Jackfruit?  No, I’m not kidding.

For one thing, it’s JSTOR Daily’s Plant of the Month: “The newly hot alternative to meat has a long history.”

Jackfruit is not new in South Asia and its surrounding regions, where it has been a culturally significant foodstuff for centuries. Nor is jackfruit new in the West. Rather, it has a long and disquieting history: British imperialists wielded jackfruit as a tool to provide cheap nutrition to enslaved and coerced laborers throughout their empire.

Here’s what it looks like on the tree:

And off:

If you are in the business of selling Jackfruit, or products made from it, you will want research demonstrating health benefits.

Voila!

The study: Efficacy of green jackfruit flour as a medical nutrition therapy replacing rice or wheat in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study  Gopal Rao, K. Sunil Naik, A. G. Unnikrishnan & James Joseph.  Nutrition & Diabetes volume 11, Article number: 18 (2021)

Methods: This was a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study of patients with type-2 diabetes who were being treated with oral antihyperglycemic agents.  They were either given jackfruit flour 30 g/day (Group A) or placebo flour (Group B) for 12 weeks.

Results: Patients from Group A had a better reduction in glycosylated hemoglobin, fasting plasma glucose, and postprandial plasma glucose than patients in Group B.

Conclusion: This study demonstrates the efficacy of jackfruit flour in glycemic control as medical nutrition therapy replacing an equal volume of rice or wheat flour in daily meal.

Funding: Diet Fibre 365 Food Products Pvt Ltd, India.

Acknowledgment: “The authors would like to acknowledge Abiogenesis Clinpharm Pvt Ltd, Hyderabad, for medical writing assistance funded by Diet Fibre 365 Food Products Pvt Ltd, Mumbai, India.”

Competing interests: JJ is the inventor of Jackfruit 365™ Green Jackfruit Flour with a pending patent and CEO of God’s Own Food Solutions Pvt Ltd which along with its subsidiary Diet Fibre 365 Food Products Pvt Ltd manufactures and markets the product. AGR, KSN, and UAG have no conflict of interest to declare.

Comment: This is a classic example of the funding effect in nutrition research.  The author owns the Jackfruit flour and the company that markets it, and the funder wrote (OK, helped to write) the paper.  The results were predictable.

Reference: For a summary of research on the “funding effect”—the observation that research sponsored by food companies almost invariably produces results favorable to the sponsor’s interests, but that recipients of industry funding typically do not recognize its influence—see my book, Unsavory Truth: How Food Companies Skew the Science of What We Eat.

Saru Jayaraman has a new book out:

She explains what this is about in an email:

As described in this recent NY Times article, we have been documenting thousands of restaurants raising wages to a median of $13.50 plus tips nationwide in order to recruit staff. As a result, we are so close to passing One Fair Wage – a very hopeful, silver lining to emerge from several challenging years.

In this moment of incredible change, we are hoping to use my new book – One Fair Wage: Ending Subminimum Pay in America (New Press, 2021) – to call for policy that will make the increasing wages nationwide permanent.

Please join us for one of the in-person or virtual events.

The newsletter issued by Hunter College’s Food Policy Center (subscribe to it here) notes recent items about food workers, restaurants, and food labor:

• A Record 4.3 Million Workers Quit Their Jobs in August, Led by Food and Retail Industries (CNBC) 
• Restaurant Wages Tick Higher but the Industry’s Labor Crunch Remains Intractable (CNBC)  
• ‘Death of 1,000 Cuts’: Kellogg’s Workers on Why They’re Striking (The Guardian)  
• Labor Strikes Target Big Food as Workers Seize on Industry Turmoil (Food Dive)  
• Restaurant Criticism Was Evolving Well Before COVID-19 (The Counter)  
• Food-Delivery Platforms Now Serving Ads (The Wall Street Journal)  
• 22 Organizations Supporting Mental Health Along the Food Chain (Food Tank)

Comment: Now more than ever, labor issues matter.  It helps to stay informed about what’s happening on the food-labor front.

