Government gives green light to new healthy food logo

DutchNews, November 29, 2019 

A Nutri-score logo on yoghurt. Photo: Cz ja [CC0] via Wikimedia Commons

The government has given the green light to a new system of food labeling which it hopes will help consumers make ‘healthy choices’ when it comes to buying food. 

Junior health minister Paul Blokhuis announced the government’s decision in favour of the French food labelling system Nutri-Score on Thursday and said the definitive logo should see an end to the confusion surrounding food quality logos. 

Supermarkets had earlier opposed the system because it includes a red logo denoting unhealthy products while critics claimed the way the system is set up would only increase confusion, the NRC reported. 

Nutri-Score, which replaces manufacturers’ own ‘tick’ (V) logo, grades food between A (green) and E (red). The scores indicate calorific content, the amount of sugar, saturated fat, salt, protein, fruit, vegetables and nuts. A is the healthiest option while red means the product is bad for your health. 

Confusion 

Critics of the new label said the logo would confuse consumers because the new system looks at separate ingredients. That could lead to a green A or B label for products that fit into unhealthy eating patterns (such as pizza and sugary cereals) while tea and cheese could end up with a yellow C label, the NRC said. 

Blokhuis has said that the logo will be adjusted to make a better fit with the Schijf van Vijf, the official Dutch recommendations on healthy eating, which takes eating patterns into account as well as ingredients. 

France, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland and Spain have already adopted the system. Its introduction in the Netherlands is part of the agreement reached by ministers, consumer groups and industry last year to tackle unhealthy eating habits. Half of Dutch people are currently overweight.

US meat producers want a slice of vegan market

Yahoo – AFP, Juliette MICHEL, November 24, 2019

Agri-business giants are branching out with plant-based meat alternatives to
try to capitalize on the new trend (AFP Photo/Angela Weiss)

New York (AFP) - The growing craze for vegetarian versions of juicy burgers and sausages has created such a buzz that even traditional meat producers are trying to get in on the action.

The big players are trying to capitalize on the success of products from companies like Beyond Meat and Impossible Burger.

JBS, the world's largest beef producer, has been marketing a soy burger in Brazil since the summer, which contains beets, garlic and onions and is similar to a rare ground beef.

The largest US meat producer, Tyson Foods, in June launched a new line of plant-based proteins and meat-vegetable blends called "Raised & Rooted."

And competitors Hormel Foods, Perdue Farms and Smithfield have unveiled similar initiatives to take a slice out of this new market.

"Our food culture is changing at a rapid pace," said Bryan Kreske, brand manager at Hormel Foods.

There is an "increasing curiosity and motivation to try great-tasting, alternative protein sources like plant-based proteins while decreasing their consumption of animal-based protein."

Regardless of whether it is the start of a new trend, or a passing fancy, the agri-food giants do not want to miss the opportunity.

Rather than target vegetarians, they are going after the 95 percent of consumers who eat meat.

But unlike the upstart alternative meat companies, which cite the carbon footprint of raising cows and other livestock, traditional players have a harder time using environmental or animal rights arguments to promote their products.

Instead they often focus on health benefits.

"It's more about our clients wanting to get more plants and vegetables into their diet and less about reducing meat consumption," said Eric Christianson, marketing manager at Perdue.

Best known for its chicken, Perdue in September released their "Chicken Plus" products, which include kid-friendly nuggets, made of a mix of chicken, chickpeas and cauliflower -- which they say is perfect for parents trying to get their kids to eat vegetables.

Beyond Meat "Beyond Burger" patties are one of the options for plant-based proteins, 

which now include chicken, shrimp and sausage alternatives (AFP Photo/Angela Weiss)

The company is betting big on this new product: earmarking half of its 2020 marketing budget to promoting it, spending especially heavily in January, "when people are really going to be in the mood to eat healthy," Christianson said.

'Plant curious' consumer

Soy burgers have been around for decades. But Beyond Meat and Impossible Burger have been working for the last 10 years to create products that are closer to the taste, texture and flavor of real meat, thanks to ingredients such as beets.

These products jumped into the headlines this year with their introduction in fast food chains, such as Burger King's Impossible Burger, and with Beyond Meat's spectacular Wall Street debut.

Traditional meat producers quickly jumped on the bandwagon.

At Hormel, the Happy Little Plants brand "moved swiftly from a conceptual idea rooted in the 'plant curious' consumer... to a commercially viable product line in just under 13 weeks," Kreske said.

But while these meat producers have no plans to abandon their main business, Impossible Foods says its mission is to replace animal proteins in the food system by 2035.

That might be overly optimistic. In the market for milk alternatives, plant-based drinks such as soy or almond milk make up just 13 percent of sales.

"For dairy, there's really a health reason" to not consume milk products, including allergies, said Perdue's Christianson.

But for meat, "it becomes more of a lifestyle choice to eat healthier."

Still, the alternative meat segment could become "significant," he said.

