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<DIV><FONT size=2>FYI - I found this quite interesting.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>Jennifer</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT size=2>Compliments of ...</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT size=2>*********************************************<BR> Center for Family and Community Health<BR> School of Public Health<BR> University of California, Berkeley<BR> </FONT><A href="http://cfch.berkeley.edu"><FONT size=2>http://cfch.berkeley.edu</FONT></A><BR><FONT size=2> A CDC Center for Chronic Disease Prevention<BR> and Health Promotion Research<BR>*********************************************</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><BR><FONT size=2>Joy of Cooking' or 'Joy of Obesity'?</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT size=2>In the classic cookbook, published since 1931, changes in ingredients <BR>and serving sizes have led to a 63% increase in calories per serving <BR>in 17 of the recipes, a study shows.</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT size=2>Jeannine Stein, Los Angeles Times, February 17, 2009</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT size=2>Restaurants get a bad rap for serving gargantuan portions of food and <BR>contributing to Americans' expanding waistlines. But what if <BR>something in your home were equally guilty? Something as innocent as <BR>. . . "Joy of Cooking"?</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT size=2>The classic cookbook, first published in 1931, has done some <BR>girth-expanding of its own, a study has found.</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT size=2>Published as a letter Tuesday in the Annals of Internal Medicine, the <BR>report examined 18 classic recipes found in seven editions of the <BR>book from 1936 to 2006. It found that calorie counts for 14 of the <BR>recipes have ballooned by an average of 928 calories, or 44%, per <BR>recipe. And serving sizes have grown as well.</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT size=2>Take beef stroganoff: In the 1997 edition, the recipe called for <BR>three tablespoons of sour cream. The 2006 edition calls for one cup.</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT size=2>Then there's waffles: In 1997, the basic recipe made 12 six-inch <BR>waffles; in 2006, the same ingredients made about six waffles.</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT size=2>Overall, the scientists found, changes in ingredients and serving <BR>sizes led to a 63% increase in calories per serving in 17 of the <BR>recipes between 1936 and 2006.</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT size=2>"When we talk about obesity, people like to plant the source of the <BR>issue on away-from-home dining," said Brian Wansink, the study's <BR>co-author and director of Cornell University's Food and Brand Lab. <BR>"But that raised the thought in my mind: Is that really the source of <BR>things?. . . . What has happened in what we've been doing in our own <BR>homes over the years?"</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT size=2>Wansink and co-author Collin Payne, assistant professor of marketing <BR>at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces, said they wanted to <BR>quantify how home cooking had changed, but knew that doing it <BR>anecdotally wasn't scientific. So they turned to cookbooks, settling <BR>on "Joy of Cooking" because of its history and the fact that it had <BR>enough recipes carried through all editions.</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT size=2>In addition to beef stroganoff and waffles, recipes chosen for <BR>analysis included macaroni and cheese, goulash, Spanish rice, <BR>brownies, sugar cookies and apple pie.</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT size=2>Wansink said similar calorie increases were found in other enduring <BR>recipe books such as the "Better Homes and Gardens Cook Book."</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT size=2>The study found that some of the added calories in the dishes came <BR>from a substitution of ingredients -- extra meat instead of <BR>vegetables, for example. Back in the day, meat was expensive, so less <BR>of it was used, he said.</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT size=2>In other recipes, Wansink said, sauces were added, or more butter or <BR>sugar, or extras such as nuts and raisins. "They're now there for a <BR>little more excitement," he said.</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT size=2>Cultural shifts may have also had an effect on recipe ingredients and <BR>portion sizes, Wansink added. Families have gotten smaller, so a dish <BR>that once was consumed by eight people is now consumed by four.</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT size=2>And because sizes of dinner plates have grown over the years, a <BR>standard 2-ounce portion of pasta can now look diminutive.</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT size=2>Jeannie Gazzaniga-Moloo, a Roseville, Calif.-based registered <BR>dietitian and spokesperson for the American Dietetic Assn., said she <BR>was surprised by the findings.</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT size=2>"I would have expected that with the increasing awareness of <BR>nutrition, the calories would have been lower or stayed the same," she said.</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT size=2>Beth Wareham, editor of the 2006 edition, is not losing sleep over the study.</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT size=2>"It's such a tiny number of recipes. It's really a non-event," she said.</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT size=2>She said that the book has become more healthful overall, booting out <BR>many processed foods in favor of fresh ingredients. The 2006 edition <BR>has a chapter on nutrition written by Dr. Walter Willett, chairman of <BR>the nutrition department at the Harvard School of Public Health.</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT size=2>In putting together the latest edition, writers and recipe-testers <BR>used their common sense in terms of ingredients and serving sizes, <BR>Wareham said -- and they figured readers have some common sense of their own.</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT size=2>"We give Americans credit," she added, "for knowing that eating a <BR>brownie is not as good as eating a plate of whole grains and vegetables."</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT size=2>Average caloric content in "Joy of Cooking" by publication year. See <BR>link for graph:</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><A href="http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-sci-joy17-2009feb17,0,7687368.story"><FONT size=2>http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-sci-joy17-2009feb17,0,7687368.story</FONT></A></DIV>
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<DIV> </DIV><FONT size=2>Jennifer Young, MPH, RD<BR>Nutrition and Physical Activity Coordinator<BR>Office of Family Health<BR>Public Health Division, DHS<BR>800 NE Oregon St., Ste. 825<BR>Portland, OR 97232<BR>telephone: (971) 673-0245<BR>fax: (971) 673-0240<BR>jennifer.l.young@state.or.us</FONT> </BODY></HTML>