Food, Nutrition, Physical Activity and the Prevention of Cancer

I first read about this report earlier today on Marion Nestle's blog and tonight, every hour since 6 pm I've been listening to news reports about it on CBC Radio.

Because it's such a big nutrition news story, I don't think I can go to bed tonight until I blog about it.

You can find extensive reference and resource material about the report here, and from this page, download the complete report or chapters. 

This evening I downloaded and skimmed through the Introduction (26 pages of small text) and from it I'm posting the 10 recommendations for easy future reference and retrieval. During the next few days I need to read more carefully the public health goals, personal recommendations and justification for each recommendation. These details are important.

1. Body Fatness -- Be as lean as possible within the normal range of body weight.
2. Physical Activity -- Be physically active as part of everyday life.
3. Foods and Drinks that Promote Weight Gain -- Limit consumption of energy-dense foods. Avoid sugary drinks.
4. Plant Foods -- Eat mostly foods of plant origin.
5. Animal Foods -- Limit intake of red meat and avoid processed meat.
   
6. Alcoholic Drinks -- Limit alcoholic drinks.
7. Preservation, Processing, Preparation -- Limit consumption of salt. Avoid mouldy cereals (grains) or pulses (legumes)
8. Dietary Supplements -- Aim to meet nutritional needs through diet alone.
9. Breastfeeding -- Mothers to breastfeed; children to be breastfed.
10. Cancer survivors -- Follow the recommendations for cancer prevention.

Highlights, Summaries & Resources from "Keeping Current 2007"

Rather than recopy and wordsmith my notes,  I'll review my learning and transfer knowledge (I hope) by posting highlights, summaries  and online references. These brief blog entries cannot replace the inspirational, *real-time*, *in-person* experience of participating in and networking at the Nestlé Nutrition education day, but the information is so valuable and practical that I want to share it with colleagues who read my blog.  You still will have work to do -- reading and critically thinking -- before you can apply this information to practice, but I'll try to save you time by sharing the up-top-date references and "state-of-the-knowledge" as presented by the expert speakers.

Note: If possible, I've linked to full-text articles. If I've linked to an abstract only, a subscription or pay-per-view fee is needed to read the complete article.

Session 1: Pre-and probiotics: bugs as body armor against sick days. Speaker: Dr. R. Reimer, Associate Professor, University of Calgary.

Evidence for benefit in selected conditions

• Inflammatory bowel disease: Hedin et al, 2007 (abstract)
• most compelling evidence is use of VSL#3 in pouchitis
• Prevention of allergies: Precott & Bjorksten, 2007
• at this stage, not appropriate to recommend probiotics for allergy prevention
• Acute infections diarrhea and antibiotic-associated diarrhea: Lemberg et al, 2007 (abstract)
• several systematic reviews provide evidence-based support for benefit of specific strains
• C. difficile-associated diarrhea: Isakow et al, 2007 (abstract)
• S. boulardii effective but often combined with antibiotics

Prebiotics as obesity treatment

• Dr. Reimer shared positive, exciting results from her randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. Research to be published in 2008.

Conclusions (excerpt)

• Specific bacterial strains are needed for specific conditions
• Probiotics appear to be well tolerated and have significant potential impact for improved gut function
• Synbiotics (products containing both pre- and probiotics) may result in best delivery and survival of probiotics

Dr. Reimer also provided a list of foods in the Canadian marketplace containing pre- and probiotics and encouaged us to "enjoy" more of them. In a subsequent post, I will list these food items and supplements.

Also, in subsequent posts, I will share information from the other six sessions.

Keeping Current -- Topics in Nutrition Support 2007

I sneaked out of the early afternoon session of this conference NOT because it was boring, but because I'm so excited.  I wanted to write a short post. This day, which I announced a few weeks ago, has exceeded my expectations, as I knew it would.

Next week, I will be posting summaries of and key points from each speaker's talk. This to me is one of the greatest values of blogging: sharing information so we can provide "best practice" to our clients/patients.

If you'd like to get ahead and do some background reading on the topics, here are some links to full-text articles --

• on probiotics: Hickson et al, 2007
• on fluid-electrolyte metabolism: Intravenous fluids: It's more than just "fill 'er up!"
• aspiration pneumonia: "Prevention of aspiration....Keeping the head up takes a village!"

Have to head back now for the calcium/vitamin D session.

(Source of links: one of the speakers, Liz daSilva)

World Food Day 2007: The Right to Food

Note to readers:  I often think I should subtitle many of my posts "explorations and confessions of a novice" because absolute beginner is my competence rating for many topics that I'm interested in, if not enthusiastic or passionate about.  The following post is a perfect example of an issue about which I am consciously ignorant , but would like to understand and act upon.

If you are a Dietitians of Canada (DC) member, you probably received an email earlier this week with a news release  about World Food Day, which was October 16th. 

I admit until this past year I hadn't given World Food Day much more than a passing thought.  As a *clinical* dietitian working in an acute care hospital, I  felt the annual observance highlighted important issues but didn't have direct relevance to my practice.  After all, I'm  occupied with nutrition support, dietetic intern education and patient food service issues as opposed to population or global hunger problems.  But Dr. Elaine Power's statement in the DC news release reminded me:

“Registered dietitians have a role to advocate for social policies that address disparities and inequalities affecting the health of Canadian families.”

The personal message I take from this: think beyond the hospital walls.  And I really don't have to expand my world-view very far.  Extending my thoughts just a few blocks northeast from where I am sitting and typing brings me to a neighbourhood of extreme poverty and food insecurity, Vancouver's DTES, which  you may have heard described as the "poorest postal code in Canada."

This month,  as I work through the Continuing Competence Program (a requirement of my College),  I've decided to include in my Professional Development Plan learning about global food security issues, including defining my role as an advocate for social change.  Here are are the first learning resources I will be consulting:

DC's position papers

Community Food Security 
Individual and Household Food Insecurity in Canada  & Executive Summary

Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) of the United Nations

World Food Day 2007
The Right to Food Virtual Library

Blog Action Day

Today is my first day back to work and a more regular blogging schedule. (You may have noticed posting has been light this past month while I've been on vacation.)

Today I'm going to add my voice to over 15, 000 other bloggers who are writing environmental posts on this first annual Blog Action Day.

For guidance on how to protect  the environment and quality of life for future generations, I'm going to the expert: David Suzuki. Are you one of the 355,040 individuals who have taken the Nature Challenge? I confess I haven't officially signed up but I'm going to do so today.  How about you? And as dietitians, what do you think about tips 4 and 5?

If you're already making these 10 wise choices, you may want to consider adding a few more from Leo Babauta's list: 50 quick, painless ways you can help the environment today. I found several tips related to food choices (eating, shopping, preparing, storing).

Which one(s) from Leo's list are you going to add today? Last week,  I bought rechargeable batteries and a charger (#35 ).  (In one month of shooting digital photos, I went through 10 regular AA batteries!)  The next time I'm at a service station, I will check my tire pressure (#10).