This tweet makes me think it’s time to talk about supply chains.

Supply chains are a big problem right now, particularly for anything that has to be transported.

How come?  Pandemic-induced buying sprees, coupled with shortages of:

• Truck drivers.
• Shipping crates.
• Longshoremen.

Your local grocery store is out of items?  Join the crowd.

Around 18% of beverages, 15% of frozen foods, 16% of snacks, 15% of candy and 18% of bakery items were out of stock at stores during the week ending on October 3, according to the latest data from IRI, which tracks in-stock levels at leading US grocery chains, big box stores, pharmacies and wholesale clubs.

Before the pandemic, 7% to 10% of products were typically out of stock on shelves, according to IRI.

Nobody expects this situation to get better soon.

The UK newsletter, FoodManufacture, has done a special edition on supply chains (subscribe free at this link).

• Perfect storm hits the food and drink supply chain:  The food and drink supply chain has taken a beating over the past 18 months, with each new crisis piling on a new concern for business to worry about. But above all else, the main concern is how to get the supply chain moving again in spite of the recent heavy goods vehicle (HGV) driver shortage… Read  
• Food supply chain fragility: what can be done?  Events over the past 18 months have shown how fragile our global food system is. Fotis Fotiadis, chief executive officer and co-founder of Better Origin, discusses what can be done in this opinion piece… Read
• UK beef ban by China risks damaging future trade:  China’s latest ban of British beef imports over a case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) could damage future trade with the country, according to the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB)… Read
• Fuel shortages create challenges for food and drink:  As queues over the weekend left forecourts empty, members of the food and drink industry weighed in on how the fuel crisis has affected them… Read
• EVCL Chill enters administration placing jobs at risk:  Chilled food logistics business EVCL Chill Ltd – including EVCL One, EVCL Two and EVCL Three – has entered into administration after struggling with challenges created by the heavy goods vehicle (HGV) driver shortage, placing more than 400 jobs at risk… Read
• PepsiCo completes £14m distribution centre investment:  PepsiCo has completed a £14m upgrade of its Southern Region Distribution Centre (SRDC) based in Leicester… Read

Addition

10/22: An article I missed from Forbes in August.

Remember those USDA food boxes I complained about so often last year?

Now we have a congressional staff report providing the gory (an understatement) details.

Recall that the ostensible purpose of this program was to collect food from struggling farmers, pack the boxes, and deliver them to food banks for distribution to hungry people.

I thought this was way too cumbersome to work.  Its real purpose had to be to undermine SNAP.

This reports provides the horrendous details: huge expenditures, high profits, failure to deliver as promised.

One distributor was paid $31.5 million; it reported reported profits of 10% to 25%.

Another, paid $16.5 million, charged the government a 50% markup.

Some of the report’s conclusions (others dealt with President Trump’s use of the boxes for campaign purposes).

• USDA Failed to Ensure that Box Contents Met the Needs of Food Insecure Americans.
• Documentation Requirements Were Fundamentally Insufficient, Creating Unnecessary Risks of Fraud.
• The Program Was Created Without Mechanisms for USDA to Confirm that Box Distributions Targeted People in Need.
• The Food Box Program’s Structure Incentivized Contractors to Waste Food and Shift Costs to Nonprofits.
• USDA Did Not Effectively Review Deliveries and Contractor Performance.

As for helping farmers, some big ones made out well, small ones not so much.  The report offers these gems:

The idea for the Food Box program appears to have originated with a large food industry group. Emails show that the National Chicken Council proposed the idea for “a special purchase of chicken in light of COVID-19,” and subsequent distribution of such chicken products to “worthy recipients,” to Secretary Perdue’s office on April 6, 2020 (p. 30).

contractors in the Food Box Program sometimes [were] paid well above market prices, with farmers and producers sometimes receiving from CRE8AD8 up to ten times the payments they would normally get from grocery stores (p. 36)

USDA apparently did not collect evidence that would allow it to confirm (1) the quantity and specific types of foods ultimately purchased for inclusion in the dairy, protein, or produce food boxes, (2) the amount actually paid by taxpayers to farmers and producers (p. 36).

