An article from the Oct. 16, 2003 issue of the "HealthDayNews" reports on new research that shows different ways of preparing, storing and processing vegetables can affect how good they are for you.  The data for this article came from two studies that appeared in the November issue of the Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture.  The studies report that several different processing procedures and cooking can reduce antioxidants, which are cancer-fighting compounds, normally found in vegetables.

Antioxidants are plentiful in vegetables and work to eliminate free radicals, which can damage cell DNA and contribute to various diseases. That's why eating fiber, fruits, and vegetables, all of which contain antioxidants, can help prevent cancer and cardiovascular disease.

One of the studies showed that broccoli, for instance, lost 97 percent of flavonoids, 74 percent of sinapics and 87 percent of caffeoyl-quinic derivatives (three different types of antioxidants)  when it is zapped in the microwave. When boiled the conventional way (i.e., not in a pressure-cooker), broccoli lost 66 percent of its flavonoids; when tossed in a pressure cooker, it lost 47 percent of its caffeoyl-quinic acid derivatives.  Steamed broccoli, on the other hand, lost only 11 percent, 0 percent and 8 percent, respectively, of flavonoids, sinapics, and caffeoyl-quinic derivatives.

Cristina Garcia-Viguera, lead author of the research paper noted that the advantage of steaming vs. conventional boiling is that you're "Not using water directly in contact with the vegetable. The nutritional compounds don't go into the water. Once the compounds are in the water, the temperature destroys them much easier."  The damage from a microwave occurs because it heats the inside of the vegetable. That, combined with the fact that you normally use water when microwaving, can cause the destruction of the valuable nutrients.

Vegetables that are blanched before freezing (a common processing technique) can lose up to one third of their antioxidants. Frozen storage can also cause losses, though these losses are much smaller.

Samantha Heller, a senior clinical nutritionist at New York University Medical Center in New York City states that not all of the healthy properties of vegetables are being eliminated. "You're still getting plenty of healthy compounds as well as fiber, so there's absolutely no reason not to eat vegetables -- although, of course, the fresher the better."  She goes on to say, "If people are willing to have vegetables anyway, shape or form, even if they are going to nuke then, I'd rather have them do that."

In the October 27, 2003 online issue of the InteliHealth Health News comes the report on a study that shows that children's eating habits can start as early as age 2. The "Feeding Infants & Toddlers Study", commissioned by baby-food maker Gerber Products Company showed that, "By 24 months, patterns look startlingly similar to some of the problematic American dietary patterns."  The article noted that recent research has found that roughly one in every five Americans is now considered obese, double the rate in the mid-1980s.

The study was conducted by random telephone interviews in 2002 that asked parents or primary caregivers what their youngsters ages 4 months to 2 years ate on that particular day. Up to a third of the children under 2 consumed no fruits or vegetables, according to the survey. And for those who did have a vegetable, French fries were the most common selection for children 15 months and older.  Additionally, Thirty to 40 percent of the children 15 months and up had a sugary fruit drink each day, and about 10 percent had soda.

A Chicago-area dietitian, Jodie Shield, who has written two books on child nutrition, noted "If kids are having soda and soft drinks at such an early age, it's going to be very, very challenging to introduce other types of foods for them later".

The article stated that children aged 1 to 2 years require about 950 calories per day, but the study found that the median intake for that age group is 1,220 calories, -- an excess of nearly 30 percent. For those 7 months to 11 months old, the daily caloric surplus was about 20 percent.

The above headline comes from a July 01, 2003 Reuters Health release.  The article begins by saying that according to new research, "Schools that offer students pizza and fries as alternatives to healthier lunch fare are not only encouraging children to eat high-fat foods during lunch hour, but after school and at home as well."

Researcher and registered nurse, Martha Kubik of the University of Minnesota, and her team collected data on 16 middle schools. They noted the difference between schools that offered an a la carte program and availability of vending machines, which offer children more "popular" foods alongside the traditional, and carefully balanced, school lunch. The results were published in the American Journal of Public Health.  In the journal Kubik stated, "This is probably the first paper that looks at the a la carte programs in schools and their influence on student dietary behavior."

"We weren't just looking necessarily at food they ate at school. We looked at food they ate outside of school as well," Kubik said. She continues, "That suggests how important the school environment is. If they were at these schools that offered a la carte, they were not making up for choices made at school by eating healthier foods out of school. It shows how powerful the school influence is, not only are they exposed to their own choices, they are exposed to the choices of their peers."

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture 9 out of 10 U.S. schools offer the a la carte programs, which do not have to meet the U.S. government's nutritional recommendations.  These recommendations call for eating at least five servings a day of fruits and vegetables and getting no more than 30 percent of calories from fat.