Busting Food Myths with Nicole Senior

Nicole Senior

Myth: Tea and coffee are dehydrating.
Everyone assumes that caffeine-containing beverages such as tea and coffee dehydrate, but it’s an urban legend. Seriously high amounts of caffeine are needed before you lose more water than you drink in your cup of tea or coffee. Even if you had a really, really strong cup of tea or coffee, which is quite hard to make (and drink), you would still have a net gain of fluid. So the good news is that enjoying tea and coffee in moderation does contribute to your daily fluid quota. Dehydration is more likely if caffeine is taken in tablet form.



What’s moderation? For tea it’s around 3–4 cups a day. For coffee it’s around 2–3 cups of brewed coffee; if you have high blood pressure, cut that back to 1–2 cups. The key thing with coffee is to resist temptation to upsize. Use a regular cup and order regular-sized servings. If you make your own, use the single shot function on your espresso machine. Pregnant women and older children should try to stick to one to two cups of weak coffee or tea a day.

With tea and coffee watch the extras – the milk, sugar and biscuits or cake! Opt for low-fat milk and if you need the drink sweetened, add a little sugar, gradually using less – you may find you even prefer it without after a while.

Key info Tea and coffee are a source of essential fluids, as well as protective antioxidants that help look after heart and blood vessels. They are also social drinks that bring us together and
help us take time out. It makes sense to avoid caffeine drinks at night if you have trouble sleeping.

Long story short For good health you should drink plenty of water, but tea and coffee (in moderation) do count toward your total daily fluid intake. Water is essentially replacing fluid. Tea and coffee replace fluids and contain antioxidants, so they’ve got two things going for them.

Nicole Senior is an Accredited Practising Dietitian and Nutritionist and author of Food Myths available in bookshops and online and from www.greatideas.net.au

GI Symbol News with Dr Alan Barclay

Dr Alan Barclay

A diet of unintended consequences.
Whatever your health problem (being overweight/obese, or having type 2 diabetes or heart disease), what many fad diet solutions have in common, is advising you to severely limit or completely avoid the nutrient that is supposedly responsible for it.

Turning the clock back, carbohydrate was THE nutrient to avoid in the 1970s. In the 1980s and 90s, however, carbs lost the limelight as fats were fast-tracked to front position as THE dietary demon. Carbs in general made a brief comeback in the early years of the 21st century before THE problem (‘toxic’) nutrient of our time message zoomed in on sugars in general, and fructose in particular.

The problem with this One-Nutrient-At-A-Time approach, as I have discussed previously in GI News, is that we don’t eat single nutrients – we eat foods, that are usually a part of meals, and the meals we eat are at the very least partly determined by our social and cultural background. And this is why most people find it hard to stick to fad diets for prolonged periods of time – there are too many pressures from family, friends, and the societies we live in to consume a wide variety of foods. Enter our modern, high-tech food industry. They saw an opportunity and took it, creating low carb or low fat versions of our favourite foods when we asked for them.

The low fat boom The boom in low fat foods began in 1980s and continues today. We can choose low fat variants of everything from potato crisps to salad dressings. We can now have our proverbial cake and eat it. And because these were supposedly healthier versions of our favourite foods we could stick with this ‘diet’. We all know the consequences: rates of overweight/obesity and related conditions continued to rise.

The low carb boom When carbohydrate was subsequently re-anointed as THE problem nutrient to avoid at all costs, food industry again rode to our rescue producing low carb versions of breakfast cereals, pasta, cakes, cookies and more. Here at the GI Symbol Program, we measured the GI of several of these low carb alternatives and we were deeply concerned that they had values that were much higher than the regular counterparts, so much so that the glycemic load (or impact) was essentially the same: the lower carb content was counter-balanced by the higher GI. There were no net health benefits. Rates of overweight/obesity/type 2 diabetes continued to rise … and these foods didn’t help anyone manage their BGLs either.

The low sugar boom will be on your supermarket shelves soon Business is business. The food industry is now in the process of adapting our favourite foods to make them lower in sugars because it knows (through market research) that’s what their customers now believe is THE problem nutrient. The technology is there – most sugars can be relatively easily replaced by oligosaccharides and starches – perhaps with a non-nutritive sweetener like aspartame, sucralose or stevia thrown in to replace the lost sweetness. The net result will likely be of little nutritional benefit, however, as these oligosaccharides and starches are usually as equally refined, devoid of nutrients (other than kilojoules) and have a higher GI than the sugars they replaced. Like their low carb predecessors, they will likely be of no real health benefit. Based on the events of the past few decades, it’s highly likely that these ‘all new’ sugar free varieties will continue to contribute to the global obesity and type 2 diabetes epidemic just like their low fat and low carbohydrate predecessors. History has the strange tendency of repeating itself.

It’s time to stop the nutrient blame game - to stop ‘going on a diet’, and to start to focus on healthy eating patterns like the (higher fat, moderate carb) Mediterranean diet or (low fat, high carb) Japanese (traditional Okinawan) diet. Principles from these tried-and-true dietary patterns like eating minimally refined vegetables, fruits, grains, nuts, seeds, legumes, lean meats/fish, yoghurt and other fermented dairy products, and oils (olive/peanut) can be adapted to suit most people’s personal, familial and cultural backgrounds. Nutrients are by definition essential – it’s how we eat them (and how many of them we put on our plates) that ultimately counts.

The GI Symbol, making healthy low GI choices easy choices



For more information about the GI Symbol Program
Dr Alan W Barclay, PhD
Chief Scientific Officer
Glycemic Index Foundation (Ltd)
Phone: +61 (0)2 9785 1037
Mob: +61 (0)416 111 046
Fax: +61 (0)2 9785 1037
Email: alan.barclay@gisymbol.com
Website: www.gisymbol.com

GI Update with Prof Jennie Brand-Miller

Prof Jennie Brand-Miller answers your questions.


I am 3 months pregnant. Should I monitor my weight? I don’t want to be left with ‘difficult-to-budge pounds after my baby is born. Well, not for too long!
As a routine part of care, your obstetric care providers will keep an eye on your weight gain but most will steer away from discussing it for fear of causing your embarrassment or needless anxiety. Of course, women often discuss the subject among themselves, especially if it’s faster and greater than they expected. Many will tell you that even after the birth they retained a few kilos, and found them difficult to budge.

While their experience is common, we want to assure you that weight gain during pregnancy is under your control and, indeed, it’s good practice for you to monitor it yourself, so that you gain the ideal, or optimal, amount. OK, so what’s ideal? The optimal amount of weight gain over pregnancy is one that results in a ‘desirable pregnancy outcome’. That means a healthy baby, born at full term (about 40 weeks, or 9 months + 1 week gestation) with a birth weight of 3–4 kilograms or 6 to 9 pounds (I have rounded the conversions for easy reading) In women from affluent countries like Australia and New Zealand, who start pregnancy weighing between 60 and 65 kilograms (132 to 143 pounds), the average weight gain over pregnancy is about 13 kilograms (28 pounds) and the average infant birth weight is 3.4 kilograms (7½ pounds). But these are averages only. You’ll be pleased to hear that there’s a range of weight gains that are considered ideal. The desired amount depends to a large extent on your pre-pregnant weight. For a woman who is underweight, a higher weight gain is desirable, while an overweight mum should gain less.

US Institute of Medicine guidelines for pregnancy weight gain (2009)
Your ideal total weight gain in kilograms
BMI less than 18.5 at the start of your pregnancy (underweight) – 13 to 18 kilos
BMI 18.5–24.9 at the start of your pregnancy (normal weight) – 11 to 16 kilos
BMI 25–29.9 at the start of your pregnancy (overweight) – 7 to 11 kilos
BMI 30 or more at the start of your pregnancy (obese) – 5 to 9 kilos

Your ideal total weight gain in pounds
BMI less than 18.5 at the start of your pregnancy (underweight) – 28 to 40 pounds
BMI 18.5–24.9 at the start of your pregnancy (normal weight) – 25 to 35 pounds
BMI 25–29.9 at the start of your pregnancy (overweight) – 15 to 25 pounds
BMI 30 or more at the start of your pregnancy (obese) – 11 to 20 pounds

Weight gain in pregnancy is an excellent predictor of the baby’s weight at birth. This, in turn, predicts how well your baby copes in the first days and months of life. That’s the reason for the proud tradition of announcing not only the baby’s sex but its birth weight as well. Like many things in life, however, there is a happy medium. If you gain too little, it can mean a small baby who has been born too lean with little body fat. Small babies, defined as those born weighing less than 2.5 kilograms (about 5 pounds), have a higher chance of having poor outcomes during and after birth. Paradoxically, they are more likely to become overweight as adults and have a great risk of high blood pressure and heart disease. On the other hand, a baby that grows too big or too fast also has poor outcomes. Excessive weight gain during pregnancy and high birth weight (greater than 4 kilograms/9 pounds) are both linked to complications at birth, such as emergency Caesarean delivery, physical injury and post-partum haemorrhage. Just as importantly, excess weight gain also predicts the future health of both mother and baby.