The report has many recommendations for preventing such problems but why bother.

It would be much cheaper and less wasteful to raise SNAP benefits.

On October 13, the FDA finally got around to finalizing its guidance for the food industry for voluntary, short-term (2.5 year) sodium reduction targets for lots of processed, packaged and prepared foods.

In a statement, the FDA says its new guidance

provides voluntary, short-term sodium reduction targets for food manufacturers, restaurants, and food service operators for approximately 160 categories of processed, packaged and prepared foods. The targets seek to decrease average sodium intake from approximately 3,400 milligrams (mg) to 3,000 mg per day—about a 12% reduction—over the next 2.5 years.

Reducing sodium has been on the FDA agenda for years.  It issued draft guidance in 2016.  On this, it received about 200 comments.  

The FDA’s idea for this first target is to reduce average daily sodium intake by about 12%—from approximately 3,400 milligrams (mg) to 3,000 mg per day—in 2.5 years.

This is still higher than the recommended 2300 mg.  Why so limited?

Politics, of course.

The FDA believes

• These targets are feasible.
• Gradual reduction will accustom people to lower sodium intake.
• Food companies might be willing to do this.

A quick review of the basics:

• Salt is 40% sodium (2300 mg sodium means about 6 grams of salt or 1.5 teaspoons).
• High salt diets are strongly associated with high blood pressure and stroke.
• We require less than 500 mg sodium a day; average diets are greatly in excess.
• Most salt in the diet comes from pre-prepared foods (70%); 20% is added at the table; 10% is innate in foods.
• The taste for high-salt is acquired; the more salt you eat, the more salt it takes to make foods taste right.
• For people used to high-salt diets, low-salt makes food taste bland.  It takes about three weeks to get used to low-salt.
• Once accustomed to low-salt, typical levels of salt make food taste too salty.

Thus, the FDA’s strategy is to gradually accustom people to lower salt intake.

The guidance is voluntary: “This voluntary, iterative approach is similar to approaches successfully implemented in other countries.”

By other countries, the FDA must mean Great Britain.  The UK did a big voluntary salt reduction campaign some years ago and got enough buy in from food companies to see a real difference in salt intake and blood pressure.

When the government changed and laid off the pressure, companies put back most of the salt (not all though). That history is here.

So this could work if food companies cooperate.  Presumably, the FDA will assess the results of this voluntary effort in 2.5 years.

The stick?  The implied threat of mandatory reductions if the voluntary ones don’t work.

2.5 years is a long time to wait for voluntary compliance.

My view

• These should have been mandatory to begin with.
• The target levels should be lower.
• The time scale should be faster.

Other than that, the FDA’s plan could be a useful first step.  We shall see.

Statements

• From FDA officials
• The American Heart Association  
• Center for Science in the Public Interest

Documents

• The FDA constituent update on sodium is available here.
• An FDA web page, “Sodium Reduction,” is available here.
• The FDA guidance for industry is available here.
• Dietary Guidelines for Americans  fact sheet on sodium
• A paper in JAMA from FDA officials on reducing sodium in the US

This one is so unusual that it demands attention.

The study: Thirty Days of Montmorency Tart Cherry Supplementation Has No Effect on Gut Microbiome Composition, Inflammation, or Glycemic Control in Healthy Adults.  Angela R. Hillman1* and Bryna C. R. Chrismas  Front. Nutr., 16 September 2021

Hypothesis: Polyphenols in Montmorency Tart Cherry products would influence the gut microbiome composition,which would modulate changes in inflammatory markers and glucose regulation.

Methods: Four groups of subjects consumed either concentrate or freeze-dried capsules or their corresponding placebos for 30 days.

