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Spread’Em plant-based ‘cheezes’ make their debut at Longo’s and Fortinos

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“Five years ago our ‘cheezes’ were only available at one farmer’s market in Vancouver,” said founder Mellisa Mills. “Now mass-market grocery stores want to give more Canadians a chance to taste them, love them and become fans, or as we call them, #SpreadHeads,” she added. “The dairy-free cheese category is still in its infancy and its growing demand confirms that natural, whole, nourishing, and fermented foods go beyond niche communities,” she said.

Spread’Em ‘cheezes’ are made with love in a small Canadian production facility. They use fresh, nourishing, ethically and locally-sourced, premium ingredients. All products are natural, vegan, gluten-free, paleo, dairy-free, fermented, and probiotic-rich, supporting microbiome and gut-health while strengthening the immune system.

Four bold flavours are available at Longo’s: Spinach & Artichoke, Jalapeño Cashew Cream Cheeze, Chive & Garlic Cashew Cream Cheeze, and Nacho Cheeze. At Fortinos: Chive & Garlic Cashew Cream Cheeze, Jalapeño Cashew Cream Cheeze, Spinach & Artichoke, Nacho Cheeze, and Porcini and Dill flavours are available. Retail price is $10.49 and a 20 per cent off promotion is available during July. Store sampling at all locations gives customers the opportunity to taste them to find the ones they love.

For more information visit: spreademkitchen.com

Follow on: Facebook: @spreademkitchen | Twitter: @spreademkitchen | Instagram: @spreadem_kitchen

About Spread’Em Kitchen Co.

Spread’Em Kitchen Co. makes artisanal, plant-based, dairy-free, cashew cheeses and dips, attracting a loyal following of #SpreadHeads who want to share nourishing, fresh, tasty, and sustainable foods. Independently-owned and produced in Canada, all products are made with premium local, ethically-sourced, and natural ingredients using environmentally-friendly production practices. Spread’Em Kitchen Co.’s mission is to educate Canadians about healthy eating and showcase the impact of fermentation and probiotics on our health.

SOURCE Spread’Em Kitchen Co.For further information: Media contact: Steven Hellmann, Media Relations, The Foodies Group™, 416-826-1997, info@foodiesonfoot.ca

Phuture Foods is creating a plant-based pork substitute for the Asian market

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The lion’s share of the demos involved hardware products, which has long been the organization’s core offering. Increasingly, however, food-focused startups like Phuture Foods have become an important focus.

Whereas stateside companies like Beyond and Impossible largely work to approximate beef, the Malaysian startup has been pioneering a plant-based pork substitute. The meat is in particularly high demand in the Asian market, where it’s targeting initial sales, beginning with Hong Kong in the next few months and then branching out into Singapore shortly after.

The foodstuff is designed to mimic the taste and texture of pork, using a variety of plants, including wheat, shiitake mushrooms and mung beans. The company has received support from Hong Kong-based angel investors, beginning with online sales, before rolling out to area supermarkets roughly five months from now.

Phuture’s primary value play is sustainability, an increasingly important issue, particularly under the strain of population growth in areas like China. Price-wise, it hopes to hit a target of at or lower than that of actual pork products, which could certainly add appeal among consumers for whom ethical and environmental concerns aren’t at top of mind.

The foodstuff is halal, a key feature for markets like Malaysia and Singapore. The company is also exploring kosher certification, along with chicken and lamb substitutes.

Source: techCrunch

Plant-Based Hamilton Fuels Mercedes Into Game-Changing Victory

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British Grand Prix champion (Photo: Instagram)

Plant-based athlete, Lewis Hamilton, has fueled Mercedes into game-changing victory, after winning the British Grand Prix for a record-breaking sixth time.

The win, which puts Hamilton 39 points clear of competitor Valtteri Bottas who came second in the race, follows changes in Formula 1’s driver weight rules which allowed the star to ‘bulk up‘.

‘Healthier and happier’ than ever

Earlier this year, Hamilton announced he gained 15lb, going from 68kg (150lb) – a weight he has had to maintain for the past 12 years – to 75kg (165lb).

