Tuesday 25 December 2012

Our Christmas lunch

Christmas is a time for peace, and everyone can create peace through their food choices. It's so easy to create tasty vegan dishes that everyone can enjoy on Christmas day.

Raw zucchini noodles with pesto (based on macadamia nut)

 Roast vegetable and quinoa salad

Baked mushrooms stufffed with vegan cream cheese, walnut and herbs

Garden salad

Potato salad with home-made vegan mayonnaise and dill

 Raw lemon and macadamia "cheese"cake

Wednesday 19 December 2012

Sweet Bones Bakery Cafe, Braddon

Sweet Bones cafe opened recently inside the new Lonsdale St Traders centre. This building used to be a tyre centre and it retains some of the industrial feel. The cafe can be found towards the back, next to the bicycle store. Recycled seating at the front and rear provides a nice ambience.

The cafe sells a number of breakfast and lunch items, as well as sweet treats and coffee. The vegan sweets are pretty amazing and would be a revelation for anyone who thinks that a diet without animal products would be lacking in sensory delight. Do not miss the raw vegan cheesecakes.

We enquired about the lunch items and they are all vegan too. The tempeh focaccia (pictured below) was super tasty and you can tell that there has been some careful thought about the flavours in it. This is also evident in the other dishes we have tried. This places Sweet Bones a long way above the average Canberra cafe. It appears that the menu board changes from day to day, so you can find something new on each visit.

When ordering coffee though, you should ask for the soy milk, otherwise you might end up with something you didn't expect. Mercifully, they don't charge extra for soy. And that means there's no excuse for anyone to keep drinking the other stuff.

For current activity at the cafe, see their facebook page
www.facebook.com/SweetBonesCompany

UPDATE: Sweet Bones has moved up the street. Our updated review can be found here.

Shop front



Focaccia with smoked tempeh
Gluten-free vegan cupcake

Open bagel - 'Rusty Special'

Sweet Bones Bakery Cafe on Urbanspoon

Thursday 22 November 2012

World trends in consumption

Recently, a post appeared on Counting Animals blog demonstrating that per capita consumption of meat in the USA is declining. Also, it is argued that this is not just due to falling incomes — there is an underlying drop in the demand for meat. In terms of consumption, bovine meat is in long term decline, chicken meat appeared to reach a turning point in 2006, and pig meat is starting to fall from its long term level.

As animal advocates, we have to celebrate the good news, and this is undeniably positive.

However, patterns of consumption in other parts of the world — particularly in Asia and South America — are mostly running in the other direction. The magnitude of these trends are such that the overall worldwide trend is towards more animal consumption. After all, the five most populous countries not including the USA (Brazil, China, India, Indonesia and Pakistan) represent about 46% of the world's population.

The statistics for China are very illustrative. The plot below shows the changes in per capita daily animal consumption for China. The data was sourced from the UN Food & Agriculture Organization (faostat.fao.org). The numbers apparently represent carcass weight rather than retail weight.
Per capita consumption trends in China

The per capita consumption of pork in China surpassed that of the USA during the 90s and shows no clear sign of slowing down. The same is true for egg and fish (seafood) consumption. Chicken consumption per person is well below that of USA, however there is a clear increasing trend. When the size of the population is taken into account, this trend represents a huge increase in the number of animals slaughtered.

In an article widely cited by groups promoting mostly incremental animal welfare reforms, it has been claimed that raising awareness of animal welfare concerns has a small but statistically significant effect on demand for animal products. If that's the case, the message is not getting through to the developing & newly industrialised countries.

To me this affirms the need to grow a vegan movement – a committed group of people who say no to the exploitation and slaughter of animals.

When killing animals for food is widely thought to be morally acceptable, factory farming will continue to be the dominant form of production around the world. So-called "free range" will be a niche market for the relatively wealthy. As stated in this PBS video on the trend towards increased meat consumption in China: "boutique organic pigs for the elite, industrially raised pigs for masses.."

We have to demonstrate that there is something better to aspire to. We have to show that living a vegan life, consistent with principles of nonviolence, is easy and is also a healthy way to live. And we show that walking the walk on climate change and environmental conservation means eating a wholly plant-based diet.

We hope that the changes occurring in the USA are the beginnings of something huge.

Sunday 28 October 2012

Guzman y Gomez, Civic

Guzman y Gomez is not the only burrito chain in town, but they were able to confirm via email that the veggie burrito, burrito bowl and tacos would be free of animal products if you ask for no cheese on them. It's a good thing we sorted this out earlier, because the service is express-style and it could be tricky to query the ingredients if there is a queue of people lined up behind you.

The tacos come with taco shells, beans, salsa, fried vegetables and guacamole. Although they were quite tasty, they would not satisfy a big hunger. For the same price you can get the the burrito bowl. It is more filling – the serving portion seems larger and it comes with a generous serve of rice instead of taco shells. The "bowl" is actually a disposable paper carton.

The shop is in the Canberra Centre on Bunda St near the entrance that leads to Supabarn.

Veggie taco (no cheese)


Veggie burrito bowl (no cheese)

Tuesday 16 October 2012

Earth's Garden Organics, Newcastle

Recently we returned to Earth's Garden Organics (formerly Sunny's Cafe) in Newcastle. The menu has been significantly improved with the addition of a dedicated vegan section and a raw food section. There are a number of tempting animal-free raw food desserts. Pictured below are the vegan noodles, raw "sun burger" and cashew creamsicle dessert. The sun burger looked a lot like the one in Ani Phyo's first raw food book, and has dehydrated seed bread. The creamsicle was topped with fruit and syrup. It all tasted as beautiful as it looked.

Vegan noodles

Raw sun burger



Cashew creamsicle
Earth's Garden Organics
86 Maitland Rd
Islington
Ph 02 4962 1304 

Saturday 22 September 2012

National Food Plan

The Australian Government is developing a National Food Plan to "ensure a sustainable, globally competitive and resilient food supply that supports access to nutritious and affordable food."

A green paper has been released with some discussion topics. Public submissions are invited and the deadline is the end of September 2012. It is a good opportunity to remind the government that encouraging plant-based diets is the best way to achieve the stated aims.

It seems that animal rights are not up for discussion (when are they ever?) but you may find a way to work it in to your submission.

The green paper, and instructions on writing a submission, can be found here:
http://www.daff.gov.au/nationalfoodplan/process-to-develop/green-paper

If you need some ideas, here is our submission.


Introduction

The overall theme of the food plan discussion paper is about riding a wave of Asian prosperity and increasing demand for animal products such as meat and dairy. Although wheat is mentioned, much of the expected increase in demand for wheat is due to feed for cattle, pigs and chickens – a highly inefficient use of grain.

In this submission I will discuss how increased production of animal foods leads to poor global outcomes at three levels: in health, environmental resources and food security. These are relevant to Chapters 5, 7 and 9 of the green paper.

Chapter 5: Safe and nutritious food

The green paper talks of responding to changing consumer preferences, particularly responding to the demand for animal products in Asia. Yet, studies convincingly show that negative health outcomes occur when Asian people adopt a more Western diet (Lee & Huang, 2001). In particular, the consumption of animal-based foods has deleterious effects on cardiovascular health (Campbell et al., 1998). Conversely, an Australian-based research group showed that the consumption of legumes (and not dairy, beef, chicken or fish) is the key contributor towards enhanced longevity in people across several cultures (Darmadi-Blackberry et al., 2004).

