Archive for the ‘Diet’ Category

Food allergies are a hot topic in the news right now. According to a recent CDC report, the number of people with a diagnosed food allergy had risen by 18 percent over the last decade. But a recent report by the American Medical Association suggests that the incidence of true food allergies may be far lower than what is generally believed. All of these contradictory reports about food allergies may be leading to a great deal of confusion for the average American consumer and for doctors trying to treat these conditions. A recent Harris Interactive/HomeFree study indicates that a good deal of people (43 percent) think gluten is an allergy, like wheat or shellfish. Just 3 percent of Americans can correctly identify all four of the listed common food allergens (nuts, dairy, eggs and wheat.)

Shellfish are one of the top food allergens. Photo by Chris Hunt/AJC Special.

One major issue is semantics. A food allergy is not the same as a food intolerance. Food allergies can be …

Continue reading How well do we understand food allergies? »

Will this make you thinner?

In July, New York City passed a regulation that required some chain restaurants to print information on how many calories its items carry in the menus and menu boards

The New York State Restaurant Association, a trade group representing 7,000 restaurants, soon filed an appeal against the regulation. A 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel said the rule is “a reasonable attempt to curb obesity,” according to the Associated Press report.
The trade group had argued that federal law gives restaurants discretion on whether to offer the nutritional information.

By Charles Yoo

Would you like to see the calorie info in the menus? What do you think?

Continue reading Today’s special: Calories in menu »