This is an edited extract from my new book (with Dr Kate Marsh and Prof Robert Moses), The Bump to Baby Low GI Eating Plan for Conception, Pregnancy and Beyond (Hachette Australia). You can visit us HERE.

We are delighted to let GI News readers know that a US edition is on the way. The publisher is Matthew Lore of The Experiment. Matthew has published many of our books in the past and we are very happy to be working with him on this. We will keep you posted re publication details.



GI testing by an accredited laboratory
North America
Dr Alexandra Jenkins
Glycemic Index Laboratories
20 Victoria Street, Suite 300
Toronto, Ontario M5C 298 Canada
Phone +1 416 861 0506
Email info@gilabs.com
Web www.gilabs.com

Australia
Fiona Atkinson
Research Manager, Sydney University Glycemic Index Research Service (SUGiRS)
Human Nutrition Unit, School of Molecular and Microbial Biosciences
Sydney University
NSW 2006 Australia
Phone + 61 2 9351 6018
Fax: + 61 2 9351 6022
Email sugirs@mmb.usyd.edu.au
Web www.glycemicindex.com

Copyright and Permission

Copyright
This website and all information, data, documents, pages and images it contains is copyright under the Copyright Act 1968 (Commonwealth of Australia) (as amended) and the copyright laws of all member countries of the Berne Union and the Universal Copyright Convention.

Copyright in the website and in material prepared by GI News is owned by GI News, Human Nutrition Unit, University of Sydney. Copyright in quotations, images from published works and photo libraries, and materials contributed by third parties including our regular contributors Alan Barclay, Jennie Brand-Miller, Johanna Burani, Emma Stirling and Nicole Senior is owned by the respective authors or agencies, as credited.

GI News encourages the availability, dissemination and exchange of public information. You may include a link to GI News on your website. You may also copy, distribute, display, download and otherwise freely deal only with material owned by GI News, on the condition that you include the copyright notice “© GI News, Human Nutrition Unit, University of Sydney” on all uses and prominently credit the source as being GI News.

You must, however, obtain permission from GI News if you wish to do the following:

• charge others for access to the work
• include all or part of the work in advertising or a product for sale, or
• modify the work.

To obtain such permission, please contact info@gisymbol.com

This permission does not extend to material contributed and owned by other parties. We strongly recommend that you refer to the copyright statements at their respective websites and seek their permission before making use of any such material, whether images or text. Please contact GI News if you are in doubt as to the ownership of any material.

Disclaimer
GI News endeavours to check the veracity of news stories cited in this free e-newsletter by referring to the primary source, but cannot be held responsible for inaccuracies in the articles so published. GI News provides links to other World Wide Web sites as a convenience to users, but cannot be held responsible for the content or availability of these sites.

© ® & ™ The University of Sydney, Australia

GI News—September 2012

• Restoring physical activity into our computer-driven work, school and home environments;
• Why too much sitting is bad for you;
• Emma Stirling and the scoop on beetroot;
• Do spicy foods boost your metabolism?
• The winning edge: GI and sports performance. Dr Alan Barclay reports;
• Prof Jennie Brand-Miller on the risk factors for gestational diabetes and what you can do about them.

Although the evidence that too much sitting is hazardous to health is now quite compelling, many of us sit longer than we sleep these days. So, this issue we focus on moving more and more often not necessarily by going to the gym or pounding the pavements, but by restoring physical activity into our computer-driven work, school and home environments. ‘We also need to be more creative in designing and transforming our work and home environments and even our whole communities into spaces where physical activity is not just the easy but perhaps even the only choice,’ says Prof Arya Sharma. We love his suggestion that ‘perhaps, it is time to establish building codes for “active” buildings in the same manner in which we now have building codes for environmental friendliness.’

Good eating, good health and good reading.

Editor: Philippa Sandall
Web management and design: Alan Barclay, PhD
Contact email (for questions or permission to reproduce stories from this newsletter): info@gisymbol.com for technical problems or faults please contact smb.ginewstech@sydney.edu.au

Follow us on Twitter: @GIFoundation

Like us on Facebook : Glycemic Index Foundation

Food for Thought

Why sports and exercise are barely relevant and what really counts is occupational and household activity.
Guest contributor Prof Arya Sharma discusses a paper that suggests why attempts to encourage recreational physical activity are largely doomed to fail.


Prof. Arya Sharma

There is no doubt that reducing sedentariness and increasing physical activity can have enormous health benefits. This is why public health policies and health promotion bombard us with messages on how to get more active – unfortunately, much of the advice focuses on increasing engagement in recreational and volitional sports and exercise.

A paper by Chuck Ratzlaff from Harvard University, published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine now suggests why attempts to encourage recreational physical activity are largely doomed to fail. This is simply not where most people’s physical activity happens – nor is it likely to happen. Most people simply do not like being physically active enough to want to do it – when given the choice, they’d much rather sit or lie down (which makes perfect evolutionary sense). It is therefore but natural, that about 80% of total daily physical activity in most people is associated with occupational and non-leisure (household chores).

Sporting activity formed a small fraction of overall physical activity compared with occupational and household activity (even more so in women) in Ratzlaff’s analysis of his recent population-based research measuring lifetime physical activity. If anything women have gotten even more physically active than before.

This not only means that most of us (even those, who do not seek out or participate in ‘recreational’ physical activity) are probably more active than generally assumed. It also means that perhaps the focus of public health measures to promote a more active ‘lifestyle’ may need to focus more on restoring physical activity in occupational and household settings.

Obviously, re-introducing physical labour into the workplace and household may prove far more challenging than simply appealing to people to go for a walk or run (to nowhere).

That workplaces, buildings and whole communities can be re-engineered to promote physical activity (whether you like it or not) is, for example, exemplified in the new Edmonton Clinic Health Academy at the University of Alberta, which incidentally, also houses our School of Public Health. Anyone entering this building is immediately faced with a wide open staircase (not stairwell!) – the elevators are rather hidden in a corner (and for some reason appear not to be accessible half the time). At any time there are people crowding the stairs. Most people will climb stairs when they have to – like it or not. (Simply putting up a sign pointing to the hidden stairwell on the other hand has little effect.)

The point is that we need to be more creative in designing and transforming our work and home environments and even our whole communities into spaces where physical activity is not just the easy but perhaps even the only choice. Perhaps, when it comes to building codes, it is time to establish codes for ‘active’ buildings in the same manner in which we now have building codes for environmental friendliness.

Despite all efforts (including tax breaks), we will probably not get the majority of the population to really ‘like and want’ to be physically active – most people would rather watch sports than do them (especially after a long day at work). This is why increasing occupational and household physical activity by 10% may have a huge population impact while increasing volitional sports and exercise by even 100% may do little (the multiple of zero is still zero!).

Check out Dr Sharma’s website HERE. You can also subscribe to his regular blog postings.

What’s New?

The extra benefits of exercise.
In an invited editorial in the British Journal of Sports Medicine accompanying Chuck Ratzlaff’s paper (discussed in Food for Thought), Profs Wendy Brown and Steven Blair remind us that although prevention of weight gain is extremely important for public health, ‘the benefits of physical activity are not restricted to weight-gain prevention or weight control.’ They highlight the extra benefits of participating in exercise and improved fitness, over and above those associated with weight control such as improved cognitive functioning, quality of life and sleep. They also make the point that: ‘in any consideration of the relationships between energy expenditure and health, both fitness and weight need to be considered. While occupational activity may contribute to energy expenditure, for most people, occupational activity is not at a level that will improve fitness. In today’s world, participation in activities that maintain and improve fitness are important for health; being overweight and fit is associated with better health outcomes than being healthy weight and unfit. In our view, exercise remains the best buy in public health.’

Stand up!
Did you know that the average adult spends 90% of their leisure time sitting down? Standing up more often may reduce your chances of dying within three years, even if you are already physically active, a study of more than 200,000 people published in Archives of Internal Medicine shows. The study found that adults who sat 11 or more hours per day had a 40% increased risk of dying in the next three years compared with those who sat for fewer than four hours a day. This was after taking into account their physical activity, weight and health status.

“These results have important public health implications,” said study lead author Dr Hidde van der Ploeg, a senior research fellow at the University of Sydney’s School of Public Health. “That morning walk or trip to the gym is still necessary, but it’s also important to avoid prolonged sitting. Our results suggest the time people spend sitting at home, work and in traffic should be reduced by standing or walking more.”