Robert Martin, who specializes in food policies at the Center for a Livable Future at Johns Hopkins University, said the traditional producers are entering the plant-based meat market "in their own economic self-interest," so they do not lose market share.

He called the trend "troubling" and cautioned "it could have the side effect of stifling innovation and competition."

Even so, he views any plant-based alternative as "a positive step," adding that bigger players can bring "economies of scale" to producing these plant-based products, therefore reducing prices.

"They quit talking about themselves as meat companies, they now call themselves a protein company," Martin said.

Related Article:

Vegetarian Butcher to supply 2,500 Burger Kings with meat-free patties

Pope warns overeating is 'avenue of personal destruction'

France24 – AFP, 16 October 2019

Vatican City (AFP) - The pope on Wednesday contrasted the world's 820 million hungry people with those who turn food into "an avenue of personal destruction" through overeating, in comments to mark World Food Day.

Pope Francis noted that the "distorted relationship between food and nutrition" has left almost 700 million people overweight, "victims of improper dietary habits".

"We are in fact witnessing how food is ceasing to be a means of subsistence and turning into an avenue of personal destruction," the pontiff said in a message to the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation.

People suffer from diabetes and heart disease because of overeating, but also from anorexia and bulimia through deliberate undereating, the pope said.

He called for "the cultivation of lifestyles inspired by gratitude for the gifts we have received and the adoption of a spirit of temperance (and) moderation."

"By adopting such a lifestyle, we will grow in a fraternal solidarity that seeks the common good and avoids the individualism and egocentrism that serve only to generate hunger and social inequality."

"It is a cruel, unjust and paradoxical reality that, today, there is food for everyone and yet not everyone has access to it, and that in some areas of the world food is wasted, discarded and consumed in excess."

Russian alcohol consumption down 40%: WHO

Yahoo – AFP, 1 October 2019

The World Health Organization put the decrease down to measures brought in
under sport-loving President Vladimir Putin, including restrictions on alcohol sales
and the promotion of healthy lifestyles

Russia might still have a reputation as a nation of hard drinkers, but a report by the World Health Organization published Tuesday showed alcohol consumption has dropped by 43 percent since 2003.

The WHO put the decrease down to a raft of measures brought in under sport-loving President Vladimir Putin, including restrictions on alcohol sales and the promotion of healthy lifestyles.

"The Russian Federation has long been considered one of the heaviest-drinking countries in the world," the report said, adding that alcohol was a major contributor to a spike in deaths in the 1990s.

"However, in recent years these trends have been reversed."

The study showed a 43 percent drop in alcohol consumption per capita from 2003 to 2016, driven by a steep decline in the consumption of bootleg booze.

The authors said this trend was a factor in increased life expectancies, which reached a historic peak in 2018, at 78 years for women and 68 years for men.

In the early 1990s, male life expectancy was just 57 years.

Last Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev led an anti-alcohol campaign with partial prohibition, which brought down consumption from the mid-1980s until 1990.

But after the collapse of the Soviet Union, alcohol consumption exploded, continuing to rise until the start of the 2000s.

Under Putin, Russia has introduced measures including a ban on shops selling any alcohol after 11 pm, increases in the minimum retail price of spirits and an advertising blackout.

Earlier WHO figures showed Russian adults now drink less alcohol on average than their French and German counterparts.

Moscow has also launched a drive against smoking, last week announcing a ban on lighting up even on private balconies.

Tobacco use plummeted by more than a fifth between 2009 and 2016, down to 30 percent of Russians smoking according to the most recent Global Adult Tobacco Survey.

The World Health Organization put the decrease down to measures brought in under sport-loving President Vladimir Putin, including restrictions on alcohol sales and the promotion of healthy lifestyles.

Generation healthy: alcoholic seltzer craze sweeps US

Yahoo – AFP, Peter HUTCHISON, September 15, 2019

Cartons of White Claw, Truly and Bon & Viv spiked seltzer are on display at the
Round The Clock Deli in New York -- the alcoholic beverage is all the rage
in the United States (AFP Photo/TIMOTHY A. CLARY)

New York (AFP) - Health-conscious American millennials have found their drink of choice: alcoholic carbonated water that is lower in calories and carbs than beer and wine.

A hard seltzer craze is sweeping the United States as Generations Y and Z pursue healthier lifestyles, influenced by viral trends on Instagram and YouTube.

US sales of the bubbly booze, also called spiked seltzer, have soared almost 200 percent this year compared to 2018, according to research firm Nielsen.

"It has replaced other canned alcoholic drinks for me," says Hannah Stempler, a 25-year-old living and working in New York.

Stempler drinks White Claw, the brand at the forefront of America's beverage fixation this summer.

The company said sales were up over 265 percent on-year at the beginning of September and that it holds 61 percent of market share.

Truly, another brand, saw sales spike 163 percent in Q2, according to Macquarie market research.

From beaches and parks to house parties and boat trips, youngsters were seen drinking White Claw across the Big Apple and other major cities.

