These chickpeas, in pod and on stem, are being grown on a farm in Shoa, Ethiopia about an hour from the capital city, Addis Ababa.  The chickpea was originally found in what is now Turkey about 7,500 years ago. There are 2 main types of chickpea: Desi, which has small, darker seeds and a rough coat, cultivated mostly in the Indian subcontinent, Ethiopia, Mexico, and Iran; and kabuli, which has lighter colored, larger seeds and a smoother coat, mainly grown in Southern Europe, Northern Africa, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Chile.

I have been studying and observing people’s relationship with food for the past twenty years. We all generally accept the fact that what we eat and how we live affect our body and our health.  DON’T WE?!  So now I am more intrigued with another very important question — how can we create a society that’s addicted to health.

The current conversation around nutrition isn’t very inspiring.  It’s no wonder (1) Experts rarely agree on nutrition science; (2) Media bombards us with conflicting reports; (3) Most doctors don’t have the time to talk about it.  Most of what we hear is so technical, boring & complicated that the critical connection between nutrition and overall health gets missed.  My passion is figuring out how to reframe and refresh all this so that people WANT to make the connection and actually SEE the benefit of it.

We need to evolve our approach AND change our tone. We have oversimplified nutrition messages to a list of do’s and don’ts to make it easier for people to hear and act. But we have not been NEARLY as effective as I think we could be.

I recently spoke at TEDxOrangeCoast on this very topic, hear more about my ideas by watching this video and let me know what you think.

Mehmood ended the interview by saying, “You learn, you continue
 to improve, you stay ahead.”

Read the whole interview to find out more.

Eating a healthy breakfast is a fundamental step in building a nutritious, total diet that meets the updated Dietary Guidelines for Americans. A growing body of research supports eating breakfast regularly for heart health, lower body weight and improved overall diet quality. Breakfast consumers tend to have higher micronutrient intakes, partly because of the fortification of breakfast cereals, and have a better macronutrient profile than “breakfast skippers” (1). Studies in children suggest that breakfast eaters are more likely to meet daily nutrient intake guidelines compared with children who eat breakfast infrequently or skip breakfast (2).

Evidence suggests that regular breakfast consumers also have healthier body weights than those who skip breakfast (3). It has been suggested that skipping breakfast may lead to overall greater levels of hunger later in the day, which in turn may lead to overeating, particularly foods that are higher in energy density (4-6). Similarly, children who regularly eat breakfast tend to have a lower BMI and are less likely to be overweight than those who eat breakfast less frequently (7-10). Evidence in children also suggests that breakfast consumption may have generally positive effects on cognitive performance in comparison with breakfast omission (11).

Consequently, having a nutritious breakfast daily can benefit your overall health in numerous ways; besides fueling your body after the overnight fast, the perfect breakfast not only helps the body get the micro and macronutrients required for the day, it can also help reduce the mid-morning loss of energy, and may support your goals to manage cholesterol, blood sugar and blood pressure. Oatmeal is a good example – many studies conducted with Quaker Oats led the FDA to conclude that 3g of soluble fiber daily from oatmeal, in a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol may reduce the risk of heart disease.

Despite the evidence showing the important role breakfast can play in helping adults and children meet nutrition recommendations, only half consume breakfast daily.  Quaker aims to be a part of the public-health solution by helping alleviate America’s breakfast deficit and hopes to advance the scientific understanding and definition of a healthy breakfast as requested by the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee’s June 2010 report.

We are looking forward to collaborating with the scientific community in this area through research to address some key questions: What are the reasons people skip breakfast? Time can be a factor for many in our busy lives; do we design a breakfast with convenience in mind, or focus on behavioral strategies to help individuals return to the habit of a daily breakfast? There is also a perception that skipping breakfast can contribute to weight management despite all the evidence to the contrary. How do we change that perception to ensure breakfast becomes part of a weight management strategy? Are there technological breakthroughs and unlocks that would be game-changing for children and adults to enjoy breakfast?