The negative health impacts of animal products have been well documented, but have been largely downplayed in the formation of official dietary guidelines. Some compelling examples from the research literature follow.

Prostate cancer and dairy
Prostate cancer is the most common cancer for men in Australia – one in nine men will develop the disease in their lifetime[1]. Studies show an increased risk of prostate cancer with dairy consumption. The meta-analysis in Gao et al. (2005) which was conducted on prospective studies found that high intake of both dairy and calcium was related to increased risk of prostate cancer. They found a 33 per cent increase in risk of prostate cancer for the highest versus the lowest categories of dairy intake. A similar association was observed in a subsequent prospective study of 43,435 men over 7.5 years (Kurahashi et al., 2008). 

The link between dairy and prostate cancer is also seen in case-control studies (Qin et al., 2004) and in ecological studies across many countries (Ganmaa et al., 2002). The disease burden of prostate cancer among Singapore Chinese appears to be increasing due to dairy consumption (Butler et al., 2010).

Heme iron from red and white meat increases risk of heart disease
Dietary iron comes in two forms: heme and non-heme. Plants contain only non-heme iron. Heme iron is only obtained from animal products, the main ones being red meat, chicken, turkey and seafood.

Heart disease is still the number one cause of death in this country. Dietary heme iron has been shown to be associated with coronary heart disease or cardiovascular disease in several large prospective studies (Ascherio et al., 1994; Klipstein-Grobusch et al., 1999; Lee et al., 2005; van der A et al., 2005; Qi et al., 2007). These studies included several tens of thousands of people. The latter study found that a high dietary heme intake was associated with a 50 per cent increase in risk of heart disease. 

Recently, a large cohort study with over 21,000 participants found an association between red meat consumption and coronary heart disease (Ashaye et al., 2011). This may also be due to the heme iron mechanism. A similar finding was documented in Kelemen et al. (2005), where a study of 29,017 women showed a 44 per cent increase in coronary heart disease risk for the highest versus lowest red meat intake.

Summary 
•        Shifting consumer preferences in Asia towards Western dietary patterns is likely to lead to poor health outcomes.
•        This causes a significant disease burden which is harmful to people and the economy.
•        Australia should take a lead role in promoting the consumption of healthy plant foods such as legumes.


Chapter 7: A strong natural resource base

It is a common misconception that animals are just grazing and using resources that would otherwise go unused. In fact, Australian livestock agriculture (including dairy cattle, beef cattle, pigs and chickens) is greatly supported by feed crops. Official statistics reveal that livestock can use up to 50 per cent of Australia’s grain crop depending on the drought status of the continent (Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics, 2007). 

Feeding plant protein to animals in order to produce flesh is highly inefficient. For example, in the case of broiler chickens, vegetable protein is converted to animal protein with an efficiency of just 18 per cent (Reijnders & Soret, 2003). This means that it takes more than 5 grams of vegetable protein to produce 1 gram of chicken flesh protein. The efficiency is even worse for cows and pigs. Given that vegetable sources of protein are perfectly able to sustain human life, this represents a tremendous waste of natural resources – land, water, fertiliser and fossil fuel. Clearly, in order to feed more people with limited resources, the easiest gains are in shifting diets towards plant foods rather than animal foods.

Water used by dairy farms – a closer look 
The dairy industry is a good income earner for foreign-owned companies, but at what cost? A report by CSIRO (Khan et al., 2010) shows that it takes (on average) 800 litres of water to produce just one litre of milk. The industry as a whole is a heavy user of irrigation water and irrigated land, along with feed crops – especially in times of drought. Plant foods can supply protein, energy and calcium at much higher water efficiency. Many green vegetables are denser in calcium than dairy milk. Dairy is thus a very water intensive way to deliver calcium to consumers, and particularly so given that calcium is actually given to cattle in the form of supplements[2]. On average, a person's water footprint due to dairy consumption is about twice their household water consumption[3]. That we cannot afford to have an expanding dairy industry may not be welcome news for farmers, but there are many opportunities for farming calcium-rich vegetables and seeds.

We need a major shift in thinking on diet, and Australia is in a good position to show leadership on this. Australia would not be “going it alone” given that the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has recently said that a shift towards plant-based diets is necessary to accommodate a growing population in a resource-limited planet (Hertwich et al., 2010). Either we prepare for the inevitable, or risk being left behind.

Summary 
•        Producing meat, dairy and eggs requires the heavy use of our environmental resources.
•        Australia should take a lead role along with the United Nations in shifting consumer behaviour towards plant-based diets.
•        Plant-based diets are the easiest way to promote nutrient productivity and to feed more people with fewer resources.

Chapter 9: Global food security

There are gaps in the Australian Government’s analysis on food security. Events occurring on Australia’s doorstep illustrate that food security is out of reach for our neighbours. Also, the animal production systems in place virtually guarantee that another deadly influenza pandemic will occur.

Just as in 2007, global shortages in soybean have caused large price increases that affect the food security of our Indonesian neighbours[4]. Soybean is an important source of nutrition for people on low incomes in that country. It provides a complete source of protein with numerous health benefits. When there is a shortage, vulnerable people are pushed further towards malnutrition. Yet, the vast majority of soybean worldwide is used to feed livestock (Nierenberg, 2005) so that the relatively wealthy can “express their consumer preferences” for more animal products. The global food system, left to the market, makes vulnerable people even more so. Australia participates directly in this. It does not produce enough soybean to satisfy its demand for animal feed, and therefore imports over half a million tonnes per year for this purpose. Australia must begin to wind down its involvement in this system and help to provide soybean at a low price for human consumption in Indonesia.

Disease pandemics originating from farmed animals also continue to threaten global security. The outbreak of H1N1 influenza (swine flu) in 2009 is directly attributable to the commoditisation of pigs as food. According the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, this outbreak has caused an estimated 284,000 human deaths (Dawood et al., 2012). Yet, it was widely thought that the event was not as severe as it could have been. A production system that can kill as many people in one outbreak as the Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004 is not a secure one. 

A similar situation is brewing with regard to H5N1 influenza (bird flu) in Indonesia. To date the World Health Organization estimates there have been 191 cases, the majority of them being fatal[5]. Researchers at the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics estimated that there would be 40,000 deaths in Australia in the case of a medium-sized pandemic, and the economy would experience a significant downturn (Buetre et al., 2006). The risk is a credible one and the consequences are terrible. The modern reliance on animal foods – whether for personal preference, habit, tradition or convenience – undeniably renders our society fragile and vulnerable. Australia should take a lead role (along with the UN) in steadily reducing the number of animals farmed for food.

Summary 
•        Australia can contribute to global and regional food security by producing soybean for human consumption in Indonesia and by not participating in the market for soy in animal feed.
•        Producing pig and chicken meat is the primary cause of deadly influenza pandemics such as H1N1 swine flu and H5N1 bird flu.

Recommendations

Australia must align its goals with the recommendations in the UNEP report (Hertwich et al., 2010). As mentioned in that report: 
Impacts from agriculture are expected to increase substantially due to population growth increasing consumption of animal products. Unlike fossil fuels, it is difficult to look for alternatives: people have to eat. A substantial reduction of impacts would only be possible with a substantial worldwide diet change, away from animal products. 
The shift away from animal-based foods will provide substantial benefits for public health, conservation of natural resources, global food security and equity.


