Foods

Sprouted-grain bread offerings in the market have been slowly but steadily on the uptick of late, and a number of health claims have attached themselves to the spongy, nutty-tasting loaves: more digestible, richer in protein and higher in vitamins and minerals compared with other breads. But are the claims true? Yes -- and no. Sprouted-grain products have distinct nutritional advantages over white breads, but when compared to other whole-grain breads, they're usually nutritionally comparable -- although nutrient contents can vary, depending on the sprouts included.

A vast majority of Americans say they eat more whole grains and fresh produce than they did five years ago, but many believe the federal government needs to do more to ensure greater access to locally produced fresh food, according to a new survey.   Eighty-four percent of adults surveyed said federal food programs should focus more on supporting smaller, local fruit and vegetable farmers and should provide incentives for development of new businesses that offer "locally produced healthy food," according to the poll, which was commissioned by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.

Reality TV star Bethenny Frankel's Skinnygirl Margarita was recently yanked from the shelves of Whole Foods markets for purportedly having a non-natural preservative thought to be sodium benzoate. Though the bottle reads "all natural," the grocery chain wasn't OK with it. TMZ reports that a class action lawsuit has also been filed against the parent company alleging misleading claims about the product being natural. What is sodium benzoate, and should you be worried about ingesting it?

Pam King's San Marino home has solar panels, a drought-resistant yard and an urban farm. Now she'd like some chickens to go with it. The city known as the wealthiest, quietest suburban enclave in the San Gabriel Valley doesn't allow residents to keep farm animals, but that may soon change. This month King asked the San Marino City Council to allow chickens on residential properties, and council members ordered a staff report. If San Marino goes to the birds, it would join Pasadena, South Pasadena and La Cañada Flintridge, which allow residents to keep fowl under strict guidelines.

The human appetite is a fickle thing. It may come on strong if you walk by a hot dog stand but disappear if you spend too much time thinking about the ingredients. Comfort eaters may feel ravenous at the end of a bad day. And people who are bored with what they're eating may feel full (or at least fed up) after just a few bites. At a time when so many people are struggling with their weight, appetite has become a hot topic. Researchers work to understand its ebb and flow, and dieters look for ways to dial it back.

Jamie Lee Curtis promises in TV adds that bacteria-laced Dannon yogurt will improve colon regularity. Other companies sell little pills full of living microbes and even supplements promising to feed those microbes what they most like to eat. Probiotics and prebiotics — from bacteria-infused beverages to microbe-filled chocolates — are gaining in popularity, even as some scientific studies find they don't always live up to their claims....

Children and teens are consuming too much added sugar in their diets, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Nearly one in every six calories they eat and drink comes from some type of added sugar. This finding isn't exactly surprising, but it's worth looking at some of the statistics to appreciate the magnitude of the problem. The data here is on U.S. kids between the ages of 2 and 19, culled from the government's National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey: * Boys consumed an average 361 calories' worth of added sugar each day. For girls, the daily average was 282. * Though the total amount of added sugar in the diet was higher for boys than for girls, the proportion of total calories that came from added sugar was similar - 16.3% for boys and 15.5% for girls.

Just how many calories are in that meal? Last week, more than 35 public health organizations joined forces to petition the Food and Drug Administration to create a public database that would give consumers access to current and comprehensive information about their food. The American Heart Assn., Chicago Department of Public Health, Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, New York City Department of Health and Pennsylvania Department of Public Health were among the agencies that supported this initiative.

Food-borne illnesses caused by fish, spices, produce and other edibles imported from other countries seems to be on the rise - but the countries of origin may be changing, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Of the 39 outbreaks caused by foreign food (which caused 2,348 illnesses) from 2005 to 2010, 17 of them happened in 2009 and 2010, according to the report . Bad fish caused 17 outbreaks; spices were responsible for six. Though nearly 45% of the cases came from food that had originated in Asia, the report found that nearly half of the outbreaks came from areas that hadn't previously been associated with such diseases.

Feeding young babies solid foods such as crackers, cereals and bread, which tend to be high in salt, may set them up for a lifelong preference for salt, researchers reported Tuesday. The study, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, suggests that efforts to reduce salt intake among Americans should begin early in life. It is even possible, the authors said, that infancy contains a "sensitivity window" in which exposure to certain foods and tastes programs the brain to desire them in the future.