“Adding weight was easy and I did this on a vegan diet. People say ‘oh I need my protein and that’s why I could never go vegan’,” he wrote on Instagram.

“I have plenty of protein in my diet and I’ve gained muscle, and I’m healthier and happier than I’ve ever been. Wish I did it sooner.”

‘I choose to love’

The world-class athlete has often spoken out about animal-rights, blasting the meat industry for ‘animal torture’ last year.

In a series of Instagram stories, Hamilton said: “Animals possess values of which very few humans do… We turn a blind eye to the pain and torture we put animals through.

“Every bit of meat, chicken, or fish you eat, every bit of leather or fur you wear, has come from an animal that has been tortured, pulled away from their families and brutally killed.

“We all have choices to make and if you are ok with it, then that’s you, but I choose to love, to be conscious of what I’m supporting and I refuse to support the companies that buy from those companies killing and torturing animals.”

Vegan documentary

Hamilton joins the likes of plant-based tennis icon, Novak Djokovic, as one of the executive producers behind the vegan documentary The Game Changers.

“The Game Changers is a new film executive produced by James Cameron, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Jackie Chan that documents the explosive rise of plant-based eating in professional sports, mixing real-time, groundbreaking science with cinematic stories of struggle and triumph,” says the film’s description.

Source: plant-based news

CBT could benefit mental health of children with long-term conditions

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The systematic review used robust methods to bring together and make sense of the best science in this area.

Among a range of findings, the team identified some evidence of the benefits of CBT in inflammatory bowel disease, chronic pain and epilepsy. The research was funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) and supported by the NIHR Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care South West Peninsula (PenCLAHRC).

Long term conditions are common in children. In England, 23% of secondary school age pupils reported that they had a long-term medical illness or disability in a recent survey. Children and young people who have long term conditions are four times more likely to experience feelings of depression, anxiety and other mental health issues than those who are physically healthy.

Study author Dr. Liz Shaw, said: “As well as looking at whether treatments worked for these children, we also included studies that explored the experiences of people giving and receiving the treatments. These studies highlighted the benefits of building good relationships and providing treatments in what feels like a ‘safe space’.”

Fiona Lockhart, Co-investigator from the Biomedical Research Centre Patient & Public Involvement Group at University College London, said: “Children and young people with long-term health conditions face enormous challenges. As well as their physical illness, many of these young people suffer from mental health problems as a consequence of their condition.”

The team also found some benefit from parenting programmes to reduce behavioural problems in children with acquired brain injury and/or cerebral palsy. Further studies showed that children and young people valued treatments that considered a range of needs rather than just focussing on their mental health. The opportunity to meet and build a supportive relationship with people who are managing their long term condition was also seen to help some young people by providing them with a sense of hope for the future and learn skills to manage their physical and mental health.

Study author Dr. Michael Nunns, of the University of Exeter Medical School, said: “The mental health of children and young people is important and offering the best response is vital. When we set out to do this research we were hoping to make recommendations about what works to support children and young people with long term conditions, who are also having difficulties with their mental health. However, we were disappointed in the lack of good quality evidence available to guide treatment decisions for these children.”

Throughout the study, the team worked with a group of children and young people who provided a real-world perspective on the issues they face. They were particularly disappointed in the lack of available research and urged researchers to do something about it. This sentiment was echoed by consultant pediatrician Professor Stuart Logan: ‘The two things that are needed alongside managing a medical condition like this are something to help the family manage and something to help with the children’s emotional problems that so often go alongside these medical conditions. The exciting thing about this project is that it provides researchers with a roadmap for what to do next – we need to work sensibly with parents and children to carefully design treatments and test them in a way that helps us understand whether they actually work.”

The systematic review will be published in Health Technology Assessment. The full title of the paper is: Interventions to improve the mental health of children and young people with long-term physical conditions: linked evidence syntheses.