References

Ascherio, A., Willett, W. C., Rimm, E. B., Giovannucci, E. L., Stampfer, M. J. 1994. ‘Dietary iron intake and risk of coronary disease among men’, Circulation 89(3), 969–974.

Ashaye, A., Gaziano, J., Djoussé, L. 2011. ‘Red meat consumption and risk of heart failure in male physicians’, Nutrition, Metabolism, and Cardiovascular Diseases: NMCD 21(12), 941–6.

Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics 2007. ‘Feedgrains: regional demand and supply in Australia’, ABARE project 2859.

Buetre, B., Kim, Y., Tran, Q., Thomson, J., Gunasekera, D. 2006. ‘Avian influenza: potential economic impact of a pandemic on Australia’, Australian Commodities 13(2).


Butler, L. M., Wong, A. S., Koh, W.-P., Wang, R., Yuan, J.-M., Yu, M. C. 2010. ‘Calcium intake increases risk of prostate cancer among Singapore Chinese’, Cancer Res. 70(12), 4941–4948.

Campbell, T. C., Parpia, B., Chen, J. 1998. ‘Diet, lifestyle, and the etiology of coronary artery disease: the Cornell China study’, Am. J. Cardiol. 82(10B), 18T–21T.

Darmadi-Blackberry, I., Wahlqvist, M. L., Kouris-Blazos, A., Steen, B., Lukito, W., Horie, Y., Horie, K. 2004. ‘Legumes: the most important dietary predictor of survival in older people of different ethnicities’, Asia Pacific Journal of Clinical Nutrition 13(2), 217–20.

Dawood, F. S., Iuliano, A. D., Reed, C., Meltzer, M. I., Shay, D. K., Cheng, P.-Y., Bandaranayake, D., Breiman, R. F., Brooks, W. A., Buchy, P., Feikin, D. R., Fowler, K. B., Gordon, A., Hien, N. T., Horby, P., Huang, Q. S., Katz, M. A., Krishnan, A., Lal, R., Montgomery, J. M., lbak, K., Pebody, R., Presanis, A. M., Razuri, H., Steens, A., Tinoco, Y. O., Wallinga, J., Yu, H., Vong, S., Bresee, J., Widdowson, M.-A. 2012. ‘Estimated global mortality associated with the first 12 months of 2009 pandemic influenza A H1N1 virus circulation: a modelling study’, Lancet Infect. Dis. 12(9), 687–695. 

Ganmaa, D., Li, X.-M., Wang, J., Qin, L.-Q., Wang, P.-Y., Sato, A. 2002. ‘Incidence and mortality of testicular and prostatic cancers in relation to world dietary practices’, Int. J. Cancer 98(2), 262–267.

Gao, X., LaValley, M. P., Tucker, K. L. 2005. ‘Prospective studies of dairy product and calcium intakes and prostate cancer risk: a meta-analysis’, J. Natl Cancer Inst. 97(23), 1768–77.

Hertwich, E., van der Voet, E., Suh, S., Tukker, A., Huigbregts, M., Kazmierczyk, P., Lenzen, M., McNeely, J., Moriguchi, Y. 2010. ‘Assessing the Environmental Impacts of Consumption and Production: Priority Products and Materials, A Report of the Working Group on the Environmental Impacts of Products and Materials to the International Panel for Sustainable Resource Management’, UNEP.

Kelemen, L. E., Kushi, L. H., Jacobs, D. R., Cerhan, J. R. 2005. ‘Associations of dietary protein with disease and mortality in a prospective study of postmenopausal women’, Am. J. Epidemiol. 161(3), 239–49.

Khan, S., Abbas, A., Rana, T., Carroll, J. 2010. ‘Dairy water use in Australian dairy farms: Past trends and future prospects’, CSIRO: Water for a Healthy Country National Research Flagship.

Klipstein-Grobusch, K., Grobbee, D. E., den Breeijen, J. H., Boeing, H., Hofman, A., Witteman, J. C. 1999. ‘Dietary iron and risk of myocardial infarction in the Rotterdam Study’, Am. J. Epidemiol. 149(5), 421–8.

Kurahashi, N., Inoue, M., Iwasaki, M., Sasazuki, S., Tsugane, A. 2008. ‘Dairy product, saturated fatty acid, and calcium intake and prostate cancer in a prospective cohort of Japanese men’, Cancer Epidemiol. Biomarkers Prev. 17(4), 930–937.

Lee, D.-h., Folsom, A. R., Jacobs, D. R. Jr., 2005. ‘Iron, zinc, and alcohol consumption and mortality from cardiovascular diseases: the Iowa Women’s Health Study’, Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 81(4), 787–791.

Lee, M. M., Huang, S. 2001. ‘Immigrant women’s health: nutritional assessment and dietary intervention’, West. J. Med. 175(2), 133–137.

Nierenberg, D. 2005. ‘Happier meals – rethinking the global meat industry’, Worldwatch paper 171.

Qi, L., van Dam, R. M., Rexrode, K., Hu, F. B. 2007. ‘Heme iron from diet as a risk factor for coronary heart disease in women with type 2 diabetes’, Diabetes Care 30(1), 101–106.

Qin, L.-Q., Xu, J.-Y., Wang, P.-Y., Kaneko, T., Hoshi, K., Sato, A. 2004. ‘Milk consumption is a risk factor for prostate cancer: meta-analysis of case-control studies’, Nutr. Cancer 48(1), 22–27.

Reijnders, L., Soret, S. 2003. ‘Quantification of the environmental impact of different dietary protein choices’, The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 78(3 Suppl), 664S–668S.

van der A, D. L., Peeters, P. H. M., Grobbee, D. E., Marx, J. J., van der Schouw, Y. T. 2005. ‘Dietary haem iron and coronary heart disease in women’, European Heart Journal 26(3), 257–62.


This submission was copyedited by The Happy Apostrophe.

Thursday 6 September 2012

Pilgrims Wholefoods, Milton

If you're heading to the NSW South Coast it's worth a trip to the picturesque town of Milton to sample the arts, crafts and food. Pilgrims Wholefoods cafe is a popular location where the decor has that recycled look. In the evening they offer a Mexican menu. We had the Burrito Bowl - the components of a bean burrito without the bread -  including some tasty potato wedges, guacamole and salad.

During the day they serve juices, burgers and pies. There was really only one vegan option, the Millennium Burger, which had a patty made from curried lentils. Really yummy. Gluten free bread is available on request. Outdoor seating is available too.

We enjoyed our visits to the cafe, and the meat-free environment, although a few more creative vegan meals would be appreciated. It seems that the ingredients and the know-how are already in place for this.

Burrito bowl

Juice with apple, beetroot and celery

Millennium burger





Pilgrims Wholefoods on Urbanspoon

Monday 6 August 2012

Conscious Cafe, Byron Bay

Note: the conscious cafe has closed for the time being.

During a visit to the Byron Bay Writers' Festival, we had breakfast at the Conscious Cafe (located near the Woolworths supermarket in Johnson Street). We ordered the berry & quinoa porridge – also topped with banana, nuts and cashew cream  – and minus the honey, which turned it into a vegan dish. This was a highly original creation that was both delicious and visually attractive.


The Conscious Cafe on Urbanspoon

Thursday 19 July 2012

Milking dry the Murray-Darling

After a run of wet years the drought of the last decade appears to be a distant memory. However, drought will return, and as stated in this article in the Canberra Times, the sustainability of Canberra's water use will be severely tested.

