Appetizers
Here’s a taste of what’s cooking in the nutrition world:
Purple foods were the much-ballyhooed product category at both the 2016 Winter Fancy Food Show and Natural Products Expo West 2016. Among the periwinkle-blushed standouts was pinole a purple maize–based ingredient that the ancient Aztecs reportedly consumed, and that has now turned the hot-cereal market on its head. Native State Foods of Santa Monica, California, introduced pinole to the U.S. recently and touts the “superior functional nutrition” it provides, with protein, fiber, whole grains and antioxidants in every bowl.
The next time you or your clients are tempted to binge-watch your favorite Netflix series while eating a mondo portion of fast food, you can get a decent idea of how much activity it would take to preempt or ameliorate the “damage.” HomeRemedyShop.com, a U.S.-based wellness website, has created a fast-food calculator with an algorithm that can estimate the type and duration of activity needed to torch off a fast-food feast. The site will also provide a list of healthier substitutes, with about the same calorie counts, that you might consider eating instead.
It doesn’t get much more local and organic than this: A Berlin supermarket is testing a new concept for growing and selling food on-site—right in the produce aisle. The Metro supermarket is working with InFarm, an indoor farming company, to bring the idea to life. Greens and herbs are grown vertically in glowing modular boxes in what looks like a greenhouse inside the store. The forward thinkers behind it are piloting InFarm with overall sustainability in mind: It eliminates the need to transport, chill and store the food, plus it dramatically reduces the water required to grow it.
Excuse me! Cow “emissions” (belches, to be exact, contrary to what most people think) include about 500 liters per animal daily of the potent greenhouse gas methane. Apart from polluting the environment, this volume of gas represents lost energy that could otherwise be used for the animal’s growth or milk production. Through the Clean Cow project, a Dutch company called DSM and its scientists have found a way to reduce these emissions by about 30% while increasing milk production with less feed. Science has proved that a carefully formulated powdered inhibitor added to cow feed curbs emissions with no negative impact on the animal, its well-being or its performance.