GPs should help patients avoid unhealthy breakfast cereals, expert says
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《英国医生杂志》
GPs should help patients interpret nutritional information on packaged foods such as breakfast cereals, a leading obesity expert has suggested, because many so called healthy foods are not as good for us as we think.
Professor Jane Wardle from University College London has backed research from the Consumers?Association that accuses manufacturers of breakfast cereal of "lacing" their products with high levels of sugar, salt, and fat.
Professor Wardle pointed out that the food industry is driven to launch saltier, fattier, and more sugary brands because these taste and therefore sell better than healthier alternatives.
"Even someone like me can study their cereal packet and not be able to remember whether 0.25g of salt per 100g is good or bad," said Professor Wardle, who is director of University College London抯 cancer research health behaviour unit.
"Doctors?surgeries should have posters and maybe even computer programs to help patients make sense of food labels."
The Consumers?Association research, published last week in its magazine Health Which?, found that 85 out of 100 branded cereals contained "a lot of sugar" and 40% "a lot of salt," when measured against Food Standards Agency criteria.
Health conscious consumers who start the day with a bowl of Kellogg抯 All Bran, Quaker Oat Krunchies, or Nestlé抯 Golden Grahams may not know they are ingesting four times the salt that is contained in a 25g bag of roasted peanuts, the report found. These brands all contain about 1 g of salt per suggested serving size—a third of what is recommended a day for 4-6 year olds, and a fifth of the suggested intake for 7-10 year olds.
Some 9% of brands that were tested also contained "a lot of" saturated fat, with 13% containing the even unhealthier trans fats, which are linked with raised blood cholesterol levels and heart disease.
The worst offenders listed for children抯 cereals include Nestlé抯 Golden Grahams, Cheerios, and Lion Cereal and Kellogg抯 Hunny B抯, Rice Krispies, and Frosties.
Weetabix抯 Ready Brek was praised as a better option for children, and porridge, Nestlé抯 Shredded Wheat, and Quaker Oatso Simple (Original) get the green light for adults.
The Consumers?Association wants a traffic lights labelling scheme introduced by 2005 so that shoppers can spot at a glance the foods that are high in fat, sugar, and salt—a system also favoured by Food Safety Agency experts (BMJ, 24 January, bmj.com, News Extra)
As part of its 12 pronged campaign against obesity and diet related disease, launched in March, the association is also calling for a "children抯 watershed" for food advertising, tighter controls over foods presented as healthy, and clear national goals to cut obesity across all ages.
Nick Stace, the association抯 director of communications, accused the government of spouting "rhetoric" and promised last week抯 name and shame would be the first in a series of attacks to force politicians and industry into action to tackle the growing obesity problem.(London Katherine Burke)
Professor Jane Wardle from University College London has backed research from the Consumers?Association that accuses manufacturers of breakfast cereal of "lacing" their products with high levels of sugar, salt, and fat.
Professor Wardle pointed out that the food industry is driven to launch saltier, fattier, and more sugary brands because these taste and therefore sell better than healthier alternatives.
"Even someone like me can study their cereal packet and not be able to remember whether 0.25g of salt per 100g is good or bad," said Professor Wardle, who is director of University College London抯 cancer research health behaviour unit.
"Doctors?surgeries should have posters and maybe even computer programs to help patients make sense of food labels."
The Consumers?Association research, published last week in its magazine Health Which?, found that 85 out of 100 branded cereals contained "a lot of sugar" and 40% "a lot of salt," when measured against Food Standards Agency criteria.
Health conscious consumers who start the day with a bowl of Kellogg抯 All Bran, Quaker Oat Krunchies, or Nestlé抯 Golden Grahams may not know they are ingesting four times the salt that is contained in a 25g bag of roasted peanuts, the report found. These brands all contain about 1 g of salt per suggested serving size—a third of what is recommended a day for 4-6 year olds, and a fifth of the suggested intake for 7-10 year olds.
Some 9% of brands that were tested also contained "a lot of" saturated fat, with 13% containing the even unhealthier trans fats, which are linked with raised blood cholesterol levels and heart disease.
The worst offenders listed for children抯 cereals include Nestlé抯 Golden Grahams, Cheerios, and Lion Cereal and Kellogg抯 Hunny B抯, Rice Krispies, and Frosties.
Weetabix抯 Ready Brek was praised as a better option for children, and porridge, Nestlé抯 Shredded Wheat, and Quaker Oatso Simple (Original) get the green light for adults.
The Consumers?Association wants a traffic lights labelling scheme introduced by 2005 so that shoppers can spot at a glance the foods that are high in fat, sugar, and salt—a system also favoured by Food Safety Agency experts (BMJ, 24 January, bmj.com, News Extra)
As part of its 12 pronged campaign against obesity and diet related disease, launched in March, the association is also calling for a "children抯 watershed" for food advertising, tighter controls over foods presented as healthy, and clear national goals to cut obesity across all ages.
Nick Stace, the association抯 director of communications, accused the government of spouting "rhetoric" and promised last week抯 name and shame would be the first in a series of attacks to force politicians and industry into action to tackle the growing obesity problem.(London Katherine Burke)