What this article doesn't mention is that the water impact of Canberra on the Murray Darling Basin extends way beyond the household tap water supplied by dams. A huge amount of fresh water is used to produce food. The most water intensive are the animal products - meat, dairy and eggs. In fact, the water used to produce these is much more than the average household water use.

How much more? In this blog post I will calculate the water required to produce the dairy consumed by the average non-vegan person.

Did you know that the dairy industry is the second largest single user of irrigation water (just edged out by the cotton industry)? It is also the biggest single user of irrigated land in Australia. This is shown in a report sponsored by the dairy industry itself [1]. They estimate that the average dairy farm uses 800 litres of fresh water per litre of milk produced.

Imagine that the 200 litres of water used for just one cup of milk would allow 4 people to have a shower, or would fill an empty bathtub.

The average person consumed 23.3 kg milk solids in 1998 [2], which translates to about 193 litres of regular milk. Simple arithmetic then shows that the average person's dairy consumption requires about 155,000 litres of fresh water per year. The average per capita household water consumption in Canberra is about 77,000 litres per year [3]. This means that:

the water required to supply dairy to the average non-vegan, lactose tolerant person is about twice their household water consumption.

But don't we HAVE to have dairy? No - as I said in my submission to the dietary guidelines, there are many plant foods that are more calcium-dense than dairy is. Also, the majority of the world's population is lactose intolerant.

When we see through dairy industry advertising, the absurdity of the idea that adult humans require the breast milk of another species becomes clear. And when you consider that dairy cows are routinely given calcium supplements, it makes you wonder why don't we just take the supplements? Or better still, eat calcium-dense green vegetables, nuts and seeds?
 
If you must have a creamy white milky substance (and I do have the occasional coffee), soy milk uses far less water. Let's do the sums.

1 cup of soy milk has about 19.4 grams non-water content (assume this is all from soybean) [4].
1 kg of soybean requires 2106 litres of water [5].
Water required to produce 1 cup of soy milk = (19.4 ÷ 1000)×2106 = 40.9 litres

This ignores the small amount of water required for cooking the soybean and to fill the soy milk carton. These would not change the basic result:

Dairy milk requires several times more fresh water than soy milk does.

[1] Khan S. et al. (2010). Dairy water use in Australian dairy farms: Past trends
and future prospects. Water for a Healthy Country Flagship, CSIRO.
[2] Australian Bureau of Statistics (2000). Apparent consumption of foodstuffs. Product no. 4306.0.
[3] Australian Bureau of Statistics (2012). State and territory indicators. Product no. 1367.0
[4] USDA Nutrient Database http://ndb.nal.usda.gov/
[5] Hoekstra and Chapagain (2007). Water footprints of nations: water use by people as a function of their consumption pattern. Water Resources Management  21:35–48.

Sunday 8 July 2012

Kingsland Restaurant, Dickson (part 5)

Okay, so we go to Kingsland restaurant quite often. However, we do have something new to report.

The menu has been reworked to include some new dishes and desserts. There are several new types of soup on offer. The soups are served in large bowls which makes them substantial meals in their own right.

Particularly exciting is the tofu pho soup. This noodle dish is packed with fresh vegetables and served with a side plate of sprouts and fresh herbs. It is very tasty and we can only suggest you give it a try - prices are very reasonable.

The tofu laksa soup is rich, spicy and creamy, and it is the best laksa we have had in several years.

When eating out, soups can be tricky for vegans because it is hard to know exactly what ingredients have been used in the stock. At Kingsland there are no worries since everything is vegan.

Phở soup


Laksa soup
Kingsland Restaurant - Healthy Vegan Cuisine
Shop 5 Dickson Plaza, 67-69 Woolley Street, Dickson
(02) 6262 9350

Kingsland Vegetarian Restaurant on Urbanspoon

Tuesday 3 July 2012

Veganarchy Sweets and Eats


Cupcake anyone? Veganarchy is a local Canberra maker of 100% vegan cupcakes, muffins and other delicious sweet treats. They sell to a number of cafes across Canberra, including the Food Co-op and Cafe Essen in the city. You can also order goodies from them by the dozen or half dozen - pick up in Lyneham or have home delivered for a small cost. There is an impressive range of flavours to choose from, including gluten-free options. We ordered 2 dozen cupcakes to celebrate a birthday with friends. Maryanne's favourite was caramel apple, and Robert's was cherry ripe. Scrumptious!

Veganarchy Sweets & Eats
www.veganarchy.com.au

Monday 2 July 2012

Jewel of India, Civic

A work lunch function brought us to this restaurant which has received some positive reviews elsewhere. Inside the restaurant, the decor is very pleasant and the service is attentive. The lunch special was not vegan-friendly so we ordered à la carte.

After sorting out what was vegan on the menu, we decided to order the Baingan Masala (eggplant and potato cooked in onion-tomato gravy), as well as the Dal Masala (yellow lentils). These were accompanied by rice and plain roti bread. Both were excellent dishes and this is some of the best Indian restaurant food we have tried in Canberra.

This shows once again that cooking tasty meals doesn't require the use of animal products.

Baingan Masala (eggplant) and Dal Masala (yellow lentils)

Jewel of India
Jewel of India on Urbanspoon

Wednesday 13 June 2012

Ruchi, Belconnen

Ruchi restaurant is located in Oatley Court, Belconnen and specialises in south Indian cuisine. Perhaps as a result, the vegetarian mains are listed first on the menu. They serve dosai, crepes made from rice and lentil flour, and a popular breakfast and street food in south India. We had the masala dosa as an entree, however you will need to ask for the vegan version (i.e. no animal products) cooked in vegetable oil. It is served with coconut and spicy chutneys. Delicious!

Masala Dosa

For the main course we ordered an eggplant curry and an okra curry with rice. The wait staff were friendly and advised us of the vegan choices on the menu. It was hearty winter food.    


Bhagare Baingun (eggplant) and Vendakkai Paretal (okra)
Ruchi
Unit 4, 17- 23 Oatley Court, Belconnen
Ph: (02) 6253 2506
Ruchi Belconnen on Urbanspoon

Saturday 14 April 2012

Ethiopian food at Gorman House Markets

Gorman House Markets are open Saturdays from 10am to 4pm. Ethiopian Healthy Choice is a regular food stall at the market. There are several delicious vegan offerings. We enjoyed a selection of them as a large serving for $10 per plate. There was an amazing variety of flavour and colour from the beans, lentils, vegetables and spices. This is great value for money and the markets provide a pleasant atmosphere to enjoy your lunch.

Mix of five Ethiopian vegetable curries

Listening to the bluegrass sounds of local band Doctor Stovepipe

Saturday 24 March 2012

New Australian dietary guidelines: business as usual

The Australian dietary guidelines have been updated for the first time since 2003. Since then there has been a mountain of extra evidence compiled on the risks of eating meat, dairy and eggs. Unfortunately, these guidelines appear to have overlooked many key pieces of evidence that have been published in the scientific literature.

A maximum daily limit of 65 grams of red meat has now been put in place because of the cancer risk associated with it.  Also, the recommended maximum protein content in the diet as been reduced from 35 to 25 per cent of total energy. This means that the popular Total Wellbeing Diet no longer conforms to the dietary guidelines. Otherwise, not much has changed with these guidelines - overall, the amount of animal products recommended is about the same.

