try air-popped popcorn instead of chips.

Seek Support

If you find it challenging to control your cravings, consider seeking support from a registered dietitian, therapist, or support group. They can provide strategies and encouragement tailored to your specific needs.

Remember, you’re not alone in facing these cravings, and it’s entirely possible to make healthier choices without depriving yourself completely. By incorporating these tips and staying mindful of your eating habits, you can combat the effects of the brain’s love for fats and sugars while still enjoying the pleasures of good food. It’s all about finding that tasty balance!

March 29, 2024

Could Ozempic Ignite Food’s Healthier Future?

Today, the weight loss drugs highlight a consumer movement against processed and ultra-processed foods. These foods have added ingredients such as sugar, salt, unhealthy fats, and artificial colors that provide no nutritional value…except great taste.

Eaten as an indulgence, they are not terrible. But, unfortunately, many people indulge in these treats as a dietary staple.

The Search for Nutrition

Consumers today are looking for nutritious foods. Foods that not only treat existing diseases but prevent ones from appearing. Foods that help you manage your health and help you age gracefully, with ‘food as medicine’ the sought-after goal.

Innova Market Insights identified nutritional value and balanced nutrition, along with naturalness are important for consumers.

Ingredients containing protein, Omega-3, fiber, vitamins, prebiotics, probiotics, and even esoteric mushrooms such as ashwagandha and lion’s mane are high in demand. Mintel also identified a changing attitude toward extending life in good health.

How GLP-1 Drugs Affect Our Diet

Further fueling demand for a healthier, more nutritious diet are among those taking a new class of prescription drugs: GLP-1 agonists. These medications, like Ozempic and Wegovy, help lower blood sugar levels and promote weight loss.

Morgan Stanley’s research survey of 300 patients taking a GLP-1 agonist found that these drugs reduced their daily appetite by 20-30 percent. They lost their appetite for candy, sugary drinks, and baked goods, creating room for adding healthy foods to their diet.

Especially as those on the GLP-1 drugs are not that hungry and might not meet the full 2,000-calorie minimal daily requirement, it is essential that what they do eat in a day provides their full complement of minerals and vitamins.

As the obesity epidemic continues to rise, so will the associated health issues such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes, certain cancers, and fatty liver disease.

Today, about 69 percent, or 178 million adults, are either overweight or obese. Adult obesity is at 42.4 percent and is expected to climb to 50 percent in just six years.

GLP-1 drugs seem to hold the answer to obesity, heart disease, and diabetes. Morgan Stanley estimated that 7 percent of the U.S. population will be take GLP-1 medications by 2035. This equates to a potential $44 billion market by 2030.

Will Food Sales Decline?

Grocers and consumer products companies worry about the future if more and more people are cutting 20-30% of their calories out of their diet.

In the fall of 2023, Walmart announced that it had seen a slight drop in food demand due to appetite-suppressing medications. It might be too soon to tell given that there is such a small percentage of the population on these weight loss programs, but as the numbers increase, how will CPG companies prepare?

However, CPG companies and grocers can benefit from this trend; consumers don’t have to be hurt by purchasing less food. Of course, if everyone ate more fruits and vegetables and fewer cookies, then obesity would not be an issue.

At D2D, we have written about changing one’s diet, but it is hard. What you eat is what you crave. Can anything be done to meet our nutritional needs while sating our tastebuds?

**How about a Healthy Oreo?**

There are over 14 unique Oreos to choose from, with ‘Double Stuff’ being our favorite, mostly because it is reminiscent of our childhood.

But sadly, there is no benefit to eating these every day. Despite their great taste, they have no nutritional value, 12 grams of sugar, and 150 calories for just two cookies. They would be considered an indulgence and not a ‘food’.

What if the Oreo had the same basic ingredients but with added health benefits?

What if the creamy filling included Omega 3s for heart health, and fiber in the cookie for lowering cholesterol, aiding gut health, and reducing the risk of heart disease? Some vitamins like D3 could be added as an extra immune benefit. Instead of sugar, there could be stevia to keep the taste.

The mouthfeel and taste that any saturated fat provides could be replaced by an alternative fat from a plant oil called Epogee.

To be fair, in 2021, Mondelez did try to launch the Oreo Zero in China. Instead of sugar, they used sucrose and glucose, which gave a different taste from the original Oreo. They chose China because those consumers like less sugar in their snacks. Needless to say, it was not a success. Some of you readers might remember the backlash against the ‘New Coke’ in 1985. A change in the 99-year formula was a complete flop because Coca-Cola lovers liked the ‘Real Thing’.

How can CPG Companies Benefit?

But are CPG companies ready to make such big changes? Already, many are starting to address their concerns about the potential for declining food consumption.

According to Food Dive, Coca-Cola and PepsiCo have introduced small cans in response to consumers cutting back on sugar. Also, snack companies have created 100-calorie small snacks. Some have reduced salt and others have reformulated their products for added nutrition. But is it the right answer?

CPG companies have a range of opportunities to create healthier products. These changes can have meaningful impacts on consumer health.

How can the pharmaceutical industry influence the snack industry?

Healthier Product Formulations:

CPG companies can reformulate existing snacks to align with healthier profiles. For instance, reducing added sugars, saturated fats, and sodium content.
Whole grains, fiber, and protein can be added in to create more satisfying and nutritious snacks.
CPG companies can focus on nutrient-dense options that provide sustained energy.

Functional Ingredients:

Incorporating functional ingredients like prebiotics, probiotics, Omega-3, turmeric, and additional antioxidants can enhance the nutritional value of snacks.
GLP-1 users may want to seek snacks that support gut health and overall well-being.

Portion Control and Mindful Snacking:

Ozempic’s appetite-suppressing effects may encourage consumers to eat smaller portions.
CPG companies can develop snack packs with smaller, healthier portions, promoting mindful eating.
GLP-1’s impact on cravings could lead to decreased consumption of empty-calorie snacks (e.g., sugary treats).

Marketing Strategies:

Highlighting diabetes-friendly, weight-conscious, or blood sugar-friendly snacks can resonate with GLP-1 users.
Transparent labeling and clear health benefits can attract health-conscious consumers.

Collaboration with Healthcare Professionals:

CPG companies can collaborate with healthcare providers to educate consumers about healthier snack choices.
Ozempic users may appreciate guidance on suitable snacks to complement their treatment.

March 14, 2024April 12, 2024

Are we what we eat? A Netflix film thinks so…

Netflix’s “You Are What You Eat: A Twin Experiment,” directed by the acclaimed Louie Psihoyos, presents a look at the effects of diet on health through the unique lens of an 8-week ‘controlled’ study by Stanford University. The documentary series, released in January 2024, unfolds the intriguing findings from an experiment involving 22 sets of genetically identical twins.

The overarching message of the series is that ‘meat is bad for you, and plants are good for you’, as is seemingly made evident by Dr. Christopher D. Gardner, Ph.D., the study’s author and principal investigator. However, a closer examination of the study uncovers limitations and concerns.

The study’s premise was straightforward: each twin was assigned a different diet—one vegan, one omnivore—both seemingly balanced and nutritious. Initially, the twins received pre-prepared meals to ensure dietary adherence, followed by a transition to self-prepared meals for practical application. Commentators then chime in to provide additional insights based on their expertise, including NYC Mayor Eric Adams, Senator Cory Booker, Dr. Michael Greger, and Marion Nestle.

Considering Overall Health

We agree that a diet rich in fresh produce and limited in red meat is certainly the way to go!

But before you jump into all vegan diet, consider some of the drawbacks and how to manage them. This film entices you to become a vegan because the twin that eliminated meat showed significant outcomes: a 10% to 15% decrease in LDL cholesterol, a 25% reduction in insulin levels, and a 3% weight loss—all achieved through whole, plant-based foods without any animal products. Conversely, those on the omnivore diet showed no significant health benefits.

While the vegan group experienced positive changes in their LDL cholesterol (the bad one) and weight loss, they also had negative changes in HDL cholesterol (the good one) and triglycerides (bad fat). High triglycerides may contribute to the hardening of the arteries or thickening of the artery wall, therefore, contributing to heart disease.

Furthermore, the oversight of potential risks associated with Vitamin B12 deficiency in the documentary is a significant concern. Vegetarians need to take a B12 supplement to make sure they have enough of this crucial nutrient for their overall health, particularly for the proper functioning of our nervous system and the production of red blood cells.

Additionally, the documentary‘s observation that the weight loss in the vegan group primarily consisted of muscle loss raises concerns about the impact of unbalanced weight loss strategies.

Losing muscle mass during weight loss is generally undesirable because muscle tissue plays a crucial role in metabolism, physical strength, and overall well-being.

Muscles help burn calories and support daily activities, and their loss can lead to a decrease in metabolic rate, making it harder to maintain a healthy weight.

Another noteworthy concern is its feasibility as a long-term diet. Most participants in this study reported lower dietary satisfaction with a vegan diet suggests that long-term adherence to such a diet may be challenging for many individuals. This aspect challenges the feasibility and practicality of adopting a vegan lifestyle for a substantial portion of the population.

If you’re interested in adopting a better way of eating that eschews the potential bias, the study’s limitations, potential deficiency risks, and the challenges associated with long-term dietary adherence, consider The Mediterranean Diet. This tried and true eating style has the most peer-reviewed research showing its positive effects towards living a long and healthful life.

And should you want your diet to factor in particular health concerns, consider researching epigenetics. This is the study of how your behaviors and your environment can cause changes in how your body reads your DNA.

Ideological Issues

There are plenty of healthy vegans, so that is not the issue. It seems as though those affiliated with the documentary is using diet to make a political stance on meat.

This becomes evident when we consider the affiliations of Dr. Gardner one of the study authors, who is connected to Beyond Meat, a prominent producer of plant-based meat alternatives. While financial conflicts of interest were disclosed in the study, there is also a strong conviction in promoting a plant-based diet.

The film also focuses on animal welfare concerns associated with meat production but fails to address issues related to growing our food. Every single bite we take has its own, including labor issues, pesticide concerns, and water usage, to name a few.

By solely emphasizing animal rights, the documentary neglects broader ethical and environmental considerations in our food system that span to crops and plant-based diet foodstuffs as well. This documentary falls into the same category as so many others.

Not The First…and Certainly Not The Last

Consumers are often drawn to exciting and visually compelling documentaries about food, especially when they promise groundbreaking revelations about nutrition and health.

These documentaries can be engaging, emotionally charged, and persuasive, making them highly effective in shaping public opinion. However, it’s important for consumers to recognize that these films are often crafted with a specific agenda or perspective in mind and overlook some core components.

While documentaries can provide valuable insights into various aspects of our food system, they should not be the sole source of information when it comes to making important dietary decisions. Here’s why consumers should exercise caution and seek factual resources for nutrition information:

To make informed decisions about nutrition, consumers should seek out a variety of reputable, evidence-based resources. These can include peer-reviewed scientific journals, registered dietitians or nutritionists, government health agencies, and academic institutions specializing in nutrition and health research.

By consulting a range of sources and critically evaluating information, consumers can make dietary choices that are based on a well-rounded understanding of nutrition rather than being swayed solely by the excitement of a compelling documentary.

March 6, 2024April 22, 2024

Uncovering Illegal Fishing Boats

Growing up in northern New England, we were spoiled with abundant fresh, local seafood. It wasn’t until I moved away that I realized how good I had it eating freshly caught fish. The United States imports 70-80% of its seafood, mostly from China, Thailand, Canada, Indonesia, Vietnam, and Ecuador.

My new reality was pulling out my phone at the seafood counter in my grocery store to find out where the catch originated. But with confusing adjectives, like “line caught,” “wild,” “farmed,” “no antibiotic-free,” “pole caught,” and “sustainable,”… I ended up just sticking with salmon farmed in Norway, where I knew the standard was high.

Turns out, I had every reason to be overly cautious. A study released in the January 2024 issue of Nature reports that 75% of global fishing vessels are untraceable. Research jointly conducted by Global Fishing Watch, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Duke University, UC Santa Barbara, and SkyTruth, gave concrete insights into this murky world of “dark vessels”. These stealthy ships roam the seas, plundering marine resources without a trace.

Understanding Dark Vessel Fishing

Dark vessel fishing ships operate well beyond the reach of regulation and oversight, hence the name ‘dark’. Their impropriety threatens the delicate balance of marine ecosystems across the globe, not to mention posing a significant concern to global food security, economic stability, and the livelihoods of millions of people who depend on the ocean for sustenance.

The fishing industry has experienced a slowdown in recent years. Prolonged COVID shutdowns and overfishing in previous decades, as well as an increase in on-land and shore-based aquaculture operations, have contributed to decreased demand. Despite this, seafood remains a $250 billion market, with an estimated loss due to illegal fishing as high as $23.5 billion.

Illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) activity continues to proliferate, prompted by an increasing demand for fish. As long as there are fish to capture, these stealthy ships will attempt to reap profits by exploiting fishing grounds beyond the reach of authorities.

IUU fishing vessels use a variety of tactics to evade detection, from turning off or manipulating their automatic identification system (AIS) transponders to operating in remote and poorly monitored ocean regions. The result is a cat-and-mouse game between authorities and illicit operators, with significant implications for marine biodiversity and the sustainability of global fisheries.

“A new industrial revolution has been emerging in our seas undetected—until now. On land, we have detailed maps of almost every road and building on the planet.

In contrast, growth in our ocean has been largely hidden from public view.”

– David Kroodsma, study author, Global Fishing Watch

Identifying Dark Vessels

The study, conducted by an international team of researchers, analyzed satellite data and harnessed the power of artificial intelligence to track the movements of dark vessel fishing boats to identify hotspots of illegal fishing activity and gain a deeper understanding of the factors driving these activities.

The study’s findings paint a troubling picture of the prevalence of dark vessel fishing across various regions of the world, even in marine protected areas like the Galapagos Marine Reserve. Their study also found more than 25 percent of transport and energy vessels are considered “dark.”

“Historically, vessel activity has been poorly documented, limiting our understanding of how the world’s largest public resource—the ocean—is being used.

By combining space technology with state-of-the-art machine learning, we mapped undisclosed industrial activity at sea on a scale never done before.”

– Fernando Paolo, study author, Global Fishing Watch

Collecting and analyzing the incomprehensible amount of data (2 thousand terabytes worth) needed to find this specific information was no small feat. Thankfully, these brilliant researchers mined disparate sets of public data to pinpoint exact locations of fishing vessels, both traceable and non-traceable.

They started with amassing satellite images of coastal waters worldwide from the European Space Agency from 2017 to 2021. They then created proprietary automated technology to identify which of those vessels were fishing boats. Next, the researchers compared images of the ships with public records disclosing their AIS location to determine which vessels did not broadcast their whereabouts.

Armed with this information, they create a “heat map” to show legal and illegal fishing activity across the globe:

Targeting Dark Vessel Locations

One of the key insights revealed by the research is the concentration of dark vessel fishing activity in some geographic regions.

Despite public AIS records indicating a somewhat distributed sprawl across most continents, these researchers prove that most illegal activity occurs in Asia.

The study identified several regions in Asia as the primary hotspots of IUU activity, notably Southeast and East Asia.

These regions are characterized by complex maritime disputes, porous borders, a vast array of fish species, and limited law enforcement presence to oversee farmed aquaculture practices, environmental protections, water toxicity, and many other factors.

“Publicly available data wrongly suggests that Asia and Europe have similar amounts of fishing within their borders, but our mapping reveals that Asia dominates — for every 10 fishing vessels we found on the water, seven were in Asia while only one was in Europe.

By revealing dark vessels, we have created the most comprehensive public picture of global industrial fishing available.”

–Jennifer Raynor, study author, University of Wisconsin-Madison

This lethal combination creates fertile ground for dark vessel operators to carry out an unconscionable number of illicit activities, especially in specific hotbeds of IUU activity:

Korean Peninsula

In East Asia, the waters off the Korean Peninsula have become premier battlegrounds in the fight against IUU fishing, with crustaceans, shellfish, and finfish populating the waters.

Also of note, South Korea is the largest global consumer of seafood. Surprisingly, 65% of their seafood is imported, despite their seemingly abundant waters.

Bay of Bengal

Similarly, the Bay of Bengal off the coast of South Asia’s Bangladesh and Myanmar, has emerged as a hotspot of illegal fishing activity, where 100% of all fishing activity is not tracked.

And to make matters worse, some fishers off of these shores use poison to catch the area’s abundance of finfish and shrimp. This not only damages the health of those who consume the poisoned products, but it also endangers the largest mangrove forest ecosystem in the world.

Strengthening Global Cooperation & Enforcement Efforts

This study can serve as a loud and clear warning sign for all of us. Addressing the scourge of dark vessel fishing requires international cooperation, significant investment in monitoring and onsite enforcement, and promoting sustainable fishing practices are all essential components of a comprehensive strategy to combat IUU fishing.

Though daunting, this undertaking would help recover an estimated global economic loss due to illegal fishing as high as $23.5 billion annually. Not to mention the restoration of vulnerable coastal communities and local economies suffering from devastating poverty and food insecurity.

