Kusaki seared tofu

The Vegetarian Resource Group maintains an online Guide to Vegan/Vegetarian Restaurants in the USA and Canada. Here are some recent vegan restaurant additions. The entire guide can be found here: http://www.vrg.org/restaurant/index.php

To support the updating of this online restaurant guide, please donate at: www.vrg.org/donate

Here are some new additions to VRG’s guide:

Beach’n SF, 4300 Judah St., San Francisco, CA 94122

Beach’n SF is a vegan coffee bar and brunch and lunch restaurant. Breakfast is served all day and includes breakfast burritos with guacamole and hash cake bites as well as French toast topped with seasonal fruit. Lunch items include buffalo mac’n cheeze made with house-made sauce; a beach’n crunch wrap with refried beans, guacamole, house-made cheese sauce, and pickled jalapenos; and tofu sunset banh mi made with tofu marinated in a ginger-lime vinaigrette and topped with pickled carrots and jalapenos. Salads and sides are also available including Caesar salad, fries, and deep-fried Brussel sprouts.

Kusaki, 2535 S. Barrington Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90064

Minimalist, modern, and sophisticated omakase bar and sushi restaurant featuring elaborate, innovative plant-based sushi, sashimi, appetizers, and shareable non-sushi dishes. À la carte options include a variety of sushi rolls, hand rolls, sashimi, and nigiri. The fillings range from vegetables like trumpet mushroom and butternut squash to vegan “seafood” like salmon, tuna, and calamari. Crowd favorites include the king sushi roll, rainbow sushi roll, seared tuna nigiri, salmon nigiri, shishito burger, and avocado crispy rice. Taste and texture-wise, Kusaki’s offerings aren’t necessarily identical to their non-vegan counterparts. That being said, they are exquisitely layered, complex, and beautifully presented adaptations of the real thing. Can’t decide what to order? Reserve a spot at the eight-seat chef’s counter where diners can pick from five-course or seven-course omakase options. This gives the chef freedom to curate a meticulously crafted dinner featuring seasonal produce, elegant plating, and a delicately flavorful journey. Most menu items can be made gluten-free, and the building is wheelchair accessible. Additionally, valet parking and street parking are available.

Revelstoke, 195 Carlton St., Toronto, ON M5A 2K7, Canada and 641 George St. N., Peterborough, ON K9H 3S7 Canada

Revelstoke Café and Kitchen offers starters, brunch dishes, burgers, wraps, salad bowls, and coffee beverages. The all-day brunch includes the Classic Benny that tops a toasted English muffin with black salt tofu egg, seitan peameal, and house-made cashew hollandaise. Breakfast burritos are made with tofu scramble, hashbrowns, and seitan bacon and can be served wrapped in a flour tortilla or as a bowl. Handheld menu items include the Stoked Lentil Burger with a lentil, walnut, and apple patty. The beet and feta salad is made with greens, beets, and vegan feta topped with maple Dijon dressing.

The Happy Vegan Bakery and Café, 293 Bayshore Blvd., San Francisco, CA 94124

Hole-in-the-wall kitchen that offers a colorful variety of breakfast and lunch options. All items are gluten-free and vegan, and many are also soy-free. Try an Original Açaí Bowl with Almond Butter, an Ultimate Açaí / Dragonfruit Bowl, or a Breakfast Platter with hash browns and an additional side. The venue also carries waffles, smoothies, an array of loaded sandwiches, a medley of desserts, coffee, and tea. You can either order for pickup or delivery. Limited street parking is available; just pull up and parallel park into The Happy Vegan’s dedicated spot in front and then grab your order from the window. The Happy Vegan is LGBTQ-owned, and plastic-free/compostable containers are an option.