Did you know that:
- the majority of the world's population is lactose intolerant?
- dairy has been found to raise the risk of prostate cancer?
- iron from meat sources raises the risk of heart disease?

Read our submission to the NHMRC in response to the dietary guidelines below:

Response to the draft Australian Dietary Guidelines
February 2012

Executive summary


The Australian Dietary Guidelines play a crucial role in determining the health of the population. They will influence what is thought to be healthy and culturally acceptable for decades to come, because they will be taught to students and medical practitioners, thereby influencing the decisions and eating habits of the population.
However, in the production of these draft Guidelines there has been a number of crucial shortcomings in the Evidence Report and anomalies in the modelling. Additionally, clarity is needed in the Guide to Healthy Eating. These problems need to be corrected in order to guide the population’s eating habits to be more nutrient dense and healthy, and to avoid chronic disease.
I write as someone who has lived healthily on a wholly plant-based diet for more than ten years. My comments mostly call into question the amount of animal foods prescribed for the Australian population, and the methods used to justify it.
I have classified my findings into six main topics. These are summarised below.
Several of the Foundation Diets and Total Diets suggested in the Modelling document have saturated fat content that exceeds the NHMRC’s own recommended limit of 10 per cent of energy intake.
Also, many of the prescribed diets that do not exceed 10 per cent saturated fat still go very close to this level. Even if someone followed the Guidelines closely, their saturated fat could easily climb above 10 per cent. This is important because saturated fat is linked to heart disease risk, and heart disease is the number one cause of death in this country. An estimated 18 per cent of people are displaying some symptoms of heart disease risk, and studies show that saturated fat at 11 per cent of energy may increase the risk of pancreatic cancer. Therefore, a lower saturated fat limit should be specified, and adhered to in the modelling.
There is a heavy emphasis on obtaining heme iron (iron from animal flesh), which could increase risk of heart disease. The Evidence Report did not consider the large body of evidence on this association. Heme iron is obtained only from animal products such as red meat, chicken, pork and seafood. Heme iron has been associated with increase in risk of heart disease in several large prospective studies. Iron from plant foods (non-heme iron) is not associated with increased risk of heart disease. Dietary iron needs can be met sufficiently through plant foods. Its absorption can be improved with practices such as consuming adequate vitamin C with each meal.
There needs to be definitive statements about the risks associated with eating red meat. That red meat increases the risk of colon cancer is no longer seriously disputed. In addition to the heart disease risk from heme iron mentioned above, red meat has been associated with the development of type 2 diabetes in some very large cohort studies. As a minimum step, the 65 g daily limit on red meat articulated in the Modelling document should be included in the Guide to Healthy Eating, and the reasons for it should be highlighted. Given the heme iron association with heart disease however, this daily limit should be closer to zero.
There is much leeway within the Guidelines to adopt a high protein diet, which could increase risk of mortality. In large prospective studies, high protein diets have been associated with an increase in mortality risk, independently of saturated fat and other known mortality risks.
Dairy should not be emphasised above its plant-based “alternatives”. This can be argued on a number of grounds:
a) The majority of the world’s adults, including Indigenous Australians, are lactose intolerant, thus an emphasis on dairy is Euro-centric and not representative of Australia’s cultural diversity.
b) Calcium-fortified dairy “alternatives” such as soy, rice, almond and oat milk have much lower saturated fat.
c) Good quality studies have shown that dairy increases the risk of prostate cancer (the most common cancer for Australian men) and ovarian cancer.
The immense nutritional value of green and brassica vegetables (and particularly leafy greens) is not recognised.

a) In the Guide to Healthy Eating, green and brassica vegetables appear to be just one option along with other vegetables. The nutrient dense nature of green and brassica vegetables means that they really should have their own food group. They are also strongly protective against cancer.
b) Why is only one serve per day of green vegetables prescribed in the modelling? It’s curious enough that green and brassica vegetables were limited to a maximum of two serves per day in the optimisation because of “cultural reasons”, but even under this constraint, why was the optimum number of daily serves of greens one, not two? Including more greens would be an opportunity to help meet a range of nutritional requirements such as calcium – but without the saturated fat associated with other sources of calcium.
c) Within the green and brassica vegetable grouping, leafy green vegetables have been given insufficient weighting. Compared with green peas, leafy green vegetables are much denser in important nutrients such as iron, calcium and magnesium.


Saturated fat


The NHMRC has set an upper limit of saturated fat at 10 per cent of energy intake (Nutrient Reference Values document). This contrasts with the USA’s Food and Nutrition Board which does not set a tolerable upper limit for saturated fat, recognising that any incremental increase in saturated fat is known to raise the risk of coronary heart disease. They recommend that individuals maintain their saturated fatty acid consumption as low as possible, while consuming a nutritionally adequate diet (National Academy of Sciences 2006). Dietary saturated fat has also been linked to increased risk of other adverse health outcomes such as pancreatic cancer, and it has no known role in prevention of chronic disease. It is concerning that several of the sample diets in the draft Dietary Guidelines have saturated fat content which exceeds the NHMRC’s own limit of 10 per cent.

Heart disease and saturated fat—still the main issue
Heart disease is still the number one cause of death in Australia. In a recent survey, 18 per cent of Australians reported having symptoms relating to heart disease risk factors, and this percentage increased with age (Australian Bureau of Statistics 2006). Mean cholesterol levels as of a few years ago have been estimated to be 5.1 and 5.2 mmol/L for men and women respectively (Farzadfar et al. 2011). This is still among the highest in the world – similar to North America.
A meta-analysis of 61 prospective studies showed conclusively that total serum cholesterol is related to heart disease risk (Lewington et al. 2007). Modelling of experimental data predicts that decreasing saturated fat content by 5 per cent would lower serum cholesterol by about 0.3 mmol/L (Hegsted et al. 1993). Using the data from these articles, it is clear that a 5 per cent further reduction in saturated fat content of the diet would achieve a substantial reduction in heart disease risk among the general population.
Pancreatic cancer and saturated fat
A large prospective study (Thiébaut et al. 2009) showed that a group with median intake of 11 per cent saturated fat had a 21 per cent increase in risk of pancreatic cancer when compared to lower saturated fat intake, after adjusting for other variables. The association was strongest for saturated fat of animal origin. This is one of the best designed studies to date on pancreatic cancer and fat intake, with 1337 cancer cases and a wide range of observed fat intakes.
NHMRC’s sample diets exceed saturated fat limit
Several of the Foundation Diets and Total Diets have saturated fat content exceeding the NHMRC’s own recommended limit of 10 per cent of energy intake (see Tables 1 to 3 below). Many of the other prescribed diets that do not exceed 10 per cent saturated fat still go very close to this level, posing the real risk of the recommended limit easily being exceeded, even by the most discerning eater.
Even if the Guidelines were followed precisely, many people would exceed 10 per cent saturated fat, just due to natural variation from person to person and the lack of precise knowledge about fat content in their diets. Very few people would be able to estimate their saturated fat intake to within one per cent. Calculations readily show that an extra serve of dairy milk could raise saturated fat from 10 to 11.5 per cent of energy, and an extra 40 g serve of cheese could increase it from 10 to 12 per cent. Clearly, then, it is unwise to prescribe diets with saturated fat above 9 per cent. A lower target should be aimed for in the diets, simply to ensure that the majority of people who follow the Guidelines will actually come under 10 per cent. Reducing the recommended serves of meat and dairy is an easy way of reducing saturated fat intake.
Additional calculations
I used the data for energy and saturated fat in grams from the Tables in Appendix A of the Modelling document. The percentage energy from saturated fat was calculated using the accepted figure of 37.6 kJ per gram of fat. When applied to the Foundation Diets in Tables A11.1 and A11.2, the following results were obtained, showing levels of saturated fat exceeding or coming very close to the recommended upper limit.
Saturated fat content of Foundation Diets for women
Women, from Table A11.1, Foundation Diets
Age 19-30 31-50 51-70 70+
Energy (kJ) 7383.98 7561.16 7214.27 6586.64
Saturated fat (g) 17.81 17.74 19.44 19.11
Saturated fat (% energy)* 9.1 8.8 10.1 10.9
*NHMRC’s recommended upper limit of saturated fat is 10% of energy intake