The results are the first landmark findings to be published from the Sax Institute’s 45 and Up Study, the largest ongoing study of healthy ageing in the Southern Hemisphere. The study’s size and focus on total sitting time make it an important contributor to the growing evidence on the downsides of prolonged sitting.

Why too much sitting is bad for your health.
Researchers at the Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute in Australia who tracked the TV viewing habits of 8800 adults in Australia over 6 years report in Circulation that compared with people who watched less than two hours of television daily, those who watched more than four hours a day had a 46% higher risk of death from all causes and an 80% increased risk for CVD-related death. ‘It’s not the sweaty type of exercise we’re losing,’ says Prof. David Dunstan. ‘It’s the incidental moving around, walking around, standing up and utilizing muscles that doesn't happen when we're plunked on a couch in front of a television.’ In fact, the study participants typically reported getting between 30 and 45 minutes of exercise a day. What has happened is that a lot of the normal activities of daily living that involved standing up and moving the muscles in the body have been converted to sitting,’ he said. ‘People don’t move their muscles as much as they used to – consequently the levels of energy expenditure as people go about their lives continue to shrink. For many people, on a daily basis they simply shift from one chair to another – from the chair in the car to the chair in the office to the chair in front of the television. Even if someone has a healthy body weight, sitting for long periods of time still has an unhealthy influence on their blood glucose and blood fats,’ he said. Here are David's tips for moving more:

• Switch off, stand up and get moving
• Avoid prolonged periods of sitting – whether in front of the TV, a computer screen or on transport. At the very least get up and move once every hour
• Limit your TV viewing to two hours a day
• Use commercial breaks for household chores
• Stand up and move around while answering the telephone

Associate Professor David Dunstan walks the talk and quits the sit: he stands at his desk!

Quit the sit.
‘When we sit, we have muscle “dis-use” – our muscles are essentially “sleeping”. When we’re up and moving, we’re contracting muscles and it appears that these frequent contractions throughout the day are beneficial for helping to regulate the body’s metabolic processes says Prof David Dunstan. ‘The evidence that sitting is hazardous to health is now quite compelling. But for the vast majority of us who work in desk-bound sedentary jobs, our choice to sit appears largely out of our control. This prompted me to ask the question: How ridiculous is it that people now sit longer than they sleep and what, if anything, can be done about sitting for long periods? Current Australian occupational health and safety guidelines recommend desk-bound employees take a break from their computer screen every 30 minutes or so to reduce eye strain. We’d like to see these guidelines extended to encourage workers to take frequent breaks that involve some kind of physical movement.’

Feces fossils lend new insights into connection between Native-Americans, diabetes.
A common theory why Native Americans experience high rates of diabetes is that they possess fat-hoarding ‘thrifty genes’ left over from their ancestors – genes that were required for survival during ancient cycles of feast and famine, but that now contribute to the disease in a modern world of more fatty and sugary/starchy diets. A newly published analysis of fossilised feces from the American Southwest, however, suggests this ‘thrifty gene’ may not have developed because of how often ancient Natives ate. Instead, researchers said, the connection may have come from precisely what they ate.

The research suggests that the hunter-gatherer civilizations of the Southwest lived on a diet very high in fibre, very low in fat and dominated by foods with a low GI. This diet, researchers said, could have been sufficient to give rise to the fat-storing thrifty genes. ‘What we're saying is we don’t really need to look to feast or famine as a basis for (the genes),’ said Karl Reinhard, professor of forensic sciences at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s School of Natural Resources and the study's lead author. ‘The feast-or-famine scenario long hypothesized to be the pressure for 'thrifty genes' isn’t necessary, given the dietary evidence we’ve found.’

Natives have some of the highest rates of Type 2 diabetes of any group and are more than twice as likely to develop the disease as are Caucasians. To fully understand the basis of the high rates, Reinhard said, ‘one has to look at the best dietary data one can find. That comes from coprolites (the official term for fossilised feces). By looking at coprolites, we're seeing exactly what people ate.’ The coprolites are from Antelope Cave, a deep cavern in northern Arizona where, over several thousands of years, was home to various cultures. That includes the Ancestral Pueblan peoples, who are believed to have lived there seasonally for at least 450 years.



Reinhard and Keith Johnson, an archeologist at California State University, Chico, studied 20 coprolites found in the cave and combined it with analysis from other sites. They found clues to a food regimen dominated by maize and high-fiber seed from sunflowers, wild grasses, pigweed and amaranth. Prickly pear, a desert succulent, was also found repeatedly in the samples. By volume, about three-quarters of the Antelope Cave coprolites were made up of insoluble fiber. The foods also were low on the glycemic index. The analysts' findings led them to deduce that the nature of the feast, and not necessarily its frequency, was enough to lock the ‘thrifty’ genes in place – and leave modern Natives more susceptible to diabetes as their diets evolved to lower-fibre, higher-GI foods.
Source: Eurekalert

Fish oil is not enough on its own.
Fish oil. The flavour of the month. What can’t it do? An animal study published in Am J Physiol Endocrinol shows that the total (‘background’ is the word they use) diet exerts a crucial influence on the ability of fish oil to protect against developing obesity and adipose tissue inflammation. (Evidence has suggested that low-grade chronic inflammation plays a crucial role in the development of obesity related insulin resistance). The authors show that sucrose (which is actually moderate not high GI) counteracts the anti-inflammatory effect of fish oil in adipose tissue and increases obesity development in mice. ‘To summarise’ they write, ‘it cannot be excluded that several additional beneficial effects of fish oil intake might be diminished or completely abrogated by a simultaneous intake of high-GI carbohydrates. If similar effects are found in humans, this is of great concern because the intake of refined sugars from sources such as soft drinks has increased dramatically during the last several decades.’ The bottom line: stick to low GI carbs.

Get the Scoop with Emma Stirling

The scoop on beetroot.


Emma Stirling APD

Did you enjoy the Olympics? We certainly loved all the talk about healthy eating and fuelling performance. When elite athletes are looking for that microsecond advantage it’s no surprise to hear that tailored sports nutrition is part of today’s solution. One of the most interesting tweets I read (from an in-the-know sports dietitian) was about the Kenyan marathon runners drinking copious quantities of beetroot juice at their training camp. Yes deep red, beetroot juice. Let’s explore.

Nitrate know how Recent research on beetroot and beetroot juice shows that there is more to this familiar vegetable than adding colour to a salad or zing to a hamburger. Many healthy eating recommendations focus on future health protection from your veggies, whereas it appears beetroot has benefits that may be immediate. You can just tell by the vibrant pigments in beetroots that they are bursting with phytonutrients and other bioactives. One of the most talked about components in beetroots is nitrate with beetroot being one of the richest plant sources of nitrate at 250mg per 100g. Other vegetables with a high nitrate content include spinach, radishes, lettuce, celery and Chinese cabbage. Nitrates are converted by your body into another compound called nitric oxide. Research has identified that increased nitric oxide levels may help:

• Reduce blood pressure
• Enhance endothelial function or the elasticity in blood vessels
• Reduce platelet aggregation or blood clotting
• Moderate blood glucose levels
• Improve lung function and on today’s topic;
• Improve performance and endurance when exercising

Can’t be beet A study on beetroot juice published in the 2011 Journal of Applied Physiology explored whether it was the nitrate content of beetroots that provided the previously observed exercise benefits. Subjects drank 500mL beetroot juice for six days and were compared with a control group that drank a juice that looked and tasted the same, but was depleted of nitrates. The researchers found that the beetroot juice drinkers reduced the oxygen cost of walking, moderate-intensity running and severe-intensity running. In addition the measure of time to exhaustion was increased by 15% for the severe-intensity running group. In other words the bodies of the group that drank beetroot juice, were able to work more efficiently when exercising and could train harder and longer. So it sounds like those clever Kenyan’s are on to a good thing?

Just beet it The taste of beetroot juice is not for everyone, so experiment with your culinary creativity and try blending with apple and fresh mint or carrot, ginger and fresh lime. It’s also wise to wear rubber gloves, an apron and avoid chopping anywhere near your pale cream, stone bench tops. While athletes can easily burn off two large glasses of beetroot juice each day, recreational exercises like you and I need to watch the liquid kilojoules. More research is needed so for now I’m sticking to freshly grated beetroot in salad. I’ve even tried to slip it in at the start of the day in this Scoop recipe for Fennel Beetroot and Corella Breakfast Salad.



Emma Stirling is an Accredited Practising Dietitian and health writer with over ten years experience writing for major publications. She is editor of The Scoop on Nutrition – a blog by expert dietitians. Check it out for hot news bites and a healthy serve of what’s in flavour.

In the GI News Kitchen

American dietitian and author of Good Carbs, Bad Carbs, Johanna Burani, shares favourite recipes with a low or moderate GI from her Italian kitchen. For more information, check out Johanna's website. The photographs are by Sergio Burani. His food, travel and wine photography website is photosbysergio.com.