Tru Vegan Creamery, 1499 N. Nebraska Ave., Tampa, FL 33602

Tru Vegan Creamery offers a wide assortment of nondairy desserts such as Tru Scoops, served in cones or cups, “responsibly sourced,” coconut milk based and made “in house” are their answer to vegan-minded “ice cream.” Besides classic Vanilla, So So Berry (AKA Strawberry), there’s Chocolate Drip (AKA Double Chocolate). But wait, there’s more! Does your tongue crave some tang? How about Key Lime? If it’s your birthday, or you just want that special birthday feeling, you might try Birthday Behavior—Birthday Cake and Vanilla. And let’s not forget Chocolate Iced Cookies and Vanilla. There are seasonal flavors too such as Sinful Strawberry Cheesecake Tru Scoop: a mix of Plain Cheesecake, Coconut Milk Vanilla and Fresh Strawberries. Kid sized versions are also available. We could talk all day about Add ons. Besides the familiar favorites, there’s Whipped Coconut Cream, Maple Pecan Pralines, Caramel and Chocolate sauces, Dark Chocolate, Hemp and Chia Seeds, various fruits, Vegan Marshmellows and much more. If it’s a shake you’re seeking, their V Shakes offer some of the above flavors blended with signature additions like PB Me (Peanut butter and Chocolate) or AvoCoco (Avocado and Coconut). They serve at least four varieties of Lux Slushes. Watermelon Mint Please is a combo of Watermelon, Lime, So So Berry and Mint Leaves. In a hurry? They have a huge selection of Grab and Go including: Brownies, Yogurts, Cinnamon Buns, Cookies, Oatmeal Vegan Bites, Muffins, Cheesecake, Bottled Water, Pressed Juices and Protein Bars to name a few. Tru Vegan Creamery is located in fun and historic Ybor City, off 7th Ave. Parking is available.

Passover begins the evening of April 5, 2023 this year and The Vegetarian Resource Group is the publisher of several books that feature vegan Passover recipes. Below we share three recipes with you. In the USA, you can purchase these vegan cookbooks from the VRG Book Catalog here: http://www.vrg.org/catalog

Fresh Tomato Soup (from No Cholesterol Passover Recipes, by Debra Wasserman)

(Serves 4)

1 large onion, chopped

5 small ripe tomatoes, chopped

1-1/2 cups water

½ teaspoon fresh parsley, minced

Pepper and salt to taste

Combine all the ingredients in a large pot and cook over medium heat for 15 minutes and then cool. Place mixture in a blender cup and blend until creamy. Reheat and serve hot.

Minted Carrots with Chilies (from Vegan Passover Recipes, by Nancy Berkoff)

(Serves 4-5)

1-1/2 cups sliced onions

Vegetable oil spray

1 garlic clove, minced

2 Tablespoons peeled and minced fresh ginger

2 Tablespoons seeded and minced fresh chilies or green pepper

1-1/4 pounds carrots (about 3-1/2 cups), peeled and sliced lengthwise 1-inch thick

2 Tablespoons chopped fresh mint

Place onions in a large frying pan, spray liberally with vegetable oil, and sauté over medium heat until soft and golden, about 5 minutes. Add garlic, ginger, and chilies and stir. Allow to cook for 1 minute.

Add carrots and add enough water to just cover. Cook uncovered for 15 minutes, or until carrots are tender. Add mint, cook for 2 more minutes. Serve hot.

Russian Potato and Mushroom Croquettes (from The Lowfat Jewish Vegetarian Cookbook, by Debra Wasserman)

(Serves 5)

1-1/2 pounds potatoes, peeled and chopped

5 cups water

1 onion, peeled and chopped

¼ pound mushrooms

1 teaspoon oil

1 Tablespoon water

Salt and pepper to taste

1 cup matzo meal

1 Tablespoon oil

Boil potatoes in 5 cups water until tender. Drain and mash potatoes.

In a separate pan, sauté onion and mushrooms in 1 teaspoon oil and 1 Tablespoon water over medium-high heat for 3 minutes. Mix the mashed potatoes, sautéed onion and mushrooms, seasonings, and matzo meal together in a large bowl. Form 10 burgers (croquettes).

Heat 1 Tablespoon oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat. Fry croquettes for 8 minutes, flip over and continue frying for another 8 minutes. Serve two croquettes per person.

