BELLINGHAM, WASHINGTON – In these tough economic times, the family food budget is under closer scrutiny than ever. Add to that the time parents are spending working, or taking on extra shifts to make ends meet, and home-cooked family meals are becoming endangered species. March is nutrition month, so it’s a great time to take a closer look at how families can balance time, budget, and nutrition.

For many families, packaged foods are the answer. But how can they know which packaged foods are best? Nutrition labels help, but don’t tell the whole story. And since not all packages base nutrition information on the same serving size, comparing labels while shopping can be next to impossible.

To simplify the task, HealthCastle.com (http://www.HealthCastle.com), the largest nutrition site run by registered dietitians, is launching Go UnDiet: Packaged Food Review, the first ever online tool to compare, rate, and review packaged food, so that users can easily see which packaged foods make the most sense for their families.

“The Packaged Food Review provides all the information families need in a consistent, easy-to-understand format,” said Gloria Tsang, RD, founder of HealthCastle.com. “It’s a way of helping families eat healthy in a realistic way.”

Go UnDiet: Packaged Food Review provides the key information traditionally found on food labels, but adds extra details like whole grain and high fructose corn syrup content, and identifies whether the product contains artificial sweeteners. Each product review features an “RD’s take” summary to help interpret the nutrition facts.

Users can also sort products by the amount of fat, calories, sugar, fiber, carbs, and more. Based on what’s most important for your family, you can choose the item that appears at the top of the list. Or, if trying to choose between two products, compare them head-to-head.

“We hope families will use the tool to make their packaged food choices before they go shopping,” Tsang said. “That way they’ll come home with healthy packaged foods, rather than just grabbing whatever was sitting at the end of the aisle.”

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Attention red wine drinkers: Drinking moderate amounts of any kind of alcohol (including wine, beer, and liquor) is associated with a slightly increased breast cancer risk — and the rosy-hued beverage is no exception.

Drinking moderate amounts of alcohol (wine, beer, and liquor) is associated with increased breast cancer risk.

That’s the conclusion of a new study that dashes any hope that red wine is less likely than other alcohol-containing drinks to increase breast cancer risk, or that it might even protect against the disease.

“If a woman chooses red wine, she should do so because she likes the flavor, not because she thinks doing so will reduce her breast cancer risk,” said Polly A. Newcomb of Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle, Washington, who led the research. “It might be good for other things, but it definitely is not conferring any protection against breast cancer.”

There’s good evidence showing that women who consume alcohol have a slightly greater risk of breast cancer than teetotalers, and the risk is higher with heavier drinking. But research in animals and some human studies had suggested that red wine might not carry the same risks as other forms of alcohol or could even be protective.

This is certainly possible, Newcomb and her team noted in their report in the journal Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers and Prevention, because red wine contains more potentially beneficial plant chemicals, such as resveratrol, than white wine does.

To find out if this was true, the researchers looked at 6,327 women with breast cancer and 7,558 women who did not have a a cancer diagnosis. Risk rose with the amount of alcohol consumed, no matter whether it was wine, beer or liquor. The heaviest drinkers — women who reported having 14 or more drinks a week — were 24 percent more likely to develop breast cancer than nondrinkers. Health.com: For even healthy men, alcohol seems to lower heart attack risk

In comparison, smoking can increase the risk of breast cancer by 32 percent, and having a close relative (mother, sister, or daughter) with the disease is associated with a 200 percent higher risk.

Lighter drinkers who consumed about a drink or two a day (7 to 13.9 drinks per week) were 11 percent more likely to develop breast cancer than women who didn’t drink at all, but there was no greater breast cancer risk when alcohol intake was less than four drinks per week. And neither white wine nor red wine drinkers had a lower risk of breast cancer than nondrinkers, Newcomb and her colleagues found. Health.com: 10 celebrities who battled breast cancer

“It really looks as if the pattern is far more important than the beverage,” said Dr. Arthur Klatsky, an adjunct investigator with Kaiser Permanente Northern California’s research division who has long studied the relationship between alcohol and health. In a large study released in December, Klatsky and his colleagues also found a steady rise in breast cancer risk with alcohol consumption, with no difference in risk between wine, beer, or liquor.

While Klatsky said he thinks having three or four drinks a week seems unlikely to increase breast cancer risk, he added that there also doesn’t appear to be any “threshold effect,” meaning a minimum level of consumption that’s entirely safe.

“The findings from this study do show that alcohol itself is important, and there doesn’t seem to be a strong difference between the types of drinks you consume,” said Naomi Allen, a cancer epidemiologist at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Allen and her colleagues are following 1.2 million UK women 50 and older participating in the Million Women Study.

Alcohol use — why moderation is key
This month, they are reporting findings that echo those of Klatsky and Newcomb and their colleagues: moderate to heavy drinking boosted risk of breast cancer, with the same risks seen for women who drank wine and those who drank other types of alcohol.

“The message is pretty simple,” Allen said. “Moderate drinking increases breast cancer risk, and it seems that the more you drink the higher the risk.”

There are a handful of things women can do to modify breast cancer risk, Newcomb noted, including maintaining a healthy weight and not using hormone replacement therapy. And alcohol consumption looks like another breast cancer risk factor that’s under women’s control, she added. Health.com: 5 simple ways to cut your breast cancer risk

“We found that recent alcohol consumption was very relevant in terms of determining breast cancer risk, so reducing alcohol consumption or eliminating it probably is going to impact upon a woman’s future risk of the disease,” Newcomb said. “This is something that you can do today to reduce your future risk.”

