Just when we thought we had covered all the nutrition rating systems out there, here’s a new system being implemented at Whole Foods Market stores nationwide. ANDI, short for Aggregate Nutrient Density Index, is the brainchild of author, MD, and founder of Eat Right America, Dr. Joel Fuhrman.

The ANDI system is a part of a bigger initiative by Whole Foods, entitled Health Starts Here, which encompasses not just making healthy food available, but also providing education on what to do what with that food (culinary lessons, 28 day programs to jump start healthy eating habits…).

The healthy eating principles WFM is promoting are:

• plant based diet
• whole foods (less processed flours, for example)
• low fat – or the right fats (unsaturated, more from plants and less from animals)
• nutrient dense (that’s where ANDI comes in)

The ANDI score, based on a Dr. Fuhrman’s Nutrient Density Scoring System analyzes many nutrients in a food product

Calcium, Carotenoids: Beta Carotene, Alpha Carotene, Lutein & Zeaxanthin, Lycopene, Fiber, Folate, Glucosinolates, Iron, Magnesium, Niacin, Selenium, Vitamin B1 (Thiamin) Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin), Vitamin B6, Vitamin B12, Vitamin C, Vitamin E, Zinc, plus ORAC score X 2 (Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity is a method of measuring the antioxidant or radical scavenging capacity of foods).

The data for whole foods such as produce, grains, and legumes is relatively easy to analyze based on USDA databases. It is much more complicated to get accurate info for packaged or processed foods, especially because the ingredients in a processed food interact with each other and change the nutrition profile of a product.

Here is a table with some sample scores. The highest score is 1000, the lowest is close to zero.

This is a very interesting table, especially if one compares it to NuVal ranking which goes from 1-100. Take a look at these 4 healthy products and their scores:

• Kale – 1000
• Orange – 109
• Whole wheat bread – 25
• Olive oil – 9

A naive shopper may be led to believe that kale is the only product worth consuming. But all 4 of the aforementioned are healthy and needed by our bodies. Dr. Fuhrman addresses this:

Keep in mind that nutrient density scoring is not the only factor that determines good health. For example, if we only ate foods with a high nutrient density score our diet would be too low in fat. So we have to pick some foods with lower nutrient density scores (but preferably the ones with the healthier fats) to include in our high nutrient diet.

So wouldn’t it be more practical to create a scoring system that doesn’t require people to analyze a score , the product type, the required nutrients and then decide? The entire point is to simplify life for consumers, not complicate it!

Whole Foods is perceived as a healthier, albeit expensive, grocery retailer. But recently John Mackey, WFM CEO and founder, openly admitted that his chain sells lots of junk food. The Health Starts Here program may be a signal that Mackey is retuning to the roots of what WFM stood for in the seventies when just starting out.

The ANDI scores are an interesting first step in trying to help consumers better choose healthier foods, and it will be very interesting to see consumer response. We expect Whole Foods will continue to introduce and test additional tools to help their customers.

What to do at the supermarket:

Don’t let the Whole Foods health halo confuse you, as organic junk food is still junk food. Stick to the less processed products, of which Whole Foods has copious amounts, including in bulk (cheaper).

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“A salad without the dressing is not a salad”, someone famous once said. Or should have said. A good dressing helps accentuate flavors, helps some of those greens go down easier, and as you’ll see in a minute improves the nutritional value of the salad.

If we’re to judge by the hundreds of varieties of dressings available at the supermarket, most shoppers agree. Salad dressings historically include some form of fat, such as olive oil or canola oil as a base. Even a mayonnaise base is actually a form of oil (mixed with raw eggs). In the past few years, many dressings have been re-formulated as fat-free, a means to tempt weight conscious consumers to continue buying them.

What you need to know:

A fat-free salad dressing is actually a bad nutritional decision. You see, a little bit of fat goes a long way in helping the body absorb the nutritional goodness of the salad. This is because some vitamins are fat-soluble. Vitamins A, D, E, and K (ADEK) are absorbed in the intestinal tract with the help of fat molecules. Which means that having a fat free salad dressing will actually decrease the nutrition effectiveness of your salad.

Good sources of vitamin A include carrots, broccoli, kale, and spinach. Vitamin E can be found in asparagus, avocado, eggs, nuts and seeds, and spinach. Vitamin K is present in parsley, cabbage, swiss chard, cauliflower, and brussels sprouts.

So what’s a non-fat dressing made from?

Mostly water. that’s right, you’re paying for water. Additionally, in order to maintain the semblance of an oil based dressing, emulsifiers and thickeners are added. Just look for example at the ingredient list for Kraft’s Fat-Free Italian Dressing:

Ingredients: WATER, VINEGAR, HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP, CORN SYRUP, SALT, CONTAINS LESS THAN 2% OFPARMESAN CHEESE* (PART-SKIM MILK, CHEESE CULTURE, SALT, ENZYMES), GARLIC, ONION JUICE, WHEY, PHOSPHORIC ACID, XANTHAN GUM, POTASSIUM SORBATE AND CALCIUM DISODIUM EDTA AS PRESERVATIVES, YEAST EXTRACT, SPICE, RED BELL PEPPERS*, LEMON JUICE CONCENTRATE, GARLIC*, BUTTERMILK*, CARAMEL COLOR, SODIUM PHOSPHATE, ENZYMES, OLEORESIN PAPRIKA. *DRIED.