Furthermore, this methodology can be easily adapted to tackle other global issues, like climate change. Mapping all vessels can improve estimates of oceanic carbon emissions and track marine degradation.

“Previously, this type of satellite monitoring was only available to those who could pay for it. Now it is freely available to all nations.

This study marks the beginning of a new era in ocean management and transparency.”

– David Kroodsma, study author, Global Fishing Watch

Much can be learned from this team of researchers in terms of determination to source discreet data sets around the globe, innovative implementation of artificial intelligence, and cross-organization cooperation. If we follow suit, we can find new ways to shine a light on these activities and hold those responsible for their crimes.

What We Can Do Today

We can empower ourselves right away by realizing the trickle-down effect of our everyday purchase decisions. If we don’t buy fish products sourced from countries like Bangladesh, Myanmar, and other areas of the world with rampant dark vessels, fewer IUU ships will bother fishing in less lucrative territories.

As for discrete locations, if you prefer wild-caught, stick with fish caught in the northern shores of Europe. For farmed, consider fish from reputable countries like Norway, Scotland, Canada, and Chile.

Organizations focused on sustainable seafood can provide practical, research-based recommendations, too. Seafood Watch creates helpful guides to better navigate our grocery aisles and stick to more sustainable species and acceptable countries of origin (here’s the Watch’s guide for shrimp). You can also keep an eye out for the Marine Stewardship Council’s blue “MSC” label to stick with sustainable fish species.

Still can’t find the country of origin for the fish you want? Ask someone, whether it’s the associate behind the seafood counter, customer service at the grocery store, or the waiter who must ask the chef. If many of us ask this question wherever we purchase seafood, more industry players will be compelled to start readily providing these details.

March 1, 2024March 1, 2024

Food Security: A Critical Element of Global Conflict

Psychologists tell us we all have the same instinct. When threatened, our first instinct is to flee – just get away from the problem. Walk away from the bully. Leave the bar when the debate over the “greatest quarterback of all time” gets too heated. Go to the other end of the table when that in-law starts on the all-too-familiar political rant at the family reunion dinner. (And in my family, just get out of town until the grand jury is no longer in session.)

And around the world, the issue is much more serious. For millions of people worldwide, the option has become more drastic —

Simply pack up everything you can carry and head for the border.

Recent migration trends

The United Nations in 2020 estimated there were 281 million emigrants worldwide, or roughly 3.6 percent of the entire global population. The flow of people occurs around the world – Europe, Asia, Africa, North and South America – no area is immune.

In the United States, authorities last year admitted over 820,000 migrants, up from 797,800 in the previous year. Border officials report the flow of all immigrants into the United States – euphemistically referred to as “encounters with authorities” — was more like 2.8 million, up from 2.7 million in 2022.

Immigration has been a key factor in U.S. growth and development, certainly. “Migrant stock” – meaning those living in the country now but born in another country – in 2015 was estimated at more than 46 million – or more than 14 percent of our entire population.

The United States added 1.6 million to our population last year, bringing us to 334.9 million, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Of that increase, more than two-thirds came from international migration. With a U.S. birth rate of just 12 births per 1,000 people, migrants drive our nation’s population growth.

Conflict ignites flight…or fight

The flood of people seeking to flee their home countries attracts widespread attention.

For instance, in 2023, 1.55 million people fled Sudan to nearby countries such as Ethiopia, Egypt and Chad because of a war between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces. Since the war began, over 6 million have fled Ukraine for parts of Europe. And so do a comparable flood of stories about armed conflict around the world. The two phenomena may have more in common than the headlines reveal.

Those same psychologists who explain our propensity for “flight” also point to another human characteristic – the “fight or flight” syndrome. What happens when it’s simply impossible to flee a bad situation? What happens when you simply can’t run to a new home, a new town, or a new country? And what are the reasons so many places around the world seem to have taken the “fight” option?

There are no easy answers to those questions.

The sheer scale of the problem is immediately daunting. The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) currently follows more than 20 active global conflicts, spanning the entire globe, plus major lingering arenas of conflict in places like the Middle East, India and Pakistan, and large parts of Africa.

Some are long-standing territorial disputes, some the latest front in a continuing history of corruption and political instability. The specific combination of contributing factors may vary from each situation to another. However, it is possible to see some of the broad categories of causes of open conflict. Think of the situation in just a few key areas:

Open and hidden aggression

As the long-running battle in Ukraine makes clear, sometimes conflict can be triggered by outside forces – one country or outside entity intent on seizing control, economic resources, or other perceived national interests. The aggression can be an open invasion, as in the case of Ukraine, or through continuing acts of terrorism designed to produce the same results.

Many regional conflicts are rooted in a continuing pattern of terroristic acts, with proxy agents providing a thin veneer of deniability among nations. This kind of aggression usually has been bubbling for generations and maintains perpetual full employment in diplomatic circles.

The vicious circle of poverty, food security & hunger-related disease

When people can’t afford or are denied access to the nutritious food they need, their health suffers dramatically. Poor, oppressed, starving people have nothing to lose by taking up arms, especially if flight is made dangerous or impossible. The “Arab Spring” of the 2010s sprung in part from the rising cost and increasing lack of food.

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates that levels of malnourished populations have been rising steadily since 2014 around the world, reaching 8.9 percent of the world’s population prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Between 2018 and 2019 alone, the number of hungry people expanded by 10 million.

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates the ranks of the global malnourished have increased by over 150 million since then. If people will take up arms over a tank of gasoline, imagine what they will do to ensure food for their families.

The incidence of natural disasters

Floods, drought, high temperatures, hurricanes and typhoons, earthquakes – all destroy homes, communities, and lives. But some catastrophes can also fuel food insecurity or social unrest, destroying local agricultural productivity and the food supply chain.

Significant damage to the natural resource base can be a strong influence on the willingness of people to relocate – or to fight for those resources possessed by others. The conflict may be between nations, or within one, as the situation in Somalia has made clear. Civil war can be just as vicious as international conflict.

Breakdown in social order & institutions

Modern society is rooted in the presence of certain basic institutions and systems: efficient and effective government administration, a fair and impartial legal system, a stable financial system, some form of functioning, transparent market system to establish prices and value, and fundamental human services such as safe water, power and personal protection.

Criminality and especially criminal violence must be controlled. When any of those critical elements of society fail or are called into question, the foundation of social stability is threatened. When corruption and incompetence reach critical levels, strikes, street demonstrations, political resistance –and conflict – become increasingly appealing options – and the source of many civil wars plaguing nations on the CFR list.

Taking a closer look

Ask Venezuela for details, if you want – or any country plagued by government failure to protect its citizens and internal terrorist attacks. You can learn more about Venezuela’s conflict-ridden system below; Somalia and Gaza & West Bank are also listed to serve as tragic examples of designated conflict areas, too.

February 21, 2024March 1, 2024

Can We Eat to Improve the Climate?

Growing, harvesting, processing, and transporting our food takes about 17% of all the fossil fuel used in the United States. With the ambitious goal of reaching net zero emissions by 2050, consumers are searching for foods that require fewer fossil fuels. Is this realistic?

Quantifying Energy Used for Food

We recently read How the World Really Works, the most recent book by Vaclav Smil, a distinguished Professor Emeritus at the University of Manitoba. Smil has published 47 books and more than 500 papers on the research in energy environmental and population change, food production, history of technical innovation, risk assessment, and public policy. Bill Gates considers him one of his favorite authors.

In his latest book, Professor Smil explored the improvements the world has made since the early 1800s. He explains “In two centuries the human labor to produce a kilogram of American wheat was reduced from 10 minutes to less than two seconds.” He also talks about the importance of fossil fuels and the world could not provide enough food to feed all of us without them.

Smil also delves into food production and its associated energy use. In fact, he had the patience to calculate how much energy it takes to make a loaf of sourdough bread, raise a chicken, grow a tomato, and eat seafood. He averaged out an itemized estimate using production numbers around the globe.

This sounds like a painstakingly long and detailed effort, with considerations for crop and livestock cultivation; facilities management; processing, production and packaging; and all distribution required along the way. But the results were interesting and surprising!

Bread’s Energy Journey

Sourdough bread is a staple around the world.

The energy it takes to plant, grow, and harvest wheat is crucial in its production. After the wheat is harvested, it is trucked or goes by rail to the mill to be made into flour.

The initial stages of sourdough preparation require the activation and maintenance of the starter culture, which demands consistent temperature control.

Additionally, mixing, kneading, baking and the use of ovens and other kitchen appliances all contribute to energy consumption.

The energy required throughout this journey for a 2.2 pound loaf of sourdough bread is just about 8 ounces of diesel fuel.

Crude for Chickens

Raising chickens involves a fascinating blend of traditional agricultural practices and modern energy considerations.

To maximize production, it is critical to maintain a suitable environment for the birds. They must be fed the right mixture of grains, minerals, and vitamins.

The utilization of electricity for consistent temperature control, ventilation, and lighting, especially in large-scale operations, underscores the intrinsic relationship between energy usage and the well-being of the birds.

Once the chicken is fully grown the birds are transported to the processing facility which turns them into breasts, thighs, and other cuts for the grocery store.

The entire energy for 2.2 pounds of processed chicken is about 11 ounces of diesel.

Holy Tomato!

Tomatoes can require many factors and sources of energy, depending on whether they are grown indoors or out.

Photosynthesis uses the sun’s energy to grow tomatoes outdoors for over eight months. Yet for the 35% of global tomatoes grown indoors, the energy inputs are significantly more because of the substantial energy required to provide heat, light, and nutrients, not to mention the energy needed to make the greenhouse itself.

But even tomatoes grown outdoors require crude oil to make the plastic clips, wedges, sheets, and gutter arrangements for successfully growing a tomato crop.

The energy utilized in production encompasses diverse inputs, from solar energy and traditional machinery to electricity and embodied energy, making its energy calculation highly complex.

The answer for this beloved fruit is not simple, but Smil calculated that, growing 2.2 pounds of tomatoes uses about 21.9 fluid ounces of diesel fuel, on average.

Fuel for Farmed Salmon

On average, the energy consumption for seafood production is relatively high.

It takes approximately 23.6 ounces of diesel per 2.2 pound serving, just slightly more than the energy needed for tomatoes.

For example, salmon, a popular seafood choice, is predominantly farmed, which involves significant energy expenditure for fish feed production, transportation to farms, and ultimately to consumers.

Unless sourced locally from specific regions like Chile, Norway, Scotland, or Western Canada, considerable energy is expended in the entire process from farm to table.

Of course, one can imagine the amount of fuel used to catch, freeze, and transport wild-caught fish. Professor Smil suggests that opting for sardines, which are rich in omega-3s and have lower environmental impacts, can be a more sustainable choice.

Is Energy Estimation Possible?

We were shocked when we found out that raising 2.2 pounds of chicken required just a third of the energy needed to cultivate the same weight of tomatoes. This proves that our food system is much more complicated than it appears.

We wrote about climate conscious eating and pointed out that it is not just about the energy used, we have to also consider water. To grow just one ounce of nuts takes anywhere from 3.2 gallons to a whopping 28.7 gallons for almonds.

Farming takes multiple kinds of energy. Human energy – plain old hard work and effort. Solar energy – sunlight for photosynthesis. Wind – for pollination. And just as important, fossil fuel energy, including diesel and gasoline for farm machinery, plant equipment, and transportation.

Used appropriately, energy increases productivity and distribution across our food system, therefore increasing profitability for farmers. Without that energy, the whole system collapses.

End of story, turn out the lights, dinner is over.

“Our food is partly made not just of oil, but also of coal that was used to produce the coke required for smelting the iron needed for field, transportation, and food processing machinery; of natural gas that serves as both feedstock and fuel for the synthesis of nitrogenous fertilizers; and of the electricity generated by the combustion of fossil fuels that is indispensable for crop processing, taking care of animals, and food and feed storage and preparation.”

– Prof. Vaclav Smil

The complexities of our food system are vast. As we push our cart through the grocery aisle, how do we really know whether the food we eat is farmed sustainably and uses energy and water responsibly? Are you curious?

Would you pay more to know exactly how much energy and water was used to make the food you are eating?
Would you like to see it on a label?
Would it affect your food choice?

February 15, 2024February 21, 2024

Can dairy & meat help fight cancer?

Dietary nutrients play a crucial role in providing your body with energy, building blocks, and regulatory molecules. How all these nutrients work together is not always clearly understood; however, this recent research from the University of Chicago and Emory University shows a nutrient found in meat can help your immune system fight cancer.

What is TVA?

TVA, or trans-vaccenic acid, is a long-chain fatty acid found in meat and dairy from grazing animals, like cows and sheep. Published in the journal Nature, the research focused on the impact of TVA on CD8+ T cells, a critical component of the immune system responsible for infiltrating tumors and destroying cancer cells.

The study found that higher levels of TVA in the blood correlated with a better response to immunotherapy treatments, suggesting TVA’s potential as a nutritional supplement in cancer therapy.

Dr. Jing Chen, the study’s senior author, emphasized the importance of understanding how nutrients and metabolites from food influence health and disease. Chen’s lab and postdoctoral fellows Hao Fan and Siyuan Xia assembled a library of 235 bioactive molecules derived from food and screened them for their ability to activate anti-tumor immunity in CD8+ T cells.

This is when researchers discovered something pretty interesting about the natural fat called TVA, found in beef, dairy, and even human breast milk. Notably, our bodies don’t make it, but when we consume it, most of it sticks around in our bloodstream. This fat seems to have a knack for switching off a specific part in our cells that is usually turned on by other fats we get from our diet. When TVA flips this switch, it sets off a chain reaction that helps our body cells grow and stay alive.

What’s really exciting is that when scientists gave mice a special diet with extra TVA, their tumors grew much slower, and their immune systems got better at invading and attacking these tumors. This could be great news for cancer treatments. In fact, in early tests with people who were getting advanced cancer therapy, those with more TVA in their blood seemed to respond better to the treatment.

This could mean that TVA might one day be used to help our immune system fight cancer more effectively, although there’s still a lot to learn.

What we do know is that this research could change the way we think about certain fats in our diets and their role in keeping us healthy.

Key Findings on TVA

Boosting Cancer Treatment with TVA:

People with higher levels of TVA in their blood responded better to a type of cancer treatment called immunotherapy, suggesting that TVA might be applicable in helping cancer treatments work better.

Activating Important Immune Cells:

The researchers looked at many different molecules from food to see which could help the immune system fight cancer. They found that TVA is good at activating a specific type of immune cell called CD8+ T cells. These cells are essential because they help hunt down and destroy cancer cells.

Reducing Tumor Growth in Mice:

In experiments with mice, the ones that ate food with more TVA had smaller and slower-growing tumors, especially for melanoma and colon cancer. This shows that TVA might help slow down or reduce the growth of some types of cancer.

How TVA Works at the Molecular Level:

The study used advanced scientific methods to figure out exactly how TVA works. They discovered that TVA turns off a certain receptor on the cell surface, which is usually activated by other types of fatty acids from the gut. By doing this, TVA starts a chain reaction in the cells that’s important for cell growth and survival.

Making Immune Cells More Effective:

TVA changes the way genes work in CD8+ T cells, making these cells better at getting into tumors and fighting them. In experiments, when this specific receptor was removed from these cells, they weren’t as good at fighting tumors anymore, which shows how important TVA’s role is.

Real-World Evidence from Cancer Patients:

When they looked at blood samples from people getting a type of cancer treatment called CAR-T therapy for lymphoma, they found that those with higher levels of TVA responded better to the treatment. Also, in lab tests, TVA helped make a cancer drug more effective at killing leukemia cells.

Sources of TVA

The findings from the University of Chicago study on TVA and its impact on the immune response to cancer offer intriguing insights into the complex relationship between diet and health. However, translating these findings into practical lifestyle and dietary changes requires careful consideration.

TVA has some potentially substantial health benefits, suggesting that specific components of these foods could have beneficial health properties, which challenges the blanket notion that all aspects of dairy and meat are detrimental to health.

Despite its potential benefits, it’s crucial to remember that the study does not endorse excessive consumption of red meat and dairy. Most dietary guidelines advocate for a balanced diet that includes a variety of food sources. If you’re considering increasing your intake of dairy and meat to incorporate more TVA, it should be done in moderation and as part of a balanced diet.

Applying These Findings

The study contributes in a meaningful way to the evolving understanding of meat and dairy in our diet. While overconsumption, particularly of processed meats and high-fat dairy products, has been linked to various health issues, this research indicates that certain components of meat and dairy can have meaningful health benefits. It underscores the need for a nuanced view of these food groups, focusing on quality, quantity, and the overall dietary pattern.

A well-rounded diet rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean proteins, and healthy fats is still the cornerstone of good nutrition. The potential benefits of one specific nutrient, like TVA, don’t negate the importance of a diversified diet. There are bioactive compounds in many fruits, vegetables, and legumes that are important for your health.

The study hints at the possibility of plant-derived fatty acids having similar beneficial effects. Those following a vegetarian or more plant-based diet might look into research on plant-based fatty acids and their impact on health—keeping in mind the bioavailability of fatty acids in plants vs. animal proteins.

