All About Food: Facts about food safety and disease prevention

I am always getting material from various sources about food and food safety. A lot of it is downright scary, but some of it has a positive slant, so let’s do that first.

1. The Women’s Nutrition Connection says the latest word from the Strang Cancer Prevention Center at the Weill Cornell Medical College is that dark chocolate holds a prominent place on the Strang list of foods that pack the biggest disease-fighting punch. Of course, the caveat is that two chocolates a day is the maximum.

2. From that same source comes a study that links coffee to a lower risk of stroke, basal cell carcinoma and depression in older women. The researchers found that women of the average age of 63 who drink four cups of caffeinated coffee daily are 20% less likely to become depressed than women who rarely drink coffee. More than four cups has no extra effect. They recommend not drinking it after late afternoon or evening since caffeine can interfere with sleep.

3. Another study found that women who ate the most fruits and vegetables and were the most physically active were eight times more likely to survive the following five years than women who were least active and consumed the fewest fruits and vegetables.

4. Consumer Reports has an article about the overuse of antibiotics to promote growth and prevent — rather than treat — disease in animals that people consume. Unfortunately, overuse can cause antibiotic-resistant bacteria to spread to people through air, water, soil, manure and contaminated meat. For this reason, Consumers International is urging KFC, McDonald’s and Subway to stop serving meat from animals raised on antibiotics used in human medicine.

“With a total of 100,000 locations around the world, those chains can help clean up the world’s food supply faster than governments alone,” says Consumers International.

5. The Food and Drug Administration is proposing a limit on arsenic in rice cereal for babies.

6. In 2014, Consumer Reports discovered that 97% of chicken breasts had been found to harbor bacteria that can make people sick. The Department of Agriculture initiated standards to guard against bacteria from whole chickens but not chicken parts. The good news is that rules have been changed, and now limits have been set on breasts, legs and wings, as well as ground chicken and turkey. This dramatic change is predicted to prevent 50,000 of the almost 2 million cases of food-borne salmonella and campylobacter each year.

7. Here’s another surprise that I found interesting. Unless it says “heart healthy” on the menu, chicken Caesar salad can weigh in at a hefty 800 calories — a third more than a Big Mac.

8. I also found that even though the label says “trans fat free,” a legal loophole could still allow 0.5 grams per serving.

9. Studies at Cornell say that turmeric, the common curry spice, induces suicide in beast cancer cells.

10. People who drink more than one soda a day have been linked to high blood pressure and high cholesterol. People who drink more than one serving of diet cola are also more likely to be overweight and have chronic diseases.

TERRY MARKOWITZ was in the gourmet food and catering business for 20 years. She can be reached for comments or questions at emarkos755@gmail.com.