That’s quite a lengthy list for what should be a simple dressing. Some highlights:
High fructose corn syrup and corn syrup are the 3rd and 4th ingredients, used to round off the flavor of the highly acidic vinegar.

Phosphoric acid is used to add more acidic flavor, but why not add more lemon instead? (answer: it’s cheaper).

Calcium Disodium EDTA is a preservative with a mildly salty taste. It may cause kidney damage, and blood in urine. It’s on the FDA’s priority list for more health effects research.

Folks – this is ridiculous. Nobody in Italy dresses their salad like this. Nor should you. The 20 calories per serving of 2 tablespoon are to be commended, but a 50 or even 100 calorie dressing based on real ingredients such as olive oil, lemon juice and spices will probably serve you better both gastronomically and nutritionally.

What to do at the supermarket:

Here’s a great idea for you. Buy a bottle of good extra virgin olive oil. Also a few lemons.

At home, make your own dressing as follows: in a mixing bowl add equal parts olive oil and fresh squeezed lemon juice. Salt and pepper to taste. Pour over salad and toss just before serving. Forty five seconds tops.

If you’re more courageous, you can try adding any combination of a teaspoon of dijon mustard, a minced clove of garlic, and balsamic vinegar. Sometimes a teaspoon of honey or sugar can help take the acidic bite off, especially if the salad contains strong tasting greens such as arugula.

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Diabetics, like air force pilots when flying, need to be slightly paranoid. Always on the lookout for potential danger. But whereas a flight ends after several hours in the skies, a diabetic must be in constant awareness of blood sugar levels.

An article in the New York Times touts vinegar, of all foods, as a potential aid in the battle for low blood sugar. Adding vinegar to your dinner

… seems to help slow the absorption of sugar from a meal into the bloodstream, apparently because vinegar helps block digestive enzymes that convert carbohydrates into sugar. read more…

What you need to know:

The word “vinegar” derives from the Old French vin aigre, which literally means sour wine. It is made by fermentation of wine/beer/cider/fruit juice/other and creates a highly acidic liquid that has been used in kitchens across the globe for ages.  The acetic acid in vinegar is what gives vinegar its pungent smell and strong acidic flavor.

A study in Italy found that healthy people who ate a meal with an addition of said acetic acid versus a control group that did not, had a lower level of glycemic response. The 4 teaspoons of vinegar was added as a salad dressing together with olive oil.

Diabetics can try for themselves to see if vinegar helps, according to Sue McLaughlin, a spokesperson for the American Diabetic Association.

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Here’s an interesting story from Italy, posted Thursday on GlobalPost:

“From lands freed from the Mafia,” reads the light blue pack of penne rigate pasta on display among dozens of other products in a dedicated shop in Via dei Prefetti 23, in the heart of Rome. To understand that label, travel 250 miles as the crow flies south, to Sicily.

Turns out that lands confiscated from mafia members have been turned to good use -  an agricultural cooperative is selling products such as pasta, olive oil, tomatoes an wine, all from fields not far from the town of Corleone, Sicily.

Get the full story from global post here.

Speaking of the mafia, how come there are no good mobster outfits for kids to wear when trick or treating. They’d sure get a larger bounty than with those goofy monster costumes.

Happy Halloween and don’t forget to brush your teeth when it’s all over…

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1. pepper corns
2. small furry animal poop
3. canola oil
4. none of the above

Answer below. Read more…

Actually, both are not at the top of the healthy oil list.

Palm oil has 50% saturated fat. Palm Kernel Oil has 80%. These are very high values compared to oilve oil (14%) and canola oil (7%). Saturated fat is attributed to increasing the bad cholesterol (LDL) in our bloodstream thus raising the risk of heart disease.

Although both oils are from palm trees, they are actually 2 different types of oil. Palm oil comes from the fruit itself (reddish orange), whereas palm kernel oil is extracted from the seed (the white in the image above).

Palm oil (NOT palm kernel oil) isn’t all bad though, as it contains large quantities of oleic acid (40%), a healthy fatty acid also found in olive oil and canola oil. Palm oil also contains good levels of vitamin E.

Both palm oils are also at the center of a larger sustainability debate as rain forests are being cleared in order to grow the palm trees. The trend has accelerated in the last decade as palm oil has been used not just for human consumption but as a bio-fuel.

What to do at the supermarket:

Better options are canola and olive oils.

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The word salad conjures, for most people, mounds of iceberg lettuce, a few other veggies, and a hefty ladle of dressing. As with many things, the US did not invent it, but in the last 50 years we have elevated salad dressing to a billion dollar industry with hundreds of varieties awaiting us in a special condiments aisle in the supermarket. You know something is big when it has its own trade organization.

In southern Europe and the Mediterranean, a salad is dressed by mixing some fresh lemon juice, a bit of olive oil, salt and pepper, and drizzling on top of a freshly cut salad. It seems that here, though, folks cannot complete that basic task and therefore gladly pay $3.00-$4.00 for a bottled solution. The price paid isn’t just monetary, as there are ingredients in some commercial dressings that are better kept away from our bodies.

Read more…