Don’t forget, you can purchase these vegan cookbooks from the VRG Book Catalog here: http://www.vrg.org/catalog

If you enjoy vegan Mexican food, you might want to swing by one of Papi’s Tacos four locations including Hampden and Fells Point in Baltimore, Towson, and Ocean City, Maryland. They have an extensive separate vegan menu with a wide variety of dishes including street tacos, tableside guacamole, nachos, tostadas, burritos, quesadillas, fried plantains made with agave syrup, several salsas, and more. They also offer some monthly specials.

For further information, visit https://papistacojoint.com/

For a complete list of veggie restaurants throughout the USA and Canada, go to: https://www.vrg.org/restaurant/index.php

By Reed Mangels, PhD, RD

The recently released dietary recommendations for the Spanish people consider health, sustainability, and the environmental impact of food. These recommendations were developed by the Scientific Committee of the Spanish Agency for Food Safety and Nutrition (AESAN). Although the recommendations do not eliminate animal foods, they call for a limited use of meat and greater use of plant foods. The recommendations call for consuming at least 3 servings daily of vegetables, 2-3 servings of fruits, and 3-6 servings of grains. Legumes should be eaten 4-7 times a week and nuts 3-7 times a week. Meat should be eaten no more than 3 times a week with minimal consumption of processed meat. Eggs are limited to 4 per week. Fish can be eaten 3 or more times per week with emphasis on fish with lower environmental impact. The recommendations call for eating 3 servings per day of dairy products but, due to the environmental impact of dairy products, “it is suggested to reduce the number of daily servings of dairy products if other foods of animal origin are consumed.”

The members of the 2025 U.S. Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee have been selected. Their task is to review the body of nutrition research and to develop a scientific report that includes the Committee’s advice for HHS and USDA to consider. This advice, along with public comments, will help HHS and USDA as they develop the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2025-2030.

Perhaps the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, HHS, and USDA can learn from Spain’s dietary recommendations and revise the U.S. Dietary Guidelines to include less meat and more legumes.

Reference:

Comité Cientifico AESAN. Informe del Comité Cientifico de la Agencia Española de Seguridad Alimientaria y Nutrición (AESAN) sobre recomendaciones dietéticas sostenibles y recomendaciones de actividad fisica para la población Española.

https://www.aesan.gob.es/AECOSAN/docs/documentos/seguridad_alimentaria/evaluacion_riesgos/informes_comite/INFORME_RECOMENDACIONES_DIETETICAS.pdf 2022

To read more about dietary guidelines see:

Do International Dietary Guidelines Promote Vegan/Vegetarian Diets?

The Dietary Pattern in Dietary Guidelines for Americans Could Easily be Made Vegan and Nutritionally Adequate

2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans Released

The Vegetarian Resource Group Testimony on the Dietary Guidelines

The Vegetarian Resource Group Sends in Testimony Regarding the 2020 Dietary Guidelines

East Carolina University is recruiting pregnant vegan and vegetarian women to participate in a research study that examines urine and breast milk iodine concentration. We need your help in this process.

The following are the basic eligibility criteria:

• Following one of the following diet patterns: vegan or vegetarian,
• Currently pregnant,
• Willing to provide 1 sample of urine while pregnant and one sample of breast milk approximately one month after delivery,
• Willing to complete a web-based screening survey and a diet questionnaire.

Women selected for the study will receive a gift card to reimburse them for their time.

More information about the study can be found at: https://www.vegstudy.com/

To complete eligibility screening visit (please use Firefox as your browser): https://go.ecu.edu/veg-study

We sincerely appreciate your help.
Roman Pawlak, Ph,D, RD
Principal Investigator
East Carolina University

By Reed Mangels, PhD, RD

I wouldn’t blame you if you looked at the title of a recently published study “Plant-based Diets and the Risk of Pancreatic Cancer: A Large Prospective Multi-Center Study” and concluded that this was a study of vegans (1). It was not, however, a study of vegans or of any sort of vegetarians, despite the mention of “plant-based diets” in the article’s title. “Plant-based,” as we’ve discussed on our website and in Vegan Journal (previously Vegetarian Journal), can mean anything from eating lots of plants (but also using animal products), to avoiding red meat, to being vegan. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does not have a legal definition of “plant-based.”