Saturated fat content of Foundation Diets for men
Men, from Table A11.2, Foundation Diets
Age 19-30 31-50 51-70 70+
Energy (kJ) 8943.91 8894.29 8286.49 7304.92
Saturated fat (g) 22.39 22.96 21.94 19.93
Saturated fat (% energy)* 9.4 9.7 10.0 10.3
*NHMRC’s recommended upper limit of saturated fat is 10% of energy intake
While these tables represent a low physical activity level, I found a similar pattern among the 7-day simulations listed in Appendix 15 of the Modelling document where higher activity levels are assumed. Using the tables in Appendix 15, I calculated the mean percentage saturated fat for each grouping of gender, height/activity level and age. For average height/ light to moderate activity, the diets in Table were found to exceed 10 per cent saturated fat on average.
Mean saturated fat content for diet simulations in Appendix 15 of modelling document – average height, light-moderate physical activity
Gender/Age
Saturated fat (% energy)*
Boys 12 to 13
10.5
Girls 12 to 13
10.7
Men 70 plus
10.2
Women 51 to 70
10.5
Women 70 plus
10.6
*NHMRC’s recommended upper limit of saturated fat is 10% of energy intake
Again, while several of the sample diets do not exceed 10 per cent saturated fat, a number of them lie in the range between 9 and 10 per cent, which is very close to the limit.
Summary
  • The modelling system used to inform the Guide to Healthy Eating is flawed because the fraction of energy from saturated fat frequently exceeds 10 per cent, the limit set by the NHMRC.
  • Because many of the modelled diets go close to or exceed 10 per cent of energy from saturated fat, and there is a strong reliance on animal products, it is to be expected that many people will go over 10 per cent saturated fat without being aware of it.
  • At these levels of saturated fat it can be expected that there will be additional increases in the risk of heart disease and pancreatic cancer.
  • Saturated fat intake can easily be much lower than 10 per cent of energy while meeting nutrient requirements. This is achieved through consumption of nutrient-rich plant foods.

Red meat risks


Unprocessed red meat remains central to the Australian diet and is still recommended in the new draft Dietary Guidelines, despite evidence showing serious adverse health effects. Evidence is accumulating on the potential association with gastric cancer (González et al. 2006, Cross et al. 2011), liver disease (Freedman et al. 2010) and renal cancer (Daniel et al. 2012). The evidence for the link between colorectal cancer and unprocessed red meat is convincing and uncontroversial. There also exists a large amount of data on the positive association between unprocessed red meat and type 2 diabetes. Further discussion on the latter two diseases follows below.
Colorectal cancer
Every meta-analysis of prospective studies published in the international peer-reviewed literature in the last ten years has found a statistically significant positive association between red meat and colorectal cancer (Sandhu et al. 2001, Norat et al. 2002, Larsson & Wolk 2006, Chan et al. 2011, Alexander et al. 2011 and World Cancer Research Fund / American Institute for Cancer Research 2007). Only Alexander et al. (2011) downplayed their result due to heterogeneity of studies; however, heterogeneity generally makes it harder to detect an underlying association. This only confirms the robustness of the finding.
Two of these studies existed prior to the release of the previous edition of the Dietary Guidelines, however they appear to have escaped the notice of the authors at the time. The previous version of the Guide to Healthy Eating (1998), which is still current, suggests that up to 200 g daily serves of red meat is healthy. As a result, many people erroneously believe this to be the case – with potentially tragic health outcomes.
The document “A review of the evidence to address targeted questions to inform the revision of the Australian Dietary Guidelines” (the Evidence Report) states that the evidence linking red meat to colorectal cancer is in Grade B (probable). Given the history of investigation stated above, it is not clear why the evidence is not Grade A (convincing association). The disease burden associated with colorectal cancer is significant and every effort is needed to reduce it.
Type 2 diabetes
In recent years there have been a number of large prospective studies on the link between red meat and diabetes. Of three recent meta-analyses conducted, two returned a statistically significant link between red meat and type 2 diabetes (Aune et al. 2009, Pan et al. 2011). The latter of these (and the most up-to-date) included 28,228 cases of type 2 diabetes. Their estimate of the effect is a 19 per cent increase in risk of type 2 diabetes per 100 g of unprocessed red meat.
The meta-analysis by Micha et al. (2010) did not return a statistically significant result; however, a number of large cohort studies appeared just after that paper was written, such as Steinbrecher et al. (2011) which included 8587 incident cases of type 2 diabetes. This alone would increase the number of cases in that meta-analysis by 80 per cent.
In Australia, around 1.7 million people have type 2 diabetes and a further 2 million people have a pre-diabetes condition (source: http://www.diabetesvic.org.au). This is about one person in six. Therefore, including red meat in the Dietary Guidelines is particularly inappropriate for at least one in six people in Australia on account of diabetes risk.
Getting iron and zinc
It is often suggested that iron from animal flesh is the most reliable way to avoid iron deficiency anemia. Yet, the majority of the population’s iron intake comes from plants (Australian Bureau of Statistics 1998). The bioavailability of non-heme iron (mostly from plants) can be improved markedly by simple practices such as consuming vitamin C-rich food with a meal and avoiding tea with a meal (Thankachan et al. 2008). Some studies of young women among well-nourished populations have shown little relationship between iron intake and the incidence of anemia (Pynaert et al. 2007, Asakura et al. 2009). Also, it has been found that the rate of iron deficiency anemia is not markedly different between vegetarians and non-vegetarians (Ball & Bartlett 1999). Good sources of iron from plant sources include legumes, whole grains, dried fruits, leafy green vegetables, nuts and seeds.
The recommended daily intake of zinc for Australian men is set at 14 mg per day, with up to 50 per cent extra said to be required in the case of plant-based diets (Nutrient Reference Values document). This recommended daily intake for zinc is one of the highest in the world, despite there being little evidence of zinc deficiency in Australia. In Canada and the USA the recommended daily intake is 11 mg per day. The World Health Organization set a recommended nutrient intake of 14 mg per day only for the extreme case of high phytate diets with very low bioavailability.
Zinc is readily available from foods across the plant kingdom, including grains, legumes, seeds, nuts and vegetables. Examples include peanut butter, green beans, zucchini, chick peas, pumpkin seeds, whole wheat, rice and oats. Bioavailability is improved substantially by practices that are already common in food preparation which reduce the phytate content. This includes using yeast in bread making, soaking or sprouting (in the case of legumes), and roasting (of nuts and seeds). It is not hard to obtain iron and zinc from a plant-based diet.
Summary
  • The Modelling document placed serve limits on red meat at 65 g per day. The previous version of the Guide to Healthy Eating suggested that 200 g per day was acceptable, so this is a major change. This change, and the reasons for it, has not been communicated clearly enough in the new Guide to Healthy Eating. There is nothing in the Guide to Healthy Eating to indicate that when people eat red meat they are taking on additional risk for chronic disease depending on their level of intake.
  • It is a concern that the Guidelines recommend eating red meat at all given that it has been convincingly associated with cancer and other chronic disease.
  • Red meat is particularly inappropriate for at least one in six people in Australia on account of diabetes risk.
  • Iron and zinc can be obtained from plant foods by following some simple guidelines.