Beet greens frittelle.
Italians love to use every part of every vegetable plant they can. This recipe incorporates the slightly bitter-tasting leaves of the rootbeet in a simple, quick and wholesome vegetable side dish or entree. “Frittelle” translates as “fritters” but there’s nothing deep fried here! Serves 4 as side dish

7oz (200g) beet greens (15 leaves with stems)
1 tablespoon olive oil
¾ cup chopped red onion
1 large clove garlic, minced
½ teaspoon sea salt
freshly ground black pepper to taste
3–4 tsp lemon zest (yellow part only)
2 large eggs
2 egg whites or ½ cup egg substitute
½ cup freshly grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese
¼ cup flavored breadcrumbs (I used store bought)



Wash and pat dry beet greens. Coarsely chop and set them aside.
Heat a large nonstick pan over medium-high flame. Add the olive oil, onion, garlic, salt and pepper. Sauté for 1 minute, stirring frequently. Add in the greens, lower to medium heat and continue cooking for 5 minutes. Stir occasionally. Add in the lemon zest, mix throughly. Adjust seasonings. Set aside to cool.
In a mixing bowl whisk together the next 4 ingredients (eggs through breadcrumbs). Add to the vegetable mixture and combine well using a wooden spoon.
Over a medium flame heat a small cast iron frying pan, previously coated with vegetable spray. Drop ½ cup of vegetable mixture into pan, slightly flatten with the back of a fork and cook for approximately 2 minutes on each side. Continue until all the vegetable-egg mixture is cooked. Serve hot, warm or cold.

Per serve
Energy: 743kJ/177cals; Protein 14g; Fat 10g (includes 3g saturated fat and 93mg cholesterol); Available carbohydrate 10g; Fibre 3g

Cut back on the food bills and enjoy fresh-tasting, easily prepared, seasonal, satisfying and delicious low or moderate GI meals that don’t compromise on quality and flavour one little bit with our Money Saving Meals recipes including these salads from the Low GI Vegetarian Cookbook (Hachette Australia) and the California Walnut Commission.

Roasted beetroot and white bean salad with balsamic dressing.
Serves 4

600g (1lb 5oz) beetroot
120g (4oz) baby spinach leaves
3 cups cooked white beans (that’s two 2 400g/14oz cans, drained)
1 red onion, halved, thinly sliced
4 thick slices grainy bread, to serve

Balsamic dressing
1½ tbsp (30ml) balsamic vinegar
2 tsp flaxseed oil
1 garlic clove, crushed
salt and freshly ground black pepper



Preheat oven to 180ºC (350ºF). Trim the beetroot leaves, leaving about 3cm (1in) of top attached. Do not trim bases as this will cause the beetroot to bleed and loose its colour. Wrap beetroot in a large piece of foil and place on a baking tray. Roast for 1½ –2 hours or until tender. Set aside to cool. Once cool, put on rubber gloves and peel the beetroot. Cut into thin wedges.
Place the spinach leaves, beans and onion in a bowl. Toss to combine. Add the beetroot and toss gently to combine.
To make the dressing, place the vinegar, oil and garlic in a small jug. Whisk well to combine. Season with salt and pepper. Pour the dressing over the salad and toss to combine. Serve immediately with the bread.

Tangy roasted beet and walnut salad.
This fibre-rich salad from the California Walnut Commission features roasted beets to highlight the flavour of fennel and oranges. Although this recipe is high in fat, it's the heart-healthy kind providing essential omega-3 and 6 fatty acids. Use a little less oil if it bothers you. Serves 6 (as an accompaniment).

Dressing
1 tbsp (15ml) orange juice
2 tbsp (30ml) white wine vinegar
1 tbsp (15ml) pure maple syrup
1/4 cup (50 ml) extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Salad
2lb (1kg) beets
2 bunches watercress or arugula
2 oranges, peeled and cut into sections
1 fennel bulb, thinly sliced
1 cup California walnut halves, toasted



Preheat the oven to 375ºF (190ºC). Place the beets in an 8in (20cm) square baking dish. Bake in the oven for about 1 hour, or until beets are tender (will depend on size of beets). Cool.
Whisk together the orange juice, vinegar and maple syrup in a medium bowl. Gradually whisk in the oil, taste and season with salt and pepper if desired.
Peel, slice and toss beets with 2 tablespoons (30ml) of dressing.
Gently toss watercress, oranges, fennel and walnuts in serving bowl. Top with beets and drizzle with remaining dressing.

Per serve
Energy 1445 kJ/ 345als; 26g fat (includes saturated fat 2.4g); 9 g fibre; 7.8g protein; 21g available carbohydrate

What about borscht?
Janet Clarkson’s, Soup. A Global History (Reaktion Books distributed in Australia by New South Books), contains an historical recipe for ‘Borschtch’ as described in On the Manners and Customs of the Ukrainians in Letters from the Ukraine, by a Russian Gentleman, published in 1807. ‘This being a national dish, the method of preparing it may not be uninteresting. They take a quantity of meat, and boil it in sirovetz, water made sour by letting some bread remain in it for several days; they add to it such vegetables as are in season, cabbage in autumn, beet root in winter, young nettle or sorrel in spring, and the tops of the beet root, or of young cabbage, in summer; after boiling the whole with a small quantity of millet, or flour, they mix with it cream, sour or fresh, as it suits their palate or fancy and eat it with bread cut small, previously dried in an oven.’

Busting Food Myths with Nicole Senior

Nicole Senior

Myth: Spicy food speeds up your metabolism
Many people believe they have difficulty losing weight because they have a ‘slow metabolism’. So it’s comforting to think that breaking out in a sweat over a bowl of chilli is boosting your metabolic rate, thanks to its capsaicin (the chemical compound that gives it the heat). Researchers have found that capsaicin can boost heat generation and thus your metabolic rate, which means you burn more energy. But it’s all pretty short term. And the studies are few and small (and some of them used supplements, not real food!). If you eat chilli often and don’t go back for seconds and say no thanks to the sour cream, the benefits may add up. But there’s no serious evidence that eating chilli (or black pepper or other spicy foods) work as long-term metabolic boosters that will help you burn excess fat.



Look at real life. They eat a lot of chilli in Mexico and that country has a major problem with overweight and obesity—although maybe it would be a bigger problem without the chilli benefits.

The good news is that boosting your metabolism is within your reach, but there’s no quick fix. It’s the usual suspects: healthy eating (at regular intervals) and moving more, including some resistance exercise (yes, weights) to get yourself some muscle power.

Long story short Chilli and other spicy foods may briefly boost your metabolic rate, but for long-term benefits you’ve got to eat healthy, move more and build muscle.

Nicole Senior is an Accredited Practising Dietitian and Nutritionist and author of Food Myths available in bookshops and online and from www.greatideas.net.au

GI Symbol News with Dr Alan Barclay

Dr Alan Barclay

The winning edge: using the GI to maximise performance.
Optimising the amount and type of carbohydrate you consume before, during and after an event can provide you with that winning edge. For most forms of physical activity, our muscles preferred source of fuel is glucose. This is because the carbohydrate we eat or drink, which is not used immediately for energy, is stored mostly in our muscles and liver as glycogen. When our muscles need fuel, our bodies quickly break down this glycogen into glucose for energy. That’s why, for optimal physical performance, it’s vital to consume the right amount and type of carbohydrate before an event to maximise glycogen stores. You can also improve your performance in an endurance event or a carnival, by carefully choosing the amount and type of carbohydrate you consume during and after the event.

The night before a morning event Your evening meal the night before should contain more carbohydrate than normal to stock up your body’s glycogen stores. The carbohydrate should be low GI and the whole meal should be lower in fat, moderate in high quality protein and comfortable in quantity (don’t over eat or drink).

The morning of the event Make your breakfast a carbohydrate-based one that’s lower in fat and moderate in protein. Exactly what you eat depends on the time between breakfast and the start of your event. The following table provides a guide based on your start time. As with dinner, only eat a comfortable amount, otherwise you may regret it …



Event foods
During the event choose high GI carbohydrates that are easily digested and absorbed like:

• Gatorade or other isotonic sports drink
• Goo or other gel/liquid glucose supplement
• Jelly beans or other sugary lollies
• White bread with regular honey
• Scones with regular jam

Recovery foods
Aim to eat 1–2 hours after an event and your food and fluid choices should be low GI. Your body needs to replenish its glycogen stores, and delaying this replenishment can lead to fatigue and underperformance. The following suggestions will provide you with 75g available carbohydrate:

• 5–6 slices of a low GI bread like Burgen or Tip Top 9 grain
• 2½ cups Sustain cereal with reduced fat milk
• 11 Ryvita biscuits
• 1½ cups cooked basmati rice
• 3½ cups 100% fruit juice
• Milo or Sustagen
  

The GI Symbol, making healthy low GI choices easy choices



For more information about the GI Symbol Program
Dr Alan W Barclay, PhD
Chief Scientific Officer
Glycemic Index Foundation (Ltd)
Phone: +61 (0)2 9785 1037
Mob: +61 (0)416 111 046
Fax: +61 (0)2 9785 1037
Email: alan.barclay@gisymbol.com
Website: www.gisymbol.com

GI Update with Prof Jennie Brand-Miller

Prof Jennie Brand-Miller answers your questions.



