Reading List for August 9-13

There were lots of interesting food articles out there this week, especially with the passage of the Child Nutrition Bill last week by the Senate and the continued debate about the food safety bill, so I had a hard time whittling down the reading list. Hope you enjoy the ones that made the final cut!

1. “Hard to Stomach: A Western diet promotes unhealthy gut bacteria in children,” from The Economist

"According to a study published this week in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a sugary, fat-laden Western diet wreaks profound changes on children’s gut bacteria, and could even promote the risk of asthma, allergies and other inflammatory diseases."

2. “India Asks, Should Food Be a Right for the Poor?” from the NYTimes

"India vanquished food shortages during the 1960s with the Green Revolution, which introduced high-yield grains and fertilizers and expanded irrigation ... But its poverty and hunger indexes remain dismal, with roughly 42 percent of all Indian children under the age of 5 being underweight."

3. “A Dozen Eggs for $8? Michael Pollan Explains the Math of Buying Local” from the Wall Street Journal

"WSJ: Does eating local, sustainable food have to be a lifestyle priority, or can
people do it casually?
Mr. Pollan: People can do it casually. There are people who go [to a farmer's market] every week, and there are people who go when the mood strikes them. To eat well takes a little bit more time and effort and money. But so does reading well; so does watching television well. Doing anything with attention to quality takes effort."

4. "The Dark Side of Vitaminwater" from Huffington Post Food

"In a staggering feat of twisted logic, lawyers for Coca-Cola are defending the lawsuit [that the company's vitaminwater products make unwarranted health claims] by asserting that no consumer could reasonably be misled into thinking vitaminwater was a healthy beverage.' "

5. "What's in Your Child's Lunchbox?" from the Washington Post
Back-to-school nutrition ideas for ages 4-8, 9-13, and 14-18.