Let’s look at this study’s methods to see who the study subjects were and what led the researchers to indicate that their study was of plant-based diets. First, a bit of history. In 2016, researchers from Harvard University’s School of Public Health published a paper which used information collected from three large studies to examine the association between diet and type 2 diabetes (2). They created three indexes (tools) for evaluating the subjects’ diets.

The first index was an overall plant-based diet index in which plant foods received a positive score and animal products received a negative score. A higher score on this index meant that one was eating more plant foods but did not indicate whether or not they were vegan.

The second index was called a healthful plant-based diet index in which “healthy plant foods” (whole grains, fruits, vegetables, nuts, legumes, vegetable oils, tea/coffee) received positive scores and “less healthy plant foods” (fruit juices, sweetened beverages, refined grains, potatoes, sweets/desserts) and animal foods received negative scores. A higher score on this index meant that one was eating more healthy plant foods but did not indicate whether or not they were vegan.

The third index was called an unhealthful plant-based diet index in which positive scores were assigned to “less healthy plant foods” (fruit juices, sweetened beverages, refined grains, potatoes, sweets/desserts) and negative scores were assigned to “healthy plant foods” (whole grains, fruits, vegetables, nuts, legumes, vegetable oils, tea/coffee) and animal foods. A higher score on this index meant that one was eating more unhealthy plant foods. Again, despite use of “plant-based” the diets being evaluated included animal products.

These tools were used to examine the association between risk of type 2 diabetes and diets with higher scores on the plant-based diet index, the healthful plant-based diet index, and the unhealthful plant-based diet index (1). Since the original study was published, many other studies have used these indices to evaluate the relation between so-called plant-based diets and disease.

The previously mentioned study of “plant-based diets” and pancreatic cancer used these three plant-based indices to evaluate the association between diet and pancreatic cancer (2). More than 100,000 U.S. adults answered questions about which foods they ate and how often they ate them. Subjects were not vegans. They were then followed for an average of almost 9 years to see who would be diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Those with higher scores on the healthful plant-based diet index had a lower risk of developing pancreatic cancer; those with higher scores on the unhealthful plant-based diet index had a higher risk of developing pancreatic cancer.

These results support the importance of choosing healthful plant foods and limiting use of unhealthful plant foods. They do not allow any conclusions to be made about vegan diets.

References

1. Satija A, Bhupathiraju SN, Rimm EB, et al. Plant-based dietary patterns and incidence of type 2 diabetes in US men and women: Results from three prospective cohort studies. PLoS Med. 2016;13(6):e1002039.
2. Zhong GC, Li Z, You AJ, Zhu Q, Wang CR, Yang PF. Plant-based diets and the risk of pancreatic cancer: a large prospective multicenter study. Am J Clin Nutr. 2023;117(2):235-242.

To read more about what a plant-based diet means see:

What Does Plant-Based Mean To the Public?

Definition of Plant-based

What Does Plant-based Actually Mean?

Normally vegan meals on airlines can be hit or miss. We were happy to get great meals for both breakfast and dinner on a recent El Al flight from Newark, NJ to Tel Aviv, Israel. Both were quite filling! Breakfast included scramble tofu with potatoes and veggies, fresh fruit, raw veggies, and a chocolate pastry. Dinner was a bialy with hummus, health salad, rice/lentils/succotash main dish, as well as a chocolate vegan mousse.

Our return flight had different meal options that were delicious too. Please note that you want to request this option: Pure vegetarian (vegan) meal (VGML): meal contains no eggs, dairy products or animal products

By Jeanne Yacoubou, MS

A growing body of research shows that a vegan diet has a substantially lower ecological (or environmental) footprint than a meat-based or even a vegetarian diet. For a recent review, see our article from 2021.