Credit: University of Exeter

Partner status influences sexual problems and self-efficacy in survivors of breast cancer

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However, a new study finds that partnered women may fare better than those without a partner. Study results are published online today in Menopause, the journal of The North American Menopause Society (NAMS).

Breast cancer is the leading cancer diagnosis in women, with more than 266,000 new cases estimated in 2018. More than 70% of these cases occur in women aged older than 50 years. Adjuvant endocrine therapy (AET), such as tamoxifen, is often recommended for postmenopausal women for as long as 10 years after completion of breast cancer treatment as a means to limit the risk of cancer recurrence. Unfortunately, AET has many adverse effects, including sexual problems in the form of vaginal dryness, painful intercourse, and low sexual desire.

Previous studies have associated sexual problems with poor QOL, whereas others have shown that partnered survivors of breast cancer have better QOL than unpartnered survivors. However, this new study is the first known to examine how partner status influences the relationships between sexual problems and self-efficacy for managing sexual problems and QOL domains for postmenopausal survivors of breast cancer taking AET. Its findings suggest that unpartnered postmenopausal women with greater sexual problems or lower self-efficacy may be at a greater risk to experience decreased QOL than partnered women.

Study results appear in the article, “Partner status moderates the relationship between sexual problems and self-efficacy for managing sexual problems and psychosocial quality-of-life for postmenopausal breast cancer survivors taking adjuvant endocrine therapy.”

“Survivors of breast cancer, particularly those on aromatase inhibitors, often have unaddressed sexual concerns, and healthcare providers aren’t asking about them,” says Dr. JoAnn Pinkerton, NAMS executive director. “In this study, postmenopausal, unpartnered women were the most vulnerable to having quality-of-life issues and also sense-of-self affected by unaddressed sexual problems.”

Credit: The North American Menopause Society (NAMS)

Study: Cholesterol in eggs tied to cardiac disease, death

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Research that tracked the diets, health and lifestyle habits of nearly 30,000 adults across the country for as long as 31 years has found that cholesterol in eggs, when consumed in large quantities, is associated with ill health effects, according to Katherine Tucker, a biomedical and nutritional sciences professor in UMass Lowell’s Zuckerberg College of Health Sciences, who co-authored the analysis. The study was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

The study results come as egg consumption in the country continues to rise. In 2017, people ate an average of 279 eggs per year, compared with 254 eggs in 2012, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Current U.S. Dietary Guidelines for Americans do not offer advice on the number of eggs individuals should eat each day. The guidelines, which are updated every five years, do not include this because nutrition experts had begun to believe saturated fats were the driving factor behind high cholesterol levels, rather than eggs, according to Tucker. However, prior to 2015, the guidelines did recommend individuals consume no more than 300 milligrams of cholesterol a day, she said.

One large egg contains nearly 200 milligrams of cholesterol, roughly the same amount as an 8-ounce steak, according to the USDA. Other foods that contain high levels of cholesterol include processed meats, cheese and high-fat dairy products.

While the new research does not offer specific recommendations on egg or cholesterol consumption, it found that each additional 300 milligrams of cholesterol consumed beyond a baseline of 300 milligrams per day were associated with a 17 percent higher risk of cardiovascular disease and an 18 percent higher risk of death.

Eating several eggs a week “is reasonable,” said Tucker, who noted they include nutrients beneficial to eye and bone health. “But I recommend people avoid eating three-egg omelets every day. Nutrition is all about moderation and balance.”

Research results also determined that study participants’ exercise regimen and overall diet quality, including the amount and type of fat they consumed, did not change the link between cholesterol in one’s diet and risk of cardiovascular disease and death.

“This is a strong study because the modelling adjusted for factors such as the quality of the diet,” Tucker said. “Even for people on healthy diets, the harmful effect of higher intake of eggs and cholesterol was consistent.”

Credit: University of Massachusetts Lowell

Female cannabis users underrepresented in health research, study reveals

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In a review of scientific literature over a number of years, Ian Hamilton from the University of York’s Department of Health Sciences found that the majority of research reflects the experience of male cannabis users, with very limited information on how women react to the drug.

