This comes from one of those daily food-industry newsletters I subscribe to, in this case NutraIngredients.com.  It occasionally focuses on regions and I thought this collection of articles was of interest.  Do Latin Americans need dietary supplements?  Just asking.

Welcome to NutraIngredients’ first quarterly supplement focusing on the Latin American dietary supplements and functional food markets. In this edition, we look at the changing regulatory landscapes across the region, including a deep dive into how Brazil is creating a distinct category for supplements. We’ll also look at a supplement start-up and opportunities for omega-3s in LATAM.

• More education will help realize huge potential for omega-3s in Latin America: Consumers in Latin America understand the general benefits of omega-3s. But there is a need for more education to help capture the huge potential for the ingredients in this region where the market is far from saturated… Read
• LATAM’s regulatory landscape: From Argentina to Uruguay: The regulations around dietary supplements in Latin America are a patchwork of different approaches, but regulatory bodies and regional associations are pushing for change and perhaps even some harmonization… Read
• Florida start-up CareMundi brings US supplements to Brazilian buyers: In the dietary supplement world, Brazil is notorious as being a tough market to get into. But there is demand for US-made products in the country, and one-year old start-up CareMundi, an online sales platform, is providing a bridge for US supplement makers into Latin America’s largest consumer market… Read
• Brazilian regs to be altered to finally create distinct category for supplementsNew regulations set to take effect in Brazil will significantly improve market access for dietary ingredients and finished dietary supplements, an expert says… Read  The possibility of incorporating the health benefits of probiotics into fortified fruit snacks could be a reality thanks to researchers in Brazil… Read
• Brazilian regulatory overhaul will benefit omega-3s, consultant saysThe outlook for omega-3s in Latin America is bright, according to a consultant experienced in the region. In particular, there is regulatory acceptance for these ingredients across the continent… Watch now

The Physical Activity Guidelines Advisory Committee’s 2018 Scientific Report promotes physical activity as a “best buy” for public health.

• Physically active individuals sleep better, feel better, and function better.
• Some benefits happen immediately.
• Physical activity reduces the risk of a large number of diseases and conditions.
• The benefits of physical activity can be achieved in a variety of ways.

The report recommends 50 to 300 minutes per week of moderate-intensity physical activity, but

• Any is better than none
• More is better than less
• Any amount at any level or duration counts.

The good news is that huge benefits come with just being somewhat active.

The report recommends 50 to 300 minutes of at least moderate activity a week, and this can be done in increments.

A brisk walk around the office, anyone?

The British newsletter, FoodManufacture.co.uk, also does special editions, collections of articles on specific topics, this one on food safety (you too can subscribe to this, here).

This is an easy way to keep up with current events related to food products.

Special Edition: Food Safety Newsletter

Welcome to the latest Food Safety Newsletter from the Food Manufacture Group. This month’s round-up leads with positive talks between Food Standards Scotland and the country’s meat industry following several cases of enforcement action. The newsletter also looks at the Food Standards Agency’s attempts to overhaul regulation, an Ikea confectionery recall and mutant rats.

• Scottish meat industry in ‘constructive’ talks with enforcement agency: A meeting between representatives of the Scottish meat industry and Food Standards Scotland (FSS) has been hailed as “constructive” by parties from both sides… Read
• Research body lays out food safety challenges: Anti-microbial resistance and the role of gut microbes in diet have been identified as two of the leading challenges faced by the food industry following a consultation by Campden BRI… Read
• FSA claims majority of meat plants are compliant: The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has said that the majority of meat plants have had no major breaches of food and hygiene standards… Read
• Food standards boss pledges to overhaul regulation: Despite Brexit, Food Standards Agency boss Heather Hancock is determined to press on with an overhaul of food safety regulation… Read
• Ikea recalls candy due to mice infestation: Ikea, the furniture retailer, is recalling its Godis Paskkyckling marshmallow candy due to the discovery of a possible mice infestation at a production unit… Read
• FSA praises ‘strong intelligence’ that led to meat recall action: The recent unannounced inspections of meat businesses conducted by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) and Food Standards Scotland (FSS) came from “welcome intelligence” received following the Russell Hume recall situation… Read
• Food manufacturers warned over poison-resistant rats: Food manufacturers face a new generation of mutant rats resistant to conventional poison, according to the British Pest Control Association (BPCA)… Read
• More investment needed in food safety research: More public investment is needed in food safety research, all 28 EU Member States, along with Iceland and Norway, have agreed… Read

Canada’s food guide has been around since 2007.