Are you at risk of gestational diabetes?
All women should be tested for gestational diabetes in every pregnancy. Women with risk factors are more likely to have gestational diabetes but women with no risk factors at all can also have this problem. There are many different risk factors that predict the risk of developing diabetes during pregnancy. One or more of these may be operating in different women.

There are some risk factors that cannot be avoided:
Your genes. If there is a family history of type 2 diabetes, then there is likely to be a genetically-determined tendency to develop the problem. The average age of diagnosis in Australians of Caucasian or northern European origin is about 60 years. Thus a negative family history is not necessarily reassuring as many women in their pregnancy may not yet have a first degree relation who is old enough to have developed or been diagnosed with diabetes.

Your background. In Australia, gestational diabetes is more common in women who come from an ethnic background with a higher overall rate of diabetes or an earlier age of onset. This includes, but is not confined to women from the Pacific Islands, South East Asia, China and the Indian subcontinent.

Your age. With women now delaying their families often until their 30s, they are much further advanced towards the time when they potentially may develop type 2 diabetes in the future. Therefore under the stress of pregnancy this problem can be unmasked.

A previous adverse obstetric history. There is an increased risk of developing gestational diabetes in women who have had previous miscarriages, large babies and adverse pregnancy outcomes.

A previous history of gestational diabetes. Women who have had gestational diabetes in one pregnancy are much more likely to develop this again in subsequent pregnancies. However this is by no means inevitable and there is generally about a 50% recurrence rate. This rate can be reduced by careful attention to diet between the pregnancies, particularly with respect to reducing the intake of saturated fat.

Having PCOS. Women with PCOS have a much higher risk of developing gestational diabetes.

Risk factors that can be reversed or avoided:
Being overweight. Women who are overweight are much more likely to develop gestational diabetes. They are also much more likely to have large babies.

A poor diet, both before and during pregnancy. Women diagnosed with gestational diabetes who follow dietary advice are able to significantly lower their blood glucose levels. Thus it is likely that a less-than-healthy diet during pregnancy may unmask a tendency towards gestational diabetes.

Exercise. Women who exercise regularly are less likely to develop gestational diabetes. Women who are most active before pregnancy have less than half the risk of developing gestational diabetes compared to those who are least active, and those with the highest activity levels in early pregnancy reduce their risk of gestational diabetes by around 25% compared with those who are inactive.

This is an edited extract from my new book (with Dr Kate Marsh and Prof Robert Moses), The Bump to Baby Low GI Eating Plan for Conception, Pregnancy and Beyond (Hachette Australia). In the book we share the latest science to help women enjoy a healthy pregnancy while safeguarding their baby’s future wellbeing. It’s available from bookshops and online in Australia and NZ and as an eBook from Amazon, iTunes etc. We have a website too, where you can visit us, learn more about our book (and look inside), find pregnancy friendly recipes, keep up to date with the latest news about the importance of lifestyle for pregnancy and preconception, download information and weight charts, contact us and link to other useful information. Visit us HERE.



GI testing by an accredited laboratory
North America
Dr Alexandra Jenkins
Glycemic Index Laboratories
20 Victoria Street, Suite 300
Toronto, Ontario M5C 298 Canada
Phone +1 416 861 0506
Email info@gilabs.com
Web www.gilabs.com

Australia
Fiona Atkinson
Research Manager, Sydney University Glycemic Index Research Service (SUGiRS)
Human Nutrition Unit, School of Molecular and Microbial Biosciences
Sydney University
NSW 2006 Australia
Phone + 61 2 9351 6018
Fax: + 61 2 9351 6022
Email sugirs@mmb.usyd.edu.au
Web www.glycemicindex.com

Copyright and Permission

Copyright
This website and all information, data, documents, pages and images it contains is copyright under the Copyright Act 1968 (Commonwealth of Australia) (as amended) and the copyright laws of all member countries of the Berne Union and the Universal Copyright Convention.

Copyright in the website and in material prepared by GI News is owned by GI News, Human Nutrition Unit, University of Sydney. Copyright in quotations, images from published works and photo libraries, and materials contributed by third parties including our regular contributors Alan Barclay, Jennie Brand-Miller, Johanna Burani, Emma Stirling and Nicole Senior is owned by the respective authors or agencies, as credited.

GI News encourages the availability, dissemination and exchange of public information. You may include a link to GI News on your website. You may also copy, distribute, display, download and otherwise freely deal only with material owned by GI News, on the condition that you include the copyright notice “© GI News, Human Nutrition Unit, University of Sydney” on all uses and prominently credit the source as being GI News.

You must, however, obtain permission from GI News if you wish to do the following:

• charge others for access to the work
• include all or part of the work in advertising or a product for sale, or
• modify the work.

To obtain such permission, please contact info@gisymbol.com

This permission does not extend to material contributed and owned by other parties. We strongly recommend that you refer to the copyright statements at their respective websites and seek their permission before making use of any such material, whether images or text. Please contact GI News if you are in doubt as to the ownership of any material.

Disclaimer
GI News endeavours to check the veracity of news stories cited in this free e-newsletter by referring to the primary source, but cannot be held responsible for inaccuracies in the articles so published. GI News provides links to other World Wide Web sites as a convenience to users, but cannot be held responsible for the content or availability of these sites.

© ® & ™ The University of Sydney, Australia

GI News—August 2012

• 4 steps to better blood glucose;
  
• Prof Jennie Brand-Miller on why gestational diabetes is such a big deal;
  
• Safe fasting during Ramadan;
  
• The right diet (low GI of course) to fight malnutrition and help cancer patients combat their disease;
  
• Emma Stirling with the scoop on avocados;
  
• 3 avocado recipes including a simply sensational avocado pea mash.
  

High blood glucose levels pose a threat to your health even if you don’t have diabetes. In fact, elevated blood glucose levels within the ‘normal’ range can damage the blood vessels and circulatory system, increasing the risk of a heart attack, type 2 diabetes, weight gain and even certain types of cancer. This issue we focus on why keeping your BGLs on an even keel really matters. To help you achieve this we have tips on reducing the GI of your diet and low GI recipes to try.

Good eating, good health and good reading.

Editor: Philippa Sandall
Web management and design: Alan Barclay, PhD
Contact email (for questions or permission to reproduce stories from this newsletter): info@gisymbol.com for technical problems or faults please contact smb.ginewstech@sydney.edu.au

Follow us on Twitter: @GIFoundation

Like us on Facebook : Glycemic Index Foundation

Food for Thought

Why maintaining healthy blood glucose should be a lifelong goal.
High blood glucose levels pose a threat to your health even if you don’t have diabetes. In fact, elevated blood glucose levels within the ‘normal’ range can damage the blood vessels and circulatory system, increasing the risk of a heart attack, type 2 diabetes, weight gain and even certain types of cancer. It does so by increasing the production of damaging free radicals and creating oxidative stress and inflammation.

Over time, the effects of high blood glucose levels become even more noticeable. In people with poorly managed diabetes, problems may occur with the skin, leading to bacterial infections, fungal infections and itching. Nerves may be damaged, causing numbness, prickling, tingling, burning and aching sensations. There may even be a loss of nerve function so that a process like digestion is impaired. The narrowing of large blood vessels will slow blood flow and cause heart disease, stroke and the loss of circulation, which can lead to amputation. Small blood vessels may become damaged, which can cause problems that may include blurry vision, blindness and kidney disease.

4 steps to better blood glucose.
Switch to low GI foods These are the smart carbs your body slowly digests and absorbs, the result being that they produce only gentle rises and falls in your blood glucose and insulin levels.
Keep your carb portions moderate For most of us 30 to 60g carbohydrate at any one sitting is a good average to aim for. What does that look like? 2 to 4 slices of bread, 2/3 to 1 1/3 cups cooked rice or 2 to 4 medium (150g/5oz) potatoes. That’s 2 to 4 carbohydrate exchanges.
Eat more regularly Mealtime consistency matters. Enjoy three square meals a day or three smaller meals with some healthy snacks.
Exercise regularly Exercising muscles need fuel and the fuel that they prefer is glucose. Moving your muscles burns glucose, fat and consequently calories and lowers blood glucose levels. That’s what we call a win/win.