Coronary heart disease and cardiovascular disease: the link with heme iron from meat


Dietary iron comes in two forms: heme and non-heme. Plants contain only non-heme iron. Heme iron is only obtained from animal products, the main ones being red meat, chicken, turkey and seafood.
Dietary heme iron has been shown to be associated with coronary heart disease or cardiovascular disease in several large prospective studies (Ascherio et al. 1994, Klipstein-Grobusch et al. 1999, Lee et al. 2005, van der A et al. 2005 and Qi et al. 2007). These studies included several tens of thousands of people. The latter study found that a high dietary heme intake was associated with a 50 per cent increase in risk of heart disease.
Recently, a large cohort study with over 21,000 participants found an association between red meat consumption and coronary heart disease (Ashaye et al. 2011). This may also be due to the heme iron mechanism. A similar finding was documented in Kelemen et al. (2005), where a study of 29,017 women showed a 44 per cent increase in coronary heart disease risk for the highest versus lowest red meat intake.
It is surprising that the Evidence Report did not examine the evidence linking heme iron and heart disease. Heart disease is still the number one cause of death in this country. The evidence on heme iron and heart disease risk should be comprehensively examined and dietary advice should be modified accordingly. Plant foods can meet dietary iron needs adequately. Therefore, heme iron from animal flesh should be avoided, resulting in lower heart disease risk.
Summary
  • Heme iron, obtained from animal flesh, has been associated with an increased risk of heart disease in a number of large cohort studies.
  • This increase in risk is especially important since heart disease remains the number one cause of death in Australia. The evidence suggests that wherever possible, heme iron (derived from meat products) should be avoided.
  • Non-heme iron from plants can meet iron needs adequately.


High protein diets


Since the release of the previous Dietary Guidelines there has been an increase in the number of books and programs advocating a high protein diet. Data is beginning to emerge on the long-term adverse consequences of these diets.
In a large prospective study of more than 40,000 women over a 12-year period, protein intake was associated with cardiovascular mortality. Among women aged 40—49 at enrolment, the increase in cardiovascular mortality risk was 16 per cent per decile of protein intake (Lagiou et al. 2007). The study corrected for saturated fat intake and other factors. This increase in mortality risk could be due partially to heme iron (derived from animal flesh), as already mentioned.
Another study of 43,960 men found that among healthy men, there was a 21 per cent increase in risk in ischemic heart disease for the highest versus lowest quintiles of total protein intake (Preis et al. 2010). This result was due almost entirely to animal protein; no association was found for vegetable protein.
The Nutrient Reference Values document sets an upper limit for protein at 25 per cent of total energy. This upper limit of protein has been reduced from 35 per cent in the previous Dietary Guidelines. High protein diets, such as the one in Noakes et al. (2005) that led to the Total Wellbeing diet book, are no longer valid within the Dietary Guidelines – not only because of the extreme protein level, but also because of the large daily serves of red meat which are known to raise colorectal cancer risk.
However, a diet with 25 per cent protein is still well within the high range of those long-term cohort studies mentioned above. These protein amounts are excessive: the population mean is around 16—17 per cent. The available data indicates an increase in mortality risk at protein levels of 25 per cent of total energy.
Summary
The draft Dietary Guidelines and Guide to Healthy Eating do not rule out the possibility of high protein diets which have been shown to be associated with chronic disease and mortality risk in the long term.


Dairy


The Guide to Healthy Eating emphasises dairy intake and effectively gives dairy a food group of its own, albeit with “alternatives” that are not clearly defined. However, in addition to its saturated fat content, the intake of dairy has been shown to be associated with chronic diseases and other adverse conditions.
Lactose intolerance
The ability of humans to digest dairy milk is a relatively recent genetic adaptation. The condition known as lactase persistence is the ability to digest lactose from milk as an adult. Worldwide, the majority of the population (approximately 65 per cent) does not have this ability, and is lactose intolerant. Within certain ethnic groups the prevalence of lactose intolerance is very much higher. This includes Aboriginal Australia, southern Africa, China, Japan, south-east Asia, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea (Itan et al. 2010).
Clearly, an emphasis on dairy milk to obtain calcium represents a limited Euro-centric viewpoint. While the Guidelines make some suggestions for people who are lactose intolerant, these are not backed up by model results. None of the diets in the Modelling document reflect a lactose intolerant diet; hence, the draft Dietary Guidelines do not meaningfully consider large sections of the diverse Australian population.
Prostate cancer and dairy
Studies show an increased risk of prostate cancer with dairy consumption. The Evidence Report cites only the “poor quality” literature review by Alvarez-León et al. (2006). This review doesn’t consider the findings in the meta-analysis by Gao et al. (2005) which was conducted on prospective studies and found that high intake of both dairy and calcium was related to increased risk of prostate cancer. They found a 33 per cent increase in risk of prostate cancer for the highest versus the lowest categories of dairy intake. A similar association was observed in a subsequent prospective study of 43,435 men over 7.5 years (Kurahashi et al. 2008). On what basis were these two publications excluded from the NHMRC’s Evidence Report?
The link between dairy and prostate cancer is also seen in case-control studies (Qin et al. 2004) and ecological studies across many countries (Ganmaa et al. 2002).
More recently, a large prospective study of 27,111 participants found that intake of phytanic acid (found in dairy products and meat) was related to an increased risk of prostate cancer (Wright et al. 2011).
Laboratory tests have shown that dairy milk stimulated the growth of prostate cancer cells in culture, increasing the growth rate by over 30 per cent, while almond milk decreased the growth rate by 30 per cent (Tate et al. 2011).
Within the 7-day sample diets that form the basis of the Dietary Guidelines, adult men have average calcium values ranging from about 1340 to 1780 mg per day, depending on age group and activity level. Sample diets for boys aged 14–18 with high activity level have average calcium nearly 1900 mg per day. The recommended daily intake already has a considerable safety margin, and exceeding the recommended daily intake to this extent (by 40 to 60 per cent) is unnecessary. The large amounts of dairy used to deliver these quantities of calcium are likely to be enhancing lifetime prostate cancer risk.
Prostate cancer is the most common cancer for men in Australia. One in nine men will develop the disease in their lifetime (source: http://www.prostate.org.au). Given this disease burden, the advice on dairy intake should be reconsidered urgently.
Ovarian cancer and dairy
Over time, a number of studies have reported a suggestive association of ovarian cancer risk with the intake of lactose. Two meta-analyses published in 2006 independently reported a statistically significant increase in cancer risk for higher lactose intake (Larsson et al. 2006, Genkinger et al. 2006). The former of these studies reported a 13 per cent increase in risk of ovarian cancer for each 10 g increase in lactose.
In addition, suggestive associations have been found between the risk of ovarian cancer and the intake of fat from animal sources. Recently, in a very large study of 151,552 women over a period of 9 years, 695 cases of ovarian cancer were observed, and the risk of ovarian cancer was found to be related to the intake of animal fat (Blank et al. 2012).
Dairy and severe acne
Acne is not considered to be a chronic disease, however it is a major concern for many young people and can leave lifelong scars. Large prospective studies have shown that dairy intake increases the risk of severe acne in a dose-dependent manner (Adebamowo et al. 2005, Adebamowo et al. 2006). The risk was found to be higher for low fat milk. This is a particular concern because the Guide to Healthy Eating places an emphasis on low fat dairy products.
Alternative sources of calcium
The draft Dietary Guidelines and Guide to Healthy Eating do not devote much space to discussing the “alternatives” within the dairy grouping. Due to the high saturated fat content and the diseases associated with dairy (i.e. milk, yoghurt and cheese), the calcium-fortified “alternatives” are almost invariably a better choice. A serving of calcium-fortified soy milk typically has less than one quarter of the amount of saturated fat as dairy milk. There are other choices available, such as oat, rice and almond milk.
There are many other foods that can contribute to daily calcium requirements. From the nuts and seeds group, tahini (sesame seed paste) and ground flax seed have about the same calcium content per gram of saturated fat as whole milk. Also, compared with whole milk, chia seeds contain about 3 times the amount of calcium per gram of saturated fat. Chia seeds are grown in Australia and are readily available in supermarkets nowadays.
Within the legumes group, certain kinds of beans have more bioavailable calcium and can contribute a substantial fraction of daily needs. These include white beans and chick peas (Sahuquillo et al. 2003). These legumes can also contribute useful amounts of iron and zinc.
The nutrient density of leafy green vegetables places them in a category of their own. They differ markedly from other vegetables, even green peas. This is shown in Figure , where it can be seen that leafy greens have much higher calcium for the energy content. They are also more calcium-dense than dairy milk. They can be a significant source of calcium without the saturated fat. My own experiments with linear programming and the AUSNUT07 database indicate that calcium requirements can be met by generous consumption of leafy greens along with other plant foods.
While calcium bioavailability does vary between foods, it can be seen that a wide variety of foods can be used to meet daily calcium needs.