Panic even struck this month when shopkeepers and retailers reported shortages and the manufacturer said it was working overtime to keep up with demand.

Stempler, who works in television, told AFP that one of the reasons she drinks it is because she is "health-conscious."

A 12-ounce can of White Claw contains 100 calories and a maximum two grams of carbs. It is also gluten-free.

An average beer, in comparison, usually packs 140 calories and five times the number of carbohydrates.

Beer slowdown

The hard seltzer has five percent alcohol, which comes from fermented sugars. That equals the strength of Budweiser but is considerably less than the 12 percent commonly found in wine.

Alcoholic sparkling water comes in several flavors, including mango and cherry, appealing to customers seeking convenient, ready-to-drink cocktails on the go.

Sanjiv Gajiwala, White Claw's senior vice president of marketing, thinks young consumers are turning to hard seltzers because of their moderate alcohol levels and variety of tastes.

"Millennials are consumers that grew up on 10 different flavors of Gatorade and cuisines from around the world. When they come to the legal drinking age, they are looking for more," he told AFP.

White Claw sales have surged every year since it launched in 2016 but seems to have captured the imagination this summer in part thanks to YouTube influencer Trevor Wallace.

A video of him drinking White Claw has been watched more than 2.5 million times in two months. The clip spawned memes and hashtags that went viral on social media.

The trend for hard seltzers, which include malt beverages, is shaking up the US alcoholic drinks industry and fueling a slowdown in overall beer sales, analysts say.

Beer manufacturers are rolling out their own seltzers to try to lure customers away from White Claw and Truly.

Anheuser-Busch, which makes Budweiser, has launched Natural Light Seltzer.

Fad?

Aaron White, of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, is pleased youngsters are mindful of what they drink but warns that fewer calories does not mean less alcohol.

He worries that people may consume more alcohol because fruity seltzers don't taste like traditional booze, and is especially concerned by the Four Loko brand's plans to launch a seltzer with 14 percent alcohol by volume.

"The alcohol is the drug. Everything else is just the way it's delivered," White told AFP.

Other types of drinks have been the subject of similar crazes in the past, notably wine coolers in the 1980s and Zima, a malt beverage that was all the rage in the 90s.

Rob Fink, a 29-year-old living in New York, believes spiked seltzer is here to stay but says it won't usurp beer and other liquor for him.

"There's a time and place for both," he told AFP.

The alcoholic soda industry is worth $550 million and could grow to $2.5 billion by 2021, according to a UBS analyst recently quoted by Business Insider.

Gajiwala notes that White Claw has not even reached six percent of American households yet.

"There is a great opportunity for us to continue to grow," he said.

Low-skilled worker life expectancy is five years less than for graduates

DutchNews, August 16, 2019

Photo: Depositphotos.com

Today’s new pensioners with a college or university degree will live an average of four to five years longer than those with vocational qualifications, the national statistics agency CBS said on Friday. 

Men with a degree are now expected to enjoy 22 years of retirement, while men with few qualifications will live a further 17 years, the CBS said. In addition, the life expectancy gap for men has grown a full year since the period 2011 to 2014. For women, the gap remains four years. 

Lifestyle is likely to be behind the difference, the CBS said. ‘People with a lower level of education are more likely to be overweight and to smoke,’ a spokesman told news agency ANP. They are also more likely to have hearing, eyesight and muscle problems. 

In addition, people with degrees retire, on average, eight months before the low-skilled – meaning they enjoy both a corporate and state pension for longer. 

The FNV trade union federation, which is campaigning for early retirement to be incorporated in the current proposals to reform the pension system, said the new figures demonstrate the real need for change. 

‘The growing difference in life expectancy shows that the union is right to call for the state pension age to be frozen and to scrap the fines for early retirement,’ a spokesman told ANP.

Amsterdam wants to bring in ‘no junk food zones’ around schools

DutchNews, July 15, 2019

Photo: Depositphotos.com 

Officials in Amsterdam wants to restrict the number of snack bars and fast food joints near schools in an effort to reduce obesity rates among the city’s children. 

A campaign launched in 2012 helped reduced the percentage of too-heavy children in the Dutch capital from 21% to 18% over a three-year period but the decline has since halted. 

Now alderman Simone Kukenheim plans to take further action to improve the health of the city’s school going children. She wants to introduce a ‘healthy belt’ around schools without snack bars to prevent children filling up on chips and sweets during their breaks, the Parool reported at the weekend. 

Kukenheim hopes new zoning legislation which will come into effect in 2021 and which aims to ensure a ‘safe and healthy physical environment’ will help reduce the number of snack bars near schools. ‘We are researching how these new rules can be used to encourage a healthier supply of food,’ the alderman said. 

The city has also recently expanded the number of water fountains in the city to encourage children to ditch fizzy drinks. 

Minister 

The alderman has appealed to health minister Paul Blokhuis, urging him to get tougher on the sugar, salt and fat content in food. She also wants him to clamp down on the way unhealthy food is marketed at children. 

