Todays Newsbites

The US Department of Agriculture is declaring war on food waste, likening the effort to the anti-littering campaigns of the 1960s and 1970s. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced a goal of cutting the amount of food Americans waste by 50% by 2030.

Do you want a candy bar with that diet soda? University of Illinois researchers report that people who drink diet beverages are more likely to allow themselves treats, sometimes referred to in technical terms as "discretionary foods."

As expected, the Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA) has petitioned the US Food and Drug Administration to allow certain specific low-level uses of artificial trans fats. The GMA petitioned the agency using the process by which food additives are approved, hoping to carve out exceptions to the FDAs recent ruling that artificial trans fats are no longer generally recognized as safe. (See the September newsletter.) But that process can be complex and time-consuming, potentially stretching out close to the mid-2018 deadline for removing the fats.

New York Citys proposed salt-shaker icon warning chain-restaurant patrons about high sodium levels was unanimously approved by the citys health officials. (See the August NewsBites.) The menu icon, which will be mandated as of Dec. 1, will identify items containing more than 2,300 milligrams of sodium-an entire days maximum intake, according to current recommendations.

Although US diabetes rates continue to climb, the rate of increase has slowed since 2008, according to a new study in JAMA.

Nearly a decade after the government-sponsored National Pork Board bought the Other White Meat slogan for $60 million from a pork lobbying group, a lawsuit to undo the deal will be allowed to proceed.

Is your reusable grocery bag making you fat? A new study published in The Journal of Marketing reports that people who go green and bring reusable bags to the supermarket are more likely to reward themselves for their environmentally friendly behavior by indulging in ice cream, cookies and potato chips.

Your genes may help explain why you put more sugar in your coffee and on your cereal than other people do. A new study of 1,900 twins and their siblings reports that about 30% of variations in sweet taste perception can be attributed to genetics. People who perceive sweet taste less strongly may add more to satisfy their sweet tooth. Researchers tested four sweeteners, including two non-nutritive options, but found no difference between them, suggesting a single mechanism for sweetness perception regardless of calorie content. The findings were published in Twin Research and Human Genetics.

Americans are spending $10.5 billion a year on products labeled gluten-free, but only about one-third of consumers can correctly identify what gluten is. A telephone survey of 1,012 US adults conducted for NSF International found plenty of confusion about gluten, a protein found in grains including wheat, barley and rye that patients with celiac disease must avoid. Just over a quarter (26%) mistakenly said they think products that are wheat-free are necessarily also gluten-free; 15% defined gluten as simply wheat. On the other hand, 47% erroneously said rice contains gluten and 34% said potatoes do. Asked reasons for avoiding gluten, 19% said they suffer from gluten allergy or sensitivity, 12% said going gluten-free makes them feel healthier, and 9% self-identified as having celiac disease (an autoimmune disorder that scientists say affects only about 0.75% of the population).

Its not news that Americans have been packing on the pounds, but a new CDC report puts that weight gain into eye-opening perspective: The average US woman now weighs as much as an average man did in the early 1960s, while the average 2015 man weighs almost as much as 1.5 women from the 1960s. Women have gained an average of more than 26 pounds, up from 140 to just over 166 pounds. In the same timespan, the average man has put on nearly 30 pounds, going from about 166 pounds to 195.5 today.