And for those with specific health concerns, such as high cholesterol or heart disease, consulting with a healthcare provider or a registered dietitian before making significant dietary changes is advisable.

February 8, 2024February 21, 2024

Digging In: Regenerative Ranching

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Little Belt Cattle Company is a family-owned and operated working cattle ranch and premium beef company founded by two former special operations veterans, Greg Putnam and Tim Sheehy. Together, they have built a local sustainable supply chain of the highest quality grass-fed and grain-finished premium beef that is raised, finished, and processed in Montana.

Greg talks to us about the challenges and excitement of taking care of approximately 8,000 head of cattle. He speaks to the hard work and dedication of multi-generation ranches, as well as similarities between the military and cattle ranching.

February 1, 2024February 13, 2024

How to live to 100…and beyond

The concept and research surrounding Blue Zones originated years ago from the work of Dan Buettner, a National Geographic Fellow and explorer, along with a team of demographers and researchers. The journey to identify and understand these unique areas began with a demographic and geographic study of regions with unusually high numbers of centenarians and low rates of chronic diseases.

Origins of these Demographic Studies

The concept can be traced back to the early 2000s when demographers Gianni Pes and Michel Poulain identified a region in Sardinia, Italy with an unusually high number of people living to 100 and beyond, called centenarians. They marked these areas with blue ink on a map, which led to the term “Blue Zone.” Dan Buettner, in collaboration with National Geographic and with funding from the National Institute on Aging, took the concept further. He assembled a team of scientists and researchers identify other areas in the world with similar characteristics.

Through this extensive fieldwork, data analysis, and interviews, Buettner and his team identified additional regions that met their criteria for longevity hotspots. These included Okinawa, Japan; Loma Linda, California; Nicoya, Costa Rica; and Ikaria, Greece in addition to the initial region in Sardinia. The team focused on areas with high longevity rates, low incidence of heart disease and other chronic illnesses, and a high proportion of healthy elderly individuals.

Buettner’s work and the concept of Blue Zones were popularized through a National Geographic cover story in 2005 titled “Secrets of a Long Life.” He went on to author several books on the topic, including “The Blue Zones: Lessons for Living Longer from the People Who’ve Lived the Longest,” where he detailed the lifestyles, diets, and practices of people living in these zones.

As you can imagine given this intriguing research, Blue Zones sparked a significant interest in longevity studies. Buettner and his team continued their work, turning the focus towards applying the lessons from Blue Zones to communities and cities around the world.

Key Contributions and Impact

The research in the documentary highlighted the importance of lifestyle factors, such as diet, physical activity, social engagement, and stress management, in promoting longevity and reducing the risk of chronic diseases. Buettner and his organization have worked on initiatives to help transform cities and communities in the United States, applying principles from the Blue Zones to improve public health and wellness.

The research on Blue Zones represents a groundbreaking approach to understanding longevity, emphasizing the role of environmental and lifestyle factors in shaping health outcomes. As we often write and research about here at Dirt to Dinner, it is about both mind and body health.

How can I live to be a Centenarian?

These centenarians didn’t just start these habits at age 80, this lifestyle has been an integral part of their entire life. Improving our health now in all these aspects of daily living will affect our health as we age.

Dietary Practices: Foundation of Health and Longevity

A diverse range of vegetables, fruits, whole grains, legumes, nuts, and seeds, forms the bedrock of daily nutrition
Meat is consumed in significantly smaller quantities, often as a small side or a special occasion dish, rather than a daily staple
Emphasis is placed on eating foods that are local and seasonal, thus ensuring that meals are fresh and nutrient-rich
Concepts like “Hara Hachi Bu” in Okinawa, advocates for eating until one is 80% full, exemplify mindfulness in eating habits

Seamless Integration of Physical Activity

Unlike the structured exercise routines common in many cultures, physical activity in Blue Zones is seamlessly woven into daily life and includes walking, gardening, and performing household and occupational tasks that require physical exertion
These activities are adaptable and can be sustained throughout life, suitable for a wide range of ages and physical capabilities

Work-Life and Family Balance: A Harmonious Blend

There is a cultural disposition towards maintaining a healthy balance between work, family, and leisure, contributing to overall well-being
Strong familial ties and active participation in community life centers around multi-generational living and community-centric lifestyles
These cultures place a lower emphasis on work-related stress and prioritize leisure and rest, including practices like napping and socializing

Reduced Dependence on Technology and Digital Media

Populations in Blue Zone areas prefer real-world interactions
Residents talk to each other in person, thus fosters deeper personal connections and community involvement

The Vital Role of Social Networks and Community

Strong social ties, encompassing family, friends, and broader community networks provide both emotional support and practical assistance
Regular social events, be it communal meals, religious ceremonies, or local festivities, are central to maintaining and strengthening community bonds
The depth and quality of these social connections play a significant role in emotional well-being, fostering a sense of belonging, happiness, and security

How to Start Today

The examination of Blue Zones in the recent documentary offers profound insights into the symbiotic relationship between lifestyle, environment, diet, physical activity, and social connections in fostering longevity.

By understanding and integrating these principles, individuals, and communities worldwide can adopt practices that not only extend lifespan, but also significantly enhance the quality of life during those years.

Achieving this delicate balance can seem overwhelming and near impossible. Take it in chunks. Work on one or two things at a time.

Get your diet in a good place and work on adopting a Mediterranean-type diet.
Follow that up with good physical activity but allow yourself time for rest and recharging with loved ones.
Work-life balance in our modern culture is always a struggle, something that many of the Blue Zones don’t face to the same degree as those in metro areas, for example, or those who have demanding roles; just be cognizant of where you spend your mental energy.
Do you control your use of technology? Reduce your phone and social media use. Call up or visit with a friend or family member rather than texting them. Even Instagram and Facebook are not really warm connection points. They take you out of the present, and can often cause unneeded stress.

January 25, 2024

Top Food Trends to Watch in 2024

Each year, consumer market intelligence platform Mintel reports on the trends in the food and drink industry for the year ahead. These trends are not only indicative of changing tastes but also reflect the growing importance of health, technological innovation, and sustainability in the industry.

Trend #1: Processed Food Transparency

In recent years, consumers have become more health-conscious and informed about the foods they consume. Here are some of the reasons why:

Consumer Awareness

High-quality productions on various streaming platforms, like The Blue Zone and You Are What You Eat, and popular, research-backed books like “Outlive” help to conveniently and effectively educate consumers on health.

Accessible media like these compel consumers to make healthy choices that limit the potential dangers of ultra-processed foods that contain additives, preservatives, and high levels of sugar, salt, and unhealthy fats.

Ingredient Scrutiny

Consumers are scrutinizing food labels for ingredients, looking for transparency and labels with fewer items. They want to understand what’s in their food and how it’s made.

For example, if a granola bar touts “three main ingredients: almonds, peanut butter and chia seeds,” they don’t want to then see a list of 20 additives on the back of the label.

Clean Label Movement

The trend aligns with the broader “clean label” movement, where consumers have a concern about processed foods and seek products with less than four artificial or unfamiliar ingredients, mimicking what they might use in their own kitchens.

Brand Considerations

Brands can respond by providing clear and transparent information about their products’ ingredients and processing methods, emphasizing aspects that enhance nutrition, reduce contaminants, or improve sustainability. They may also reformulate products to meet evolving consumer preferences. Consider this question:

How can food manufacturers and brands effectively communicate the level of processing in their products to consumers who are increasingly concerned about this aspect?

Trend #2: Climate Concerns, but Comfort Endures

Sustainability Expectations

Consumers are increasingly concerned about the environment and expect food and drink companies to demonstrate their commitment to sustainability. This includes reducing carbon footprints, using eco-friendly packaging, and supporting ethical sourcing practices.

But Comfort Remains Priority

Despite these sustainability concerns, consumers still prioritize comfort when it comes to food and drink. In times of crisis, people turn to familiar and comforting foods for solace.

Brand Considerations

Brands must strike a balance by creating products that are eco-friendly, satisfying, affordable, and convenient. This can include a variety of plant-based foods, locally sourced foods, whole grains and legumes that require less intensive growing inputs, or foods with sustainable packaging.

Also, brands that can provide clear, verified sustainability claims on their products are likely to gain favor with consumers who are becoming more discerning about greenwashing and false eco-friendly claims. Consider this question:

How much more are consumers willing to pay for sustainable, lesser-processed food products? Or does price sensitivity continue to dominate purchasing decisions?

Trend #3: Age, Reframed

Changing Attitudes

The trend reflects changing societal attitudes toward aging. In the past, aging was often stigmatized, and certain life stages, such as menopause, were considered taboo topics.

Healthy Aging

The concept of extending the period of life spent in good health, is becoming a priority. Consumers, particularly Generation X, are embracing a new approach to healthy aging. They seek ways to extend their healthy years, focusing on wellness and quality of life.

Brand Considerations

Brands can cater to this demographic by offering products and services that support healthy aging.

They also have an opportunity to educate and support consumers as they navigate different life stages, providing information and products on nutrition, exercise, mental health, and overall well-being.

Consider this question:

What innovative approaches can brands take to promote and support healthy aging, especially among Generation X, and what role does nutrition play in this endeavor?

Trend #4: Optimized Diets

Technology Integration

Technology is playing an increasingly integral role in the food and drink industry. Artificial intelligence, in particular, is transforming the way consumers plan meals, shop for groceries, and prepare food.

AI Meal Planning

AI-driven meal planning apps can generate recipes based on dietary preferences, available ingredients, and nutritional goals. This simplifies the meal planning process for consumers.

Efficiency and Convenience

Emerging tech solutions, such as automated shopping lists and personalized alerts, are making meal preparation more efficient. Consumers are adopting these technologies to streamline their daily routines. An example here?

Retailer Engagement

Retailers are engaging consumers with real-time shopping assistance through AI-driven push notifications, helping shoppers find products and ingredients while in stores or online.

Brand Considerations

They are utilizing AI to analyze consumer feedback and data to inspire the development of new products. AI can identify trends and preferences, leading to the creation of innovative and convenient food and drink items. Consider these questions:

In the era of optimized eating, what emerging technologies and applications are poised to revolutionize meal planning, shopping, and cooking, and how can consumers leverage these tools effectively?

And what role will data-driven insights and analytics play in helping businesses stay ahead of these trends, adapt to changing consumer preferences, and make informed decisions?

Charting a Flavorful Path Forward

As we embark on this dynamic journey into the year ahead, let us savor the excitement of culinary innovation and the potential for a more conscious, convenient, and delicious dining experience.

These trends are not mere predictions; they are guideposts for a future where our plates are filled with flavors that are not only tantalizing but also aligned with our evolving values and aspirations.

Here are some of the larger, interrelated questions that keeps us at Dirt to Dinner up at night that we are eager to explore further as 2024 unfurls:

Are there any regulatory changes or policies on the horizon that might impact the food and drink industry in North America in 2024, especially in relation to sustainability and labeling?
Are there specific sectors within food and drink that are expected to experience more pronounced shifts due to these trends, and how can businesses in those sectors prepare for these changes?
Which brands are successfully implementing these trends into their products, and what lessons can we learn learn from them?

These questions represent critical aspects of the evolving food and drink landscape that we plan on keeping a close eye on here at Dirt to Dinner. Addressing them will be essential for industry players, policymakers, and consumers as they navigate the culinary journey in 2024 and beyond. Brands that can navigate these trends effectively are likely to connect with consumers and stay competitive in the evolving North American market.

What questions are we missing here? Send your comments and queries to: connect@dirt-to-dinner.com

January 17, 2024January 18, 2024

Ag Scorecard Sets Stage for Lively 2024

Dirt to Dinner took a look at just a few of the major issues and events of the past year. We’re exploring not only what happened in food & ag across the globe, but also those who gained and those who suffered from these events. Ultimately, why we all should care about our ever-evolving food system.

Without further ado, here are the top food & ag issues we faced in 2023:

Global Food Scorecard

The Farm Bill, a comprehensive package of legislation governs food production, rural economic support, and supplemental nutrition, creates the blueprint for our national food system. It was slated for review in 2023, but passage was detrimentally delayed due to inter-party disagreements on multiple fronts, mostly related to spending levels. Action has been promised for the neglected Farm Bill in 2024.

Despite continuing conflict, the Ukraine war remains a critical component of our global food system and a major source of foodstuffs for the Middle East, Africa, parts of Europe and other destinations. But armed conflicts around the world continue to threaten disruptions to the global flow of commodities and food. Conflicts around the globe continue to expand, with little reason to expect a clear resolution anytime soon. Ukrainian farmers have shown a remarkable resiliency and capacity to maintain both the production and trade important to our global food system.

Drought & natural disasters in the western United States and other parts of the world compromised crop levels, often significantly. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration noted a record 28 major weather events in the United States alone, causing $93 billion in damage. The year began with over 46 percent of the contiguous U.S. officially in drought. Hot, dry conditions in key global production areas cut stocks of wheat and other crops, with significant price gyrations.

A virulent strain of avian flu spreads rapidly and causes high death rates among many forms of poultry. The outbreak that began in 2022 continued into 2023, leading to losses in chicken, turkey and other poultry flocks estimated at 21.5 million birds. That’s down from almost 57 million in 2022, but more than enough to send price shock waves across grocery shelves almost everywhere. Research continues on the threat to human health posed by this virus, with the Centers for Disease Control advising us to watch for flu-like symptoms nonetheless.

Labor shortages plague all segments of our food chain. Reports of rising concern about a serious lack of willing labor recurred throughout 2023, as farmers, suppliers, food manufacturers, retailers and even food-service providers faced sometimes serious staff shortages. Part of the problem: increasing reluctance to do field work when other less-physically demanding opportunities were available, and immigration remains a political hot potato.

Regarding inflationary pressures, consumers say enough is enough. Food price increases have cooled a bit – dropping to a mere 5.8 percent, from 2022 levels around 10 percent and 2023 peak of 10.1 percent. But consumers have shown increasing cost-consciousness that pressures food manufacturers to seek cost-control improvements.

The pipeline from dirt to dinner is getting back to normal, but there’s more to be done. COVID triggered massive disruption across the global food chain, and efforts to realign the chain to reflect a return to more normal environment continued across 2023. The transportation element of the chain remains particualry vulnerable, as volatile energy prices, development of new biofuels, changes in technology continue to roil the entire food sector.

Sustainability Scorecard

The sheer scale of the problem makes it tough to achieve the kind of progress we would like to see with food waste reduction. Efforts to reduce food waste across the entire food chain marked some notable anecdotal progress in 2023, but it remains difficult to assess the degree of progress toward ambitious targets set by various companies and governmental agencies. The big lesson from 2023: cutting the estimated 30-40 percent of food wasted across the modern food chain is an on-going effort, not a program or campaign.

Renewable energy sources like biofuels and clean energy made significant headway in 2023. Ethanol remained the Big Dog in U.S. production of biofuels, but renewable diesel and other products showed noteworthy increases in production capacity in 2023. Biofuels for aviation uses helped drive growth in the sustainable aviation fuel market to an estimated $1.1 billion in 2023 – and a projected $16.8 billion by 2030.

Practical consumer considerations slow environmental aspirations demanding green packaging. Prior to COVID, the widespread focus on environmental protection embraced the idea of “green packaging” – packaging made in an environmentally responsible manner, often from renewable materials. In 2023, support for the concept remained significant – as high as 39 percent by one report. But market analysis during the year showed a significant shift in purchasing priorities, with practical matters such as price and convenience eclipsing environmental ambitions.

The continued evolution in carbon pricing still complicates the carbon market development. As debate on climate change continued to swirl in 2023, more and more articles sought to explain the importance of carbon markets as an essential tool in combatting greenhouse gas emissions. Such markets establish the price of carbon, enabling carbon producers to purchase carbon credits from those capable of reducing, capturing or avoiding carbon dioxide. Monetizing carbon is supposed to help fund efforts to improve carbon control – in industry, and on the farm. Carbon pricing remains a complex and controversial approach to environmental protection – and an unavoidable issue for continuing debate in 2024.

Nutrition Scorecard

The role of technology in personal nutrition, such as apps for diet tracking, personalized nutrition based on genetic testing, and AI in designing diet plans grew by tremendous leaps and bounds in 2023. Winners in this arena include tech companies, as well as consumers benefiting from personalized nutrition and diet planning. Companies in the health industry and consumers wary of AI for its access to personalized information miss the opportunity for developing tailored dietary approaches to individual needs.

The impact of climate change on nutrition also took the spotlight in 2023. Several studies explored how climate change affects the nutritional content of food, with rising CO2 levels potentially lowering protein, mineral, and vitamin contents in crops. Companies developing solutions to maintain or improve the nutritional quality of crops are keeping us ahead of the game, which is especially important for those populations in regions where food’s nutritional quality is most affected, leading to increased risk of nutritional deficiencies.

Complications emerged in the further development of alternative protein products as an environmentally-responsible food choice. After several years of eager anticipation and enthusiasm for alternative meats, the industry in 2023 faced up to the realities of developing and winning widespread acceptance of a new and novel food product. Some ambitious enterprises fell by the economic wayside, as recognized leaders in the field continued to work on bringing prices in line with inflation – weary consumer willingness to pay – not to mention the rising costs of capital to entrepreneurial start-ups.