Socio-economic status and cultural background also play a role in childhood obesity and the problem is largely confined to poorer parts of the city and among immigrant communities. 

The 2012 campaign included advising schools to ban fruit juices, and unhealthy treats for at birthday celebrations and introduced a ban on fast food sponsorship of council events involving children. 

Amsterdam already bans cannabis cafes, or coffeeshops, from being within 250 metres of a school.

Basic health policy to include more options to promote a healthy lifestyle

DutchNews, June 1, 2018

Junk food has gone up less in price than fruit and veg. Photo: Depositphotos.com

The basic health insurance policy is to be expanded to cover expert advice to help people develop a healthy lifestyle, health minister Bruno Bruins said on Friday.

‘The idea is that we can help someone who has diabetes, not by giving them insulin but by encouraging them to live more healthily,’ the minister said. 

Practitioners who specialise in ‘combined lifestyle interventions’ or GLI – as the health ministry puts it – will be able to bill health insurers for their work from next January. GLI involves combating obesity by encouraging patients to eat less and take more exercise along with psychological help. 

Some options will also be removed from the basic package, such as strong paracetamol pills of 1,000 milligrams, which are only available on prescription. Over the counter vitamin and mineral preparations will also no longer be paid for. 

The government is responsible for deciding what the basic health insurance package should include and insurance companies are supposed to compete on price. They are also free to decide what to include in supplementary policies.

Italy's 100 club village reveals its secret

Yahoo – AFP, September 5, 2016

Italian Antonio Vassallo, 100 years-old, and his wife Amina Fedollo, 93, pose
 in their house in Acciaroli, southern Italy, on August 23, 2016 (AFP Photo/
Mario Laporta)

Rome (AFP) - Scientists on Monday revealed part of the secret to why a small village in southern Italy has an unusual number of centenarians -- low levels of a particular hormone that affects circulation.

Italian and US experts have spent the last six months investigating the extraordinary longevity of residents of Acciaroli, where more than one in 10 -- 81 at the mayor's last count -- of the village's population of 700 is over 100 years old.

Acciaroli is part of the Cilento coast, an area of outstanding natural beauty where the late US nutritionist Ancel Keys first established convincing evidence of the health benefits of a Mediterranean diet based on olive oil and rich in fresh fruit, vegetables and fish.

As well as reaching extremely old age, people in Acciaroli and tiny communities nearby also seem to be largely immune to dementia, heart disease and other chronic conditions associated with ageing in most of the Western world.

Researchers from Rome's Sapienza University and the San Diego School of Medicine said Monday that the explanation could lie in low levels of adrenomedullin, a hormone that acts to widen blood vessels.

Adrenomedullin is present "in a much reduced quantity in the subjects studied and seems to act as a powerful protecting factor, helping the optimal development of microcirculation", or capillary circulation, they said in a statement.

Capillary blood vessels tend to degenerate in older people, but the seniors in Cilento had capillaries of the sort found in much younger people, even those in their 20s.

The study also found "metabolites present (in the bodies of those studied) which may have a positive influence on longevity and the well-being of Cliento's centenarians", the statement said, without giving further details.

The researchers have decided to extend the study and expand their research, including by launching a fundraising campaign.

Aside from blood tests, the researchers also carried out cardiac and neurological tests, Alan S. Maisel, the San Diego cardiologist heading up the project, told AFP.

The scientists are looking into whether genetics could combine with lifestyle factors -- diet and physical activity -- to extend the villagers' longevity.

The Cilento locals all eat rosemary -- known to improve brain function -- almost every day, and also all practise some physical activity daily, such as fishing, walking or gardening, another line of enquiry for the scientists.

Before Monday's release of results, Maisel also pointed to what may be another important ingredient in the recipe for a long and happy life.

"Sexual activity among the elderly appears to be rampant," Maisel said. "Maybe living long has something to do with that, it's probably the good air and the joie de vivre."

Indian 'oldest man ever' says yoga, celibacy key to age

Yahoo – AFP, August 18, 2016

Indian monk Swami Sivananda (C), who claims to be 120 years old, is watched
by one of his followers while practicing yoga in Kolkata on August 2, 2016
(AFP Photo/Dibyangshu Sarkar)

Kolkata (AFP) - Looking remarkably unlined for his claimed 120 years, an Indian monk who says he is the oldest man to have ever lived puts his longevity down to no sex or spices, and daily yoga.

Hindu monk Swami Sivananda was born on August 8, 1896, according to his passport. If true, his life would have spanned three centuries, but despite his apparent age he remains strong enough to perform yoga for hours at a time.

He is now applying to Guinness World Records to verify his claim. It currently lists Japan's Jiroemon Kimura, who died in June 2013 aged 116 years and 54 days, as the oldest man to have ever lived.

