Todays Newsbites

In what may prove a landmark ruling for food and beverage health claims, a US appeals court largely upheld a Federal Trade Commission order requiring proof of promises made for a popular pomegranate-juice drink. In its original 2010 order, the FTC had challenged magazine advertisements for POM Wonderful that claimed the beverage combats heart disease and other ailments. The appeals-court ruling overturned the agencys requirement that two human clinical trials back up such claims in all cases as too onerous. But the three-judge panel agreed that the ads were misleading and that at least one randomized clinical trial could be required to substantiated any claims of treating or preventing disease.

Most Americans support new rules requiring calorie counts on chain-restaurant menus and prepared foods in supermarkets, according to an Associated Press-Gfk poll. The long-awaited rules announced by the US Food and Drug Administration have generated opposition from some in the food industry. (See NewsBites, February.) But 56% in the poll supported calorie counts on fast-food menus, 54% at sit-down restaurants, and 52% on prepared grocery foods. Women and college-educated people were more likely to support the rules.

Trends to watch in nutrition-driven consumer choices this year will include growing popularity for seeds and nuts, green tea and ancient grains such as amaranth, quinoa, spelt and freekah, according to a survey of 500 registered dietitians. The survey, conducted for the journal Todays Dietitian, predicted that consumers will eat less red meat and continue to turn away from low-fat diets. Kale and coconut will remain popular based on their perceived health benefits (accurate for kale, less so for coconut), as will healthy choices like Greek yogurt and avocado. The dietitians also predicted consumers will keep trying gluten-free and wheat-free diets to lose weight (rather than out of genuine need, as in celiac-disease patients), despite a lack of evidence supporting such regimens for weight loss, while the so-called Paleo diet will gain in popularity. Also on the rise: misinformation about nutrition, fueled in part by the Internet.

French-fries and potato-chip fans concerned about cancer risk from fried potatoes may have hope on the horizon. Idaho-based J.R. Simplot Co. has received USDA regulatory approval for a genetically modified potato that produces less acrylamide when fried. Thats the naturally occurring chemical linked to concerns about increased cancer risk from fried-potato consumption. The Innate potato, which comes in Russet Burbank, Ranger Russet and Atlantic varieties, also resists bruising, a potential money-saver for growers and processors.

Despite a drumbeat of bad press for aspartame, the US Food and Drug Administration says theres no new credible scientific evidence to change the agencys position that the zero-calorie sweetener is safe for the general population. The FDA recently rejected two citizen petitions calling for an aspartame ban. The agency noted it had analyzed 195 reports of supposed aspartame-related side effects over a 10-year span and did not identify any causal link between aspartame consumption and the reported adverse events or an established mechanism that would explain how aspartame is associated with the reported adverse events.

Ignorance may not be bliss, at least when it comes to calories, so the US Food and Drug Administration will soon require calorie counts for everything from chain restaurants to movie-theater popcorn to vending machines. The rules stemmed from the 2010 passage of the Affordable Care Act, and were initially proposed in 2011, but the FDA delayed the final rules for three years in the face of industry opposition. Compliance will now be required by late this year, with vending-machine companies getting an extra year.

An independent expert group that advises the government on evidence-based medicine says theres not enough evidence to recommend routine vitamin D screening for healthy people. Scientists for the US Preventive Services Task Force reviewed 17 studies of treating vitamin D deficiency in people without clinical symptoms. In recommendations published in Annals of Internal Medicine, the experts concluded that the association between vitamin D status and health outcomes is unclear, and the threshold for determining deficiency has not been firmly established.

A new study, published in JAMA, reports that products sold as dietary supplements that have been recalled by the FDA often find their way back onto store shelves on average only a year later. The products were found to contain powerful but undisclosed prescription drugs, anabolic steroids and banned amphetamine-like compounds. But researchers were able to purchase 27 such recalled products with identical packaging; many others, they noted, return to the market with cosmetic changes to labels or branding.

The incredible, edible egg is back ruling the roost, with US consumption expected to hit an eight-year high-almost back to the level of 2006, before concerns over cholesterol caused a slump. The American Egg Board reports that consumers have added 10 eggs per capita since 2011, cracking an estimated 257.9 eggs per person per year in 2014. Overall egg production was up 3% over 2013.

Would labeling added sugars on the Nutrition Facts panel confuse consumers, as industry opponents of the change have suggested? A new study of 500 consumers, published in the journal Obesity, rebuts those concerns: 63% of those surveyed said that including added sugar as a subset of total sugar on product labels would help them track and reduce their sugar intake. Only 18% responded that the change would be more confusing than helpful, giving reasons that suggest they were indifferent to the information rather than truly confused, and were likely among those who seldom look at nutrition labels anyway.