Tips for reducing the GI of your meals

• Replace those high GI crunchy breakfast bubbles and flakes that spike your blood glucose and insulin levels with smart carbs like natural muesli or traditional (not instant) porridge oats or one of the lower GI processed breakfast cereals that will trickle fuel into your engine.
• Swap your bread. Choose a really grainy bread where you can actually see the grains, granary bread, stone-ground wholemeal bread, real sourdough bread, soy and linseed bread, pumpernickel, fruit loaf or bread made from chickpea or other legume based flours.
• Make your starchy staples the low (or lower) GI ones. Look for the lower GI rices like basmati, Doongara Clever Rice or Moolgiri medium grain rice, serve your pasta al dente, choose less processed foods and intact grains such as barley, buckwheat, bulgur, quinoa, whole kernel rye, or whole wheat kernels and opt for lower GI starchy vegetables like low(er) GI potatoes (Carisma or Nicola), parsnip, orange fleshed sweet potato, carrots and butternut pumpkin (winter squash).
• Learn to love legumes – home-cooked or canned and add chickpeas to stir fries, red kidney beans to chilli, a 4-bean salad to that barbecue menu, and beans or lentils to casseroles and soups.
• Combine high GI carbs with low GI tricklers to achieve a moderate overall GI. Lentils with rice, rice with beans and chilli, tabbouli tucked into pita bread, baked beans on toast or piled on a jacket-baked potato for classic comfort food.
• Tickle those taste buds and slow stomach emptying with a vinaigrette with salads, yoghurt with cereal, lemon juice on vegetables like asparagus and sourdough bread.
• Snack low GI with fresh fruit, a dried fruit and nut mix, low fat milk and yoghurt (or soy alternatives), fruit bread etc.
  

What’s New?

Eating well (low GI of course) to combat cancer.
The side effects of cancer and cancer treatments – a marked decrease in appetite, nausea, and a strong aversion to food (even foods once very much enjoyed) – make it more difficult for people with cancer to maintain a healthy diet, let alone get enough food to eat. In fact, according to the National Cancer Institute, 20–40% of cancer patients die from causes related to malnutrition, not from the cancer itself, and 80% of cancer patients develop some form of clinical malnutrition. Unfortunately, conventional medical advice suggesting a patient eat whatever they want, can actually feed the patient’s cancer, promote their malnutrition and contribute to the patient’s inability to tolerate treatment. In addition, if the malnutrition is not addressed, it can lead to a condition called ‘cachexia’, defined as a wasting syndrome that results in compromised immunity, weakness, and a loss of weight, fat, and muscle.

‘The current scientific consensus is that cancer cachexia results primarily from an underlying metabolic imbalance induced by the cancer, causing the body’s metabolism to speed up,’ explains Dr Keith Block . ‘The malignancy generates the production of low-grade inflammatory molecules that breakdown lean muscle, and can disrupt immune functioning. The heavy consumption of fats, refined flours and sugars found in the traditional American diet can increase this inflammation, contributing to a lack of appetite, more debilitating weight loss and actually promote the very disease the patient is trying to fight.’


Dr David Katz

It isn’t just severe malnutrition that will impact a cancer patient’s health. Even a relatively small degree of under-nutrition can be associated with a marked increased risk of hospital admissions and death. ‘Cancer may kill, in part, by causing starvation and conventional therapies may actually exacerbate this aspect of the disease,’ says Dr David Katz. ‘While these treatments can effectively attack the cancer, they also take a toll on the patient. There is thus a need to combine effective assaults on cancer, with effective nurturing, and nourishing, of the body. Optimizing nutrition during and following cancer therapy is unquestionably a vital element in overcoming the disease, and reclaiming good health.’

To fight malnutrition and help a people with cancer combat their disease Drs Block and Katz suggest shifting eating patterns to coincide with appetite. For example, eat the biggest meal of the day in the morning, if that’s what you are most inclined to do. At the same time it’s important to cut back on (or cut out) sugary beverages and high GI cookies, cakes, pastries, white bread, crackers and refined-flour baked goods and eat:

• Plenty of fruits and vegetables.
• Healthy low GI starchy carbs (see 7 tips for reducing the GI of your diet above) and lean protein foods.
• Energy dense/nutrient dense good polyunsaturated (especially omega-3) or monounsaturated fats and oils such as canola, flaxseed (linseed), peanut and olive oil and foods like avocados, nuts/ nut butters and soy products. At the same time, reduce saturated fats and eliminate trans fats.

Safe fasting during Ramadan.
Ramadan is the holy month for Muslims, falling in the ninth lunar month in the Islamic calendar year. It is a period of worship, self-discipline, austerity and charity. The most important significance of Ramadan is that Muslims are required to observe fasting during daylight hours. During this month foods and fluids are only allowed at night so fasting extends from dawn to sunset. Despite being exempt, people with diabetes often wish to fast because of the status of Ramadan.

Most people with type 2 diabetes whose diabetes was well-controlled before Ramadan can safely observe Ramadan fasting is the finding of recent study. UK dietitian Azmina Govindji agrees. ‘It is possible to fast safely if you are careful about managing your diabetes,’ she says. ‘The reason why you need to take care is that some drugs used to treat type 2 diabetes (sulphonylureas) and insulin can make your blood glucose level drop too low when you are not eating. Not drinking enough water can also make you dehydrated. Often the evening meal, Iftar, contains lots of carbs (starches and sugars) and perhaps sugary drinks. Because this is a time when families eat together to break the fast, the food is richer than you may be eating normally. And you may feel having fasted all day long you have an excuse to reward yourself. You need to be particularly strong willed at this time.’

Azmina’s fasting checklist


Azmina Govindji

• Seek the advice of your healthcare team before starting and at the end of the fast, since they may advice you to change the times or amount of medication you take.
• Do not stop taking your medication.
• Avoid eating lots of unhealthy foods as a reward! Try and maintain a healthy eating pattern after you break the fast. Make sure that you have lots of fruit and vegetables and dal as these are slowly digested and help your blood glucose to rise more slowly too. Remember to drink plenty of fluids.
• Divide your daily food intake into two equal portions, one to be taken at Sehri and one at Iftar
• Remember to check your glucose level regularly, at least once a day at different times of the day.
• After the period of Ramadan, it is essential that you visit your doctor to make sure that your blood glucose is being managed adequately and also to check whether your medication needs to be adjusted.

Healthy eating advice for new Mums can help cut child obesity.



Teaching new Mums about healthy eating and active play can help cut the risk of their child being overweight or obese, a study published on bmj.com finds. The study authors looked at 667 first-time mothers and their infants in Sydney (Australia). Specially trained community nurses visited the Mums eight times and the timing of visits was designed to coincide with early childhood developmental milestones. They looked at the children's BMI, feeding habits and television viewing time. Nurses taught the Mums healthy eating and exercise habits for their babies and toddlers using key messages such as:

• Breast is best.
• No solids until six months.
• I eat a variety of fruit and vegetables everyday.
• Only water in my cup.
• I am part of an active family.

This study found that the first few years of a child's development are crucial in setting the foundation for lifelong learning, behaviour and health outcomes.

Eat to Beat Cholesterol
Now fully revised and updated, Nicole Senior & Veronica Cuskelly’s Eat to Beat Cholesterol is not just another diet or cook book. It can tip the balance towards a healthy heart and make healthy living a reality for you and your family. As well as recipes, eating plans and shopping and cooking tips, there are ‘quickies’—fast and easy ways to include super-heart food in your daily diet, all with nutritional information. Get a taste of what’s inside HERE.

ThyroidChange
This web-based initiative unifies the voice of the thyroid community (patients, organisations, groups, blogs, websites and physicians) to promote change and research in the diagnoses and care of thyroid disease. Their goal is optimal thyroid health. Their advocacy encompasses hyperthyroidism, hypothyroidism, auto-immune thyroid conditions, thyroid cancer and other thyroid issues of concern. Check it out HERE.

Get the Scoop with Emma Stirling

The scoop on avocados.


Emma Stirling APD

Do you love an avo? We do at GI News. Not that there is a huge GI story. In fact avocados are too low in carbohydrate to test for GI. We just adore their velvety texture, healthy fats and essential nutrients and all the fab ways you can add them to enhance your low GI meals throughout the day. Let’s take a look at some fresh research and show you clever ways to spread the love around.

Science scoop Avocados are a versatile, nutrient dense fruit, rich in mono and polyunsaturated fats, while naturally low in carbohydrate and sodium. Half an avocado can provide the average adult:

• 5g of fibre (17% of adult fibre needs)
• 36% of the recommended dietary intake (RDI) for folate
• 31% of RDI for vitamin K
• 24% of RDI for vitamin E
• 15% of RDI for potassium

A recent literature review of avocados and health, in Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition, has found that the addition of avocados to the diet may have a positive effect on heart health and other lifestyle conditions such as weight management and healthy aging. The review concluded that eight preliminary clinical studies have consistently demonstrated positive cardiovascular benefits from avocado consumption. Avocados may help promote healthy blood lipid profiles and enhance the bio-availability of fat soluble vitamins and phytochemicals within the avocado or other fruits and vegetables, naturally low in fat, that are consumed with avocados.