1. Timlin MT, Pereira MA. Breakfast frequency and quality in the etiology of adult obesity and chronic diseases. Nutr Rev 2007;65:268–81.
2. Deshmukh-Taskar PR, Nicklas TA, O’Neil CE, Keast DR, Radcliffe JD, Cho S. The relationship of breakfast skipping and type of breakfast consumption with nutrient intake and weight status in children and adolescents: the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 1999 2006. J Am Diet Assoc. 2010 Jun;110(6):869-78.
3. Smith KJ, Gall SL, McNaughton SA, Blizzard L, Dwyer T, Venn AJ. Skipping breakfast: longitudinal associations with cardiometabolic risk factors in the Childhood Determinants of Adult Health Study. Am J Clin Nutr. 2010 Dec;92(6):1316-25. Epub 2010 Oct 6
4. Nicklas TA, Bao W, Webber LS, Berenson GS. Breakfast consumptionaffects  adequacy of total daily intake in children. J Am Diet Assoc 1993; 93:886–91.
5. Sampson AE, Dixit S, Meyers AF, Houser R Jr. The nutritional impact of breakfast consumption on the diets of inner-city African-American elementary school children. J Natl Med Assoc 1995;87:195–202.
6. Sjoberg A, Hallberg L, Hoglund D, Hulthen L. Meal pattern, food choice, nutrient intake and lifestyle factors in The Goteborg Adolescence Study. Eur J Clin Nutr 2003;57:1569–78.
7. Rampersaud GC, Pereira MA, Girard BL, Adams J, Metzl JD (2005). Breakfast habits, nutritional status, body weight, and academic performance in children and adolescents. J Am Diet Assoc 105, 743–760; quiz 761-742.
8. Utter J, Scragg R, Mhurchu CN, Schaaf D (2007). At-home breakfast consumption among New Zealand children: associations with body mass index and related nutrition behaviors. J Am Diet Assoc 107, 570–576.
9. Croezen S, Visscher TL, Ter Bogt NC, Veling ML, Haveman-Nies A (2009). Skipping breakfast, alcohol consumption and physical inactivity as risk factors for overweight and obesity in adolescents: results of the E-MOVO project. Eur J Clin Nutr 63, 405–412.
10. Timlin MT, Pereira MA, Story M, Neumark-Sztainer D (2008). Breakfast eating and weight change in a 5-year prospective analysis of adolescents: Project EAT (Eating Among Teens). Pediatrics 121, e638–e645.
11. Hoyland A, Dye L, Lawton CL. A systematic review of the effect of breakfast on the cognitive performance of children and adolescents. Nutr Res Rev. 2009 Dec; 22(2):220-43. Epub.Review

The first report, ‘2011 State of the World: Innovations that Nourish the Planet’, was produced by the Worldwatch Institute. The report is based on two years of extensive reviews of farming and food across Africa. It highlights the centrality of women as the major contributors to farming, the massive post harvest losses that remain common, and the importance of taking an ecological approach to addressing soil health. It is illustrated with many optimistic stories of real progress in boosting productivity in a continent that contains over 250 million of the world’s 1 billion hungry.

The second report, a product of the United Kingdom’s Foresight team and entitled ‘The Future of Food and Farming: Challenges and Choices for Global Sustainability’ is based in the inputs of over 400 scientists around the world. The report paints a stark picture of a failing food system that will be subject to greater volatility in years to come. It highlights how the current food system has negative impacts on global water use, green house gas emissions, biodiversity and human health.

At the official launch on January 25^th, the report received strong support from the UK government along with a commitment to act on the domestic and international recommendations.  These include: increasing food supply in a more sustainable and intensified way and through greater use of a range of technology options; moderating demand for some foods, particularly meat; reducing waste (post harvest waste in Africa and post purchase waste in developed countries); and building closer links between nutrition and agriculture (with a greater focus on biofortification being just one example cited).

The emphasis on Africa comes just as PepsiCo has announced plans to step up its activities on the continent. This creates unprecedented opportunities to partner with leading development agencies like the UK Department for International Development (DFID) and United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and build private-public alliances aimed at boosting ecologically sustainable forms of agriculture that are directly linked to job creation and hunger elimination.

The focus on sustainable agriculture comes as we implement our bold commitments on health and the environment in a more integrated way. For example, as we expand our dairy business, we will need to consider ways of offsetting the increased methane production it will cause with tree planting and other agricultural investments.

The success of our Global Nutrition Group, and in fact all of PepsiCo, will increasingly depend upon how we secure our supply chain for the future. And this will increasingly require us to redouble our insights and investments in sustainable agriculture. I urge our readers to read these reports and send comments about how you feel we should respond in the short, medium and long term. This might start by committing to eat less meat, starting a vegetable garden, or becoming a volunteer!

The lab has eight full-time scientists whose work focuses on finding ways to make snack foods more healthful. The article quotes three scientists who are also Food Frontiers bloggers: Mark Pirner, Eric Milgram and Jeff Zachwieja.

The article reads, in part:

“PepsiCo officials say the lab is part of a pattern toward offering more healthful fare. In expanding its product line, Pepsi has bought part of Sabra, a company that makes hummus; its Frito-Lay division now offers sunflower seeds and several types of nuts. And the company recently bought Wimm-Bill-Dann, a Russian dairy company.

Placing a greater emphasis on science, Pepsi hired Mehmood Khan in 2007 as its chief scientific officer. Khan, who had worked as an endocrinologist at the Mayo Clinic, has set such goals as reducing sodium and added sugar by 25 percent in key products and reducing saturated fat by 15 percent.

Before the new lab opened, Khan says, Pepsi scientists had found a way to reduce salt on chips by reducing the size of salt crystals. They dissolve on the tongue faster, so more salt is tasted even though there is less of it. The New Haven lab doesn’t have specific breakthroughs to boast of yet, or at least not any they can talk about publicly.”

