Around the time we were taking our little walk down memory lane with Kellogg’s and its sugary cereals of the past, the packaged-foods giant was announcing its own accelerated “clean labeling” plans. The president of Kellogg North America announced last week that the company plans to discontinue use of artificial ingredients in its cereals and other products by 2018. At the moment, roughly half the cereal the company sells domestically is made without artificial flavors; about 75 percent has no artificial colors.
The announcement came hot on the heels of General Mills’ announcement in June that it plans to have 90 percent of its cereals free of artificial flavors and colors by 2016, up from about 60 percent currently.
I’d like to believe that this latest bid by these breakfast cereal titans to lure customers looking for healthier options back into the fold is coming from the right place – that health is the reason for this shift. But maybe they simply are bowing to pressure because of shrinking sales caused by a growing preference for less processed food and widespread concern about the health threats people believe synthetic ingredients pose. According to Reuters, Kellogg’s second-quarter revenue showed a decline in sales for the seventh time in eight quarters.
In the end, I guess we shouldn’t care how they get there, as long as they get to the right place and are acting to better protect and advance the health of their customers. After all, there is so much information out there about scientific discoveries regarding healthy living that it’s hard to ignore. Yet in spite of the above examples of reform by these breakfast giants, you can’t help but wonder why more people aren’t listening and, more importantly, acting on this information.
A new poll from Nautilus Inc. offers a reminder of where the problem may lie in the health and fitness information revolution. Nearly three-quarters of the more than 1,000 people questioned did not know that one has to burn 3,500 calories to lose a pound of fat. Only 39 percent knew that an egg is a healthful source of protein, and 45 percent shared the mistaken belief that weight training can turn fat to muscle.
It reminds me of how much misinformation exists in fitness training today – e.g., the idea that if a workout doesn’t wipe you out, it’s not doing anything, negating the concept of finding a balance with high-intensity, moderate and low-intensity workouts, and the idea that getting stronger is all about how much you’re lifting, as opposed to form and proper training.
This flood of constant misinformation also applies to the food we eat.
There is so much competing information; how can a person make the right decision?
“When it comes to nutrition information, the internet is a bit like Las Vegas: Anything goes,” registered dietitian Katherine Brooking notes in a recent blog post.
We live in an age of information overload. I fear that the rising sea of conflicting information that is being created about all manner of important topics is blocking from view the many good nuggets of information on health that are floating around out there – nuggets that could help to add both quality and years to the lives of an aging population.
One such morsel is a study by scientists at Rush University Medical Center that demonstrated that a diet rich in green leafy vegetables, beans, berries, whole grains and wine (known as the MIND diet) can help to slow normal brain aging and cognitive decline in elderly adults. It further revealed that those who strictly followed the diet were 7 1/2 years younger cognitively over a period of nearly five years than those who didn’t.
Another is a study conducted by the Pierre Louis Institute of Epidemiology and Public Health that demonstrated that women 75 or older who participated in a two-year exercise program to improve balance cut their risk of being injured in a fall by nearly 20 percent. According to the World Health Organization, approximately 1 in 3 people older than 65 experience a fall each year. Even if a person recovers from such an event or is not injured, the event itself can result in a loss of confidence and restricted physical activity, and restricted physical activity accelerates the risk factor for falling. An exercise program focusing on balance control can help prevent serious or even fatal injury and help add quality years to a senior person’s life.
“Good exercise habits can be started at any age. Nobody is too young or too old to benefit,” said Julie Whitney, a physiotherapist at King’s College Hospital, in reaction to the study.
Now there’s news worth finding.
Write to Chuck Norris with your questions about health and fitness. Follow Chuck Norris through his official social media sites, on Twitter @chucknorris and Facebook’s “Official Chuck Norris Page.” He blogs at ChuckNorrisNews.blogspot.com.
