Facing the epidemic of obesity which threatens Frenchmen seriously, the industrialists follow the governmental campaign and work at lightening their products in sugar, in fat and in salt. A job which is not made in one day… Meeting with Nestlé and Mark Landmark.

As part of the National Programme Nutrition Health 2 (PNNS2), the French government asked the agroindustrial industrialists to see again the nutritional composition of their products while conjugating health and pleasure of eating. Some industrialists had already worked on the improvement of their products. ‘A firm as Nestlé whose nutritional requirement is in the middle of development for a long time gave, from 2000, a touch on the accelerator on the reductions of sugar, of fats and of salt and on increase in fruits and vegetables’, explains Brigitte Laurent-Langevin, head of the nutrition Nestlé France. To act on the prevention of obesity, Nestlé works on all products although the type of optimisation is not the same.

Diminish gently

For nine years, the content of salt in soups Maggi was diminished by 25 % on all the products between 2000 and 2008. It is necessary to revise on recipes, to play on spices. It is a true formulation. A hard job because if it is easier to intervene when a product is new, to change a habitual product is more delicate. The consumer does not like to change. ‘We reduced the salt progressively because it is necessary to make sure that the product continues being accepted by the consumer’, specifies Brigitte Laurent-Langevin. The security aspect also is to take into account notably for meat products. To diminish the salt too much in bacon cubes (-25 %) or ham (-10 %) should not prevent from continuing assuring the health quality of products without conservatives and additional additives since fall also concerns them, the will of the consumers being to go towards more of naturality.

Initiative Landmark

‘In 2008, Mark Landmark launched into a large programme: improve the nutritional quality of its 3 500 products, diminish the content of sugar, in fat and salt. A job envisaged over three years which asks for validation inside, for a dialogue with the suppliers, of sensory tests. It is not a question of replacing the sugar with the fat and the product must remain allowable and give pleasure to the consumer. Considering the serious problems of infantile obesity, priority was put on the products which are intended for them’, explains Josée Coutier, nutritionist. Fall concerns brioches therefore (Bite of Day), cereals (-15 %), dairy products and notably yoghurts to drink Delisse (-10 %), drinks were sweetened in the tea, very appreciated by the children. ‘They are particularly to watch because they do not answer the same signals of satiety as a food. With them, it is possible to ingest a big number of calories. ‘Their content of sugar was reduced from 15 to 20 %. Stewed fruits should be, they too seen again in fall side sweetens. Some products made the object of a reduction of sugar, but the packing still does not point it out for the very good reason that, in an environmental worry, it is necessary to sell the supplies of packing. Many sweet products should be reviewed ongoing on 2009, but cooked dishes are also part of the list of priorities.

How to eat healthy and cheaper? Basic principle is very simple: avoid the superfluous products which are, willy-nilly, unnecessarily expensive. This attitude allows to eat healthier and at the same time to preserve the planet. What are ten fundamental rules offered by the Dr Laurent knight *, specialist in nutrition?

Never go shopping the empty belly

The more you will be hungry, the more your basket will fill with superfluous food and with compulsive purchases. Moreover, be held in the basics, buy necessary strict (the supplies of food in cupboards are often lost) and make an exhaustive list.

Prepare your menus for week

And yes, this way of making is particularly advantageous. By deciding beforehand on what you are going to eat in the different meals of your week, you balance your menus better, you manage your purchases much better, you avoid the wasting (use-by date, superfluous products), without forgetting of consequent savings.

Prepare your products yourlself

Bread, yoghurts, creams desserts, chocolate mousses, sauces, but also many dishes which we learnt to buy ready-made or almost: forcemeat Parmentier, gratin of potatoes, purée of carrots, paste with crepe, pizza, You can make yourlself a very big number of food and of dishes. It is better, it is more natural, it is cheaper and this does not take willy-nilly a lot of time! Also think of freezing some of your preparations.

Nothing is thrown, recycle rests!

Food is not especially thrown. You have two possibilities: serve fair quantity in every plate or recycle rests. Of course you must avoid the wasting by watching use-by dates.

Be inventive: blend vegetables, hack the rests of meat, make composite omelettes, salads, soups Is also reactive because rests do not keep for a long time in the fridge.

* The Dr Laurent knight is practitioner tied to the teaching hospital of Montpellier and a representative in private hospitals of poles Nutrition. He is also the author of several works on the nutrition and plants.

To read

‘ 100 better food for your health and the planet’, Dr Laurent Chevallier, editions Fayard.

Breast, prostate, lung, colon… It is possible to act to tell the appearance of these cancers. Feeding and physical activity are essential factors which intervene positively or negatively on the risk of cancer. Here is a news roundup which we have to struggle efficiently against cancers.

3 protective factors

• • Physical activity.
  • The consumption of fruits and vegetables.
  • Feeding (advantageous for the mother).

Practical recommendations

Limit sedentary activities (television, computer).

To practice at the very least 5 days a week at least 30 minutes of physical activity of moderate intensity (quick walk) or 3 days a week 20 minutes of activity of high intensity (portrays jogging).

For the children and the teenagers: at least 60 minutes a day of moderate or high physical activity, in form of games, of activities of daily life or of sports.