Indian monk Swami Sivananda holds 

up his passport showing his date of 

birth in the house of one of his followers

 in Kolkata (AFP Photo/Dibyangshu

Sarkar)

India's passport authorities confirmed Sivananda's age from a temple register, the only record many Indians even decades younger have of their date of birth.

However it would be extremely difficult to independently verify his age.

Sivananda was featured by local media earlier this summer, with the Times of India noting he looked 50 years younger than his apparent age but taking his claims at face value.

Sivananda, from the holy city of Varanasi, grew up in extreme poverty and chose to become a monk, saying he owed his age to "yoga, discipline, and celibacy".

"I lead a simple and disciplined life. I eat very simply -- only boiled food without oil or spices, rice and boiled daal (lentil stew) with a couple of green chillies," he told AFP after a two-hour yoga session in Kolkata, the eastern Indian city where he had come for a short visit.

Standing 1.58 metres (five feet two inches) tall, Sivananda sleeps on a mat on the floor and uses a wooden slab as a pillow.

"I avoid taking milk or fruits because I think these are fancy foods. In my childhood I slept many days on an empty stomach," he said.

Sivananda said he had not previously come forward to claim the record because he did not seek publicity, but was eventually persuaded by his followers to apply.

Indian monk Swami Sivananda, who claims to be 120 years old, is applying

 to Guinness World Records to verify his claim to be oldest man to have ever lived 

(AFP Photo/Dibyangshu Sarkar)

The elderly man lost both parents before he was six and was given away by his relatives to a spiritual guru, whom he travelled with around India before settling in Varanasi.

Fit and without any medical complications, he lives independently and even travels alone on trains.

Sivananda, who was born in colonial-era India without electricity, cars or telephones, says he is not enthused by new technology and prefers being on his own.

"Earlier people were happy with fewer things. Nowadays people are unhappy, unhealthy and have become dishonest, which pains me a lot," he said.

"I just want people to be happy, healthy and peaceful."

-- This story accompanies a photo essay by Dibyangshu Sarkar --

Indian 'oldest man ever' says yoga, celibacy key to age https://t.co/fNSxPGOSA2 pic.twitter.com/z330yb2rZf

— AFP news agency (@AFP) August 23, 2016

Related Articles:

Japan’s Centenarian Population Swells to Record, at Almost 59,000

Dutch centenarians double in 14 years to 2,200


"Recalibration of Free Choice"–  Mar 3, 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: (Old) Souls, Midpoint on 21-12-2012, Shift of Human Consciousness, Black & White vs. Color, 1 - Spirituality (Religions) shifting, Loose a Pope “soon”, 2 - Humans will change react to drama, 3 - Civilizations/Population on Earth,  4 - Alternate energy sources (Geothermal, Tidal (Paddle wheels), Wind), 5 – Financials Institutes/concepts will change (Integrity – Ethical) , 6 - News/Media/TV to change, 7 – Big Pharmaceutical company will collapse “soon”, (Keep people sick), (Integrity – Ethical)  8 – Wars will be over on Earth, Global Unity, … etc.) - (Text version)

“…  3 - Longer Life is Going to Happen, But…

Here is one that is a review. We keep bringing it up because Humans don't believe it. If you're going to start living longer, there are those who are frightened that there will be overpopulation. You've seen the way it is so far, and the geometric progression of mathematics is absolute and you cannot change it. So if you look at the population of the earth and how much it has shifted in the last two decades, it's frightening to you. What would change that progression?

The answer is simple, but requires a change in thinking. The answer is a civilization on the planet who understands a new survival scenario. Instead of a basic population who has been told to have a lot of children to enhance the race [old survival], they begin to understand the logic of a new scenario. The Akashic wisdom of the ages will start to creep in with a basic survival scenario shift. Not every single woman will look at herself and say, "The clock is ticking," but instead can say, "I have been a mother 14 times in a row. I'm going to sit this one out." It's a woman who understands that there is no loss or guilt in this, and actually feels that the new survival attribute is to keep the family small or not at all! Also, as we have said before, even those who are currently ignorant of population control will figure out what is causing babies to be born [Kryon joke].

Part of the new Africa will be education and healing, and eventually a zero population growth, just like some of the first-world nations currently have. Those who are currently tied to a spiritual doctrine will actually have that doctrine changed (watch for it) regarding Human birth. Then they will be able to make free choice that is appropriate even within the establishment of organized religion. You see, things are going to change where common sense will say, "Perhaps it would help the planet if I didn't have children or perhaps just one child." Then the obvious, "Perhaps I can exist economically better and be wiser with just one. It will help the one!" Watch for these changes. For those of you who are steeped in the tradition of the doctrines and would say that sounds outrageously impossible, I give you the new coming pope [Kryon smile]. For those of you who feel that uncontrolled procreation is inevitable, I encourage you to see statistics you haven't seen or didn't care to look at yet about what first-world countries have already accomplished on their own, without any mandates. It's already happening. That was number three.….”

World obesity continues to rise at startling rate, report finds

A new report has found that the number of obese people has increased by more than six times over the past 40 years. Medical experts warn of a looming crisis.

