Special issues

Food proteins are present in animal and vegetable foods.

The daily intake is 0,8 % of the body weight.
For example: 43 g of proteins for a 54 kg body weight.

In proteins there are different amino acids, some of which are essentials. This means that our body is unable to synthesise them by itself and must take them through food.

The biological value (quality) of the protein is given by the quantity of essential amino acids inside the protein.

For more information refer to this link of our Swiss Authorities (DE, FR, IT). In this link under “further information”, you can find a document (pdf) containing more information on protein in different languages (here the link of the document: DE, FR, IT).

Examples of proteins are casein (milk protein) or gluten (wheat protein), but proteins compose a huge of biochemicals (like hormones, enzyme and so on). You can find a high quantity of proteins in fish, legumes, soy (tofu), quorn and seitan.

 

Functions of vitamin D in the Body

Building and maintaining bones and teeth

Controlling cell division

Strengthening the immune system

Maintaining normal muscle function

Vitamin D content is too low in foods (only in small quantities) to meet the adult body’s daily requirement (ca. 15-20 µg/600-800 IU), depending on age and for pregnancy.  The food containing this small quantity are mushrooms, seafoods, green vegetables, eggs. Vitamin D (cholecalciferol / vitamin D3) is the only vitamin that the body produces itself, with the help of UVB (biologically damaging rays, most absorbed by the atmosphere, ozone) and sunlight. UV exposure is not a good idea, due to the harmful effects of UV rays. So please follow these recommendations for sun exposure:

1.avoid bright sunshine (e.g. 11:00 – 15:00)
2.protect your skin with a sunscreen
3.protect your eyes with sunglasses

In summer the body’s vitamin D production is usually sufficient. However, when there is a deficiency or an increased need, vitamin D can be taken in the form of drops, based on consultation with a physician.

The scientific sources of this text are:

the Swiss Cancer League (DE, FR, IT, EN) in Vitamin D

the World Health Organization (WHO) in http://www.who.int/uv/publications/proUVrad.pdf

For more (EN, FR, other languages) on http://www.who.int/uv/fr/

 

For more information, visit the Swiss Authorities link in different languages (DE, FR, IT). Please choose your language at the top of the website.

At the bottom of this website under “further information” , you can find 3 documents as pdf, explaining all about vitamin D (Q&A, scientific information, recommendations). I invite you to read them, the informations are up-to-dated and reliable (here the link of the document: DE, FR, IT: raccomandazioni-vitamina-d)

I invite people to restore value to the food road, eating only local, seasonal and organic foods which consists of:

– whole grains (25% of the meal)

– protein-rich foods, like pulses (25% of the meal,, max 6% protein)

– vegetables (3 portion of 120g or 50% of the meal)

– fruits (1-2 portions of 120g, eat on the morning and not after 2 pm)

Substituting step-by-step added sugars with fruit and overly salted foods with foods with low salt. If needed: adding 2-3 portions of seafood per week or 1 egg each 2 weeks.

One of the Cancer Prevention Recommendations is to make whole grains (eg brown rice, wheats, oats, barley and rye) a major part of our usual daily diet. © Copyright World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF), 2018. All Rights Reserved. Only for information after permission of the WCRF. For more, here their link:

https://www.wcrf.org/dietandcancer/recommendations/wholegrains-veg-fruit-beans

Naturally, the whole grain is more nutritious that the refined one and contains all these parts, here a picture (Harvard School of Public Health):

The refined grain contains only the endosperm, without bran and germ (loss of valuable nutrients in the refining process). With refined grains, we end up eating more to feel satiated, but with less nutrients.

There is a strong scientific evidence, see all studies at the bottom of this page, that eating foods containing dietary fibre protects against colorectal cancer and against weight gain, overweight and obesity.

Eat at least 30g of fibre per day. The fibre content stronlgy depends on the type of grain (for more, you can search in free online up-to-dated USDA Food Composition Database at FoodData Central selecting “Nutrients: Fiber, total dietary(g)”.

Foods containing dietary fibre are plant-based carbohydrates that, unlike other carbohydrates (such as sugars and starch), are not digested in the small intestin. Here an example of food containing dietary fibers: breakfast cereals, pasta, bread, oats, barley, rye, but also fruit (such as berries, pears and melon), vegetables (such as broccoli, carrots and sweetcorn), also in peas, beans, pulses, nuts and seeds.

It’s essential that the whole grain products are farmed in a biological way (bio, organic).

Here the scientific studies from www.ilcibodellasalute.com by Silvia Petruzzelli:

* Nettleton JA, Steffen LM, Loehr LR, Rosamond WD, Folsom AR. Incident heart failure is associated with lower whole-grain intake and greater high-fat dairy and egg intake in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) study. J Am Diet Assoc. 2008;108(11): 1881-1887.

* Schatzkin A, Park Y, Leitzmann MF, Hollenbeck AR, Cross AJ. Prospective Study of Dietary Fiber, Whole Grain Foods, and Small Intestinal Cancer. Gastroenterology. 2008; 135:1163-1167.