Much of what we highlight on Food Frontiers takes place in labs just like the one highlighted in this article. Of the research profiled in the article, which sounded the most interesting to you?

Dr. Shapin, a professor of the History of Science at Harvard, traces the history of how people have viewed healthy eating and drinking. In particular, I was interested in the section in which Dr. Shapin discusses the meaning of “expert” in the nutrition science context. He outlines the tension between nutrition as hard science and nutrition as popular culture and does so in a compelling manner.

Dr. Shapin begins with a discussion of the mainstream hard scientific view of nutrition. His narrative draws parallels between the standard clinical dietary focus of eating to avoid heart disease, diabetes and cancer and the prescription of medicine. Rather than treating food as an aspect of an individual’s life, the hard scientists sterilize it with talk of disease control.

I was struck by the thought that while people “eat to live,” food plays a much more important role in an individual’s daily social experience than a comparison to aspirin would suggest. Dr. Shapin describes how the academic nutritionist will expound on the virtues of healthy eating by describing how certain foods will reduce the population risk of diabetes by X% when their audience really desires personalized responses to personal concerns.

By contrast, nutrition experts were compared with the popular “experts” such as Dr. Atkins. Unlike the scientists, Dr. Atkins marketed his materials with personal testimonials of how a low-carbohydrate diet immensely improved the lives of actual people. Representing the individual allowed Dr. Atkins to touch on the immediately appreciable aspects of food and dieting choices: the actual results of personal choices.  (Of course, it didn’t hurt the popularity of the Atkins diet that that it gave permission to eat as much of what you wanted of the foods you were not supposed to be eating.)

It is true that as a nutritionist I resort to research to back my recommendations on the right foods to eat.  But unlike some scientists who attempt to take a dogmatic approach and advise people to avoid certain foods, I believe that it is more important to choose to eat what you enjoy and to enjoy sensible portions. At PepsiCo we are investigating how individual dietary behavioral change can be encouraged. Clearly, future health risks are a motivator for only a small percentage of the population.

This holiday season I have been practicing the individual demonstration approach to illustrate correct portions in the work cafeteria.  And on Christmas Eve, I made sure to leave Santa a sensible snack!

Undernutrition is one of the world’s most serious and least addressed global health and development problems. As a global food and beverage company, PepsiCo believes it can play an important role in reducing the human and economic costs of the issue. Women and children are undernutrition’s biggest victims and, along with other development challenges, undernutrition causes an estimated 3.5 million preventable maternal and child deaths a year.  Folate deficiency, which contributes to premature birth, low birthweight and neural tube defects in infants, plays a crucial role in undernutrition. The human body requires folate to manufacture erythrocytes, synthesize DNA, and to regulate normal growth. The recommended daily intake for young women is 400 mg. Poor overall nutrition and lack of access to folate-enriched food products present a critical barrier to women in developing countries.

As part of the our response to this issue, PepsiCo worked closely with the New York Academy of Sciences, InnoCentive and Scientists Without Borders to develop a recently posted “Challenge” on food fortification for women in developing countries.  The Challenge seeks to leverage open innovation for solutions to develop a low-cost, practicable, and scalable method to effectively and safely fortify or supplement staple foods with folic acid.  Folic acid supplementation in the pre-conception phase is critical for saving the lives of millions of infants and yet many women in developing countries face many barriers to getting enough folate through their diets.  Socio-economic considerations suggest that solutions that give women control are likely to have greatest impact. Read more here about this exciting approach to help solve a critical nutrition and public health problem, and if you have solutions, please submit them!

Since the announcement of our participation in ScienceBlogs.com, we’ve heard some very candid feedback from the ScienceBlogs community. As many of you have undoubtedly heard by now, the Food Frontiers blog has been removed from ScienceBlogs. In hearing the community’s feedback, we agree with this decision and feel that the best approach is to take a step back and first examine the role industry scientists, such as myself, can play in the discussion about nutrition science within the larger scientific community.

We knew going in that there would be real differences among scientists within and outside of industry. Our intent is to embrace that conversation, share what we’re doing, and have open discussions to learn from one another as we move toward real solutions. We look forward to engaging in those discussions in communities such as ScienceBlogs as well as here on Food Frontiers.

On a personal note, I joined PepsiCo as its Chief Scientific Officer because the company is committed to making a positive impact on global nutrition. In this role, I am responsible for focusing efforts and attention on nutrition science and solutions.

Since I joined the company, we’ve expanded our global research and development capability. Our network of leaders comes from diverse fields of classic nutrition science, epidemiology, endocrinology, molecular biology, agronomy and sensory science.

As we continue our work, I am enthusiastic about sharing insights while also hearing and learning from the larger scientific community online. That is why I would like to open an invitation to anyone interested in food and nutrition science to join the conversation on Food Frontiers.

We will continue to talk about specific science, nutrition and global health policy topics – and we’ll open the floor to include more voices to help us best address them through science-based solutions.

I speak for all of us when I say; we look forward to productive and substantive dialogue.