Deutsche Welle, 1 April 2016

The new study, published by "The Lancet" medical journal in Britain, looked at individuals in close to 200 countries, and found that over one in eight adults are now obese - more than double the ratio in 1975.

"Over the past 40 years, we have changed from a world in which underweight prevalence was more than double that of obesity, to one in which more people are obese than underweight," said Prof. Majid Ezzati.

Of the roughly 5 billion adults recorded in 2014, 641 million were obese - more than six times the recorded number in 1975.

Worsening epidemic

By 2025, the report predicted, 18 percent of men and 21 per cent of women will be obese. "There will be health consequences of magnitudes that we do not know," Ezzati told AFP news agency.

The report based its findings on the body mass index (BMI), which gauges an individual's obesity level using a ratio of the person's height relative to his or her weight. A healthy BMI lies between 18.5 and 24.9. A person over 30 is considered obese, while a person over 40 is deemed severely obese.

Nearly a fifth of the world's obese people live in six high-income countries: the US, Britain, Ireland, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. On the other side of the spectrum, East Timor, Ethiopia and Eritrea had the lowest recorded BMI numbers in the world.

blc/kms (AFP, dpa)

Related Articles:

Dutch told to eat more legumes, avoid processed foods

Kryon Q&A

(13) Question: Dear Kryon, I’m very concerned about the obesity epidemic, particularly in the U.S. Around me I see people getting bigger and more unhealthy, all for the sake of convenience and saving time. You mentioned at one point a famine, and I suspect the famine won’t be from a lack of food, but from an abundance of food that has no nutritional value.

I wonder how we can honor the Earth by eating nothing that comes straight from it? Of course this involves caring for the lands and oceans as part of a bigger issue and making that connection, too. Is this what it will finally take for people to switch to a healthier way of living?

Its amazing how detached people are from the food they eat. We don’t even honor our digestive processes, the way we combine foods. Whatever happened to nutrition? Atkins is no solution; there is no balance in it. Gastric bypass is all about quantity reduction, not quality increase. When will people make the direct connection between what/how they eat and their health? Is a change in diet and lifestyle part of the upcoming shift?

Answer: The shift has little to do with it. It’s a culture-specific problem and has to do with consciousness of health. Go study the cultures on your planet that have very few overweight Humans. Start with the Japanese. They have some of the same western work ethics and live in very sophisticated industrial-based environments. Yet they aren’t overweight. It’s about the core food groups and the combination of them.

Dutch told to eat more legumes, avoid processed foods

DutchNews, March 22, 2016

The Dutch diet should include less meat and more legumes such as kidney beans and lentils according to new recommendations from the Dutch dietary advice centre Voedingscentrum. 

The new advice was drawn up following the publication of new recommendations by the national health council last year. 

The previous recommended Dutch diet dates from 1981 and is based on the five main food groups, known as the ‘schijf van vijf’. 

The five food types remain central to the new recommendations and people are advised to eat lots of fruit, vegetables and whole grain products. Meat consumption should be reduced and replaced by legumes, nuts, eggs or tofu. Water, coffee and tea remain the best sources of liquid, the recommendations state.

‘Processed products generally contain too much salt, sugar or saturated fats and are not included in the list,’ the website says. Sweets, snacks, biscuits, sauces, processed meats, fruit juices and sweet spreads for on bread ‘may be eaten but in limited quantities and not often’. 

The centre’s website includes a new online tool so that people can draw up their dietary programme based on their likes and dislikes.

Related Article:

Kryon Q&A

(13) Question: Dear Kryon, I’m very concerned about the obesity epidemic, particularly in the U.S. Around me I see people getting bigger and more unhealthy, all for the sake of convenience and saving time. You mentioned at one point a famine, and I suspect the famine won’t be from a lack of food, but from an abundance of food that has no nutritional value.

I wonder how we can honor the Earth by eating nothing that comes straight from it? Of course this involves caring for the lands and oceans as part of a bigger issue and making that connection, too. Is this what it will finally take for people to switch to a healthier way of living?

Its amazing how detached people are from the food they eat. We don’t even honor our digestive processes, the way we combine foods. Whatever happened to nutrition? Atkins is no solution; there is no balance in it. Gastric bypass is all about quantity reduction, not quality increase. When will people make the direct connection between what/how they eat and their health? Is a change in diet and lifestyle part of the upcoming shift?

Answer: The shift has little to do with it. It’s a culture-specific problem and has to do with consciousness of health. Go study the cultures on your planet that have very few overweight Humans. Start with the Japanese. They have some of the same western work ethics and live in very sophisticated industrial-based environments. Yet they aren’t overweight. It’s about the core food groups and the combination of them.

'Super-agers' study may reveal secrets to staying young

Yahoo – AFP, Kerry Sheridan, 3 Nov 2015

Regular exercise and a Mediterranean diet are known to help foster healthy

aging (AFP Photo/Federica Narancio)

Miami (AFP) - Mary Helen Abbott, 77, paints her lips bright pink, still smokes the occasional cigarette, keeps up on all the gossip at the retirement home and wears a short skirt to fitness class.