Use every day at least 5 fruits and various vegetables

Use every day of the cereal food and of the high-fibre pulses.

5 risk factors

The alcohol.

Overweight or obesity.

The excessive consumption of red meat and of meat products.

The salt food.

Practical recommendations

Never of alcohol at the children and the pregnant women.

The risk of cancer increases with the ingested quantity of alcohol and concerns all types of alcoholic beverages.

Risk begins from a glass of alcohol a day.

Risk is minimal for a popular indication bodily supported between 18,5 and 25 kg / m2.

Overweight and obesity augment the risk of cancer from 8 % to 55 % according to locations for an increase of 5 kg / m2.

Limit in quantity and in frequency the red meat, the meat products, the salt and the salt food (cheeses, meat products).

Nibblings, absence of breakfast, excess of sweet drinks, snack bar are so much bad food habits which contribute to the happening of the overweight. Here are some food landmarks to cover at most just the nutritional needs of your children and teenagers.

The nutritional needs of the children and of the teenagers

Nutritional contributions have to cover needs in energy and assure growth at the same time.

Needs in energy of the children and teenagers from 4 to 17 years old vary of 1750 in 2500 calories, but these stocks are to adjust according to age, to stature and to physical activity of every child.

Daily contributions have to include proteins (11 - 15 % complete energy contributions), carbohydrates (50 - 55 %) and lipids (30 - 35 %), as well as vitamins and minerals.

This sharing out in these different nutritional categories not being willy-nilly easy to apply, here is some landmarks to help you there.

6 food landmarks

1) A lacteal product in every meal

Equivalences: œ of litre of milk = 2 yoghurts = 80g of Camembert = 60 g of county.

At the girls and girls, sufficient contributions in calcium are very important to tell later the risk of ostéoporose. It is necessary to know that the popular peak bony is attained in 20 years. The milk and dairy products are the best sources of calcium.

2) A portion of animal proteins a day (meat, fish, egg)

More precisely, 10 g are recommended, a day, (meat, fish or egg) per year of age + 10 g, is for example: 40 g of meat a day for a 3-year-old child or 80 g for a 7-year-old child (preferably a portion a day).

3) 5 portions of fruits and vegetables a day

Whatever is their presentation: freshly, deep-frozen, in preserve.

A portion is equivalent in about 80 g of fruit or of vegetables, or:

• • A half of plate of vegetables or a small plate of raw vegetables or a bowl of soup of vegetables;
  • A fruit portrays apple, pear, orange or two fruits portrays apricot, clementine, kiwi or a joystick of small fruits portray strawberries, cherries, lichees.

4) Starchies in every meal

Bread, pasta, rices, pulses, potatoes.

5) Limit the sugar without demonising it

The sugar must be a festive food, reserved for big occasions. He should not be demonised, but it is necessary to avoid excesses and not to get the children used to sweet taste. It is often what takes place with sweets and even more with consummate sweet drinks every day.

6) Give to drink some water

It is the only drink necessary for organism, without addition of sugar in form of fruit juice or of syrup.

These 6 landmarks are to set up in a rhythmic way during the day, that is to say around 3 meals a day (breakfast is a true meal) and of a snack.

To note finally that fast food restaurants are not either to demonise, it is necessary to limit them and to make sure them in the fact that they do not add up in other meals: a meal to the fast food restaurant from time to time (once every 3-6 weeks) at the habitual hour of meal, by making sure that portions are adapted

Side weight, it is especially the quantity of food grease that poses problem. Not only lipids represent the most caloric food category, but on top of that, they hide in very many food and especially in a multitude of convenience food (cooked dishes, cookies, viennoiseries, cheeses). How to eat less fatty in 6 lessons?

One decides on it, I eat less fatty!

Lesson n ° 1: return to raw materials, natural and not transformed
It is necessary to know that about 70 % of our medium contributions of grease come from hidden grease. Indeed, if we are well aware of our contributions in lipids when we add some oil in a salad or some butter on a canape, we forget that they are also present in four - quarters home, in snack bars, cookies, crescents, wipe white sauce, the being very fond of, the meat pie of the pork butcher, the cheese, the dairy ice cream, the taramasalata, etc.
As he is difficult when you go shopping to read the tags of all products in search of this hidden grease, our main advice is to return to (not transformed) natural raw materials. Avoid dishes and ready-made food. Make yourlself most your preparations with raw materials. At least you know precisely the quantity of fats which they contain and you can diminish it.

Lesson n°2
Favour the calf, the poultry (chicken, turkey), the ham, the game, some parts of beef (roasted, wrong net, rump steak) and of the pork (roast);
To the detriment of the meat products and of the fatty meat (pork: foible, spine, chest, sheep and lamb).

Lesson n°3
Favour yoghurts standard natures or to 0 % of fats;
To the detriment of creams desserts.

Lesson n°4
Favour soft cheeses in reasonable quantity, and versions lightened in fats;
To the detriment of cheeses rich in fats as hard cheeses.

Lesson n°5
Favour the natural vegetables which you season yourlself;
To the detriment of the already cooked vegetables.

Lesson n°6
Favour white, complete breads or to cereals;
To the detriment of industrial breads, Swedish, brioche or Viennese breads.