Smarter spread The obvious place to start is to make a smart switch and use avocados as a replacement for your regular spread. Even though you may only take “a little butter for your bread” evidence suggest that our intake of saturated fat is too high and smart switches made on a daily basis can add up to big, health benefits.

Keep it real The second place most people reach for an avo is for guacamole dip. With the Mexican cuisine craze taking over Australia we’ve sourced this authentic recipe just for you below. But why not push your culinary creativity?

Niki Segnit, author of The Flavour Thesaurus, writes passionately about their versatility: “No wonder it’s hard to stop grazing on avocados: they taste like grass and have the texture of butter. Delicate avocado goes well with other subtly flavoured ingredients, such as mozzarella and crustaceans; the later love the light anise note in avocado flesh”. Try avocado in the obvious salads, dips and canapés, but also experiment. How about in a green smoothie with kale or spinach? An iced, avo gazpacho? Or as a butter replacement in baking? We have two more recipes to tempt you further down.

Victor Pisapia’s authentic guacamole
‘Superb guacamole depends on perfectly ripe, flavourful ingredients. The black, bumpy-skinned Hass variety is preferred because of its rich flavour’ says Victor of Victor’s Foods, Sydney. Serves 10–12

4 avocados
½ red onion (finely diced)
1–2 jalapeño chillies, stemmed, seeded and finely diced
3 tbsp chopped coriander
3 tbsp fresh lime juice
salt to taste
1 tomato, diced

Cut the avocados in half and remove the seed. Scoop the avocado flesh out with a large spoon and place into a mixing bowl. Mash the avocado with a fork until a very chunky mash is formed. Add the onion, chillies, coriander and lime. Mix with a fork to keep chunky. Taste and add salt or more lime to taste. Garnish with the diced tomato and serve with:

• toasted corn or flour tortilla chips
• julienne vegetables or jicama sticks
• burgers, your favourite sandwich or eggs such as Huevos Rancheros
• quesadillas, poultry, seafood, fajitas and wraps
• cooked prawns and pico de gallo.

Emma Stirling is an Accredited Practising Dietitian and health writer with over ten years experience writing for major publications. She is editor of The Scoop on Nutrition – a blog by expert dietitians. Check it out for hot news bites and a healthy serve of what’s in flavour.

In the GI News Kitchen

American dietitian and author of Good Carbs, Bad Carbs, Johanna Burani, shares favourite recipes with a low or moderate GI from her Italian kitchen. For more information, check out Johanna's website. The photographs are by Sergio Burani. His food, travel and wine photography website is photosbysergio.com.



Mixed berry almond custard
More than a dessert after a meal, I serve this custard when I have the good fortune of having a few friends come over for an afternoon visit. Its wholesome goodness, however, qualifies it as an excellent choice any time of day or evening. For a special occasion, dust with confectioner’s sugar (icing sugar) if desired. Serves 8.

1 cup fresh strawberries, washed, drained, quartered
1 cup fresh blueberries, washed, drained
1 cup blackberries or raspberries, washed, drained
1 can (360g/12oz) evaporated fat free milk, well shaken
2 whole eggs
4 egg whites or 1/2 cup egg substitute
2 tbsp canola oil
1/4 cup amber agave nectar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1/2 cup almond flour
2 tbsp coarsely chopped toasted almonds (optional)



Preheat oven to 180ºC/350ºF.
Evenly coat a 9½-inch (24cm) Pyrex pie plate with vegetable spray. Add all the berries and set aside.
Pour all remaining ingredients (evaporated fat free milk through almond flour) into a blender. Pulse approximately 20 times, or until all ingredients are well mixed. Pour mixture evenly over berries. Sprinkle toasted almonds on top if using.
Place pie pan on a cookie sheet and bake for 55 minutes. Custard is done when a knife comes out clean when inserted. Allow to cool thoroughly on a cookie rack then refrigerate for at least 1 hour before serving.

Per serve
Energy: 785kJ/187cals; Protein 8g; Fat 8g (includes 1g saturated fat and 53mg cholesterol); Available carbohydrate 19g; Fibre 3g

Cut back on the food bills and enjoy fresh-tasting, easily prepared, seasonal, satisfying and delicious low or moderate GI meals that don’t compromise on quality and flavour one little bit with our Money Saving Meals recipes including these deliciously versatile recipes – Avocado pea mash and Avocado san choi bau from Australian Avocados Fresh Avocados Masterbook for Food Service

Avocado pea mash
Use frozen peas for this creamy mash that’s the perfect accompaniment for your favourite meat, chicken or fish. It’s also great to top toasted sourdough. Serves 4–6.

400g (14oz) green peas
1 tbsp chopped parsley
3–4 tbsp chopped mint
1 tbsp (20ml) avocado oil
2 tbsp (40ml) lemon juice
2 avocados, halved, peeled and chopped
sea salt and pepper to taste



Boil peas for 3 minutes and drain.
Add peas, avocado oil, lemon juice and 1 avocado to a bowl. Using a stick blender, make a rough purée.
Fold in the remaining avocado and chopped herbs and season with salt and pepper. Taste for flavour and add more mint if needed.

Per serve
Energy: 1270kJ/300cals; Protein 7g; Fat 26g (includes 5g saturated fat and 0mg cholesterol); Available carbohydrate 9g; Fibre 6g

Kate McGhie’s avocado san choi bau
Serves 10.

Thai avocado salad
3 unripe avocados
1 cup fresh lime juice
½ cup fish sauce
20g (¾oz) shaved palm sugar
3–4 small red chillies (finely chopped)

Avocado prawn filling
250g (8oz) prawns, cooked, deveined and chopped
200g (7oz) water chestnuts, chopped
2 firm-ripe avocados, diced
20g (¾oz) coriander, roughly chopped
180g (6oz) Italian tomatoes (diced)
10 iceberg lettuce cups (trimmed)

Garnish
coriander sprigs



To make the salad: Peel and coarsely grate the avocados into a bowl. Whisk together the lime juice, fish sauce, palm sugar and chillies. Taste and adjust the ingredients to obtain the harmony of hot, sour, salty and sweet. Pour over avocado and toss well. Cover and leave for 15 minutes.
To make the filling: Put prawns, chestnuts, avocado, coriander and tomatoes in a bowl and toss.
To serve: Spoon equal quantities of prawn mixture into each lettuce cup and top with a generous amount of avocado salad. Garnish with sprigs of coriander.

Per serve
Energy: 1330kJ/320cals; Protein 9g; Fat 28g (includes 6g saturated fat and 47mg cholesterol); Available carbohydrate 6g; Fibre 3g

Busting Food Myths with Nicole Senior

Nicole Senior

Myth: Meat causes cancer.
In some studies, eating meat has been flagged as a potential contributor to some cancers, but the scientific story is far from ending and is very complex. It may be too much meat, processed meat, charred meat or not enough protective plant foods, rather than meat per se that poses a risk. To say ‘meat causes cancer’ is an overstatement and scaremongering about a highly nutritious food.

What is the evidence? The World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) and the American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR) recommend we limit intake of red meat and avoid processed meat because they have assessed the evidence as ‘convincing’ that red meat and processed meat increase the risk of bowel (colorectal) cancer. However, cancer researchers the world over concede the scientific evidence is hard to disentangle.

What is muddying the water? Meat is a complex food containing a variety of nutrients. The
nutritional composition can vary widely, depending on how it is grown, which cuts are eaten and how they are cooked. Fatty cuts of meat contain higher levels of saturated fat, so perhaps the cancer culprit is actually the fat rather than the lean meat—we’re advised to eat our meat lean anyway for reducing cholesterol and heart disease risk. The problem may be charring the meat—
carcinogenic compounds such as heterocyclic amines (HCAs) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are formed when meat is charred.

Population studies of meat-eating have used vegetarian groups for comparison, including religious communities such as Seventh Day Adventists (SDA). It is very difficult to separate other factors in these communities when comparing them with meat-eaters from more diverse backgrounds. For example, SDAs do not drink alcohol and their religious beliefs compel them to live a healthier lifestyle in general—not just to be vegetarian. Their religious faith may itself be a confounding factor for health.

And then there is the big question of whether meat-eaters have less room on their plate for plant foods, which are considered protective. It may be a case of not enough vegetables, fruits, grains and nuts rather than eating meat.