Calcium content per unit energy (mg/kcal) of selected foods, USDA Nutrient Database
Summary
  • The draft Dietary Guidelines’ emphasis on dairy neglects the prevalence of lactose intolerance in the Australian community.
  • There are chronic disease associations with dairy intake (prostate cancer, ovarian cancer). The sample diets that form the basis of the Guidelines exceed the recommended daily intake of calcium by up to 60 per cent. The amount of recommended dairy is excessive and is likely to be enhancing cancer risk.
  • Studies show that dairy intake may increase the risk of severe acne.
  • Calcium can be obtained from a wide variety of plant sources with less saturated fat than dairy.
  • Due to the chronic disease risk associated with dairy consumption, and to reduce the saturated fat content of the diet, it would be prudent to promote calcium-rich plant foods and calcium-fortified alternatives to dairy.


Green vegetables


The Foundation Diets and many of the sample Total Diets include only one serve of green and brassica vegetables per day. Also, the modelled composite serve of greens has a large proportion of green peas and beans, which are less dense in calcium and magnesium than leafy greens (although they are extremely good sources of zinc). A further complication is that the Guide to Healthy Eating effectively groups green and brassica vegetables with all other vegetables, which could be taken to mean that they are in some way equivalent. This may stem from some of the modelling work, where a severe limit was placed on the green vegetable grouping.
Modelling questions
The Modelling document states that the number of daily serves of green and brassica vegetables was limited to two in the optimisation (Table 4). The stated reason for this was that the nutrient-dense nature of green vegetables caused them to become too dominant, and that any more serves would not be culturally acceptable.
It is disappointing that this arbitrary suboptimal constraint was imposed. At least three serves are achievable by anyone, and some people may choose to eat more if they knew about the benefits. Culturally, we are not homogenous – for example, people of Asian background tend to eat more leafy green vegetables (Butler et al. 2010). Eating more green vegetables (and especially leafy greens) should be encouraged, not stifled. Limiting green vegetables in this way not only denies the opportunity for healthier diets but also ignores Australia’s diverse cultural makeup.
Nevertheless, given the upper constraint of two serves per day, it is unclear why the Foundation Diets and many of the sample Total Diets only prescribe one serve per day (as shown in Tables 11 and 12 of the Modelling document). Why wasn’t the optimal number of green vegetables two serves per day?
Green and brassica vegetables have potent anti-carcinogenic properties (Boivin et al. 2009). There is an opportunity here to improve health outcomes, simply by allowing these nutrient-dense foods to take their proper place in the diet.
Summary
  • Leafy green vegetables are more nutrient dense in calcium, magnesium and iron than full-fat and low-fat dairy.
  • The decision by the modellers to severely restrict the amount of green and brassica vegetables in their model means that their nutrient density (particularly calcium density) will not be seen for what it is.
  • In the Guide to Healthy Eating, green and brassica vegetables appear to be just one option amongst all other vegetables. A reader could take this to mean that all vegetables are essentially equivalent—they are not.
  • In terms of public education, the best way to communicate the benefits of green and brassica vegetables is to give them a food group of their own, with a strong emphasis on leafy greens.

Concluding remarks



Many statements in the Modelling document stress “cultural acceptability”. These Guidelines will be influencing what is culturally acceptable for decades to come, because they will be taught to students and medical practitioners, thereby influencing the eating habits of the population.
Some questionable modelling decisions were taken that essentially reinforce the status quo of high saturated fat intake. The continued reliance on animal products, and the trivial amounts of green and brassica vegetables in these diets, means that high saturated fat will remain firmly entrenched. It appears that these modelling decisions were made so as not to overly challenge the average person as measured by a survey of eating habits in 1995.
Saturated fat, and its association with heart disease, is still the main issue in the Australian diet. Nevertheless, it appears that the modelling did not explicitly attempt to cap the saturated fat content. This means that in practice, many people with good dietary intentions will have saturated fat intake well above 10 per cent of energy. Few people can accurately estimate the saturated fat content of their own diet. The exhortations to choose low-fat dairy are ineffective because the marketing of low fat and fat reduced products bears little relationship to the actual fat content. Also, low fat products often have added sugar to entice the consumer. This, along with “discretionary” serves of sausages, bacon, eggs, cream and so on, is likely to lead to a poor result.
The Evidence Report failed to examine some chronic disease links for which there is a large amount of evidence. Heme iron from animal flesh contributes to heart disease independently of the saturated fat link. In addition, continued reliance on animal products for many people is likely to lead to chronic disease such as cancer (pancreatic, colon, prostate, ovarian) and type 2 diabetes.
Final remark: getting vitamin B12
Vitamin B12 is made from bacteria and is not reliably available from plants. This is often cited as a reason not to abandon eating meat, dairy and eggs. However, the prevalence of B12 deficiency is very high in older Australians: 23 per cent of people aged 50 or over (Flood et al. 2006). Clearly, it is not the lack of animal products in the diet that has caused this high rate of deficiency. Supplementation is a very good idea for omnivores, vegetarians and vegans.

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