The Man Who Changed the Way We Eat Thomas McNamee Free Press, 339 pp., $27 Ask your average Food Network viewer or Yelp poster about Craig Claiborne and you're likely to be met with a blank look and a "Who?" How fleeting is fame in the food world. Claiborne is one of the giants of this modern age, even if today - less than 20 years after his passing - he is largely forgotten. People remember James Beard because of the foundation that keeps his name alive. Julia Child lives on in television reruns (even if some fans now believe she looked just like Meryl Streep)

DELHI, INDIA - Delhi, India, is closed today. My guide, a solemn man named C.K. Gupta, is deeply apologetic. It is, he informs me, not a holiday, but a peaceful protest. "Too high prices in the shops. " It is 2010, and I am in Delhi on vacation. It is my first time here. Receiving this piece of early-morning information, I am all set for empty sidewalks. The occasional whining ambulance. Maybe a bus. But when we leave my rented car near the Defence Colony, it is impossible to move.

Go with a guide who knows local street food and, if possible, can help you find relatively clean stalls. According to customers I talked with, quality street-food vendors can often be found near universities and railway stations. For the sake of food safety, choose hot snacks. Try to get them when they've just come out of the griddle or fryer. It's best to avoid eating meat, even if it's well cooked. I failed to follow this last rule: It's usually smart to avoid chutneys and juices and to discard raw items such as onion and tomatoes . travel@latimes.com

Healthy food, we've often heard, is pricey food. Fruits and vegetables -- they're expensive! We can't afford to eat that way! That's why we don't do it! The U.S. Department of Agriculture wants us to understand that this isn't the case, and held a news conference Wednesday to report the results of a study that examined the matter. Study lead author Andrea Carlson from the USDA's Economic Research Service presented the 50-page report , entitled “Are Healthy Foods More Expensive?

The butcher is back. After decades of laboring in obscurity, seeing their craft slip away to the point it was practically extinct, butchers — real meat cutters, not guys who repackage steaks from Cryovac bags — are regaining their respected place in the food chain. You can see it in the crowds at Lindy & Grundy on Fairfax Avenue and at McCall's Meat & Fish Co. in Los Feliz, where customers line up outside when word comes in that a whole pig has been delivered. Southern California meat market standbys, including the Huntington Meats and Marconda's Meats in the original Farmers Market, high-end supermarket chains Bristol Farms, Gelson's and Whole Foods, are seeing business pick up. There's even a MEAT club at UCLA — the Meat Education and Appreciation Team — that sponsors meat cooking events, including trips to butcher shops for private lessons.

SAN FRANCISCO - Dustin Moskovitz, at 27 the world's youngest billionaire, gained fame and fortune after founding Facebook with Mark Zuckerberg. He also gained the "Facebook 15. " He packed on the extra pounds while chowing down on free snacks and guzzling four sodas a day at the social networking giant. Today, Moskovitz is a svelte version of his former self. He runs Asana, a start-up named after the Sanskrit word for traditional yoga sitting positions. That's fitting since the company holds twice weekly group yoga classes at its San Francisco offices.

Solid foods should not be given to infants before 4 months of age, according to guidelines from the American Academy of Pediatrics. A new study lends support to that advice, especially for bottle-fed infants. Those who were introduced to solid foods before 4 months of age had a six-fold increase in the odds of being obese at age 3. Child obesity is an alarming problem in the United States. Recently, the U.S. Surgeon General issued recommendations to encourage breastfeeding for the first six months of life.

A recent study found that kids may develop a taste for salt early on, a recent study finds, if they're fed starchy foods that contain sodium.   What foods are we talking about? Things like soft breads, cereals and crackers, items that many parents probably think nothing about handing to their kids. In the study published recently in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition , infants tried out different concentrations of salt solutions and water to see which they preferred.

WASHINGTON - The Republican-led House approved a plan for deep spending cuts in food stamps, Meals on Wheels and other domestic programs - while sparing the Pentagon - in a vote that showcased the party's election-year priorities. The legislation to cut $240 billion over a decade is expected to stall in the Senate, where Democrats have the majority, but the exercise Thursday allowed the GOP to contrast its agenda with President Obama's efforts to reduce the deficit. Democrats decried the bill as "literally taking food out of the mouth of babies," in the words ofRep.

"Mad Men" actress January Jones ate her placenta (to be fair, dried and made into a pill). Alicia Silverstone chews up veggies and deposits them mama-bird-style into her baby son's mouth. And model Gisele Bundchen says her diaper-free son was toilet trained at 6 months. So what do these parents know that your average sleep-deprived parent - who barely has time to shop for food, let alone chew it for their kids - doesn't? Here, experts weigh in on the evidence. Pre-masticating In a breakfast-time video, Silverstone chews up the vegetables in her miso soup.