Demand for organic foods helped drive noteworthy growth in global organic foods, despite the headwinds of high food price inflation. The global organic food market approached an amazing $295 billion in 2023, up by more than $35 billion in one year alone, and $68 billion from 2021. Industry officials cite growing health-consciousness around the world as the driving factor behind such growth.

January 10, 2024March 1, 2024

Transcript: Digging into Biofuels

Transcript from January 11, 2024 podcast

Lucy Stitzer:

Welcome back to Dirt to Dinner’s Digging In podcast.

This is Lucy Stitzer and today we’re digging into renewable fuels and the Biden Climate Initiative, which aims to be carbon neutral by 2050. This includes all petroleum that fuels motor vehicles. The standard is to replace the billions of gallons of fuel the United States uses each year with bio with biofuels. Currently, the US uses about 35 billion gallons of ethanol biodiesel, renewable diesel and in limited form sustainable aviation fuel.

Today’s guest is Colin Murphy who is the Deputy Director at the Policy Institute for Energy Environment and the economy at the University of California Davis. In this podcast, he explains the importance of biofuels and how we are going to get to net zero by 2050. Welcome, Colin Murphy.

Colin Murphy:

I am the Deputy Director for the Policy Institute for Energy Environment and Economy at UC Davis and I also co-lead the Low Carbon Fuel Policy Research Initiative. We’re big fans of excessively long wordy titles here at UC Davis, and really what that means, most of my job for the last several years has been to lead our research and engagement efforts around fuel policy.

The main thing we work on is the Low Carbon Fuel standard, which is a policy that was first adopted by California and British Columbia in 2010. Oregon implemented their own in 2016, Washington did theirs last year. So it’s a policy structure that has been very effective in the places that have had it at reducing the amount of petroleum that we consume for transportation. It’s seen as one of the gold-standard fuel policies out there. Certainly not the kind of thing where you’d want it to be the only policy you’re using a transportation, it needs to work with things like electric vehicle policies and policies to switch to renewable electricity and sort of a broad economy-wide portfolio.

But it’s an important part of that portfolio. And so we do research on it. We publish papers like any other academic, but we also spend a lot of our time working with regulators and other policymakers to help understand the topic and help guide them as they make decisions about how they want their jurisdiction to do this. So we have interest from a number of states all over the country who are thinking about, or at some step in the process of adopting a low carbon fuel standard as well as a number of other countries.

So there’s definitely going to need to be a huge ramp up, but for most vehicles, so most of that fuel that the US uses is used to fuel on-road vehicles, cars, trucks, buses, stuff like that. And most of it, about 50 or 60%, I’d have to go back and look at the numbers to be sure, is light duty vehicles, passenger cars, cars, trucks, SUVs, things like that.

For the light duty vehicles, battery electric vehicles are almost certainly going to be the main technology that we are using in a world where we have successfully reduced emissions. They have the best combination of low cost, high performance flexibility and everything you need to do that. Very large parts of the medium heavy duty vehicle sector, so these are commercial vehicles, trucks, vans, buses, stuff like that. Most of them can also go onto batteries as well. And in most cases, batteries, because they’re much more efficient at converting energy into motion than an internal combustion engine.

And because they don’t have as many moving parts of an internal combustion engine, their operational costs are a lot lower. So in most cases, it’s actually cheaper. Even today for some vehicle classes, it’s actually cheaper to own and operate an electric vehicle over its full lifespan than it’s internal combustion engine. And batteries are still going to keep getting cheaper over the next 10 years. So most of that 135 billion gallons of fuel is going to be replaced by electricity.

And so we definitely do not have to figure out where we’re going to get 135 billion gallons a year of liquid fuel, which is great because we don’t have the slightest clue where we get 135 billion gallons a year of liquid fuel. So even as important as EVs are, they can’t do everything by themselves. And there’s two real limitations. One is that they’re just some parts of the transportation system where batteries do not have the characteristics to really be a good fit.

The big one is aviation, especially long haul aviation, anything near going more than 500 miles, maybe a thousand miles, batteries just don’t look like they have a trajectory to get to enough energy density where they can satisfy that need. There are also a few specialized applications. Some of the very long haul freight trucks, maybe batteries are not a great fit there. Places people live in really remote areas or really mountainous areas, maybe batteries aren’t the best fit there. So there’s a few other niches of the transportation system besides aircraft that are likely to need something else, probably a liquid fuel for a long time.

Lucy Stitzer:

What about anything on the waterways, barges? They transport a lot of food.

Colin Murphy:

You’re absolutely right. That’s another one where we currently think liquid fuels are likely to be the issue. It’s possible in those hydrogen or renewable natural gas could end up being the fuel there. But for those, yes, liquid fuels may be switching to ammonia or methanol instead of the current kind of heavy oils, or you can make synthetic oils. The thing is waterways, they’re relatively small fraction of the total fuel pool. So even though we definitely have to find a solution for them, it’s not as pressing or scary a problem as is with aviation.

The other thing is with most boats, they have more space and they have looser technical requirements. So with an aircraft, because of the need to be extremely safe with an aircraft and be able to handle a wide range of temperature fluctuations because they fly up very high where it’s pretty cold, the number of potential technical solutions that work in aircraft is a lot more limited than it is in shipping. So while shipping is absolutely something that we have to think of and liquid fuels look like they’re probably going to be the solution there, it’s not, at least to me, not quite as scary or challenging a problem as aircraft.

Lucy Stitzer:

Well, definitely. I mean, your air, you’re in the air and if something goes wrong, there’s

Yeah, now from

Lucy Stitzer:

Going to be a big ramp up,

Colin Murphy:

I mean, so of the 37 billion that we’re, yeah, of the 37 billion we’re producing, a lot of that is ethanol, which has a lower energy density. So you have to go and take a few billion gallons off that number to reflect the fact that ethanol is not as energy dense. But yeah, we’re looking at an order of assuming we can take all this fuel and push it to the sectors that need it, that don’t have any other options, doubling the amount may be tripling at most.

So I think if you could just explain the four different types just so people can understand what we’re talking about a little bit.

Colin Murphy:

So like you said, ethanol’s kind of the simple one. The way we predominantly make it now is we pull starch out of something in the US it’s pretty much all corn in Brazil or other countries that have a sugar cane industry. The sugar cane is another great way to make ethanol. And then you ferment, you break starch down into sugars, and then you ferment the sugars into alcohols. Essentially the same process you make used for making beer, wine, or spirits just done on an industrial scale. And it wouldn’t taste very good if you tried to drink it directly. And ethanol is currently in the US blended into all gasoline at about a 10% level. That’s what we’ve been doing since the mid two thousands. The having some ethanol gasoline helps the gasoline burn cleaner. You need about six or 7% to really get that clean burning, the oxygen effect.

Beyond that, you’re just trying to reduce the amount of petroleum you use and replace with something that’s lower carbon than petroleum. And there has been a lot of controversy over corn ethanol, whether it is actually lower carbon. There was a very famous study that came out last year, guy named Tyler Lark was the lead author on it, and he made the argument that the RFS was actually ultimately worse, made the corn ethanol worse than petroleum. So I don’t think his methods were quite right. Part of it. The problem with biofuels is a lot of the impact and a lot of greenhouse stuff comes from what we call indirect land use change. And this is where because you have fuel producers now starting to consume agricultural products that historically has only gone into feeding people or animals or a really small number of other industrial uses.

Now the demand for these industrial, these agricultural commodities goes up and somewhere someone in the world is going to have to make more of the stuff to replace what went into fuels. And some of that replacement comes from plowing more land and bringing more land into cultivation. And there’s a big carbon impact from plowing more land. So the LARC paper said because of I luck, the renewable fuel standard and the corn ethanol was worse than the petroleum, there has been a lot of back and forth, there’s several back and forth in terms of open comment letters published by various groups of researchers on that topic. So a lot of methodological uncertainty over that. Beyond that, even if you believe the LARC paper, I think the appropriate take home message from it is maybe we shouldn’t have gone from 15 billion gallons of ethanol we did. And you can’t really unring that bell, even if you sort of stopped and said, well, any land that was cleared, we’ll return to natural form, the carbon’s lost and takes many decades to recover.

And we don’t have that sort of time. So the question I think now is what’s most useful? What’s the way to get the best use out of it? So the other thing with ethanol is there’s a process that some companies have been developed and are looking to commercialize right now where you can convert ethanol into aviation fuel. It’s not entirely unlike the Fischer–Tropsch synthesis we discussed earlier. And it’s small molecule, I’m sorry, it’s a small molecule that you can catalytic assemble into other bigger molecules like the ones that we used to fly planes on. So that might be one of the ways eventually as more EVs take over the on-road space, there’s not going to enough gasoline to blend the ethanol into, and there is some opportunity for us to increase the amount of ethanol we use. Most cars are on road, they can handle 15% ethanol without any problem.

And that would be a way to, again, push petroleum out of the system quicker, or you could turn the ethanol into jet fuel and use it to push petroleum out system that way. And that’s some of the stuff that we’re researching right now for the diesel substitutes. There’s biodiesel and renewable diesel. So biodiesel is made by a process called fatty acid methyl ester, or it’s a relatively simple low energy process to convert. Vegetable oils could be used cooking oil, could be soybean oil or any vegetable oil. You sort of heat it to a medium temperature, add some chemicals, and you can convert it to this biodiesel biodiesel. You can run it into written into most existing diesel engines up to about 20%. If you go over that, you have to start modifying the engine a bit to handle it. Plus, in cold weather, biodiesel starts to, just like most vegetable oils will start to get kind of thick and sludgy and gel up.

So most of the time, biodiesel is blended into regular diesel at a 5% or 7% level, and it’s fine. Doesn’t really cause a lot of problems that way. But because of these infrastructure issues, because of the cold weather performance and the need to only blend to a certain level, it’s not really what people are focused on right now. There’s not a lot of growth in the biodiesel space. Most producers have turned to renewable diesel. They can add some more hydrogen, and if they add a bit more hydrogen, you get a bit more of a coming out like SAF or jet fuel. So you can sort of choose whether you’re going to emphasize the production of renewable diesel or emphasize the production of SAF of renewable jet fuel. To date, most of the policies in the US have made it more beneficial for them to make renewable diesel. So that’s what they do. But with the SAF tax credit under the IRA, it’s likely we’re going to see a lot of the producers starting to tweak their process a bit to push more of their total product out through the SaaS pathways and a little bit less through the diesel pathways. Right.

Lucy Stitzer:

Well, plus the airlines have committed to a higher SAAF percentage.

Colin Murphy:

In the US it’s mostly voluntary commitments and incentives. The Saban challenge, which was the target that was put forth by the Biden administration but didn’t have a whole lot of regulatory teeth behind it, at least not yet, but there’s the SAAF tax credit that’s actually going to make a pretty big difference. Now, there’s a lot of controversy, surprisingly enough in this space controversy around the SAF tax credit and how exactly you’re going to define it. Most of that, again, comes down to this indirect land use change issue. So the way that the tax credit was set forth by Congress was if you’ll have to be at least 50% cleaner than petroleum and you get an additional bonus for every percentage point below 50, they’re able to get. So if you make it even cleaner, you get a larger and larger per gallon incentive.

Lucy Stitzer:

So you go around $1.25. The issue with that is to determine whether you get $1.25 or $1.50 or $1.75 is don’t you have to go back to the farm to determine how they’re growing the corn and determine what type of agriculture they’re using, whether they’re using cover crops or not. And that bodes a whole other series of questions of how do you verify how much carbon they’re sequestering through their growing methods.

Colin Murphy:

That is a big part of it. So we have good tools in the field of lifecycle analysis to understand how much fertilizer and how much diesel and how much electricity is used. For every ton of corn that comes off the field, it’s a lot more complex to understand how the use of a cover crop would affect soil carbon. We know with very high confidence that you can improve the amount of solid carbon retained in the soil by using things like cover crops or compost or possibly biochar or changing the types of crops or the harvest patterns or tilling the soil less. We know there’s a lot of things that can improve it, but soil is a really complex and dynamic system. So knowing that at least pushing that certain things move the needle in the correct direction is one thing, but being able to quantify it and say how many tons per acre are actually being saved?

There is another level of complexity altogether. And then on soil carbon, you also have the issue of permanence. So a farmer can make choices to use cover crops or use compost or switch to no-till agriculture and build up a lot of solid carbon in their soil. But if in five years or 10 years they decide to switch and need to start tilling the soil again, that carbon goes away. And if they received incentives to build up carbon and then in the future they till it and they lose it, all that money is kind of wasted. What they’re being paid for is permanent sequestration of carbon, and it’s not permanent at that point. Or if they sell their land to somebody else, then whoever else has it in the future, they could do the tillage and lose it. So this permanence or reversion risk is one of the things that really makes a lot of the regenerative agriculture policies, incentives so complex on top of the fact that there’s still a lot of uncertainty, and we’re still not able to effectively quantify it without doing a lot of really expensive and time consuming measurement that is probably just too expensive to really allow the farmer to receive much of an incentive, enough incentive for them to want to change their behavior.

So it’s the kind of thing we’re working on, and I think that we’ll keep getting better at it, but there’s a lot of uncertainty around soil carbon. The other big issue is that indirect land use change. The thing with indirect land use change is there’s really no way to develop a sensor that can measure it directly. Because what happens is because somebody is using more soybean oil in the US to make renewable diesel or saf, somebody else in the world might be slashing and burning rainforest in Southeast Asia to do a palm plantation, to grow palm oil, to sell to somebody on their side of the world because the lack of soybean oil coming out of the US has now changed international commodity flows. So there’s really no way for us to very precisely know how much indirect land use change every ton of soybean oil causes.

The only way you can really try to quantify it is through a model. What our models, the uncertainty is very large, and there’s a bunch of places in the model where you have to make these assumptions that are ultimately they’re subjective. There’s no objectively right or wrong way to make it. There’s only a bunch of different subjective ways. For example, when you go soybeans, you get soybean oil and soybean meal. We know how much fertilizer it took to grow the soybeans, so we know how many tons of carbon or grams of carbon were emitted in order to produce this ton of soybeans. But how much of that carbon is the responsibility of the soybean meal versus how much of it is the responsibility of the soybean oil? There’s a lot of different ways to do that. You can look at the mass, you can look at the energy content, you can look at the economic value.

None of them are objectively right or wrong, but they’ll all give you very different answers. And so that’s one of the problems with the model and with modeling eye luck, it’s the only way to assess indirect land use change, but you’re never going to get one definitively correct answer out of it. And so what’s happening with the SAF tax credit is a lot of the producers are asking the Department of Treasury, the ones that have to make the decision because a tax credit, and they’re obviously, they’re not biofuel analysts by nature at Department of Treasury, but they’re asking treasury, okay, well, let’s use this one particular model. And the US uses this model called greet to do lifecycle analysis. It is this fantastically complex model that’s been being developed for 20 years now, and it’s dozens of papers behind it. But in the current version of Greek, they include one IUC estimate based off of a different model.

And this estimate happens to be extremely friendly towards things like corn and soybeans. And so the industry’s saying, well, look, Greek’s the gold standard. This is the thing that they’ve decided to put in for their best guess. So let’s just use that and use that model with that estimate of eye look in order to determine whether we are 50% cleaner than petroleum, and if we are how much far below to figure out the per gallon range. Whereas a lot of other environmental saying, well know you don’t want to use one model. You have to use multiple models and look at the average or look at the range of options that comes out when you make these subjective decisions in different ways. That gives you a better sense of what the actual impact is not to use one of them. And if you do that, then in more justified and reasonable and certainly risk averse way than a lot of the soybean oil fuels or the corn ethanol alcohol to jet fuels wouldn’t be eligible for these credits.

So absolutely there’s enough land. Like we just said before, we jumped ahead a little bit. But the worry here is that we will be producing more corn and soybeans than would be good for the climate. And again, if we have to produce it to feed people, yes, that’s the choice we make, and that’s the right choice. But yeah, so we’re not worried that there’s going to be an absolute lack of land, nor really an absolute lack of food in any way. Are there risks that biofuel policy could increase the price of food? Yes, there are to date, outside of a couple of transient spikes, often around the drought we had in the early 20 teens, we haven’t seen a really massive increase in food prices as a result of fuel policy. It is definitely there, but in a lot of cases, having alternative supplies of fuel means you are less vulnerable to price fluctuations in petroleum.

So yes, there is some increase in the inflation applied to food prices, but less inflation applied to gasoline prices. I’m not enough of an economist to have a really well-informed opinion on the whole, is it better or worse than not having a biofuel policy? But nothing I’ve seen makes us seem like it’s terribly bad. Beyond that, we know that climate change is going to be incredibly bad for a lot of things, including for the food production system because many, many parts of the world that are highly fertile right now won’t be due to higher temperatures and changing rainfall patterns. So as long as the fuels that we’re making are actually lower carbon than the petroleum, they’re displacing. And that has not always been the case. There’s absolutely been several examples where we produce large amounts of fuels that are worse than the petroleum displaced, but many of them are at least lower carbon. And as long as that’s the case, then the value of reducing greenhouse gas emissions probably does more to help secure the long-term food supply from the effects of climate change than it does to hurt it.