How much meat? The WCRD & AICR don’t advise us to stop eating meat. Instead, they suggest limiting the amount of red meat to less than 500g (17.oz) cooked weight a week (70g/2.oz a day), and ensure very little —if any—of it is processed meat. This is bang-on the amount that government guidelines recommend for good health. The only arguments against this amount come from the meat industry, and especially from the smallgoods industry. The fact that well-loved foods such as bacon, ham and salami would pose a health risk has also been difficult for the public to swallow as well.

Nicole Senior is an Accredited Practising Dietitian and Nutritionist and author of Food Myths available in bookshops and online and from www.greatideas.net.au

GI Symbol News with Dr Alan Barclay

Dr Alan Barclay

Diabetes and cardiovascular disease: check out the common ground.
Did you know that healthy eating to prevent and manage diabetes will also help decrease the risk of heart disease, stroke and other cardiovascular diseases? This is because these diseases share a number of common risk factors including central obesity, high blood fats, high blood pressure, being inactive and smoking. High blood glucose levels normally associated with diabetes are themselves a risk factor for cardiovascular disease, particularly in people who already have diabetes. There is also some evidence that having highly variable blood glucose levels (high and low BGLs) can increase the risk of cardiovascular disease in people with type 2 diabetes.

The good news as regular readers of GI News know, is that there is very strong evidence from high quality randomised controlled trials that healthy low GI diets not only help you lose weight and keep it off, they help reduce your risk of diabetes and heart disease. How? By both reducing high blood glucose levels and most importantly by decreasing fluctuations in blood glucose levels – low GI foods and meals help keep your blood glucose levels on an even keel throughout the day.

Low GI also matters when it comes to cholesterol. Eating less saturated fat is a common way of reducing blood cholesterol levels. But what you replace the saturated fats in your diet with is vitally important. It's important to be aware that in some specially designed low fat foods you can find in the supermarket the saturated fat is replaced with refined carbohydrates (sugars and starches) with a high GI – and this certainly won't reduce your risk. To help reduce your risk of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular diseases, you need to replace foods high in saturated fat (e.g. fatty and in particular processed meats) with unsaturated fats (e.g., soy bean oil, oily fish, etc) and/or low GI carbohydrate foods. In Food for Thought in this issue of GI News you can see our tips for lowering the GI of your diet.

But healthy eating is not just about fats and carbohydrates – the right type and amount of protein you eat matters as well. There is growing evidence that consuming high quality protein (lean meat, poultry, seafood, dairy and alternatives) plays a key role in weight management. Recent evidence based on research in real people suggests at least 20% of our energy (kilojoules) should come from protein each day, although more research is needed. This is easy to achieve. Check out Nicole Senior's GI News story on getting enough of the quality protein you need HERE.

The GI Symbol, making healthy low GI choices easy choices



For more information about the GI Symbol Program
Dr Alan W Barclay, PhD
Chief Scientific Officer
Glycemic Index Foundation (Ltd)
Phone: +61 (0)2 9785 1037
Mob: +61 (0)416 111 046
Fax: +61 (0)2 9785 1037
Email: alan@gisymbol.com
Website: www.gisymbol.com

GI Update with Prof Jennie Brand-Miller

Prof Jennie Brand-Miller answers your questions.



Gestational diabetes. Why such a big deal?
Gestational diabetes (any degree of ‘glucose intolerance’ diagnosed for the first time during pregnancy) is the most common medical problem encountered during pregnancy. The name is derived from the combination of having a raised blood sugar level, as occurs in people with diabetes mellitus, and being pregnant (gestational). While “blood sugar” is the commonly used term, it is actually a measurement of glucose in a blood sample taken from a vein. In practice, the terms are used interchangeably.

A diagnosis of gestational diabetes is important for many reasons. Firstly, it identifies women who may be at risk for developing type 2 diabetes later in life. The forewarning means they can make diet and lifestyle changes, for themselves and their family, to help reduce their chances. Some women, during and after pregnancy, may also be prescribed metformin, a drug that reduces insulin resistance and may prevent or delay the development of type 2 diabetes.

Secondly, women with gestational diabetes are more likely to have a large baby. While normal women without diabetes can also have big babies, the reasons are different and often genetically determined (e.g. both the mother and father are tall). Women with gestational diabetes have bigger babies because high amounts of glucose are converted and stored as fat around the baby’s abdomen. The increased size of the baby’s abdomen can be detected and measured on ultrasound.

A mother with a large baby, whatever the cause, is more likely to have a complicated delivery, with injury to both the baby and the mother. There is an increased rate of medical intervention (e.g. forceps delivery) and higher rate of both elective and emergency caesarean section. In many instances, the detection of a large baby will mean an earlier delivery is scheduled with induction of labour.

Women with gestational diabetes are also at increased risk of having a baby with a low blood glucose level after delivery. This is because of the sudden withdrawal of the mother’s high glucose supply and the baby’s relatively high insulin level. For this reason, together with additional concerns, the baby may need to be admitted to a special care nursery. These complications are directly related to the higher blood glucose levels in the mother. The good news is that they are highly unlikely if the diabetes is properly managed and blood glucose levels are kept relatively normal.

Finally, gestational diabetes is now a concern because of ‘programming’ in the womb and the potential for your baby to be more at risk of developing diseases in later life. What you eat during pregnancy affects the way the baby develops and the food choices that your baby will make later in life. It is not just your blood glucose levels that are important but all aspects of the diet. However, because carbohydrates are responsible for the rise and fall in your blood glucose levels after eating, carbohydrate foods are given special attention. Foods with a low GI will lead to a smaller rise and fall in the glucose levels and these gradual changes are passed through the placenta to the baby. Foods with a high GI will cause a rapid rise in your blood glucose and this glucose spike is passed through to the baby. For complex reasons related to the circulation of the amniotic fluid, this spike can have a sustained effect.

In September GI News, I’ll look at the risk factors for gestational diabetes.

This is an edited extract from my new book (with Dr Kate Marsh and Prof Robert Moses), The Bump to Baby Low GI Eating Plan for Conception, Pregnancy and Beyond (Hachette Australia). In the book we share the latest science to help women enjoy a healthy pregnancy while safeguarding their baby’s future wellbeing. It’s available from bookshops and online in Australia and NZ and as an eBook from Amazon, iTunes etc. We have a website too, where you can visit us, learn more about our book (and look inside), find pregnancy friendly recipes, keep up to date with the latest news about the importance of lifestyle for pregnancy and preconception, download information and weight charts, contact us and link to other useful information. Visit us HERE.



GI testing by an accredited laboratory
North America
Dr Alexandra Jenkins
Glycemic Index Laboratories
20 Victoria Street, Suite 300
Toronto, Ontario M5C 298 Canada
Phone +1 416 861 0506
Email info@gilabs.com
Web www.gilabs.com

Australia
Fiona Atkinson
Research Manager, Sydney University Glycemic Index Research Service (SUGiRS)
Human Nutrition Unit, School of Molecular and Microbial Biosciences
Sydney University
NSW 2006 Australia
Phone + 61 2 9351 6018
Fax: + 61 2 9351 6022
Email sugirs@mmb.usyd.edu.au
Web www.glycemicindex.com

Copyright and Permission

Copyright
This website and all information, data, documents, pages and images it contains is copyright under the Copyright Act 1968 (Commonwealth of Australia) (as amended) and the copyright laws of all member countries of the Berne Union and the Universal Copyright Convention.

Copyright in the website and in material prepared by GI News is owned by GI News, Human Nutrition Unit, University of Sydney. Copyright in quotations, images from published works and photo libraries, and materials contributed by third parties including our regular contributors Alan Barclay, Jennie Brand-Miller, Johanna Burani, Emma Stirling and Nicole Senior is owned by the respective authors or agencies, as credited.

GI News encourages the availability, dissemination and exchange of public information. You may include a link to GI News on your website. You may also copy, distribute, display, download and otherwise freely deal only with material owned by GI News, on the condition that you include the copyright notice “© GI News, Human Nutrition Unit, University of Sydney” on all uses and prominently credit the source as being GI News.

You must, however, obtain permission from GI News if you wish to do the following:

• charge others for access to the work
• include all or part of the work in advertising or a product for sale, or
• modify the work.

To obtain such permission, please contact info@gisymbol.com

This permission does not extend to material contributed and owned by other parties. We strongly recommend that you refer to the copyright statements at their respective websites and seek their permission before making use of any such material, whether images or text. Please contact GI News if you are in doubt as to the ownership of any material.

Disclaimer
GI News endeavours to check the veracity of news stories cited in this free e-newsletter by referring to the primary source, but cannot be held responsible for inaccuracies in the articles so published. GI News provides links to other World Wide Web sites as a convenience to users, but cannot be held responsible for the content or availability of these sites.

© ® & ™ The University of Sydney, Australia