Tag Archives: CSPI

February 10, 2017 · 5:03 am

TGI Friday’s Ribs and Shrimp – Bad Bet

There is a lot of talk about fast foods and processed foods being not as healthy for us. Here is a fine example of that from the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI).

An order of TGI Friday’s Jack Daniel’s Ribs & Shrimp with Seasoned Fries and Coleslaw has 4,000 milligrams (mg) of sodium—more than one-and-a-half times the daily sodium limit (2,300 mg a day) for healthy adults.

A diner who eats that entrée along with half a high-sodium appetizer and half a high-sodium dessert could end up swallowing 6,450 mg, or almost three days’ worth, of sodium. The nonprofit Center for the Science in the Public Interest is releasing the first of a series of “Salt Assaults” spotlighting the incredibly (and unnecessarily) high sodium content of many packaged and restaurant foods.

“Consumers can always add salt to their food but they can’t remove what’s already there,” said Jim O’Hara, CSPI’s director of health promotion policy. “Food companies, especially chain restaurants, are irresponsibly increasing their customers’ risk of heart disease by selling foods that are dangerously high in sodium. The Food and Drug Administration’s proposed voluntary sodium-reduction targets for packaged and restaurant foods, if finalized, would help put consumers back in control.”

The Ribs & Shrimp meal isn’t the only problem with TGI Fridays, according to CSPI—it’s the entire menu. If diners choose a typical entrée, they end up with 2,240 mg of sodium. Adding half a typical appetizer and half a typical dessert brings the total to 3,490 mg of sodium—more than one and a half days’ worth. (CSPI’s analysis did not include TGI Friday’s 474 menu, which offers “smaller portions of our signature dishes.”)

The Dietary Guidelines for Americans says that many adults can consume up to 2,300 mg of sodium, but adults with prehypertension and hypertension (about two-thirds of all adults) would do well to limit their consumption to 1,500 mg per day.

Tony

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Filed under salt, sodium, sodium warnings in restaurants, TGI Friday's

Tagged as CSPI, daily sodium intake, salt, sodium, TGI Friday's

September 29, 2016 · 1:32 pm

CSPI’s Nutrition Action Healthletter Grades the Changing American Diet

Cheese Consumption hits All-Time High; Americans Still Consuming Too Much Beef & Soda Despite Declines, according to the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI)

I’m sure it comes as no surprise to regular readers that the CSPI gives a barely passing grade to the quantity and quality of food we are consuming.

Americans are eating too much of everything, and it’s not just how much, but what we eat, that needs work, according to a report card on the changing American diet published today in Nutrition Action Healthletter. The average American consumes about 2,500 calories per day, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates. That’s up from about 2,000 calories a day in the 1970s. (my emphasis)

(Ed. note: CSPI is hosting a quiz about America’s Changing Diet. Take it now, if you like, since spoilers follow.)

Continue reading →

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Filed under American diet, CSPI, healthy eating, Weight, weight control

Tagged as American diet, calories, cheese, CSPI, fast foods, junk foods, soda, soft drinks

September 10, 2015 · 2:42 pm

New York City Board of Health Requires Sodium Warnings on Saltiest Restaurant Items

New York city is at it again. This time requiring sodium warnings on the saltiest restaurant items. I have very mixed feelings on this. On the one hand, I want to eat healthy and have other folks do the same, therefore I limit my sodium intake. However, I do not think it is the government’s place to barge into people’s eating habits – even when they are harmful. I think we should be free to choose what we want even if it is not the most nutritious choice.

The Dairy Queen was one of the firms mentioned.

For the record: the American Heart Association recommends we limit our sodium consumption to 1500 mg per day.

