Category: health

Tagatose — A New Sugar Substitute

Ashley Bischoff12 Comments

I was reading an issue of Wired’s dead tree edition that a friend had given me and they had a sidebar (not really a full article) on new sugar substitutes. The usual suspects such as aspartame and sucralose were there, but they also had high praise for one called tagatose which they described as “subtle & natural”. So, I checked online for more information and — go figure — found a Wired article on tagatose.

Like Splenda, tagatose is made from sugar, but tagatose is derived from milk sugars within whey. And, though Splenda already tastes very natural, apparently tagatose is virtually imperceptible from sugar. The only downside is that tagatose isn’t calorie-free — it has about 1/3 the calories of sugar. But, it doesn’t affect blood-sugar levels or cause cavities.

Levin whips out a set of keys, unlocks his desk, and rummages through a drawer. He pulls out a bag of tagatose-coated bran flakes and a chocolate bar, both creations of his Danish licensee. The bran is a little stale but sweet enough, and the chocolate tastes just like the real deal. He hands me a baggie of pure tagatose. I hold it up to the light, dab a little on my finger, and try it. A dead ringer for table sugar. […]

Though it’s not a calorie-free food, I’m still excited about another sugar substitute. With any luck, this will soon find its way into reduced-calorie chocolate bars and sodas (Spleda-based chocolate still doesn’t quite taste like the real thing). However, it appears that the tagatose folks don’t have quite the marketing arm of their Splenda counterparts; so, I have a hunch that it may be a while before tagatose becomes widespread.

Atkins Makes Its Own Food Pyramid

Ashley Bischoff3 Comments

The Atkins folks have long spoken against the USDA Food Pyramid — I’m not a particular fan of it either and, indeed, the government plans on revising it by early next year. However, the Atkins group decided not to wait that long and they released their own food pyramid.

As you might expect, this pyramid has protein sources on the bottom tier (“eat more”) and grains at the top tier (“eat fewer”) — almost the opposite of the USDA version. Interestingly, even though a geometric food summary such as this may seem to oversimplify an eating plan, this one actually clarifies many aspects.

For one thing, many people think of Atkins as all “meat and cheese”. But, a quick look over their pyramid would show that’s not really the case — cheese is on the second-to-the-top tier, only just below grains. Many people also overlook the diet’s vegetable component. Veggies such as broccoli, cauliflower and asparagus (all of which are considered healthy on just about any diet) are on the second tier, just after protein sources.

I was also impressed that one of their footnotes emphasizes that hydrogenated oils should be avoided. Otherwise known as trans fats, they’re a rather bad type of fat as they not only raise your bad cholesterol but also lower your good cholesterol (even saturated fat doesn’t effect good cholesterol).

I don’t follow Atkins; rather, I go with The Zone which has a 40/30/30 ratio between carbs, protein & fats. All the same, Atkins seems a little more reasonable each time I learn more about it.

Food Pyramid to be Revised

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The Chicago Tribune is reporting that the Department of Agriculture is revising the ubiquitous food pyramid for release early next year. The article’s subtitle reads “The revised pyramid will likely offer 12 diet plans; the current one offers only three” — I wasn’t even aware that the current one had three versions. And in addition to more variations, they have other changes planned as well:

For instance, sedentary men between ages 31 and 50 would be urged to quadruple their consumption of dark green vegetables and legumes, triple the amount of whole grains they eat and double their intake of orange vegetables. They would also be encouraged to cut their consumption of starchy vegetables such as potatoes and solid fats by half. […]

Though I’m a bit concerned that the food industry will meddle with the final result, the proposed changes seem to make sense so far. “Cutting consumption of starchy vegetables” — hmm, where have I heard that before? ;) Kidding aside, I think the reduction in solid (saturated) fats is probably also a worthwhile recommendation.

Atkins Cuts Back on Saturated Fat

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The New York Times reports that Atkins Nutritionals is now recommending that people on their diet limit saturated fat to 20% of their calories. They’re trying to play this off as a clarification, but it sounds like a revision to me :-/.

Responding to years of criticism from scientists that the Atkins version of a low-carbohydrate, high-fat regimen might lead to heart disease and other health problems, the director of research and education for Atkins Nutritionals, Colette Heimowitz, is telling health professionals in seminars around the country that only 20 percent of a dieter’s calories should come from saturated fat. Atkins Nutritionals was set up by Dr. Robert C. Atkins to sell Atkins products and promote the diet. […]

Revision or otherwise, I view this as a positive move as many had dismissed the diet due to its lack of restrictions on saturated fat. For those already on the diet (which doesn’t include me), I was curious about how much saturated fat that would allow in a day…

Supposing a caloric intake of 1500 Calories, 20% would be 300 Calories from saturated fat. And, with 9 Calories/gram, 300 Calories would be about 33g saturated fat. So, to keep within 33g, you could eat:

But, don’t let the numbers fool you — those calculations are for an entire day’s worth of fat. For instance, if you were to have three bratwurst, that would leave virtually no fat for the rest of the day. But, you can mix-and-match to evenly distribute your saturated fat allowance (which works out to about 10-11g saturated fat per meal).

And, if you’re on Atkins, you can stay under your limits by eating other sources of protein such as chicken or fish. Just checking my freezer downstairs, I see that trimmed boneless/skinless chicken breast has less than 1g saturated fat per serving. Likewise, canned tuna also has less than 1g saturated fat. Mayo has about 1.5g/TBsp, so a tuna salad could work also.

Low Carb Year in Review

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Fortune magazine has a feature they call Atkins World which nicely sums up the low-carb phenomenon over the past year. There's not much about the science of the diet but more of the culture surrounding it and its effect on various industries (like as bread & pasta). Much of it I was already aware of (such as the increase in egg consumption), but there were a few surprises as well.

[spoilers ahead] If you want to be surprised, don’t read this part. Most starting to me was the news about Splenda. Most people are probably aware that Splenda is in products such as Diet RC, Ocean Spray Lite and Blue Bunny ice cream. But, I was astonished to read that Diet Coke in Japan has Splenda! I'm guessing that even Larry may not have been aware of that one ;). In any case, if Coke has formulated Diet Splenda Coke and dispersed it to Japan, I can only hope that the US will have it soon. [/spoilers]

Most amusing to me, though, was some of the dedication that some of these low-carb companies have — to taste as well as nutrition:

[…] And that’s how [Keto] CEO Arne Bey wants it. For the past five years his passion has been to make low-carb food with the taste and texture of regular food. “When I hear, ‘It’s not that bad,’ it pisses me off,” Bey says, offering a visitor a chocolate Keto shake in lieu of lunch. […]

For what it’s worth, there’s also a print version of the article which doesn’t require clicking from one page to the next.