Adding to the evidence in favor of plant-based diets is a 2022 article published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences by Michael Clark and colleagues. In this blog post, The VRG offers article highlights, pros and cons, and suggested ways you can use this information in your daily life. (Note: For other comments, please see Reed Mangels’ post on this article.)

Estimating the environmental impacts of 57,000 food products: Article Highlights

Here’s a summary of the major conclusions from this research.

• More nutritious foods tend to be more environmentally sustainable, that is, have fewer
• ecological footprints).
• Like-for-like substitutes (for example, meat analogs for meat) can have highly variable environmental and nutritional impacts.
• Research methodology was based on percent composition of ingredients from package labels or estimated from similar products; relied on reputable nutrition and environmental databases to determine impacts.
• Foods with low environmental impacts tend to have water as a major ingredient (sugary drinks) or plant-based ingredients (chips, crackers).
• Foods with high environmental impacts tend to have animal ingredients (beef jerky).
• To test the algorithm’s accuracy, the researchers compared the environmental impact scores generated using the methodology described above to scores estimated when ingredient composition in the same products was not known. The estimated environmental impact score was within 10% of the known score for 66% of products; within 25% for 85%. From this, the authors concluded that their method was sound.
• According to the authors, here is the listing of food products from a major UK retailer ranked with those with the lowest environmental impact to those with the highest:
  • Sugary drinks/beverage with mostly water
  • Vegetables, snacks (e.g., chips), dairy and meat alternatives, some cereal grains, and breads
  • Desserts (e.g., cakes), other cereals and breads, and prepared foods (e.g., pizzas)
  • Nuts, sweet and savory spreads, cheese, fish, and some meats (pork and poultry)
  • Beef and lamb products
• Researchers stated that their analysis revealed that a “…lack of ingredient sourcing information is a potential limitation.” So, to calculate more accurate environmental impact scores, they called for greater transparency from companies about their ingredient sourcing.
• When pairing environmental impact with nutritional impact (using a system called NutriScore), they found that, like their previous research on single-ingredient foods, multi-ingredient healthy foods generally have low environmental impacts compared to less healthy foods with multiple ingredients. Here is the breakdown considering both environmental and nutritional impacts. (Note: low nutritional impact means the food is not nutritious.)
  • Foods with low environmental impact/high nutritional impact: fruits, vegetables, salad, breakfast cereals, some breads, and meat alternatives (e.g., tofu, vegan sausages)
  • Foods with high environmental impact/low nutritional impact: cheese, chocolate, savory pies, and quiches
  • Foods with high environmental impact/high nutritional impact: fish and seafood, nuts, and some prepared meals. They also included beef and lamb in this category, stipulating that beef leads to negative health outcomes in “high-income and high-consuming contexts,” but “…animal-based foods in food-insecure contexts can be integral to nutrition security.”
  • Foods with low nutritional impact/low environmental impact: sweet cakes and pies, sugary drinks, frozen desserts, and table sauces
  • Higher-environmental impact breakfast cereals: granola or those containing chocolate
  • Lower-environmental impact pot pies: “…predominantly vegetarian or vegan.”
• When looking at the claim that “Replacing meat, dairy, and eggs with plant-based alternatives could have large environmental and health benefits in places where consumption of these foods is high,” to see if it were true, they discovered (when considering these examples):
  • Environmental impact of sausages: beef or lamb sausages had on average a 240% higher impact than pork sausages, which had a 100% higher impact than chicken and turkey sausages, which had a 170% higher impact than vegan and vegetarian sausages.
  • Health impact of sausages: beef, lamb, or pork sausages had a 20% higher nutritional impact than chicken and turkey sausages, which in turn had a 75% higher impact than vegan and vegetarian sausages.
  • Environmental impact of pesto: “Nuts were determinants of high environmental impacts, while dairy was a driver of poor nutrition quality.”
  • Environmental impact of lasagna: “…beef lasagna having the highest impact, pork and poultry lasagna having intermediate impacts, and vegetarian and vegan lasagna having the lowest impacts. There were no significant differences in the nutrition impact of different types of lasagna.”
  • Environmental and health impacts of cookies: “…chocolate was a key determinant of both environmental and nutrition, with cookies containing chocolate having, on average, a 13% worse nutrition composition and a 46% higher environmental impact.”
• In considering the effect of changing ingredient sourcing on impacts, (for example, changing country of origin or farming method), the authors said it was “…unlikely to result in meat-based sausages and lasagna having lower environmental impacts than vegetarian and vegan products, but it could result in nut-based pesto and chocolate cookies having lower environmental impacts than their counterparts.”
• The researchers concluded that “…across retail categories, many of the most nutritious food (but not drink) categories are also among the most environmentally sustainable.” This means there “…does not need to be a tradeoff between nutrition and environment.”