Following are examples from the

Calories Sodium (mg)

Jersey Mike’s Buffalo Chicken Cheese Steak 1,740 7,795

Applebee’s Chicken Fajitas Rollup 1,090 3,600

Applebee’s4 Cheese Mac & Cheese (with extras) 1,830 4,290

Burger King’s BK Ultimate Brkfst Platter 1,420 3,020

Chili’s Boneless Buffalo Chicken Salad 1,040 3,470

Dairy Queen’s 4 Pce Chicken Strip Basket 1,000 2,530

Friendly’s Grilled Chkn Caesar Salad 880 2,770

Olive Garden’s Tour of Italy Entree 1,450 3,830

For more details and restaurants and to read the entire Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) press release click here.
Tony

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Tagged as CSPI, fast food, New York City, salt, sodium, sodium warnings

June 23, 2015 · 5:39 pm

Health Advocates Remake Famous Coke Ad – CSPI

It’s time to change the tune on Soda, says the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI)

Real people suffering from diabetes, tooth decay, weight gain, and other diseases related to soda consumption are starring in a remake of Coca-Cola’s iconic “Hilltop” ad. The new video is health advocates’ latest salvo in their campaign to reduce the incidence of soda-related disease in America and around the world.

“For the past 45 years, Coca-Cola and other makers of sugar drinks have used the most sophisticated and manipulative advertising techniques to convince children and adults alike that a disease-promoting drink will make them feel warm and fuzzy inside,” said CSPI executive director Michael F. Jacobson. “It’s a multi-billion-dollar brainwashing campaign designed to distract us away from our diabetes with happy thoughts. We thought it was time to change the tune.”

Soda and other sugary drinks are the leading source of calories in the American diet, and raise one’s risks of diabetes, tooth decay, and weight gain—conditions experienced by the Denver-area residents who participated in the film.

“Soda is just one of several contributors to diet-related disease, but it’s a major one,” said Dr. Jeffry Gerber, a Denver-area physician who appeared in the film. “As a physician who asks all of my patients about the foods and drinks they choose, I see the connection between soda consumption and chronic conditions like diabetes, heart disease, and obesity every day of the week. It’s hard to ask patients to practice moderation when all of the advertising, marketing, and overall ubiquity of soda rewires people to overconsume sugary drinks.”

The film was produced by Scott McDonald and Gavin Anstey of the Lumenati agency, and was written by Mike Howard of Daughters & Howard. Alex Bogusky, formerly of Crispin Porter + Bogusky, provided overall creative direction. Bogusky also served as executive creative director for The Real Bears, CSPI’s 2012 short film that showed an animated family of polar bears suffering the consequences of soda-related disease. Coca-Cola called it “irresponsible and the usual grandstanding from CSPI,” while Mark Bittman of the New York Times called it “Depressing, touching, and effective.”

CSPI is providing Spanish, Portuguese, French, Hindi, and Mandarin translations of the lyrics used in the new film as a resource for health advocates around the world, where Coke and Pepsi are investing billions of dollars a year to promote the consumption of their products.

Regular readers know that I feel strongly about soft drinks in general, both diet and sugary. Check out my Page – What’s Wrong With Soft Drinks?

Tony

Athletes and Film Stars to Push Veggies

Colin Kaepernick, Cam Newton and Jessica Alba, among others, have signed on to help promote fruit and vegetable consumption in a new program.

The push is being called FNV – which stands for Fruits and Vegetables.

The campaign will start on social media like Twitter where short videos will be posted. The first will be posted online today.

Jessica Alba star of one of my favorite shows, Dark Angel, is on the FNV team.

The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) loves it. “What a breath of fresh air to see entertainers and athletes getting behind this innovative campaign to promote fruit and vegetable consumption. It would be nice to see more celebrities following the example of Jessica Alba, Colin Kaepernick, and Stephen Curry and the others involved with this project. For too long, entertainers and athletes have used their clout to promote soda and other junk foods, so perhaps the FNV campaign heralds a new trend.

“For this campaign to succeed, it will need a huge and sustained investment behind it, which I hope the industry provides. Ideally government agencies would invest in similar media campaigns aimed at reducing junk food consumption and promoting healthy diets,” according to a statement by CSPI Executive Director Michael Jacobson.