Lucy Stitzer:

So it’s not like we’re only growing corn and soybeans only for fuel.

Colin Murphy:

Yes, absolutely. And that’s part of the reason why it’s so hard to analyze the greenhouse gas impacts of biofuels because almost every input has that dual purpose. And so one of the other things that we’ve been seeing is because we had a biofuel policy through the RFF that really until the last five years or so was almost entirely ethanol, really, renewable diesel wasn’t a big thing until five, six years ago because of this policy. We were actually starting to see more growers in the Midwest go from rotations where they do alternate corn and soy every other year, and soy helps add nitrogen because of nitrogen fixing plants. And then also by having different species of plant, you sort of provide a bit of a break in the pathogen cycles, so you need maybe a little bit less herbicide or less additives to controlled diseases for a while.

We’re starting to see more growers going from corn soil rotation to continuous corn because you had this demand for corn biofuels. Well, now with renewable diesel coming online and demanding a lot of soybean oil because that’s the cheapest oil that you can grow really in the western hemisphere, you’re now seeing people go back to corn soy rotations, and that has some additional benefits in terms of slightly reducing the amount of nitrogen fertilizer they need, and slightly reducing the amount of herbicides and other pathogen, chemical pathogen control measures that they have to use. These are, I’m sure, likely to be much smaller than just the big impacts of are these fuels, in fact clean up the petroleum? But they do make a difference. And so the fact that we’re seeing soy growth, there’s some benefits in terms of agronomy there.

Lucy Stitzer:

Well, thank you very much. This has been fascinating and certainly provides a lot of clarity around the renewable fuels conversation.

Colin Murphy:

Yeah, certainly. Happy to help. This is a really complex topic and one that’s going to become increasingly important in the next few years. So very happy to help you and your listeners start to learn more about it. And again, there’s a lot of data and resources available at our website at low carbon fuel dot uc davis.edu.

Lucy Stitzer:

Great. Well, thank you very much.

January 4, 2024January 4, 2024

How Beliefs Affect Our Nutrition

There is a fascinating interplay between the power of belief and its profound impact on our corporeal health and nutrition. From the intriguing ability of belief to shape our perception of food to its remarkable sway over our hormonal responses, the connections between what we think, what we eat, and how it affects our bodies are powerful.

“What is becoming more and more clear is that expectations and predictions have a very strong influence on basic experiences, on how we feel and what we perceive. Doing anything that you believe will help you feel better will probably help you feel better.”

– Dr. Leonie Koban, Ph.D., Neuroscience and Affective Sciences, Lyon Neuroscience Research Center

What is the Belief Effect?

The Belief Effect occurs when patients’ expectations and beliefs play a substantial role in determining their health outcomes. It mimics the brain’s capacity to produce real physiological responses in the absence of any active treatment or intervention.

Faith and attitudes can influence the release of neurotransmitters, hormones, and immune system responses, all of which can affect the body’s functioning.

Scientific Evidence

Numerous studies have detailed the intricate relationship between belief, nutrition, and health, shedding light on how our cognitive processes can significantly impact our well-being. How else does the Belief Effect play a pivotal role in shaping our nutritional choices and health outcomes?

How Your Beliefs Shape Nutritional Health

The Ghrelin Response

In a study published in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine, researchers examined the influence of expectation on ghrelin, the hunger hormone.

Participants were given identical milkshakes, but they were told that one was a “decadent indulgence” and the other a “sensible, low-calorie choice.”

Remarkably, those who believed they were consuming the indulgent shake showed a more significant increase in ghrelin levels or an increase in the feeling of hunger or being unsatisfied with the meal, even though both shakes had the same nutritional content, those who had the “sensishake” felt less hungry, or had a lower ghrelin level.

The Flavor Perception

A study published in Appetite investigated the relationship between beliefs about food healthiness and taste perception. Participants were presented with identical food items but were led to believe that one was healthier than the other.

The results showed that individuals who believed the food was healthier rated it as more flavorful, demonstrating the influence of belief on taste perception. The person’s belief or how she/he interprets (inter-presents or internally represents) directly governs the biological response or behavior.

Another remarkable study involved a woman who suffered from split personalities. At her baseline personality, her blood glucose levels were normal. However, the moment she believed she was diabetic, her entire physiology changed to become that of a diabetic, including elevated blood glucose levels.

Diet & Nutrition

Belief in the effectiveness of a specific diet can have a profound impact on dietary adherence and outcomes. A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) explored the influence of belief on weight loss.

Participants who had strong beliefs in the efficacy of a particular diet were more likely to adhere to it and achieve better weight loss results compared to those with less conviction. (This is one I personally need to subscribe to—I typically last about a week on a new dietary regimen before getting off track.)

The belief effect extends to nutrient absorption, as well. Studies have shown that believing you are consuming a nutrient-rich meal can enhance your body’s ability to absorb those nutrients. Your faith in the nutritional value of a meal can impact how efficiently your body extracts vitamins and minerals.

Metabolic Response

Our metabolic response to various foods can be influenced by our beliefs in their healthiness. A study published in the Journal of Behavioral Medicine investigated the effect of belief on post-meal metabolic markers. Participants who believed they were consuming a healthy meal exhibited more favorable metabolic responses, including improved insulin sensitivity, compared to those who believed the meal was unhealthy. Incredible what the mind can do!

There’s also a dedicated podcast on the connections between neuroscience and human behavior: The Huberman Lab podcast, hosted by neuroscientist Dr. Andrew Huberman, explores topics related to the impact of beliefs on health.

In a recent episode, Dr. Huberman emphasized the vital importance of understanding how belief affects our overall well-being. In this episode on mindset and health, Dr. Huberman explores the impact of diet, is actually a combined product of what you are doing, what you are thinking about, your stress, your anxiety—the interconnectedness of your mental and physical self.

Belief Effect Extends Far beyond Nutrition

Let’s briefly examine just some of the ways the Belief Effect impacts overall health.

Pain Management: Studies have shown that individuals who believe they are taking a potent pain reliever but are actually ingesting a placebo often experience reduced pain perception. This demonstrates the brain’s ability to release endorphins and modulate pain signals based on belief alone.

Mental Health: Faith in the effectiveness of psychotherapy or medication can significantly improve mental health outcomes. Positive expectations can lead to reduced symptoms of depression and anxiety.

Immune Function: Belief can influence immune responses, affecting the body’s ability to fight off infections and diseases. Optimistic beliefs and positive attitudes have been linked to improved immune function.

Cardiovascular Health: Belief in the benefits of lifestyle changes, such as exercise and dietary improvements, can lead to better cardiovascular outcomes, including lowered blood pressure and cholesterol levels.

These studies provide robust evidence supporting the notion that belief can significantly influence nutrition and health outcomes. Recognizing the power of belief in shaping our dietary choices and metabolic responses underscores the importance of a holistic approach to health that includes both physical and psychological factors.

December 21, 2023December 21, 2023

Wine Market Remains Robust in 2023

The popularity of wine today – and throughout recorded history – has never been in doubt. Water occupies a special and ubiquitous place in the beverage world, obviously. Collectively, we may drink more tea and coffee than wine, and beer certainly has to be considered among the most popular alcoholic drinks.

But even with a long list of beverage options available to us, wine retains a certain cachet – of good taste, sophistication, education, and much more that sets wine apart – and to many, above all other available beverage choices.

Many of us enjoy a glass or two – at home with dinner, in nice restaurants to commemorate occasions large and small, to mark celebrations at the holidays or any of life’s milestones.

Wine is the common bond at social events and friendly get-togethers. It’s a near-universal part of diets and lifestyle across virtually every country on earth.

Wine weaves its way through our history in all sorts of ways. The production of alcoholic beverages dates back more than 9,000 years, surpassing the 5,000 or so years of actual recorded history.

Evidence of mead-making – one of the earliest forms of wine, made from water, honey, and sometimes fruits and spices – can be traced back almost 4,000 years – as much as 14 centuries before the construction of Egypt’s Great Pyramid. It was possible it was even carried in animal skins but the first evidence was in clay jars and amphorae.

The Global Wine Market: Big & Bold

We’ve come a long way from those early days of animal skins in the beverage industry. Today, the global wine industry is a $340 billion enterprise, and Americans can be proud of doing their fair share to keep the industry not just alive but healthy, too. And we have lovely glass bottles to admire while we drink.

We spend about $50 billion yearly on over 840 million gallons of various types of wine. Industry experts say we will remain thirsty, too – with the industry growing to about $456 billion before the end of the decade.

The rest of the world does its part, too.

Wine industry experts estimate 2022 global wine production at roughly 260 million hectoliters – or roughly 6,869,000,000 gallons. That’s down from a peak of 295 million hectoliters in 2018, but the long-term production trend remains fairly stable in the 26-265 million hectoliter range.

Heat and dry conditions in some major wine-producing countries have contributed to declining productivity. But wine aficionados also report good quality in 2022. We’re in no danger of running out of wine, folks.

France and Italy once again jockey for the top spot in the production derby. However, 29 countries around the globe merit recognition as significant wine producers.

But let’s make our look at wine a bit more personal. What do all those numbers mean for the average consumer?

The world produces enough wine to provide every adult (over the age of 15, anyway) with about 1.1 gallons. But certain countries lead the way in per-person consumption – with European nations capturing eight of the top ten spots on the per-person wine consumption list. Only Australia and Argentina are the other two.

The United States clocks in at a respectable number 16 on the per-person consumption roster – but thanks to our large total population win the top spot in overall global wine consumption. That is, individually, we may not drink as much wine as residents of some European countries, but we make up for it collectively. Go, team!

Wine Varieties

The different types of wines produced around the world boggle the average person’s mind. In simplest terms, wine can be either red or white – and everything in between.

But after that, it all starts to get complicated – very complicated.

The most popular types of wines can be summarized in some simple graphics, courtesy of Wine Folly.

But if you want to better appreciate why the wine industry has grown to have a value of almost a third of a trillion dollars, consider a more sophisticated and complex picture of the types of wines available to the discerning oenophile.

There is something for every taste, for every preference, and for every budget.

For instance, a 73-year-old bottle of French burgundy sold at a 2018 Sotheby’s auction for $558,000. A ‘good’ bottle of red table wine can be purchased for about 10 Euros (or $11).

For a deeper dive into the amazingly diverse world of wine, visit sites such as WineCountry.com for an excellent overview and learning guide.

Wine’s Health Considerations

The apostle Paul offered some sage advice to his colleague Timothy in the first century AD. Don’t drink only water. Take a little wine for your stomach’s sake and for your frequent infirmities.

Wine advocates love the apostle’s endorsement and cite the health benefits of responsible wine consumption. But they also acknowledge that too much of anything is no doubt dangerous. It may be sugary drinks, candy, junk food and fried foods, or any of a long list of food and beverage choices available to consumers worldwide. And wine is no exception.

Health experts caution against over-consumption and the serious adverse effects on long-term health that come with it. Some advocate total avoidance of alcoholic beverages as the best insurance against such risks. Others favor simple moderation based on certain health benefits associated with moderate consumption.

In particular, they note the antioxidants in wine can reduce bad cholesterol and increase good cholesterol, with resulting benefits to cardiovascular health. Used in moderation, some health officials also say, wine may have mental health benefits, reducing the risk of depression.

But again, the key is moderation. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Dietary Guidelines recommend one drink per day for men and two per day for women – with a “drink” of wine defined as five fluid ounces.

Speaking of wine, did you know…

Beer may be the preferred alcoholic beverage for males (with wine second choice), but for women the favorite is wine.
Red wine is the preferred wine choice overall. And according to 2019 National Wine Day, red wine lovers are more likely to be introverted, to love dogs more than cats, be fans of jazz music, describe themselves as adventurous and spend more per bottle of wine.
White wine lovers are more likely to be night owls, to be extroverted, prefer cats, listen to jazz, describe themselves as curious perfectionists and spend less per bottle.
Statista reports that almost 7.3 million hectares globally are devoted to vineyards. Wheat – the most widely planted crop worldwide – claims 217 million hectares.

December 19, 2023January 11, 2024

D2D Digs into the Future of Biofuels

We’re excited to dig into biofuels with Colin Murphy, Deputy Director of the Policy Institute for Energy, Environment, and the Economy, and co-director of the ITS-Davis Low Carbon Fuel Policy Research Initiative. During our podcast, we discuss advancements in the space and the massive effect biofuels will have on all points along the supply chain, including our food system.

Prior to joining the Policy Institute, Colin was a Science Policy Fellow with the California Council on Science and Technology, and an advocate for sustainable transportation and energy policy with the NextGen Policy Center, where he helped extend California’s climate programs through 2030.

Colin has a B.S. in Biological Systems Engineering from UC Davis, a M.S. in Science, Technology and Public Policy from the Rochester Institute of Technology and a Ph.D. in Transportation Technology and Policy from UC Davis.

To read the transcript for this podcast, please click here.

December 15, 2023April 12, 2024

Will reducing beef save our planet?

Are cows really a major cause of climate change? Wealthy nations are not pushing people to switch to a plant-based diet. Will that really work to reduce emissions? What would an all-plant diet for 8 billion people do for the environment? Not to mention that we need 30% of our diet in protein. We investigated this two years ago when Epicurious decided not to include meat recipes and we thought we would post it again given the recent COP28 initiatives.

Every day we choose what to eat. This never used to be a big deal. But today food has become synonymous with politics. I get it. My sister’s family and mine are a close-knit bunch who have mixed views on eating meat. Among our group of children, we have two vegans, two vegetarians, and four meat-eaters.

We love each other a lot and we don’t ask vegans to cook steaks, or the meat lovers to make only plant-based dishes. Instead, we work together to make sure there is enough food for everyone’s plate. Then, we spend our time caring about each other as people, not poking about what we are eating. It is a matter of respect and support for everyone’s choice.

What’s the beef with the UN FAO’s stance on red meat?

At the recent COP28 Climate Summit in Dubai, the United Nation’s Food & Agricultural Organization (FAO) stated that developed nations will need to reduce red meat and dairy production to avert a global health crisis.

I have casual conversations with friends and acquaintances who are diligently participating in ‘Meatless Mondays’ or even skipping red meat altogether because they think they are doing a good deed for the climate.

“According to a new roadmap from the world’s peak food security body, wealthy countries will need to cut back meat and dairy consumption to hit health and environmental targets.

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the UN roadmap outlines a way to feed the world over the next 25 years without increasing the emissions and land clearing that drive climate change and biodiversity loss.”

So, is this true? If we significantly reduced beef and dairy output, would we also significantly reduce emissions? Here is a better question: what if everyone knew that meat can be part of a broader climate solution instead of a climate problem?

We want to give you a more nuanced, data-driven perspective so you can come to your own conclusion.

**Cows solving climate change?**

Raised in Minnesota, I can tell you there is no more beautiful sight than the grasslands. In the late ‘60s, my bedroom window overlooked a wetland prairie. Whether you think of them as prairies, pampas, steppes, or savannas, about one-third of our global land is open grasslands…tall grasses blowing in the wind, full of deer, elk, songbirds, wildflowers, and cattle.

In a recent post, The Nature Conservancy highlighted a metanalysis, “Reducing Climate Impacts of Beef Production”, showing that ranchers, particularly in the U.S. and Brazil, who own both grasslands and beef can cut emissions by 50%.

As a 1,000-acre rancher in South Carolina told one of us at D2D, “I am really a grass farmer.” When cattle roam freely, their hooves dig up the earth, seeds drop in from neighboring plants, manure adds fertilizer, and the grasslands thrive. The open land thrives because it is a carbon sink.

As Meredith Ellis, a cattle rancher from Texas told us, “our ranch is sequestering 2,500 tons of carbon (after enteric emissions) each year – equivalent to taking 551 cars off the road.”

Grass-fed and feedlot finished?

Did you know that about 95% of all cattle start their lives on grass and then finish the last third of life in the feedlot? Many argue that once cattle are in the feedlot, they contribute to the atmospheric methane, but it is actually the opposite: grass-fed cattle emit approximately 20% more methane because it takes them about a year longer to reach market weight.

Because of the tremendous environmental benefits of grassland, we are not saying that all cows should be raised in a feedlot, but to point out that corn-fed cattle simply produce less methane.

Additionally, many animal nutrition companies are currently researching for the ‘holy grail’ in animal feed to further reduce the release of methane anywhere from 3% to 50%. The reason? More belching occurs when cattle eat the roughage in the grass versus a highly nutritious and tailored feedlot diet. It is when the roughage breaks down that methane is produced.

Moooving over for dairy to digest methane

Dairy farmers also find ways to contribute to a more sustainable environment, too. The dairy industry has benefited from anaerobic methane digesters for years. Dairy farms collect the cow manure and plow it into rubber-lined ponds right next to the barns.

Each of these coverings looks like a dome and helps capture methane. And then, to make a long story short, methane is used as electricity for the farm or sold back on the grid.