They also found that there was little research on cannabis psychosis in countries where cannabis use is high.

Research tends to be focused in America, Europe and Australia, missing the impact of the drug in Africa, Asian and the Middle East, where very little is known about the number of people that develop cannabis psychosis.

Ian Hamilton said: “Across the world governments are opening up access to cannabis for health or recreation. This means that it is important that people have access to information about the risks as well as benefits of using cannabis.

“Cannabis psychosis is one risk which can have a devastating effect on an individual and their family. Building on previous research from the University of York, we reviewed the evidence linking cannabis to psychosis and identified two significant problems.

“One such problem relates to gender bias. The research we looked at predominantly includes men and not women; this could link to a wider problem with the lack of female scientists in addiction research also.

“The other issue relates to the geographical spread of addiction research; we are missing a large population size in not focusing study in areas outside of America, Europe and Australia.

“We could gain much more knowledge on the risk of cannabis psychosis by including other countries and cultures.”

The study suggests that more attention needs to be on who is at risk of cannabis psychosis as well as the health implications of taking the drug. This research has to include more women and countries across Asia, Africa and the Middle East, the researchers argue.

Ian Hamilton added: “We need to accept that cannabis psychosis is about more than genetics or biology but is affected by social factors such as where and how young people grow up and the problems they experience as they develop.”

Credit: University of York

Weak upper and lower body physical performance associated with depression and anxiety

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A new study from Singapore now links physical performance with mental health and emotions, suggesting that weak upper and lower body fitness can cause more serious depression and anxiety in midlife women. Results are published online today in Menopause, the journal of The North American Menopause Society (NAMS).

Although several studies have previously linked depression in midlife women with self-reported low physical activity, this new study is the first known (even in Western populations) to evaluate objective measures of physical performance in relation to depression and anxiety in premenopausal, perimenopausal, and postmenopausal women.

Depression and anxiety are prevalent symptoms experienced by midlife women. This latest study of more than 1,100 women aged 45 to 69 years found, in fact, that 15% of participants, especially those of younger age, reported depression and/or anxiety. Because depression can cause disability, reduced quality of life, mortality, and heart disease, the researchers felt it was important to identify potentially modifiable risk factors that could reduce morbidity and mortality.

The researchers observed significant associations of objective physical performance measures with depression and anxiety. Specifically, they found that weak upper body strength (handgrip strength) and poor lower body strength (longer duration to complete the repeated chair stand test) were associated with elevated depression and/or anxiety symptoms. Future trials will be needed to determine whether strengthening exercises that improve physical performance might similarly help reduce depression and anxiety in midlife women.

Findings were published in the article “Objective measures of physical performance associated with depression and/or anxiety in midlife Singaporean women.”

“Strength training has been shown to lead to a significant reduction in depressive symptoms,” says Dr. JoAnn Pinkerton, NAMS executive director. “Both strength training and aerobic exercise appear to improve depression, possibly as a result of increased blood flow to the brain or improved coping with stress from the release of endorphins such as norepinephrine and dopamine.”

Credit: The North American Menopause Society (NAMS)

Study could lead to ‘cognitive therapy in your pocket’

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The study, “Translating CBM-I Into Real-World Settings: Augmenting a CBT-Based Psychiatric Hospital Program,” was published in the journal Behavior Therapy. It shows the potential effectiveness of CBM-I when combined with cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) in an acute psychiatric setting. It also points the way for adapting this therapeutic approach for use outside the hospital.

The lead researcher of the study is Courtney Beard, PhD, director of McLean’s Cognition and Affect Research and Education (CARE) Laboratory.

Beard described CBM-I as a “class of interventions designed to shift people’s interpretations of ambiguous situations in either a more positive or more negative way.” She explained that “CBM-I tries to address interpretation bias, a mental habit that is implicated in many mental disorders.”

To do this, individuals undergoing CBM-I treatment can be presented with a series of word association questions that address everyday situations.