I would just like to add my own two cents here that I love this accentuating the positive as opposed to governments and municipalities coming in and banning junk foods. It pays to think positive.
Tony

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Tagged as center for science in the public interest, Colin Kaepernick, CSPI, Eat your veggies program, Jessica Alba

May 1, 2014 · 4:02 pm

Tips on Controlling Calories When Dining out on Italian Food – CSPI

I’m sure it is no surprise that a blogger named Tony is of Italian descent. I grew up eating and loving Italian food. There wasn’t the level of affluence in those days as there is now, so we didn’t eat out a lot, but pizza was one of the dinners of choice when we did. Often going out for pizza was a reward for good grades or to celebrate a birthday. So, besides tasting delicious, pizza packed an emotional bang, too. I am a senior citizen now and have buried both my parents, but I still feel a residual thrill when I bite into a juicy slice of pizza. Of course, pasta was a close second in our culinary hierarchy.

Pizza and Pasta

So, I was interested in the latest release on dining out on Italian food put out by the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI).

“Few of us would sit down to a meal of three Big Macs. Most of us would assume we’d be better off with a dinner of sautéed shrimp with vegetables and pasta. Yet the Shrimp Scampi at Maggiano’s Little Italy has about as many calories (1,680) and about as much saturated fat (28 grams) as those big burgers. That’s just one of the surprises revealed in Nutrition Action Healthletter’s latest look at what’s cooking in Italian chains like Olive Garden, Carrabba’s Italian Grill, Romano’s Macaroni Grill, and Maggiano’s.

Some of the appetizers, meals, and desserts highlighted in the May issue of the nonprofit Center for Science in the Public Interest’s flagship publication include: Continue reading →

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Tagged as calorie counting, Carrabba, center for science in the public interest, CSPI, healthy eating, Italian food, Italian restaurant food, Macaroni Grill, Maggiano's, Olive Garden, portion size, weight

April 14, 2014 · 6:49 pm

U.K. Salt Reduction Drives Down Stroke and Heart Disease Deaths

The British government has successfully educated individuals about reducing their sodium consumption and has aggressively encouraged companies to market less-salty foods, the Center for Science in the Public Interest reported.

And according to the findings published in BMJ Open, those efforts are likely partly responsible for plummeting rates of heart attack and stroke deaths in the United Kingdom.

It’s a shame that while the British government has actively prompted progress on the part of industry and consumers, our Food and Drug Administration dithers, waiting in vain for more than 40 years for companies to voluntarily cut salt. It’s a strategy that has plainly failed, as Americans are still getting more than twice as much sodium as they should, mostly from processed and restaurant foods.

Almost four years ago the Institute of Medicine called on the FDA to set mandatory limits on the levels of sodium allowed in various categories of food. Doing that would have been the single most effective (and inexpensive) thing the FDA could have done to save hundreds of thousands of lives and billions of health care dollars. Halving Americans’ sodium intake could save 100,000 lives annually. Because the Obama Administration hasn’t done anything, America is unnecessarily digging about 100,000 early graves every year, each to be filled with a heart attack or stroke victim.

I want to clarify that I am against government telling us we can’t have diet sodas over 16 ounces like in New York, but it seems the government can make some rules on healthy amounts of certain ingredients like salt and sugar which have proven harmful to us humans. As the CSPI release said, we are digging 100,000 early graves a year. Talk about Nero fiddling while Rome burns. We have the FDA fiddling while citizens who don’t pay attention to their health are dying at a terrible rate.

Salt consumption has been a subject of numerous posts in this blog. Here are a few:

How Much is Too Much Salt?

Some Sneaky Salt Statistics

Why is Walmart Cutting Sugar, Fat and Salt in its Foods?

Where Does All the Salt in our Diets Come From?

Tony