Estimating the environmental impacts of 57,000 food products: Pros of Article

Here are some pros of the article:

• Breadth. The article provides a good snapshot of the multitude of food products on the market today by considering all major food categories in the UK and Ireland.
• Depth. By considering four major environmental parameters (greenhouse gas emissions, scarcity-weighted water use, land use, and aquatic eutrophication potential) and nutritional value as determined by NutriScore, the article provides a comprehensive look at the environmental-nutritional impacts of various foods.
• Statistical analysis. The article’s multiple statistical analyses allow the researchers to make trustworthy conclusions about the certainty of their findings.
• Helpful information for people who eat mostly processed food purchased in UK and Irish grocery stores. Unlike most research on this topic, this article considers the environmental impacts of all ingredients in store-bought food products based on their percentage in the product and country of origin (when possible).

Estimating the environmental impacts of 57,000 food products: Cons of Article

Here are some points we hope the authors will consider for future work on this topic. The VRG reached out to the researchers with questions related to these points, but did not yet receive a reply.

• Assumption that personal carbon footprint matters. An idea created by a fossil fuel corporation as a marketing tactic personal carbon footprint shifts responsibility and the spotlight away from companies supplying climate-damaging products and making tax-free, heavily subsidized huge profits from them, and places it markedly and unwittingly on individuals. While personal food choices have different environmental impacts, a focus instead on the current agricultural industry’s environmental impact would make the need for systemic change readily apparent if human civilization is to survive the 21^st
• Narrow focus The article considered food products in the United Kingdom and Ireland only. We’d like to see how applicable these conclusions are to other countries, including the United States and other major carbon emitters (e.g., China).
• Unclear why the researchers used France’s NutriScore. The researchers are based in the UK. NutriScore is based on the British Food Standards Agency’s nutrient profiling system.
• Placed equal weight on the four environmental indicators used in their algorithm. While greenhouse gas emissions, water stress, land use, and eutrophication potential are all relevant parameters when determining environmental impact, it is not true that all are equally important for a given ingredient in all cases. The following series of graphs on milks is a case in point (almond and rice milks). An analysis reflecting this fact would be more realistic.

Restricted number of environmental metrics. Although the list is long of what the authors could have chosen, inclusion of differences in pesticide use and deforestation rates to produce certain foods will enhance knowledge of the specific environmental costs to produce some foods. Although these costs might be embedded in the chosen parameters, delineating it further may influence someone’s decision to purchase certain foods as well as call needed attention to the food category as environmentally damaging in those ways. For instance, since palm oil production necessitates mangrove forest destruction, foods containing ingredients derived from palm oil should receive higher environmental impact scores compared to foods that don’t use palm oil-derived ingredients.

• Did not consider the deep uncertainty inherent in the effects of the climate crisis on the nutritional value of foods or the likelihood of their cultivation. Investigators are just beginning to assess or predict how the climate crisis will impact crops and the nutritional profiles of foods. Also, as soil is degraded by industrialized agriculture, nutritional values of foods are adversely affected. Considering the statistically relevant notion of deep uncertainties in issues related to the climate crisis would likely reduce the confidence levels of the authors’ conclusions.
• It may be cheaper to eat at restaurants than at home. According to a 2022 analysis, food inflation is greater at home than at restaurants. So grocery store information is not helpful. Analyzing data from popular restaurants would be more useful.
• Not helpful for individuals on a whole foods diet. If you are on a whole foods diet, Poore & Nemecek’s 2018 article is more informative. org presents this information, as well as data on food products from Clark, et. al.’s article reviewed here. Helpful tables covering the environmental impacts looking at single metrics (for example, carbon footprint) or composite impacts of four environmental parameters are available.