These farms have cheap electricity and are greenhouse gas (GHG)-negative because they use methane rather than fossil fuels. In fact, California has committed to a 40% reduction of dairy methane emissions by 2030 just by using digesters alone.

Just to give you an idea of the importance of animal feed, let’s take a look at India…

They have 56 million dairy cows, more than the E.U., Brazil, U.S., and Russia — combined. Of course, they don’t eat their cows; they just use them for dairy products.

Because their feed and milking systems are not as sophisticated, a cow only produces 2,600 pounds of milk a year versus the U.S.’s 21,000 pounds per cow, on average.

Therefore, India needs eight more cows to give the same amount of milk as one U.S. cow. And at 6 million head, China’s dairy cows have a similar production rate as India.

That is a lot more methane!

**What if we don’t eat beef at all?**

Lean meats and plants are critical for our health. (Have you had your 3-5 servings of fruits and vegetables today?) But the nutrients that meat provides are critical, too. What would happen if all we had to choose from were only plants and grains? To find out what an animal-free country would look like, Robin White and Mary Beth Hall of the Department of Animal and Poultry Science at Virginia Tech and U.S. Dairy Forage Research Center, studied the impact of a vegetarian country on U.S. emissions, economics, and nutrition.

In short, White and Hall found a reduction in emissions of 2.6%, or 28% of agricultural emissions. They explain that there would be 23% more food but deficiencies in U.S. nutritional requirements of minerals, vitamins, and fatty acids. For example, eating a lean 8-oz. piece of steak provides you with 45 grams of protein, versus eating a cup of black beans with only about 15 grams. You get more protein with fewer calories.

There would also be an economic impact. What do we tell the ranchers, farmers, feeders, processors, marketers, and more who have invested billions of dollars creating protein for human health, not to mention the trickle-down effects on local economies?

Cows are carbon neutral. Really!

Despite popular thinking, the reality is that cows are neutral carbon emitters! How? Over time, they do not emit more carbon than they eat. It is undisputed that plants pull carbon dioxide (CO2) out of the air and then combine it with water and sunlight to make carbohydrates and oxygen. The plants use carbohydrates as fuel for growth and emit oxygen into the air as a byproduct. Very handy for us as we need that to breathe.

When a cow eats a plant, it consumes carbohydrates – which contain carbon. It swallows the plant into their four-chambered stomach. The first chamber is massive and holds enough food to fill your bathtub – about 50 gallons. After the plant enters their stomach, they bring it back up to chew some more – “chewing their cud.” The food then goes back down to the stomach to be digested by the microbes, called methanogens.

This is when they belch a portion as methane which is then released into the atmosphere. This methane is the culprit, as it is 28 times more potent as a GHG than CO2.

The good news is that it only lasts for about eight to ten years before it converts into one part CO2 and two parts H2O via hydroxyl oxidation.

Here is where it gets interesting: according to Frank Mitloehner, Ph.D., Professor and Air Quality Specialist at the University of California, Davis:

“If you are not adding additional cattle or cows to the earth, then there will be no additional methane and no additional global warming.”

As long as more cows are not introduced on the planet, then no additional CO2 is added. For the past ten years, global cattle population has been steady at around 1 billion, yet the average annual presence of methane has steadily increased. Dr. Mitloehner continues, saying “We in agriculture have to do our part but must not be singled out as the 800-pound gorilla we are not.”

Sources for chart: noaa.gov, U.S. Department of Agriculture; USDA Foreign Agricultural Service; ID 263979.

Putting this in perspective

So where does agriculture stand in relationship to global GHG contribution? According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, it is about 12%.

There is no doubt that methane is a powerful GHG that we want to keep out of the atmosphere. But it does not all come from animals. According to NASA, the methane sources can be broken out as follows: 30% wetlands, including ponds, lakes, rivers; 30% related to oil, gas, and coal extraction; 20% by agriculture, including livestock, waste management, and rice cultivation; 20% wildfires, biomass burning, permafrost, termites, dams, and the ocean. Here are more detailed breakdowns:

Freedom to Choose

We are already so divided as a country on a variety of political and social issues. Why are we doing this with food and our climate? Yes, cattle emit methane. That is a fact. It is also true that humans have creatively adapted to a life of comfort and health for thousands of years. Let’s use methane reduction for cattle as a lesson in innovation to make our food and our planet better. Let the science speak for itself and not let emotions get carried away.

I quickly recall my family and I debating issues at the dinner table, but at the end of the day, we respect each other’s thinking. We are environmentalists. We are fierce advocates of sustainable food, innovation, and making the world a better place while also being pragmatic about protecting humans and animals. And we also realize how incredibly fortunate we are to choose what we eat each and every day.

December 7, 2023December 7, 2023

Ag careers grow beyond the farm

Do what you love to do, and you’ll never work a day in your life.

So what is it you love to do?

Being in the great outdoors, enjoying all Mother Nature has to offer.
Peering into a test tube, unlocking the secrets science has to offer.
Interacting with other people, to accomplish important things.
Building and producing things with your own hands and imagination.
Helping people learn valuable lessons that make life better and more fulfilling.
Nurturing and caring for others.
Providing a safe, secure and healthy home for those you love.
…Or something completely different?

In today’s world, it can be almost anything. We all want to do what we love. We want to do something not just enjoyable, but meaningful, too – something that matters not just to us individually, but to the world around us as well.

That drive to combine self-fulfillment with the betterment of the world around us defines a characteristic of the emerging generation of the American workforce.

For the young people seeking not just a job but also a lasting, rewarding career, the task of finding a way of making a living doing what you love may seem daunting.

Just finding any job can be tough. Finding the job may seem like a real challenge.

Where are those opportunities to be found? At Dirt to Dinner, we are perhaps a bit biased. But in our efforts to tell stories from all along the chain from dirt to dinner, we’ve been amazed at the world of opportunities within our food and agriculture system.

Our amazing food system has something to offer for virtually every type of persona and personality – not just jobs, but lasting opportunities for personal and professional satisfaction and reward.

Anyone who believes the food sector can’t compete with the glamor and prestige of other sectors of our economy in offering rewarding careers is simply and sadly mistaken.

Want to do something you love in the work you do. Think long and hard about what the food and agriculture sector has to offer.

**You don’t have to run with the herd**

Jobs in food and agriculture have real appeal for lots of younger people today, especially those with solid roots in the middle America and Middle American values.

Part of the interest seems linked to a recognition among those with rural roots of the importance of maintaining a vibrant, productive food sector. They see every day just how critical our food system is to feed a hungry world, and provide the economic vitality that keeps rural America alive and well. Food and agriculture are part of their DNA already.

But the appeal doesn’t end there. It’s not just young people from rural areas who see a future in the sector.

The interest extends to people defined less by geographic origins than personality type. That’s where the food and agriculture sector has its real strength. There’s a rewarding career opportunity for virtually every personality type – multiple avenues to finding exactly the thing you love to do.

What is your personality?

The textbook definition of personality is deceptively simple. It’s the characteristic way a person thinks, feels and behaves.

Each of us is an individual – a unique person, with our own likes, dislikes, sources of joy and fulfillment, and aspirations. But we nonetheless fall into types of personalities. Most of us have seen the concept up close and personal at some point in our lives.

It might have been high school, or a job application, or any of dozens of pathways to something like the Myers Briggs Type Indicator. Tests like this help identify personality types and organize them into logical groupings.

Whatever labels we choose to apply to our diversity of personality types, the ability of the food and agriculture sector to accommodate them becomes very apparent very quickly.

Consider just a few of the possibilities…

The Scientist And Discoverer

So you really like science. You love the challenge of figuring things out, and using your skills to create new things. The world needs what you have to offer – and no one more so than people who eat.

Scientists play an essential role in finding new and better ways to produce not just more food but also healthier and more nutritious food. They hold the key to finding new and better plant varieties, more resistant to pests and helping renew the soil, or animals that grow faster, with less need for feed and water.

They formulate better food and feed ingredients, and more diverse sources of the proteins, oils, sweeteners and other essential components of a heathy diet. The list of potential areas of discovery and development is virtually endless, but here are just a few to get you started:

The Innovator and Inventor

This personality type sees things that others don’t see, and brings new ideas to life. They look for ways to do things better, and they see the potential within new technologies and modern science.

Creating new tools for an evolving global food system demands exactly this mindset and the skills that come with it. Different ways of making the same food. New farm equipment offering greater control in applying fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides. Remote control equipment. New food processing tools and systems. Better integration of computer controls and automation. The potential for rewarding careers – and an improved food system – are practically limitless. Consider this just a couple of options:

The Teacher and Educator

All the knowledge in the world may be useless unless it is shared. Making smart decisions about our food demands the right information, delivered effectively. It may be in educating people about healthy diets and nutrition, or food storage and preparation. It may focus on helping people understand where their food comes from, and how it is produced.

This important career helps build the consumer understanding and support for producers and others across the food chain from dirt to dinner.

The Marketer and Communicator

Today’s food system offers the widest variety of food choices in history. So how do consumers make smart decisions about what to buy and consume? Marketers and communicators fill this need – not just by hawking a particular brand or product but just as important by providing a steady stream of valuable information about the food products on our shelves.

What are the product’s nutritional content? How do they promote health and well-being? Do they meet our expectations for fair treatment of suppliers, sustainable environmental practices and other socially responsible considerations? They use the latest communication tools and technologies – such as social media – to create new channels for reaching larger, more diverse audiences. These marketing roles you commonly see across all industries, including:

The Business Manager

Guiding the activities of a successful enterprise can be a satisfying and rewarding career path. Few if any enterprises can match the challenges and satisfactions that come from managing a modern farm. Agronomy, logistics, supply chain management, finance, labor – all demand skill and attention.

Others in the food chain also must have the same business acumen. Transportation, storage and warehousing, basic ingredient processing, food manufacturing and delivery, retailing – all demand superior management skills. All the way from corporate headquarters, to processing, to the farm itself. Here are a few to think about:

The Naturalist

Admit it. Some of us simply want to avoid being cooped up in a small cubicle, cramped office – or even indoors, if we can avoid. Being out and in touch with the natural world is what we love. It’s a defining characteristic of most farmers and ranchers. But it’s not limited to them.

Consider the role of an agronomist in dealing with producers regularly. Or as an environmental technician or expert. Or a naturalist who cares deeply about sustainability. The list of potential jobs and careers grows even longer when you consider your other interests, such as gardening, animals and photography.

The Mechanic and Operator

Many of us prefer the real and immediate to the theoretical and abstract. We love the satisfaction that comes from using our heads and our hands to make things work the way they should. We thrive on the results our efforts help produce.

Our food system desperately needs that mindset and skill set. Labor remains one of our food system’s greatest challenges – simply having enough people to do the daily chores demanded of farming or ranching, of maintaining valuable equipment and systems, and being on hand to solve problems and deal with potential emergencies. Or equipment supplier, or any of the dozens of suppliers who interact daily with producers.

The need for reliable, competent mechanics and operators is real – and so are the job and career openings in this critical area.

The Numbers Person

Some people see the magic of numbers all around them. Whether used in as an analytical tool, or in an essential accounting and bookkeeping system, or in scientific research, mathematical and related skills are essential to every segment of the food chain.

A fascination with numbers doesn’t have to be channeled solely into rocket science, or any other single discipline. Our food and agriculture system needs that passion, too, across all sectors and in all business lines., including:

The Cyber Star

Ask anyone across the food chain what their most important tools are, and you may be surprised to find “good data and solid analysis” near the top of the list. We live in an age that demands smart decisions in every aspect of our lives. The food and agriculture sector is no different.

Collecting and organizing data is the first challenge. Turning data into knowledge and insight is just as important. Every segment of the food chain must do both, and people with the computer and cyber skills to put the two halves together have enormous career opportunities in agriculture.

Careers in this space offer more than some of the highest salaries available in the marketplace. Many of those working in this area also point to something beyond compensation. They point to the personal satisfaction that comes from knowing they are doing something important to the world around them. They aren’t helping sell more eye make-up or the latest equivalent of the old hula hoop. They are helping to feed a hungry world.

At the Front Lines

These are only a few examples of the exceptional range of job and career opportunities in our modern food system. To see an even more robust survey of food-related jobs and careers, start with a look at just one source of detailed career help for anyone interested in making our food system their preferred career track, like LoveToKnow’s ag careers page and the USDA’s presentation, too.

In recognition of the job and career opportunities available across agriculture, the Future Farmers of America have created AgExplorer – a career resource dedicated to helping young people identify the employment possibilities and prepare for careers not just in farming and but across the entire food and agriculture sector.

AgExplorer details more than 200 career focus areas, with careful attention to the marriage of computer science and technology to the world of food and agriculture. AgExploer helps students learn about the career opportunities as provides practical, real-world assistance in planning and preparing to find and secure the job and career they will love. That job and career may be in production agriculture, computer systems, environmental science, food manufacturing and sales, biotechnology services – the list goes on and on and on.

Show Me the Money

The range of salaries paid across the food and agricultural sector is predictably broad.

But specific jobs can come with much more attractive compensation levels.

Job sites like indeed.com and careeraddict.com report on some of the highest paying jobs in agriculture in 2023 – including estimates of salaries for farm managers and food scientists in the $61,000-72,000 range, and veterinarians and ag economists making well into six figures annually.

November 29, 2023March 1, 2024

Transcript: Digging into RMPs

Transcript from November 29, 2023 podcast

Hello, everybody. Garland West here with another Digging In episode, where we try to take a little bit deeper dive into subjects involving our food and the incredible system that produces it.

Today we have a really fun topic for you and one that I bet tells you some things you didn’t know before. We all know how important research is to our food system. We use sound science to open all sorts of doors, better plants and better animals through improved nutrition, better genetics, better production techniques. The list goes on and on and on. Scientists work every day to unlock more value in the commodities and the staples we’ve relied upon for literally hundreds of years. We get better, more nutritious food and innovative new uses that meet real market needs, and we get smarter consumers to boot. Our food system does more than ever before to provide a steady stream of the data and the information that comes from data so we can all make better, smarter food decisions.

Nice. Since Bob covered the functional benefits of peanuts, I’ll talk a little bit about the other thing that I love about peanuts, and that’s our peanut farmers. Our peanut farmers are amazing in many cases. In most cases, running multi-generational family businesses. And if anybody thinks being a farmer is easy, they’ve got another thing coming. Our farmers put a lot at risk every year when they grow the crops that they bring to market for the consumer. And fortunately, I think many of them take great pride in doing that work and are willing to take the risks that come their way.

And it’s very exciting to see some of the things that young farmers are bringing to the table. Their dad, their grandparents, their moms may have been farmers, but these young farmers are a new generation and they’re bringing the same but a little bit different level of excitement and approach to making sure that their business is sustainable for their children.

Garland West:

Wow, that’s very, very good. You’re telling me that they’re tasty, they’re nutritious, they’re sustainable environmentally, and they’re sustainable in terms of perpetuating the family farm that’s made our American Ag system what it’s today. That’s a pretty good summary of an industry. Bob & Ryan, that’s a great note to end on.

Thank you again for being with us on Dirt to Dinner’s, Digging In podcast. I might add a personal note of congratulations to both men, Bob, for a remarkable career in service to peanut farmers in the entire peanut industry and agriculture in general for that matter. And Ryan for his recent selection to follow Bob as the peanut board’s next president and CEO. Guys, thanks for a job very, very well done.

I’m Garland West reminding you to visit us at www dirttodinnedev.wpenginepowered.com. I’ll promise we’ll make it fun and informative.

November 29, 2023December 7, 2023

Digging into RMPs: National Peanut Board

Because of our ever-evolving food system, we get better, more nutritious food and innovative new uses that meet real market needs, and we get smarter consumers to boot. It takes work by thousands of researchers all pointed toward finding answers to some of the toughest issues we continue to wrestle with every day. And it takes a concerted effort to get the word out to people.

But who’s in charge of this endeavor? Not the government, not fancy think tanks, not big business or big universities. All those folks play important roles, but we often overlook what hardworking, financially challenged farmers who drive the demand to improve consumer understanding of our food.

In this episode of Digging In, we’re turning to the peanut industry to provide a stellar example of organizations that work behind the scenes for its farmers. The National Peanut Board, a research, marketing and promotion organization (“RMP”) for U.S. peanut farmers, is headed up by Bob Parker, current CEO; and Ryan Lepicier, current Chief Marketing Officer and next CEO. RMPs like this organization help improve our food system to provide a steady stream of information so we can all make better, smarter food decisions.

Click here for a transcript of this podcast.

Here are our guests in this episode:

Bob Parker joined the National Peanut Board, a farmer-funded research, marketing and promotion organization based in Atlanta, Georgia, as its president and CEO in 2012. At the National Peanut Board, he has focused on the mission of improving the economic condition of America’s peanut farmers and their families. Those efforts have centered around promoting the increased consumption of U.S.-grown peanuts domestically and internationally, addressing barriers to consumption such as peanut allergy and supporting production research to make peanut farmers more productive, efficient and sustainable.

The 2023 peanut crop is the 47th of Parker’s professional career, although he has been around peanuts his entire life. He has a broad range of experience in peanuts and agriculture, both domestically and internationally, from growing, processing, public policy and marketing. Parker is a graduate of the University of Georgia with a degree in agricultural economics.