Bill Jeffery, the executive director of the Canadian Centre for Health Science and Law (which publishes the Food for Life Report) has produced an annotated version of the food guide with proposals for fixing its major problems.

Critics viewed it as far too industry-friendly.

Here’s a graphic summary of the proposed revisions.

This is a great opportunity for Canada to produce a food guide that really does promote health.

Fingers crossed.

The daily newsletter, DairyReporter.com, sends this intriguing story: “Pizza Hut adds 25% more cheese to pan pizzas as part of dairy checkoff program.”

More than 6,000 Pizza Hut locations in the US are adding 25% more cheese to its pan pizzas, requiring an additional 150m lbs of milk annually to meet the change, Dairy Management Inc. (DMI) said.

You read that right: 150 million additional pounds of milk to make cheese for pizza.

Dairy Management Inc. runs the National Dairy Promotion & Research Board, a USDA-sponsored “checkoff” program.  Its purpose is to “build demand for dairy products.”

It does this by convincing fast food chains to add more dairy items to their menus.

As DairyReporter explains,

Pizza Hut’s increased milk demand could help chip away at an oversupply of milk causing a downward pressure on milk prices in the US. The USDA estimated that the US dairy industry will produce 21.8bn lbs of milk in 2018, while slightly lower than 2017 production, the supply still outweighs market demand causing milk prices to continue to drop.

I like cheese as much as anyone, but more cheese means more calories, if nothing else.

One ounce of mozzarella cheese provides 85 calories.  Two ounces = 170 calories, etc.

Enough said.

Addition: Thanks to Gerri French for telling me about Michael Moss’s video on this topic, based on his book Salt, Sugar, Fat.

While I was in Japan last week, a colleague from Washington State asked if his local apples were on sale in Japanese supermarkets.  I looked.  They were not.

If Washington State apples, organic or not, are exported to Japan, they are invisible in supermarkets.

They certainly are invisible to me.  Japanese food labels are in Japanese, as is information about country of origin.

But I asked.  The apples I saw were grown in Japan.

The only imported fruit I could find were bananas—not labeled as to origin but Japan does not grow them—and blueberries from Mexico.

Imported fruit, it seems, is not available for local consumption because it would compete with fruit produced by local farmers.

Less expensive fruit is imported but used for food service; it is not easily available for home purchase.

This helps explain why the Japanese do not eat much fruit.  It is expensive even in local stores.  The prices I saw looked like those in Manhattan.

And this brings me to the uniquely Japanese use of fruit as a luxury gift item.  These melons (not my photo) cost more than $100 each (the exchange rate is about ¥100 to a dollar).  But  saw melons like these in specialty stores costing much more—$150 and up.

As for strawberries, these gift packs cost $20 each but more elegant packages go much higher.

These are part of a complicated culture of obligatory gifts.  To Westerners like me, the prices are shocking.

The fruit is locally grown, at least.

Basic Books, October 30, 2018.

For information about the book, click here.

I’m reading The Japan Times this week and saw this article: “Healthy life expectancy” on the rise: survey

The article describes how “healthy life expectancy,” defined as years of life without nursing care or serious illness, rose in Japan between 2013 and 2016.

Health officials attribute the increase to a greater focus on better nutrition and more physical activity among the Japanese population.

Here are the stats:

In case this isn’t clear, the life expectancy for men is nearly 81 years, but nearly 9 of those years will be spent in poor health.  For women, the life expectancy is more than 87 years, but more than 12 will be spent in poor health.

The survey data cover more than 700,000 people.

Under a 10-year health promotion plan introduced in fiscal 2013, the Japanese health ministry is working to extend healthy life expectancy by setting numerical targets for death rates caused by lifestyle-related diseases—heart disease, certain cancers, type 2 diabetes, and others caused by smoking and unhealthy eating, and drinking.

I had not heard of healthy life expectancy used in this way, but I think it works well to quantify how diet affects longevity.