* Chan JM, Wang F, Holly EA. Whole grains and risk of pancreatic cancer in a large population-based case-control study in the San Francisco Bay Area, California. Am J Epidemiol. 2007;166(10):1174-1185.

* de Munter JS, Hu FB, Spiegelman D, Franz M, van Dam RM. Whole grain, bran, and germ intake and risk of type 2 diabetes: a prospective cohort study and systematic review. PLoS Med. 2007;4(8):e261.

*Djousse L, Gaziano JM. Breakfast cereals and risk of heart failure in the physicians’ health study I. Arch Intern Med. 2007;167(19):2080-2085.

* Jacobs DR, Jr., Andersen LF, Blomhoff R. Whole-grain consumption is associated with a reduced risk of noncardiovascular, noncancer death attributed to inflammatory diseases in the Iowa Women’s Health Study. Am J Clin Nutr. 2007;85(6):1606-1614.

* Schatzkin A, Mouw T, Park Y, Subar AF, Kipnis V, Hollenbeck A, Leitzmann MF, Thompson FE. Dietary fiber and whole-grain consumption in relation to colorectal cancer in the NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study. Am J Clin Nutr. 2007;85(5):1353-1360.

* Merchant AT, Pitiphat W, Franz M, Joshipura KJ. Whole-grain and fiber intakes and periodontitis risk in men. Am J Clin Nutr. 2006;83(6):1395-1400.

* Sahyoun NR, Jacques PF, Zhang XL, Juan W, McKeown NM. Whole-grain intake is inversely associated with the metabolic syndrome and mortality in older adults. Am J Clin Nutr. 2006;83(1):124-131.

* van Dam RM, Hu FB, Rosenberg L, Krishnan S, Palmer JR. Dietary calcium and magnesium, major food sources, and risk of type 2 diabetes in U.S. black women. Diabetes Care. 2006;29(10):2238-2243.

Esmaillzadeh A, Mirmiran P, Azizi F. Whole-grain consumption and the metabolic syndrome: a favorable association in Tehranian adults. Eur J Clin Nutr. 2005;59(3):353-362.

Larsson SC, Giovannucci E, Bergkvist L, Wolk A. Whole grain consumption and risk of colorectal cancer: a population-based cohort of 60,000 women. Br J Cancer. 2005;92(9):1803-1807.

Jensen MK, Koh-Banerjee P, Hu FB, Franz M, Sampson L, Gronbaek M, Rimm EB. Intakes of whole grains, bran, and germ and the risk of coronary heart disease in men. Am J Clin Nutr. 2004;80(6):1492-1499.

Slattery ML, Curtin KP, Edwards SL, Schaffer DM. Plant foods, fiber, and rectal cancer. Am J Clin Nutr. 2004;79(2):274-281.

* Good CK, Holschuh N, Albertson AM, Eldridge AL. Whole grain consumption and body mass index in adult women: an analysis of NHANES 1999-2000 and the USDA pyramid servings database. J Am Coll Nutr. 2008;27(1):80-87

Gary Taubes is an investigative science and health journalist.
He is the author of the book The Case Against Sugar, please visit his link for more information.

My summary on it:

The book trace the history of medical research on sugar (with scientific studies), presents a

scientific evidence of the correlation between sugar and most diseases.

Sugar lights up the same pleasure receptors in the brain as drugs. So we became addicted, as with drugs: the more we consume, the more we feel we need it.

Sugar is hidden in most processed food and in the past years the sugar industry became really a powerful government lobby. Taubes believes that even small amounts of sugar may have long-term consequences and he compare it to tobacco use.

The Wall Street Journal define the book as a powerful weapon against future misinformation.

This book exists also in other languages (here the pictures):

Reduce sugar little by little to avoid the frustration (lack of sugar in the body). A frustration that leads to eating sugar excessively. Then replace sugar with fruit.

Here an interesting video in French:

In Switzerland bio means:

• Natural diversity on the organic farm
• Ethologically sound livestock management and feeding
• No use of chemically synthesized pesticides or fertilizers
• No use of genetic engineering
• No use of unnecessary additives such as flavourings and colourings
• Non-aggressive processing of foodstuffs
• inspection of organic production and processing
• packaging materials that respect the environment
• no deception, Bio Suisse meet organic regulations

© Copyright Bio Suisse, 2018. All Rights Reserved. Only for information.

At this link, you can find all about Bio Suisse in IT, FR, DE, EN, ES:
https://www.bio-suisse.ch/en/home.php

 

In Europe it means:

• Crops are rotated so that on-site resources are used efficiently
• Chemical pesticides, synthetic fertilisers, antibiotics and other substances are severely restricted
• Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are banned
• On-site resources are put to good use, such as manure for fertiliser or feed produced on the farm
• Disease-resistant plant and animal species adapted to the local environment are used
• Livestock are raised in a free-range, open-air environment and are fed on organic fodder
• Animal husbandry practices are tailored to the various livestock species

© Copyright European Commission. All Rights Reserved. Only for information

At this link, you can find all about Bio in Europe in different languages:
https://ec.europa.eu/agriculture/organic/index_en