United Fresh's Spring 2016 Fresh Insights for Foodservice tracks menu growth for Meyer lemons, chefs' use of fennel and asparagus, produce in Mexican and Southern dishes, and hospital dining. Its MenuTrends data now covers fast casual restaurants too.
Food Consumer
Minerals
Magnesium and Health: The Whole Truth About These Supplements
A beginner's guide from LabDoor's Benita Lee: magnesium is needed to make DNA, RNA, protein and glutathione, moves calcium and potassium across cell membranes for nerve impulses, muscle contraction and heart rhythm, and supports insulin regulation and blood glucose control.
Politics
Meet the Indiana Jones of Landscape Restoration - newsletter 033116 from Organic Consumers Organization
An Organic Consumers Association newsletter leading with an interview in which ecosystem restoration filmmaker John D. Liu describes large-scale land recovery in China and Rwanda, alongside an action alert against a compromise Senate GMO labeling bill.
Legal Actions
Lawsuit Challenges FDA’s Approval of Genetically Engineered Salmon
A coalition of fishing, consumer and environmental groups, represented by the Center for Food Safety and Earthjustice, sued the FDA over its approval of AquaBounty's fast-growing Atlantic salmon, saying the agency ignored risks to wild salmon and required no labeling.
Chemical
Tell Kroger & Campbell's: It's time to can BPA!
A Breast Cancer Fund report found BPA in 67% of nearly 200 food cans sampled, including every Campbell's can and 62% of Kroger's. The group asks readers to press both companies to replace the chemical, which it links to cancer, infertility and diabetes.
Supplements
Organic Whole Hemp CBD Extracts Now Available at EnerHealth
EnerHealth describes its whole hemp CBD extract, made from local industrial hemp using organic grape alcohol and water rather than other solvents, then suspended in MCT coconut oil to cut residual ethanol and ease absorption. The company calls it the safest and most effective on the market.
Food
"Sweet Taro Pie" Fro-Yo at 16 Handles
16 Handles is adding a 'Sweet Taro Pie' frozen yogurt flavor after years of customer requests, CEO Solomon Choi says. The release suggests topping combinations and calls taro a fine source of dietary fiber, protein and calcium.
Politics
Decoding labels - newsletter 033016 from EWG
EWG asks for donations after helping block the DARK Act in the Senate, offering its Guide to Decoding Labels and noting that disclosing genetically engineered ingredients is still up to food processors and that terms like “grass-fed” and “natural” may not mean what shoppers assume.
Healthy Recipes from AICR
Healthy Recipes: Cornmeal Herb Crisp Crackers
Crackers of stone-ground cornmeal, flour, dried basil and oregano bound with a little butter, offered for Whole Grains Sampling Day. Whole cornmeal keeps the endosperm, bran and germ, supplying fiber, iron and carotenoids. Ten servings, 44 calories each.
Healthcare
New UV-based Infection Prevention Device Fills Dangerous Gaps Between Robots, Germicidal Wipes and Bleaches
Advanced Ultra-Violet Systems has released the KR615 UV germicidal enclosure, which the company says kills 99.9 percent of C. diff and MRSA in 45 seconds. It sits bedside to decontaminate stethoscopes, cuffs, phones and other high-touch items that UV robots and wipes miss.
Sci-Tech
Breeding Sugar Beets for Better Resistance to Curly Top Virus
USDA scientists in Kimberly, Idaho released KDH13, a sugar beet breeding line raised by gynogenesis from a single virus-resistant female parent. It outperformed the resistant cultivar Hilleshog PM90 in greenhouse and nursery tests. Severe curly top outbreaks can cut yields by up to 30 percent.
Food
Lettuce Entertain You CEO Kevin Brown to Headline United Fresh 2016 CEO Kevin Brown to Headline United Fresh 2016
Kevin Brown, president and CEO of Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises, will keynote the United Fresh 2016 Breakfast General Session on June 22 at McCormick Place in Chicago. His company runs more than 100 restaurants across 51 concepts.
Chemical
Zinc oxide in vitamins, foods, sunscreens: Is it safe?
Zinc oxide nanoparticles turn up in supplements, processed foods and sunscreens. In an Indian study, mice given them lost body weight, turned passive and survived less; higher doses caused severe DNA damage in blood and bone marrow and inflamed the liver, lungs and kidneys.
Food
Lowering the Risk of Infection with Grapes
In a USDA crossover study, obese participants drank freeze-dried grape powder in water or a placebo twice daily for three weeks, then switched. ARS molecular biologist Susan Zunino reports grape phytochemicals may cut certain blood fats tied to heart disease and lower infection risk.
Food
Type 2 diabetes mellitus risk lower in black coffee drinkers
Among 3,497 Korean patients with prediabetes followed up to four years, progression to type 2 diabetes was lowest in those drinking black coffee three times a day. None of these studies are trials, so whether coffee itself prevents diabetes remains unclear.
Herbs
Chamomile tea helps diabetes mellitus
A commentary in the Journal of Diabetes & Metabolism argues that drinking chamomile tea right after meals may help control blood sugar, citing a randomized trial and animal work suggesting it slows hyperglycemia and diabetic complications. It is one author's reading of the evidence.
Supplements
Education & Speakers Schedule for Chicago’s Healthy & Natural Show, May 5-7, Now Available Online
The Healthy & Natural Show has posted its education and speaker schedule for May 5-7 at Chicago's Navy Pier, adding FoodNavigator-USA's Elaine Watson and NutraIngredients-USA's Hank Schultz. Watson will lead a panel on how online platforms are reshaping food retail.
Politics
Good Intentions? Or Subversive Strategy? Newsletter 032416 from Organic Consumers Association
The Organic Consumers Association questions whether General Mills and other large food companies now promising GMO labels have really split with the Grocery Manufacturers Association, or are trying to lull consumers while Congress preempts Vermont's labeling law.
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