Ryan Lepicier serves as senior vice president and chief marketing officer at the National Peanut Board with a passion for fueling peanut demand and consumption. He will begin his role as NPB president and CEO on January 1, 2024. He and his team are working to make peanuts the most relevant nut among millennial consumers by ensuring people are thinking about peanuts differently, talking about peanuts positively, engaging with peanuts more often, and buying more peanuts.

Lepicier has a bachelor’s degree in journalism and communication from the University of Oregon and an MBA from Auburn University. He likes his peanut butter straight from the jar on a spoon. Crunchy, please.

November 20, 2023February 27, 2024

Haricots Verts with Ginger & Pecans

A Bright, New Twist on Green Beans

Lisa Fielding, D2D’s contributing chef, recommends Team D2D and all our readers to immediately exchange that tired green bean casserole for this bright, complex dish that triumphs over its soggy cousin. And we couldn’t agree more.

Consider this as a worthy accompaniment to your Thanksgiving turkey, or as a bed under a grilled salmon filet. No matter how you prepare it, you won’t be disappointed.

Want to dig deeper into this recipe to learn how foods like these are a part of our bigger food system? We’ve got something for everyone!

See why beans, peas, and other complex carbohydrate-rich veggies can help boost your mood!
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Haricots Verts in Browned Butter with Caramelized Ginger & Pecans

Serves 8

Ingredients:

1 lb. haricot verts, trimmed and washed
1 inch knob of fresh ginger peeled and cut into thin matchsticks
1/3 cup pecan pieces toasted in a skillet for 2 minutes
1 stick salted high quality butter

Instructions:

Prepare an ice bath. Either steam or blanch haricot verts until tender but still snap when broken in two. Steam will take around 3 minutes. Blanching in boiling water around 90 seconds. Place in ice bath to stop the cooking process.
Melt butter in a skillet over a low heat. You don’t want to the butter to brown quickly. Toss in ginger and cook over low heat until matchsticks turn golden and crispy. Butter will brown simultaneously.
Remove haricot verts from ice bath and toss in a kitchen towel until completely dry. Toss with ginger butter and pecans. Platter and serve.

Hungry for more knowledge?

Click on the posts below to sate your curiosity about where our food comes from. And click here for more of our tried-and-true recipes. Bon appetit!

November 20, 2023November 20, 2023

The Ultimate Cocktail Cookie

Calling All Mad Party Hosts!

Lisa Fielding, D2D’s contributing chef, has been making Dorie Greenspan’s famous savory cocktail cookies for years and have typically followed her recipes to the letter. And why not? She’s amazing.

As Lisa says, “The cookies are essentially a shortbread batter elevated with sweet and savory ingredients that produce the most tantalizing bouchée which, after just one bite will transport you to a state of food nirvana.”

But never satisfied to leave well enough alone, Lisa was curious what would happen if she adapted the recipe to include apricots to the savory recipe and add a whole egg instead of egg yolks to plump up the cookie and bind it better when baked through.

Turns out she was right on all counts. This sweet and savory version will add a patina of sophistication to your next cocktail party.

Want to dig deeper into this recipe to learn how foods like these are a part of our bigger food system? We’ve got something for everyone!

Wheat is one of the oldest and most vital grain crops in the world. Learn more about it here.
Where do our food ingredients come from? It’s more complicated than you might think.
Did you know Russia is the chief exporter of wheat used in breads, cookies, and many other popular foods around the world?

The Ultimate Cocktail Cookie

Yields 3 dozen cookies

Ingredients:

1/2 cup whole almonds
1/2 cup whole dried apricots, softened in boiling water for ten minutes and then chopped
1/3 cup sugar
2 tablespoons finely chopped rosemary
2 cups all-purpose flour (additional flour for rolling and cutting)
1/3 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese (1 ounce)
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 sticks cold unsalted butter, diced
1 egg

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 350°.
Add the whole almonds to a food processor and pulse to the consistency of grainy flour. Add the rosemary and sugar and pulse until completely combined. Now add the chopped apricots and pulse until they are well integrated. Add the flour and pulse into a fine grainy mixture.
Now add the butter and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Add the egg and pulse until large clumps of dough form.
Flour your work surface. Transfer the dough and press into a disc. Lightly flour the disc and with a rolling pin very gently roll into a larger circle until the dough is 1/2″ thick.
Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Using a 1 1/2-inch round cookie cutter, stamp out cookies as close together as possible. Arrange the cookies about 1 inch apart on the prepared baking sheet.
Bake the cookies for about 20 minutes, until lightly golden; you may need to spin the sheet half way through if your oven cooks unevenly. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheets for 3 minutes, then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.

Pro tip: Want to make this ahead?
The rolled-out cookie dough can be wrapped in plastic and kept frozen for 2 weeks. Then bake cookies as instructed above.

Hungry for more knowledge?

Click on the posts below to sate your curiosity about where our food comes from. And click here for more of our tried-and-true recipes. Bon appetit!

November 20, 2023November 20, 2023

Classic Cheesecloth Turkey

A Traditional Turkey, but Elevated…

This roasted turkey is the go-to recipe for D2D’s contributing chef, Lisa Fielding…and for good reason. And she follows this beautiful bird up with her extraordinary pumpkin pie cheesecake.

Scroll down for instructions and enjoy 🙂

Want to dig deeper into this recipe to learn how foods like these are a part of our bigger food system? We’ve got something for everyone!

Want to learn more about your turkey? Read these helpful facts!
And here’s how to properly prep a turkey all your guests can safely enjoy.
See why the tryptophan in your turkey can help boost your mood!

Lisa’s Classic Cheesecloth Turkey

Ingredients

1 turkey (14 to 16 pounds)
1/2 cup butter, softened
3 tablespoons minced fresh thyme
3 tablespoons minced fresh sage
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
2 celery ribs, quartered
1 medium onion, chopped
1 medium carrot, quartered
1 cup butter, cubed
2 cups white wine

Gravy

2 to 3 cups chicken broth
5 tablespoons all-purpose flour

Instructions

Preheat oven to 325°. Remove giblets from turkey; cover and refrigerate for gravy. Pat turkey dry; place breast side up on a rack in a roasting pan. In a small bowl, combine softened butter, thyme and sage. With fingers, carefully loosen skin from turkey breast; rub butter mixture under skin. Sprinkle salt and pepper over turkey and inside cavity; fill cavity with celery, onion and carrot.
In a large saucepan, melt cubed butter; stir in wine. Saturate a four-layered 17-in. square of cheesecloth in butter mixture; drape over turkey. Bake turkey, uncovered, 3 hours; baste with wine mixture every 30 minutes, keeping cheesecloth moist at all times.
Remove and discard cheesecloth. Bake turkey until a thermometer inserted in the thigh reads 170°-175°, basting occasionally with pan drippings, 45 minutes to 1-1/4 hours longer. (Cover loosely with foil if turkey browns too quickly.)
Remove turkey to a serving platter; cover and let stand 20 minutes before carving. Discard vegetables from cavity. Pour drippings and loosened brown bits into a measuring cup. Skim fat, reserving 1/3 cup. Add enough broth to remaining drippings to measure 4 cups.
In a saucepan, melt a few tablespoons butter and add flour to make a roux. Cook for one minute and add broth all at once whisking until incorporated. Simmer for five minutes stirring constantly until thickened. Use this as your gravy.

Hungry for more knowledge? Click on the posts below to sate your curiosity about where our food comes from. And click here for more of our tried-and-true recipes. Bon appetit!

November 20, 2023November 20, 2023

Lisa’s Pumpkin Pie Cheesecake

Pumpkin Pie + Cheesecake = Heaven

Dirt to Dinner’s contributing chef, Lisa Fielding, depends on this Pumpkin Pie Cheesecake to keep the Thanksgiving vibes going strong after her delicious cheesecloth turkey has been gobbled up.

Consider pairing this cheesecake with a fun and festive cocktail to make the day even more scrumptious.

Scroll down for instructions and enjoy 🙂

Want to dig deeper into this recipe to learn how foods like these are a part of our bigger food system? We’ve got something for everyone!

Here’s a helpful roadmap to take some of the stress out of planning your Thanksgiving day.
And here are the top concerns facing farmers of all crops, from acorn squash to zucchini.
Is pumpkin considered a “superfood“?

Lisa’s Pumpkin Pie Cheesecake Recipe

Ingredients

Graham cracker crust:

1 ½ cups graham cracker crumbs (12 full sheets of grahams processed in the food processor until very fine)
¼ cup granulated sugar
½ tsp ground cinnamon
6 tbsp salted butter melted

Pumpkin cheesecake filling:

24 oz cream cheese room temperature (three, 8 oz packages)
1 cup light brown sugar packed
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
¼ tsp sea salt
1 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
½ cup sour cream room temperature
3 large eggs room temperature
3 Tbps flour

Instructions

Butter and flour the sides of a 9” spring form pan. Line the outside, bottom of the pan completely with heavy-duty foil so no water can leak into the pan from the water bath. Set aside.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Make the graham cracker crust:

In a large bowl, combine graham cracker crumbs, sugar and cinnamon. Add melted butter and stir until combined.
Pour the crust mixture into the prepared springform, pressing it down into the bottom of the dish and halfway up the sides.
Bake in preheated oven for 5 minutes, then remove the crust from the oven and set aside to slightly cool.

Make the pumpkin cheesecake filling:

While the crust is baking make the filling.
In a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or in a large bowl with a handheld mixer, beat together the cream cheese and brown sugar until light and fluffy and there are no lumps.
Add pumpkin puree, vanilla, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, sea salt and sour cream and beat until just combined.
Add eggs, one at a time and beat after each addition.
Gently stir in flour.

Prepare a water bath:

Find a large pan (baking pan, cast iron skillet, fry pan, etc) that will fit your springform pan and put it in the preheated oven. Bring 2 quarts of water to a boil.

Bake:

Pour the filling over the baked and slightly cooled crust.Place the springform pan in the large pan in the preheated oven. Slowly fill the large pan with boiling water until it is halfway up the sides of the cheesecake pan.
Bake in the water bath for 50-55 minutes or until the top and edges are set but not browned and the pumpkin cheesecake is only very slightly jiggly. You can test it by inserting a knife or cake tester in the center of the cake and if it comes out clean you know it is done. However, this can cause the pumpkin cheesecake to crack so I don’t really recommend it (but it’s better than a soupy cheesecake if you’re unsure).
Remove the cheesecake from the water bath and set on a wire cooling rack to cool to room temperature. Once at room temperature, transfer the cheesecake to the refrigerator to chill overnight.

Hungry for more knowledge? Click on the posts below to sate your curiosity about where our food comes from. And click here for more of our tried-and-true recipes. Bon appetit!

November 15, 2023November 15, 2023

Can a diet mimic Ozempic’s results?

In the realm of health and wellness, a remarkable medication named Ozempic has dramatically transformed the lives of many individuals struggling with type 2 diabetes and obesity.

What is Ozempic, anyway?

Ozempic, containing the active ingredient semaglutide, made waves in the healthcare community initially in 2017 when the FDA approved it for managing blood sugar levels in conjunction with diet and exercise. But it has become a cultural tsunami this past year (especially on social media) as more non-diabetics have been seeking its myriad health-related benefits.

The benefits are now appreciated by both patients and healthcare professionals. This injectable medication works by mimicking the glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) hormone, which plays a pivotal role in regulating blood sugars, slowing stomach emptying, curbing appetite, and improving heart problems (possibly preventing heart attack and stroke).

However, while medications like this are sometimes necessary, many individuals could achieve similar health outcomes by focusing on a strategic diet, emphasizing foods that naturally regulate blood sugar levels, reduce hunger, and promote weight loss. By eating the right foods, you can still have the “I’m full” effect of Ozempic and the benefits of getting the proper nutrients for your lifestyle.

As the adage goes, “Let food be thy medicine.”

Harnessing the Power of Low-Glycemic Foods

Understanding the glycemic index (GI) of foods is paramount. Low-GI foods facilitate gradual blood sugar increases, mimicking Ozempic’s blood glucose-stabilizing effect. Integrating these foods into your diet means you’re investing in a spectrum of benefits that support your metabolic health.

Whole grains are a cornerstone here. Options like quinoa, barley, and steel-cut oats should be regulars on your grocery list. Consider servings of about a half-cup of cooked grains at mealtimes enough to reap the benefits without excessive calorie intake.

Incorporating legumes is also wise; foods like lentils, chickpeas, and various beans not only stabilize blood sugar but are also rich in proteins and micronutrients. A standard portion would be approximately a half-cup cooked, balancing blood sugar management and satiety.

Fruits, while often sweet, can also be low-GI superstars. Berries, cherries, and apples come with the added bonus of vital antioxidants and vitamins. A typical serving could be one small apple or a cup of berries, perfect for a snack or dessert without causing a sugar spike.

Integrating these foods into your daily meals, in addition to having a half-cup of cooked quinoa or incorporating legumes into your salads, can contribute to the slow and steady absorption of carbohydrates, akin to the metabolic balance that Ozempic promotes.

The Satiating Effect of Dietary Fiber

If you’re aiming to naturally replicate the appetite-reducing effect of Ozempic, dietary fiber is your ally. High-fiber foods add bulk to your diet and slow digestion, which can fend off hunger pangs.

Vegetables like leafy greens, broccoli, Brussels sprouts and carrots — and fruits like pears and apples — are high in fiber. Whole grains and legumes also join this list, offering twice the benefits with their low GI and high fiber content.

Consuming these not only helps with digestion but also keeps you full longer, reducing the likelihood of overeating. Adults should aim for at least 25 to 30 grams of fiber per day, spread across all meals. In practical terms, this could be about two cups of mixed leafy vegetables, a medium-sized pear, or a half-cup of cooked, high-fiber grains like barley.

Don’t forget about seeds such as chia or flaxseeds, either. Just one tablespoon can provide about 5 to 6 grams of fiber. These are easy to sprinkle over salads and yogurts, or incorporated into baked goods, allowing for a fiber boost without a significant increase in food volume.

One of my favorite daily high-fiber meals is creating a colorful salad loaded with leafy greens, chopped carrots, and sprinkled with a handful of beans. Try this out and you’ll be introducing a meal into your routine that keeps you fuller for longer, potentially reducing overall calorie intake, much like the weight management benefit observed with Ozempic use.

Proteins & Fats: Allies in Weight Management

Proteins and healthy fats, while fundamental for various bodily functions, also play a direct role in weight management, metabolic regulation and satiety. Lean proteins like chicken breast, fish, and tofu should be staples in your diet. A 3- to 4-ounce serving of these proteins at meals — roughly the size of your palm — is generally adequate to support muscle maintenance, especially important as you lose weight. Foods rich in omega-3 fatty acids, such as salmon, mackerel, and walnuts, improve insulin sensitivity, an effect beneficial for type 2 diabetes management.

Healthy fats, also found in foods like avocados, nuts, and olives, contribute to a meal’s overall GI, slowing digestion and helping to moderate blood sugar levels. A quarter of an avocado, a tablespoon of olive oil in cooking, or a small handful of nuts is sufficient. They not only enhance your meal’s nutritional profile but also add flavors that taste good.

Meanwhile, lean proteins like chicken breast, turkey, and tofu help preserve muscle mass, essential for maintaining a healthy metabolism. Balancing your meal with a good protein source and perhaps a dash of healthy fats, like cooking with olive oil or topping your salad with sliced almonds, can help you feel full and maintain consistent energy levels, two things associated with Ozempic.

The Power of Hydration

Proper hydration is an often overlooked aspect of metabolic health. Aim for at least 64 ounces of water a day, depending on your physical activity. Regular water intake is crucial for overall bodily functions, including maintaining optimal blood sugar levels.

Hydration’s role in health is so foundational that it complements any approach aiming to improve metabolic stability. Adding a slice of cucumber or lemon can make the same old water taste better, ensuring you meet your hydration goals.

Crafting a Balanced Diet: Practical Tips

Bringing all these elements together requires balance and moderation.

Start your day with a breakfast rich in proteins and low-GI foods; think a bowl of steel-cut oats topped with chia seeds and berries, or a spinach and mushroom omelet cooked with olive oil. These options set the tone for your metabolic responses throughout the day.
For lunch and dinner, half your plate should be vegetables, a quarter protein, and a quarter low-GI carbohydrates. This could be a mixed greens salad with grilled chicken and quinoa or a serving of chili using lean turkey and an array of beans.
Snacks should also be nutrient-dense. Yogurts, nuts, seeds, and fresh fruits are your go-to items. These ensure you’re not just filling up but nourishing your body, supporting the microbiome, and maintaining blood sugar levels.

Concluding Bite

While Ozempic represents a medical advancement, our daily food choices are just as impactful. Understanding and harnessing the power of nutrition can help sustain health and wellness, often achieving the benefits provided by such medications.

Of course, these dietary strategies don’t replace professional medical advice. Instead, they should encourage a conversation with your healthcare provider about integrating holistic approaches into your health regimen, tailoring them to your individual needs, and, perhaps, letting your meals function as medicine.

