The Food Movement Minute is a top story news analysis for busy foodies. I chew up the top industry and consumer publications each day and spit out only the news that matters most in a quick and entertaining read. I have a very discerning palate.
Today’s topics: Serving size, Diet soda, Millennials
———-
Serving Size
The Story
Turns out bigger is not always better, when it comes to tableware at least. New research links bigger plates to bigger servings and increased intake of calories.
The Details
Maybe those new William Sonoma dinner plates should come with a “super-sized” warning label. An analysis recently published in the Cochrane Library, a database of systematic reviews and meta-analyses of medical research, explored the extent to which over-consumption might be attributed to ‘over-serving’ of larger-sized portions. Findings from the review: adults consistently selected and ate more when larger portions or larger tableware was presented, and the effect extended equally to men and women as well as people who were overweight or dieting. Authors of the review estimate that reductions in portions, packages and tableware could decrease daily calorie intake in the U.S. by up to 29%.
Why it Matters
While the links between eating too much and diseases such as obesity, heart disease, diabetes and many cancers are established, this review is the first to clearly link portion size to eating patterns. The new data should play nicely with the current FDA recommendation to adjust serving sizes on packaged food nutrition labels to more closely reflect current American eating patterns.
———-
Diet Soda
The Story
If you’re trying to skip calories by opting for diet soda, your plan is likely backfiring. New research suggests drinking diet soda leads to indulging in extra helpings of sugary, fatty foods like cookies and french fries.
The Details
Diet soda. Not so great for dieting it turns out. The study, published last week in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, found that on the days subjects consumed diet or sugar-free drinks, they consumed about 49 more calories from high-calorie, nutrient poor foods – such as ice cream, cookies, pastries and fries. Obese people were especially susceptible, consuming 73 extra calories on the days they drank diet drinks compared to the days they didn’t. From the study, “The key finding is that on the days when people drank diet beverages, they consumed a higher proportion of discretionary foods compared to on the days that they did not drink diet beverages”. People consumed the fewest calories from discretionary foods on the days when they didn’t drink any type of sweetened beverage, calorie-filled or not.
Why it Matters
Although it’s not clear whether diet drinks leave people feeling less full or, maybe, less guilty about consuming more calories, what is clear is that soda, diet or otherwise, leads to poor decisions. Here’s a good decision: drink water.
———-
Millennials
The Story
There are approximately 80 million millennials in America and roughly half self-identify as ‘foodies’. One millennial author seeks to understand why ‘generation yum’ is so obsessed with food.
The Details
Eve Turow has a theory about fellow millennials and their obsession with food: their demand for and prioritization of clean, local and ethically sourced ingredients all comes back to a desire for simplicity, connection and control. They are more likely to shop at specialty food stores, they disproportionately seek out foods claiming local, organic and non-GMO and are behind a 174% increase in famers markets from 2000 to 2012. According to Turow, Millennials use these behaviors and food preferences to subdue anxiety over an ‘always on’ digital environment, lack of face-to-face connection and seemingly infinite range of choices in what she describes as a “sketchy” food system. As Turow states, “Food is our antidote to the millennial life”.
Why it Matters
Whether millennial food preferences are the expression of disordered eating or a more evolved sense of food’s impact on the health of people and planet, their influence over the future of food in the U.S. is undeniable. They make up a quarter of the country’s population and Forbes estimates millennial spending on food will increase by $50 billion per year through 2020.
———-
Factoid of the Day
President Obama, along with the USDA and EPA, recently announced goals to reduce food waste 50% by 2030. Currently, about 40% of U.S. food goes uneaten, meaning that Americans throw out the equivalent of $162 billion each year and make food waste the single largest contributor to landfills today.
Image by David Masters