How You Can Use the Information from Estimating the environmental impacts of 57,000 food products

• If you’d like to consider the impact on the environment that your food choices have, you may use this article as a:
• General guideline when shopping in a grocery store
• Validation for your vegan food choices
• Way to assess the nutritional value you obtain from foods in light of their environmental costs
• Cross check on the criteria of a growing number of ecolabels appearing on food items

The contents of this posting, our website, and our other publications, including Vegetarian Journal and Vegan Journal, are not intended to provide personal medical advice. Medical advice should be obtained from a qualified health professional. We often depend on product and ingredient information from company statements. It is impossible to be 100% sure about a statement, info can change, people have different views, and mistakes can be made. Please use your best judgment about whether a product is suitable for you. To be sure, do further research or confirmation on your own

A Vegetarian Resource Group member recently reported that it was easy to find vegan food in Iceland, even in remote areas. Pictured is a vegan nut steak with couscous. All week she found excellent vegan soups as well.

By Odette Olivares, MSN, VRG volunteer

In this social media era where we can easily access a high amount of information, it is difficult to critically analyze every piece of information, especially those that belong to areas in which we are not knowledgeable. Additionally, properly communicating risks of food contaminants can be quite challenging for scientists, public health agents, and health professionals since people tend to underestimate risks and overestimate benefits. Periconception, pregnancy, lactation, and infancy are critical periods for brain development, future health, and growth. Therefore, it is of the utmost importance to have clarity on nutrition guidelines and contaminant risks during those life stages.

On February 9^th and 10^th 2023, the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) hosted a two-day virtual workshop on research in risk communication, environmental contaminants in food, and the role of nutrition related to child development. This workshop supported the FDA’s Closer to Zero action plan, and their goal to reduce dietary exposure to arsenic, lead, cadmium, and mercury while maintaining access to foods that help to provide nutrients essential for child growth and development.

Conrad Choiniere, FDA Office of Analytics and Outreach director, explained that contaminants are naturally occurrent in soil, water, and air, but can also derive from human activity. For example, pollution can result in contamination. Fruits, vegetables, and grains can contain contaminants; despite this potential contamination, these foods are fundamental components of a healthy diet. Reducing these contaminants requires a multidisciplinary science-based approach and the joint effort of experts, researchers, nutritionists, and societies.

Intakes of magnesium, vitamin D, E, iron, and folate tend to be below the recommended levels in women’s diets prior to and during pregnancy. This is caused by poor food choices and could be solved by increasing the consumption of foods high in these nutrients. However, the increased consumption of nutritious foods could be accompanied by an increased risk of greater intake of contaminants.

Anna Siega-Riz, Dean and Professor in the Departments of Nutrition and Biostatistics, and Epidemiology, at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, talked about nutrient deficiencies in pregnant and lactating women and shared the FDA’s Total Diet Study Report results. This study focused on analyzing food samples and detecting heavy metals such as cadmium, lead, arsenic, and methylmercury.

The highest concentrations of cadmium are found in plant foods and it is present in most vegetable samples even if at low levels. Sunflower seeds, spinach, and lettuce were the plant foods with the highest cadmium concentrations. Lead was not detectable in 86% of food samples but was present in baby foods, sweet potatoes, teething biscuits, sandwich cookies, and white wine. The highest concentrations of arsenic and methylmercury were found in baked cod, canned tuna, fish sticks, baked salmon, and shrimp. Rice and rice products were also among foods with the highest arsenic concentrations.

Good nutrition helps to protect against the hazards associated with environmental contaminants such as lead, cadmium, arsenic, and methylmercury. Avoiding healthy foods because of fear of contaminants might cause more harm than good, so parents should prioritize including a wide variety of healthy foods to achieve U.S. Dietary Guidelines.