November 8, 2023November 14, 2023

Tiny plastics pose huge problems

Small pieces of plastic, now termed microplastics have infiltrated all ecosystems, posing a severe threat to wildlife…and now us. New research has shown that microplastics — especially its microscopic offspring, nanoplastics — might accumulate within our bodies, too.

Microscopic Fibers with Massive Implications

Microplastic particles measure less than 5mm in size, or smaller than the width of a pencil eraser.

How do these plastics find their way inside us? I’ve never been caught in a hailstorm of plastic beads (and you probably haven’t either). Unfortunately, what we’re talking about here is something smaller…way smaller.

We’re talking about nanoplastics. Fibers that are smaller than 1 micrometer (1 μm), or the length of a tiny bacterium, or 1/50 the width of a strand of human hair.

Despite its seemingly inconsequential size, nanoplastics pose significant risks.

These barely detectable yet ever-present fibers can pass through biological barriers, like blood and organ lining and, over time, accumulate within the body.

Where Do The Fibers Come From?

Microplastics, including nanoplastics, are ubiquitous because they’re durable and resist decomposition. They are primarily generated through the breakdown of oversized plastic items and fabrics, microbeads in personal care products, and a host of other industrial processes.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) held a seminar based on reporting from the government of Sweden that found synthetic textiles as the single greatest contributor to engineered microplastics in the ocean, accounting for 35% of total microplastic volume.

Polyester, nylon, and acrylic – common fabrics used to make 60% of the world’s clothes — are all considered synthetic.

Unfortunately, our typical shopping habits are mostly to blame here, with synthetic fabrics and toiletries making up almost 40% of the total microplastic volume.

These plastic-based fibers shed microplastics every step along the way, from its production, to wearing and laundering, and even during its eventual disposal, mostly in landfills. In fact, a 2016 study found that each laundering of a fleece jacket releases an average of 1.7 grams of microfibers, which can end up in the ocean. Nylon, polyester and acrylic clothes all shed microfibers when washed.

Tires are next in line as significant sources of microplastics, followed by city dust. While you’ll find a greater concentration of microplastics around densely populated areas with heavy traffic, industrial activity, and busy commerce, these tiny particulates are adept at world travel.

In fact, scientists recorded 365 microplastic particles per square meter falling daily from the sky in the remote Pyrenees Mountains in southern France.

The Path from Environment to Food

One of the most alarming aspects of microplastic contamination is its presence in what we eat. Microplastics have been found in a wide range of whole foods, including seafood, fruits, vegetables, honey, and bottled drinking water.

Microplastic entry into our food system mostly happens through these channels:

Ingestion by animals and seafood that we eventually eat (“trophic transfer”)
Soil and plants absorbing degraded fibers from synthetic mulches and films (plastic bags, for example)
Airborne fibers that, once settled, are ingested or absorbed by trophic transfer
Food processing and packaging along all points, from the industrial food and drink facilities, to chopping on our polyethylene cutting boards at home

Health Risks from Ingesting Plastics

Several studies have pointed out the adverse effects in various parts of our bodies, including:

Gastrointestinal absorption: Some studies suggest that microplastics may be absorbed through the gastrointestinal tract and enter our bloodstream, raising concerns about systemic effects on human health as they’re broken down further into nanoparticles that can permeate organ linings.
Accumulation of toxic substances: Microplastics can act as carriers for harmful chemicals and pollutants, like bisphenol-A (otherwise known as BPA), phthalates, and heavy metals. When ingested, they may release these toxins into our bodies.
Inflammatory responses: Microplastics may induce systemic inflammatory responses contributing to immune deficiencies, oxidative stress, cell and tissue damage, gastrointestinal disorders, respiratory and cardiovascular diseases
Endocrine and reproductive disruption: Some microplastics contain additives that can disrupt our endocrine system, potentially leading to hormonal imbalances, reproductive issues, and other associated health risks

“Our research shows that we are ingesting microplastics at the levels consistent with harmful effects on cells, which are in many cases the initiating event for health effects.”

– Evangelos Danopoulos, Hull York Medical School, U.K.

Microplastic Release using Microwaves

A recent and particularly frightening study from University of Nebraska demonstrates microwaving’s effect on plastics, compounding concerns found in previous studies.

The issue comes down to the structure of plastic during production. Simply put, particles look and behave like cooked spaghetti. You know how cooked spaghetti clumps together when cooling down, but then starts releasing strands when reheated? Those little spaghetti-like plastic structures are released into our foods when plastic gets hot in the same way.

But what about plastic containers that read “microwave-safe”? Perhaps they’re not so safe after all. This study found that heat from the microwave can cause plastic containers to break down, releasing small plastic particles into the food or beverage being heated. And not just a few particles: some containers could release as many as 4 million microplastic and 2 billion nanoplastic particles from only one square centimeter of plastic area within three minutes of microwave heating.

But it doesn’t stop at microwaves:

Cooking food in plastic containers or using plastic utensils in hot foods can also release microplastics and nanoplastics
Refrigeration and room-temperature storage for over six months can also release millions to billions of microplastics and nanoplastics
Polyethylene food pouches commonly used for kids’ applesauce, yogurts, and smoothies, released more particles than polypropylene plastics, often used for refrigerated storage containers and restaurant take-out orders

Separately, the researchers also found that microplastics released from plastic containers caused the death of 77% of human embryonic kidney cells. However, more research needs to be done on this to be conclusive, as this was a first-time in-vitro (i.e. test tube) study.

What Can We Do?

Yes, this information is scary, but don’t fear…we have an incredible food system providing us all with fresh and affordable food choices every day. And plastics do have their place in this system: they reduce food waste by keeping items fresher longer, avoiding cross contamination, and keeping food prices low.

The most important thing you can do to help offset plastics’ negative effects? Plain and simple: eat a balanced diet. Consuming a variety of fresh produce, lean proteins, and healthy fats is the most efficient way to promote healthy digestion, flush toxins from organs, boost cellular activity, and initiate an effective immune response. And, coincidentally, fresher food choices usually have less plastic packaging than their shelf-stable counterparts.

And here are some other things to implement into your daily life.

Avoid microwaving plastic by using microwave-safe glass or ceramic containers instead
Consider a time-restricted eating schedule that provides your body with a daily rest from digestion so your organs can operate better and with less inflammation
Eat foods high in antioxidants, chlorella, and selenium. These nutrients bind to toxins for removal from your digestive system.
Limit premade meals packaged with plastic and that require heating in their container(microwave foods in glass containers instead of plastic ones)
Curb consumption of bivalves like oysters, clams, and mussels. When eating these shellfish, you also consume their digestive systems, which harbor more plastics than foods from anywhere else.
Reduce plastic use by selecting safer materials, like glass or stainless steel
Bring a reusable cup when going to the coffee shop, the gym, work, etc.
Filter your tap water to reduce your exposure to microplastics. And don’t drink water from plastic water bottles
Reduce canned food purchases since they have thin plastic linings and hold food for extended periods of time

November 2, 2023

Digging in: Mintel Food Trends Expert

Lynn Dornblaser is a seasoned expert with over 35 years of valuable product trend knowledge and experience at Mintel since 1998. She brings a unique perspective to her work, applying it to tailored client research and engaging in extensive public speaking engagements.

She has been recognized and quoted by esteemed U.S. news organizations, like The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, The New York Times, and CNN. Lynn has also had the honor of serving as a keynote lecturer and speaker for numerous industry groups and sales forums.

Prior to joining Mintel, Lynn’s expertise in new product trends was showcased as the editor and editorial director of New Product News at various trade magazine publishing companies.

October 25, 2023October 26, 2023

Like Your Food? Thank a Trucker

When the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) last month reported food price inflation of only 3.7 percent, few seemed to notice. That figure is almost double the food inflation rate since the early 1990s but still way below the numbers posted following the COVID-19 pandemic and the enormous disruption to the food system that followed.

As the Washington Post observed, “Overall, inflation is trending in the right direction.”

In the Covid era, food manufacturers and retailers had a single over-riding priority: Do whatever it takes to keep the pipeline of food as full as possible. Find whatever supplies of the food products consumers wanted and expected of the most modern and efficient food system in human history. Pay whatever needed to be paid to secure those products and see them delivered. Maintaining supply became the universal mantra.

Without a doubt, our food system did a magnificent job of rising to the challenges posed by the Covid era – and the demands of the public. Spot shortages and supply disruptions captured a lot of attention, but by and large, they remained the exception far more than the rule and an inconvenience more than a threat to consumer well-being.

A Sign of the Times

But rising to the challenge came with a cost: food inflation at record or near-record levels. Consumers seemed more than willing to ante up for the food we all want – at least for a while. We’re now seeing early signs that willingness to pay more and more for our food is giving way to a new consumer attitude – one of cost-consciousness that is leading more and more food manufacturers and retailers to shift gears.

Consumers are showing increasing resistance to inexorable food price increases. More and more of us are turning to store brands… price shopping across suppliers… taking more advantage of sales and promotions… simply choosing to look at less-expensive meal alternatives…and more. Some disgruntled food shoppers have even resorted to – gasp – doing without.

In simple terms, price has become an increasingly important consideration for consumers.

A May 2022 study by Ernst & Young found that nearly three of every five consumers say price is their foremost purchase consideration. Two of three consumers say it will become the most critical consideration in the next three years.

The food sector seems to have taken this shift in attitude to heart. They are asking hard questions of suppliers, seeking to bring more pricing discipline to all aspects of their operations. Food manufacturers and retailers report spending more and more time examining opportunities for cost-reducing innovations and making smart investments in new technologies that enhance productivity.

But the single factor of unpredictability most often cited in Dirt to Dinner: the human element. And the portion of our food system most vulnerable to this unpredictability: transportation, and in particular, the trucking industry.

Trucking’s Consequential Labor Issues

Managers and operators across the food chain have reported a widespread lack of the people needed to do many of the fundamental manual tasks demanded by the entire food chain. Work crews are needed to do the hard, often back-breaking work of harvesting and initial transportation of commodities and food products. Farm managers complain bitterly of a lack of willing workers to do the daily arduous tasks that come with daily farm and ranch life, especially in dairy. Even farm-service suppliers report shortages of mechanics, service technicians, and others vital to maintaining routine farm and ranch operations.

No labor shortage provides greater cause for concern than the trucking sector.

The statistics can be mind-numbing. According to the American Trucking Association (ATA), trucks move about 73 percent – yes, almost three-quarters – of the nation’s freight. That’s about 11.5 billion tons. Nearly 14 million trucks are on the road today, traveling over 327 billion miles.

The U.S. Department of Transportation reports over 750,000 active U.S. carriers. More than 95 percent of those operate ten or fewer trucks. The industry employs 8.4 million individuals as drivers or in support roles, with about 1.4 million actual drivers.

As impressive as the trucking industry statistics may be, they don’t explain the cause for concern from the food industry.

Trucks provide the common element across the entire food chain, providing the connective glue that brings food from dirt to dinner. Trucks bring farm inputs, transport commodities, animals, and ingredients from farm to collection points to food plants and production facilities. They carry finished food products to distributors and retailers and increasingly, to home delivery. A half-dozen trucks – or more – may be involved in the journey from dirt to dinner. When trucking services fail at any link in the chain, the likely result is system disruption – and supply interruption, and higher costs.

During the Covid pandemic, reports of a shortage of truck drivers were common. Food industry and transportation experts contacted by Dirt to Dinner report common problems with securing reliable truck services and cite this uncertainty as a significant factor behind the food sector’s efforts to secure contractual commitments from larger, proven, reliable suppliers.

Managers at large food companies report delays in service delivery and the growing issue of simple communications. “More and more of the drivers simply don’t speak English,” as one logistic manager explained. “You can imagine the problems that can create.”

Driver Shortage…or Driver Retention?

Those comments point to the debate within transportation circles about the existence of a “driver shortage.” Some prefer to call it a “driver retention” problem.

According to this point of view, the real problem is the simple unwillingness of people to accept the harsh demands of the profession. Extended periods of time away from home, constant travel, unfamiliar food, long spells of downtime, and boredom in strange locales have proven unattractive to prospective truckers. Even those anxious to find work and attracted to the ‘open road and personal freedom’ of trucking seem to become disillusioned and move on to work that offers something closer to the quality of life they seek – time at home, with family and friends, especially.

The industry has no choice but to adapt to these changing worker expectations, according to trucking industry figures. It begins with economics – meaning more pay. BLS reports an 2020 average truck driver salary of $48,710, rising to $49,920 in May 2022.

The agency agrees with food industry executives that demand for professional heavy and tractor-trailer drives will continue to grow, at a projected 4 percent per year through 2032. That works out to roughly 241,000 openings per year.

Observers of the trucking industry acknowledge the aggressive and creative efforts of the industry to improve driver conditions and adapt to changing expectations of potential drivers. They also note the special effort being made to attract more women to the profession – and more married driver teams.

But they also emphasize the need to move quickly – or see the recovery of our overall economy (and our food sector) sputter.

October 17, 2023October 20, 2023

The Ins & Outs of Mushroom Products

Mushrooms have been enjoyed for ages, not just because they’re delicious, but also for their amazing health perks! Recent studies have shown that mushrooms are packed with essential vitamins, minerals, fiber, and special compounds that are great for your overall health.

As people become more curious about these advantages, mushroom supplements have popped up as a handy way to tap into their potential, making it easier to reap the benefits without relying solely on eating them.

Nutritional Benefits of Mushrooms

We at Dirt to Dinner have tried a variety of mushroom powders and supplements. We love sources that have proven cognitive and immune benefits but we always want to know that our sources are the best.

Mushrooms are a natural source of essential nutrients such as B vitamins (riboflavin, niacin, pantothenic acid), minerals (potassium, copper, selenium), and dietary fiber. They also contain unique bioactive compounds such as flavonoids, β-glucans, ergosterol (a precursor of vitamin D), and various polyphenols. These compounds have been linked to immune system modulation, antioxidant activity, and potential anti-inflammatory effects.

Mushroom varieties like Shiitake (Lentinula edodes) and Reishi (Ganoderma lucidum) have been extensively studied for their health-promoting properties. Shiitake, for instance, contains lentinan, a polysaccharide with immunomodulatory effects. Reishi mushrooms are known for their triterpenoids, which exhibit potential antitumor and anti-inflammatory activities.

Lion’s Mane (Hericium erinaceus) is another medicinal mushroom with a unique appearance, resembling cascading white icicles. Beyond its culinary uses, Lion’s Mane has gained attention for its potential health benefits, particularly in the realm of cognitive health and neurological well-being. It contains bioactive compounds, including erinacines and hericenones, that have shown neuroprotective effects and the ability to support brain health.

Lions Mane can also stimulate Nerve Growth Factor (NGF), which contributes to nerve cell maintenance and repair. It can help form new neurons, combat cognitive decline, and enhance memory and attention—truly incredible cognitive benefits!

Mushroom Supplements & Benefits

Back in February of this year, market reports had some exciting news. The global functional mushroom market, which covers everything from mushroom-based foods and drinks to supplements, was valued at a whopping $50.3 billion! And guess what? It’s still on the rise!

Now, let’s talk about the real heroes here – mushroom supplements. They’re all the rage! There are lots of brands out there crafting these powerhouse formulations, making it super easy to bring the magic of mushrooms into your daily routine. They come in all sorts of forms like powders, extracts, capsules, and tinctures. It’s like a mushroom smorgasbord.

These supplement folks make a big deal about specific compounds like β-glucans, polysaccharides, or triterpenoids because they’re like the secret sauce behind the potential health perks. But here’s the real question: how can we be sure we’re getting a top-notch product? Is it just about the formulation or are there other considerations?

Here are some key factors to consider when assessing supplement quality and ensuring the authenticity:

Ingredient Transparency:

Reputable manufacturers should clearly list the mushroom species used and the active compounds present in their products. Generic terms like “mushroom extract” or “mushroom blend” without specifying the species should be approached with caution.
Each mushroom species has a scientific name that consists of two parts: the genus and the species. For example, Lion’s Mane’s scientific name is Hericium erinaceus. Verify that the scientific names of the mushrooms are provided on the label to ensure accurate identification.
Country origin should also be listed on their label, as some regions are known for producing high-quality mushrooms due to optimal growing conditions and cultivation practices- those include Japan, the U.S., Canada, Korea, Netherlands, Poland, and Germany.

Testing for Active Compounds:

High-quality, reputable supplements undergo testing to verify the presence and concentration of specific bioactive compounds, such as beta-glucans or triterpenoids, which contribute to the mushroom’s health benefits.
The label should indicate the concentration or standardized amount of these compounds. Avoid anything with “proprietary blends” as they may hide specific ingredients.

Third-Party Verification:

There are three main third-party verifiers, The United States Pharmacopeia (USP), The National Sanitation Foundation (NSF), and ConsumerLab. Be sure to research the brand to ensure it has obtained certifications from one of these independent organizations that ensure potency, authenticity and quality.
If you’re still uncertain about a product’s authenticity, consider consulting healthcare professionals or experts who specialize in herbal or nutritional supplements. They can provide guidance based on their expertise and knowledge.