She giggles as the aerobics instructor shouts -- "Swagger! Like you are going to meet someone famous!" -- then she and a dozen seniors throw shoulders back, lift their knees high and strut around the exercise studio.

Abbott is what scientists refer to as a "super-ager," and she is taking part in a $3.2 million study that aims to uncover the secrets to staying sharp and healthy into old age.

While some hunt for medications to treat or prevent dementia, others, like University of Miami neuropsychologist David Loewenstein, are interested in why some people are spared altogether.

"I study Alzheimer's disease, but if we want to unlock the mysteries of the brain we also have to know why some people age successfully," said Loewenstein.

The five-year study funded by the National Institutes of Health is open to people age 63 to 100 who have not been diagnosed with dementia, and who are either in good mental shape or have early signs of memory failure, known as mild cognitive decline.

A man gardens at Florida's East Ridge retirement village, where many residents

 here are taking part in a University of Miami study that seeks to uncover the secrets

of healthy aging and staying sharp well into the 90s (AFP Photo/Federica Narancio)

Loewenstein is particularly intrigued with how some people seem to be able to fend off memory loss, whether by genetic, environmental or other means.

He cites studies involving autopsies on people 85 and above -- a population in which about one in three suffers from dementia.

Nearly another third of this age group have post-mortems that reveal significant hallmarks of dementia -- known as plaques and tangles in the brain -- but seemed just fine while alive.

"How can people function at these higher levels? Science has not been able to answer that," said Loewenstein.

"And that is what we are trying to figure out."

Staying busy

Of the 100 people enrolled in Loewenstein's study so far, more than 40 live at East Ridge, a retirement village that resembles a typical suburban neighborhood in south Florida, with wild peacocks roaming beneath the palm trees, people driving around the manicured grounds on golf carts, and rows of single-story homes divided into multiple apartment units.

Mary Helen Abbott, 77, is what scientists refer to as a "super-ager," and she is taking

 part in a $3.2 million study that aims to uncover the secrets to staying sharp and

healthy into old age (AFP Photo/Federica Narancio)

Such tranquility does not come cheap. Residents must pay $111,000 up front, then a monthly rent of $2,700 or more, depending on the size of their living space.

Soon after arriving seven years ago, Gwen North, a retired kindergarten teacher who appears decades younger than her age of 85, took on the responsibility of running the thrift store.

"I work probably six days a week," she said, happily.

At age 86, her husband Art is known as the go-to-guy around town -- perpetually ready to chat, share information, or fix electronics that have broken.

Art and Gwen have already taken memory tests and are giving samples of their spinal fluid so that it can be studied for the earliest biological markers of aging. They have even arranged to donate their brains for further study after they die.

'Exercise in a pill'

So what has kept them young?

"Staying busy. And good genes," said Gwen.

"Just working. And my wife," added Art.

It turns out, there is scientific data to back up their claims.

"We have known for a long time that people in the workforce are better than people out of work," said Laura Carstensen, founding director of the Stanford University Center on Longevity, addressing a forum on aging at the National Academy of Medicine last month in Washington.

With cases of dementia in the United States set to triple, reaching 132 million by 2050,

 some experts warn the disease could bankrupt major world economies and cripple

health systems (AFP Photo/Federica Narancio)

"Work -- paid or unpaid -- may improve cognitive functioning."

Regular exercise and a Mediterranean diet are also known to help foster healthy aging.

"Geriatricians I know say that if we could put exercise in a pill form it would be the most sought-after drug on the market," she said.

Social connections

Abbott confesses that prior to entering the retirement home, she was not doing so well. After her husband died, she lost weight and felt lonely.

"One of the big reasons I like being here is I got tired of eating by myself," said Abbott.

She clearly thrives on social contact. Now, she plays golf every Monday and rides the bus to church on weekends.

Abbott leads the welcoming committee and knows everyone, from the gay couple who just moved in, to the woman in her 90s who nearly died but is now lifting weights again in exercise class, to the woman with the raven hair who had a tryst with a doctor 20 years her senior, then married him, and has stayed married to him for some 40 years.

She recounts these vignettes without malice, exuding pure delight at knowing the details of others' lives.

"Epidemiological studies show that people with a lifetime of cognitively

 stimulating activities and social connections are much less at risk for cognitive

 decline as they age," says University of Miami neuropsychologist David 

Loewenstein (AFP Photo/Federica Narancio)

There's some science behind this, too.

"Epidemiological studies show that people with a lifetime of cognitively stimulating activities and social connections are much less at risk for cognitive decline as they age," said Loewenstein.

Economic burden

Of course, it is impossible to ignore the economics of healthy aging. Many of the residents at East Ridge are educated and white. They saved their earnings, invested well and benefited from the boom in real estate prices.