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NZ scientist’s gene research could be the answer to the obesity epidemic

Both of these mice were obese, but the one on the right lost weight after being injected with genetic material.

A world-leading New Zealand researcher wants to start human trials of gene therapy to control obesity, after proving the technique in animal experiments.

Professor Matthew During, of Auckland University and Ohio State University in the United States, was the lead investigator of the ground-breaking animal trials. They are reported online today in one of the world’s top medical science journals, Nature Medicine.

Based on the success of the animal trials, Professor During, a neuroscientist, wants to start human clinical trials.

“We believe we could be in the clinic with this approach within 12 months treating morbid obesity.”

The treatment is similar to Professor During’s gene therapy to the brain for Parkinson’s disease, given under local anaesthetic, which is being used in phase 2 human clinical trials.

Obesity is a major problem throughout the West. In New Zealand, 26.5 per cent of adults are obese. The Ministry of Health is considering spending $16 million on obesity surgery for around 900 people each year who are extremely obese, because other treatments rarely work long-term in this group.

Obesity experiments by Professor During’s team involved injecting up to three kinds of genetic material into the brains of various kinds of mice and measuring the effects on their body-weight and markers of diabetes.

The genetic material is injected into the part of the brain called the hypothalamus, after boring two holes through the skull. It is carried in a harmless virus whose genetic material has been replaced by the therapy.

The main active component is part of the human gene that causes the production of a substance called brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). This is a protein involved in weight regulation. It is coupled with genetic material that triggers auto-regulation of the BDNF to control the weight loss once the process is well under way.

A third genetic component was developed for a subsequent neurosurgery injection, if needed, to knock out the introduced BDNF gene as a rescue device that halts the weight-loss process.

In one of the trials, the body weight of obese mice reduced by 20 per cent in three weeks and stabilised for the remainder of the 11-week experiment.

The researchers noted suppression of food intake and increased energy output contributed to weight loss in diabetic mice given the gene therapy, but energy output – both at rest and from spontaneous activity – was considered the more significant factor.

Professor During said many genes had been found to be involved in obesity, but little had been achieved in converting that knowledge into effective treatments – until now.

“The efficacy and the degree of weight loss is very dramatic. We haven’t seen that in any study previously … We have very high expectations that this would also work in humans.”

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Camp Shane, the world’s leading children’s weight loss camp, announces the launch of its unique and affordable Summer 2009 program for young adults ages 18 – 25 and for adults over 25. The Shane Diet & Lifestyle Resorts Weight Loss Spa & Resort program is located at the Honor’s Haven Resort & Spa in Ellenville, NY.

 The Shane Diet & Lifestyle Resorts program is opening a weight loss spa this summer at The Honor’s Haven Resort & Spa. For men and women ages 18 – 25, Shane Diet is a highly affordable and one-of-a-kind program where young adults will lose weight, get fit, make life-long friends, and have a fun summer vacation.

Shane Diet also offers a customized weight loss spa and retreat program for adults over the age of 25 looking for an effective weight loss and fitness summer vacation in a stress free and rejuvenating environment. “The adult program is ideal for couples, friends, and parents and their adult children wanting to lose weight and get fit together,” says founder and President, Ziporah Janowski.

“This weight loss program works,” says Janowski. “In today’s economy, it is more important than ever that overweight young adults improve their appearance, self confidence, self esteem and health to help land and keep those hard to find jobs. Shane Diet is the only program specializing in the needs of 18 – 25 years old men and women, and at an extremely affordable price,” Janowski added.

Last year’s guests, who came from all over the globe, continue to rave about the changes Shane Diet made in their lives:

• Francisco – NY: “The results are great and the environment awesome. I loved every minute of it and made everlasting friends.”
• Alexis – Florida: “I have a healthier outlook on life and feel as if my spirit was renewed with this program.”
• Fabiana – Switzerland: “Shane Diet changed my life; I miss it and the people there.”
• Gaby – Venezuela: “I’ve lost around 40 pounds so far and feel amazing. Shane Diet gave me the tools I needed to do this myself and I will always be grateful for that.”
• Anna – Maryland: “Shane Diet is a good jump start to your new lifestyle.”
• Daniel – Canada: It’s crazy to see how far I have gone since Shane Diet. Without your support and all the great effort from your staff, I would not be where I am today.”

The Shane Diet program will be run at The Honor’s Haven Resort & Spa, on several hundred acres in the Catskill Mountains, just ninety minutes from New York City. Honor’s Haven recently underwent a multi-million dollar renovation and features state-of-the-art facilities. Activities include water aerobics, dance, circuit training, yoga, boxing, Pilates, walking and hiking, and day trips to local attractions such as river tubing and Woodbury Commons, a famous outlet mall. “The hiking and tubing were popular but the favorite excursion was shopping for new clothes in smaller sizes!” comments Janowski. 

Healthy, delicious, and portion controlled meals are designed by a team of nutritionists and food service experts. Guests will learn about portions and how to keep the weight off and stay fit when the program ends and they return home. “Shane Diet’s weight loss program has been validated by a recent two-year National Institute of Health-funded study that found that it’s not about what diet you follow, it’s how much you eat. It’s all about portions,” explained Janowski.

The young adult program offers two, four, six and eight week sessions from June 21 to August 16 with single, double and triple occupancy. For adults over the age of 25, programs of one week or more are available. Enrollment is under way. For more information visit Shane Diet & Lifestyle Resorts.

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