Results: Only one of several inflammatory markers was reduced.  There were no changes in insulin, glycated albumin, or composition of bacterial phyla, families, or subfamilies for the duration of this study nor was there a change in species richness.

Conclusion: These data suggest that 30 days of MTC supplementation does not modulate the gut microbiome, inflammation, or improve glycemic control in a healthy, diverse group of adults.

Funding: This study was funded by a grant from The Cherry Marketing Institute.

Comment: I have previously posted several studies paid for by cherry trade associations; these yielded results demonstrating truly remrkable health benefits of cherry consumption (see this one on prevention of dementia, for example).

But this study found cherry extracts to do nothing special.

Applause to these authors!

All fruits have antioxidants of one kind or another.  Eating a variety of delicious fruits should be a pleasure, not a medical duty.

It’s past the cherry season in the Northeast where I live, but if you can get them, enjoy!

Agriculture and climate change interact in two ways: (a) agriculture contributes to climate change, and  (b) climate change affects agriculture.

In May, USDA published its plan to address (a): “Climate-Smart Agriculture and Forestry Strategy: 90-Day Progress Report.”

Secretary Vilsack explains:

We will look across climate science and research, forest health, outreach and education, existing programs, and new and emerging markets to advance climate-smart agriculture and forestry..Equity and justice will play a guiding role in our work…We will also prioritize actions that provide tangible, near-term benefts for low-income communities and communities of color.   I am confdent that in partnership with our country’s agriculture and forestry stakeholders, we can develop a strategy that is a win-win for our producers in building climate resilience, mitigating emissions, and conserving our natural resources.

Now the USDA has just issued its plan to address (b), formitigating the effects of climate change on agriculture.

USDA Secretary Vilsack explains:

As the “People’s Department,” USDA is preparing to help communities across the United States, both rural and urban, plan for and build resilience to the impacts of climate change.

People’s Department?  If only.

USDA’s strategy to help farmers deal with climate change will involve:

• Investing in soil and forest health
• Improving communication and accessibility on climate-smart strategies
• Making climate data more broadly available
• Increasing research
• Leveraging the USDA Climate Hubs, USDA’s regional networks for helping farmers adapt to climate change

These reports are densely written and require much reading between the lines to figure out what USDA is really going to do and whether its actions have any hope of succeeding.

Let’s hope they do.

I haven’t said much about unusual bottled waters since 2018 when I wrote about bottled ocean water.

2018 was also when I went on The Daily Show to be interviewed by Desi Lydic as the straitperson for her deep dive into “raw water” (surely, the funniest thing I’ve ever done).

Well, you can’t make up these things.

• Karma Water launches CBD Water:  Karma Water – a US brand which Constellation Brands has a minority stake in – has launched Karma CBD Water: the first such beverage in its wellness and probiotic waters beverage portfolio…. Read more
• Shine Water with Vitamin D: That this is about marketing more than health is evident from at least one review: “The brand messaging is where things go a little off track, slamming you with callouts and copy, trying to establish credibility for the drink’s functionality. These include a large green vitamin D callout, a Vitamin D Council “approved” logo, a “developed by physicians” logo, two mentions of their charitable intentions (5 percent of profits — a problem in that most startup beverage companies have zero or minimal profits for a while).
• Psychedelic Water: A friend who prefers to remain anonymous forwarded an e-mail from this company: “We would love to arrange an interview with you and the team of disruptors behind the launch of the first legal psychedelic, mild mood-boosting, hangover-free fun…Psychedelics have been touted in the media lately for the extreme benefits they have on mental health, depression, happiness, mood-stabilizing, and overall general well-being. Psychedelic Water works because it is the world’s first legal psychedelic blend of kava root, damiana leaf, and green tea A leaf extract for an experience like no other.

My only comment:  Really, there are better ways to get CBD, vitamin D, or even high if that’s what you are looking for.  Me?  I’m sticking to plain, ordinary drinking water, sometimes fizzed up a bit.