The poor are often more prone to the ravages of aging. Research also shows that African-Americans and Hispanics suffer disproportionately higher rates of dementia than the country's whites.

With cases of dementia in the United States set to triple, reaching 132 million by 2050, some experts warn the disease could bankrupt major world economies and cripple health systems.

But Carstensen believes society could also benefit from a new perspective, one that doesn't automatically conflate aging with illness.

Related Article:

"The Biggest Filter" - July 18-19, 2015 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (Text version)

“..  The Biggest Filter that Hinders Truth is Your Biased Knowledge

The biggest filter of humanity, the one that keeps Humans from actual truth, believe it or not, is called knowledge. We speak of that which humanity perceives currently as knowledge. That which you do not know is, therefore, future knowledge. Now, every single scientist understands the difference - every single one - for they know what is coming is going to teach them what they don't know yet. This is part of the scientific process. Even so, they take what they know, or think they know, and completely let it temper the experiments for what they don't know. They base the future on what they know or believe, even though they know better!

A medical doctor will look in the past and he'll remember being taught about a time when humans would report to the barbershop for healing. That's when they would actually bleed people for healing. By the way, that's the reason for the barber pole having the red stripe on it - it's the tradition of barbers doing the bleeding. So back then, you went to get healed in the barbershop by being bled! This, of course, led to many deaths because there was no understanding of germs, sterilization or today's common sense. Doctors know this, and they laugh at how far you all have come from this. So doctors absolutely know that what is coming will someday be actually laughable, yet they are also absolutely and completely closed to what it might be. They just think it will be an advancement of what they currently know.  ….”

“..  Medicine - Where It's Going

I want to show you some other areas to consider. There are several categories that we'd like to talk about, but they're not in a specific order except for the last one. So let's talk about medicine. What is future medicine going to look like?

The most elegant predictions of medicine fall short of what's really coming. What you have today is a high-tech approach to designer chemistry. Now, since the body is made up of chemistry, it makes sense to look at this chemistry and work with it. It makes total sense to discover how it reacts to disease and then design cures with more chemistry. It's absolutely normal what you have done, but it's going to reach an end very soon. Because the future of medicine is physics, dear ones, not chemistry.

You're going to start understanding and developing new medical physics. You will discover that medi-physics is going to literally speak to cellular structure and give it instructions, without one chemical involved. There's always a reaction to chemistry, isn't there? There's always a side effect. When you push one thing, something else reacts, doesn't it? How do you like it so far? Your most elegant chemical designs, the ones that are helping with the worst diseases on the planet, all have side effects - and some of those side effects are death! I say to you, how do you like it so far?

Does it really seem elegant to you? Or perhaps it's just a more sophisticated way of bleeding in the barbershop? Dear ones, that's how you're going to look at it someday! You're going to slap your heads and say, "Remember the day when we did everything with chemistry and drugs?"

Right now, these kinds of changes have already started in several areas. There are discoveries being made that are healing some of the most heart-breaking diseases you have. I reveal one, because it's not a secret. I will always give you information that is either being worked on or has been postulated through free choice on this planet. That is the guideline of channelling. We can't give it to you. You've got to develop it yourself. However, we can put you in an energy that has a faster discovery potential - that is to say, discoveries become more obvious.

Alzheimer's is heart breaking. There are millions on this planet who develop this condition, more all the time. You're living longer and a plaque-like material that literally obfuscates your memory within the brain is becoming more common. It clings to certain parts of your brain, encrusting and restricting it, imprisoning the Human's ability to remember and eventually process information at all. The result is death, slow death. It's caused by your environment, a fact which will be discovered eventually. Your long-lived Ancients didn't have it.

It's going to be cured with physics. Your science is starting to find out that the plaque-like substance has a resonance that allows it to be weakened with sound. High-frequency sound, tuned to a certain frequency and amplitude, will cause the sheaths to weaken, dissolve, and come off. There's a lot of research to do yet, but it's a Eureka! moment - realizing that physics alone, without chemistry, can change the structure of biology. This is with no side effects whatsoever. It's coming, it's coming.

There are those working with fresh umbilical cord stem cells right now who are using pure physics to guide the stem cells to a specific destination in the body in order to repair failing systems. Dear ones, the future of health and healing is not through better chemistry, yet medicine is still waiting for better pills! Did you connect the dots and realize that all biology is physics based? There is magnetics, leverage, the energy of consciousness, electricity and much more within cellular structure. With physics alone, you can "tune in" to disease and destroy it! You can fine-tune your system with cooperative resonances and extend life with benevolent, physical assistance. Sixteen years ago, I told you this when I spoke of the Temple of Rejuvenation. I described the super-cooling needed to do it and the temperatures needed to work with it (-55C). This is physics!

Now, the false expectation of greater chemistry for the future is totally caused from the filter of knowledge. What you have and know then gives you your expectation of what is going to take place. It literally blocks you from seeing some of the potentials that you may have.  ….”