For example, the CBM-I task may show a patient a situation about a person yawning during their conversation. Then the patient is asked whether that person is “tired” or “bored.” The individual who answers “tired” is told the response is “correct,” and “bored” is incorrect. Through repetition, this type of CBM-I therapy helps the person reframe or reassess these daily ambiguous situations.

“People face countless interactions like this every day in their lives,” Beard said. “If you have a tendency to jump to a threatening or negative conclusion, it can have a huge impact on how you’re feeling and on what you do and how you react. You can get stuck in a cycle that can maintain anxiety or depression.”

For their study, Beard and her colleagues developed and implemented CBM-I to augment CBT-based treatment in a partial hospital setting. They presented patients with word-sentence associations that encouraged patients to endorse positive interpretations and reject negative interpretations.

Study results showed that CBM-I was practical and acceptable to acute psychiatric patients. Many stated that CBM-I bolstered their primary CBT-based care. The study also found that that the word association exercises were successful in helping reframe potentially negative situations.

Based on these results, Beard and her team are moving forward with a National Institute of Mental Health-backed study to develop a smartphone version of CBM-I.

“With the smartphone app, we can offer CBM-I to many more people at one time,” Beard said. “With the app, they can practice new skills, create healthy mental habits, and stop automatically jumping to negative conclusions. And they can do it on demand.”

Beard stated that the app could be particularly helpful for individuals who have just been discharged from a treatment program. “They can use it during the month transition period after they leave the hospital, which is a risky and challenging time for them,” she said.

Beard sees great promise for app-based CBM-I therapy. “It quickly shows people what their brain is doing,” she explained. “The patient sees hundreds of situations in a short amount of time. So, they see how often they jumped to a negative conclusion, and that can be very powerful. It’s kind of like cognitive therapy in your pocket–but a little different and a lot faster.”

Credit: McLean Hospital

One change can make diet more planet friendly

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“We found that making one substitution of poultry for beef resulted in an average reduction of dietary greenhouse gases by about a half,” said lead study author Diego Rose, PhD, professor and director of nutrition at Tulane University.

Rose will present the research at Nutrition 2019, the American Society for Nutrition annual meeting, held June 8-11, 2019 in Baltimore.

“To our knowledge, this is the only nationally representative study of the carbon footprint of individually chosen diets in the U.S.,” said Rose. “We hope this research will raise awareness about the role of the food sector in climate change and the sizable impact of a simple dietary change.”

The new study is based on diet information from more than 16,000 participants in the 2005-2010 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. A portion of this survey asked participants to recall all the foods they consumed in the previous 24 hours. The researchers used this information to determine which foods had the highest greenhouse gas emissions and to calculate a carbon footprint for each individual diet.

They found that the 10 foods with the highest impacts on the environment were all cuts of beef and that about 20 percent of participants reported consuming one of these high-carbon foods. Using simulation, the researchers calculated a new carbon footprint for each diet by replacing beef with the closest related poultry product. For example, a broiled beef steak was replaced with broiled chicken and ground beef with ground turkey. Each substitution was performed only one time for each person that consumed one of the high-carbon foods.

Animal foods are known to contribute more to greenhouse gas emissions than plant foods. Ruminant animal foods such as beef and lamb have particularly high carbon footprints because cows and sheep also release methane gas.

“Our simulation showed that you don’t have to give up animal products to improve your carbon footprint,” said Rose. “Just one food substitution brought close to a 50% reduction, on average, in a person’s carbon footprint.”

The researchers plan to expand this research, which focused on dietary greenhouse gas emissions, to include other environmental impacts such as water use.

Although not the subject of this study, they point out that food waste and overeating also increase the carbon footprint of our diet. Thus, in addition to eating low-carbon foods, better meal planning and eating of leftovers can also help reduce carbon footprint.

Diego Rose will present this research on Monday, June 10, from 12:15 – 12:30 p.m. in the Baltimore Convention Center, Room 317 (abstract). Contact the media team for more information or to obtain a free press pass to attend the meeting.

Credit: American Society for Nutrition
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