Flickr/sigckgc

A salty soft pretzel

A new study has found that a low-sodium diet is not only not beneficial to health, it may even be harmful, The New York Times reports.

A committee of experts commissioned by the Institute of Medicine at the request of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says there is no medical rationale for anyone to aim for sodium levels below 2,300 milligrams a day. That is far above the American Heart Assn.'s recommended maximum sodium intake of 1,500 milligrams a day.

The AHA level is purported to prevent heart attacks and strokes in those at risk, which includes people over 50, African-Americans and people with high blood pressure, diabetes or chronic kidney disease -- fully half the U.S. population. But the AHA says everyone should aim for no more than 1,500 milligrams a day. They are sticking to their guns, even in the face of the Institute of Medicine's new report.

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Flickr/Joelk75

Restaurant rib dinner

The average meal at an average sit-down restaurant chain contains a belt-busting 1,128 calories -- more than half of the Food and Drug Administration's recommended 2,000 calories a day for a healthy adult, according to a study by University of Toronto researchers.

In contrast, the average fast food meal contains 881 calories.

The researchers, who analyzed the posted nutritional content of 685 meals ordered at 19 popular sit-down restaurant chains, found that it wasn't just the dinnertime portions that packed a caloric punch. A typical lunch averaged more than 1,000 calories. (That's a big sandwich.)

In addition: "This was a little surprising, but the volume of food served in many breakfast options is comparable to those served at dinnertime," Mary Scourboutakos, one of the study's authors, told ABC News.

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Eli's Cheesecake

Eli's in Chicago crafts a 500-lb. cheesecake for the Staff Inaugural Ball

President Obama is a firm advocate of universal healthcare. He cares about gun control. He's passionate about seizing moments together. He does not, however, seem to care about calorie-counting. And, despite her anti-obesity campaign and her hipster bangs, neither, apparently, does First Lady Michelle Obama.

As Fox News points out, today's Inaugural Luncheon menu weighs in at a hefty 3,027 calories, not including the wine, as calculated by the website DietsInReview. There isn't even a bacon milkshake involved. There is, however, lobster with clam chowder sauce and hickory-grilled bison with red potato horseradish cake. Dessert is, of course, apple pie with sour cream ice cream, topped with maple caramel sauce. And just to be really classy and Frenchified, the whole thing is topped off with an artisan cheese plate with fancy honey.

See the full menu, with links to recipes provided by the White House, plus details of the 500-lb. cheesecake being served tomorrow night and an epic Lincoln Second Inaugural feasting frenzy, after the jump.

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o5com/flickr

Diet journal prototype

As Speedo weather sweeps much of the country, dieters are using tweezers to eat, spending fortunes on salad bar creations and avoiding meals altogether in order to look dandy in beachside Facebook pics. However, new research shows that these last two measures (we can't speak for the tweezers) may not work so well. And that a notebook and a pen may join the jumprope and a bag of kale as good ways to lose weight.

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Calorie Count

In this country, where super-sized portions are as normal as, well, being super-sized, it's difficult to keep perspective on the amount of food you're actually consuming. Between monstrously sized drinks and the seemingly endless parade of food in all-you-can-eat joints and Vegas-style buffets, how do you determine what actually constitutes a normal portion size?

The folks at Calorie Count have devised a visual aid to help you. Because if you know that a normal portion of steak or halibut should be about the same size as a deck of cards, you might think twice about the behemoth on your plate. (A mnemonic device that would come in particularly handy if your buffet is actually in Las Vegas.)

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Flickr/nickynunchuck

Fat kids everywhere, rejoice! There's no link between childhood obesity and junk food sold in schools, a new study has found.

Cities all over the country have been busy banning the sale of sweet and salty snacks in public schools in a bid to fight childhood obesity (thanks, Mrs. Obama). But a new study by researchers at Pennsylvania State University suggests that the strategy may be ineffective, The New York Times reports. The research appears in the January issue of the journal Sociology of Education.

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Does your New Year's resolution have you up against a wall yet? Introducing the Fooducate app, an app available for iPhones that helps the average food consumer shop for grocery foods. The app works like a scanner; it scans the barcode of foodstuffs and immediately produces a nutritional breakdown in layman's terms, highlighting things like the tablespoons of sugar per serving and hidden trans fats not shown on the nutrition facts.

Reaching for that guilty pleasure all the way in the back of your pantry? According to a recent scan of Pilsbury's Creamy Supreme Milk Chocolate, it will cost you "5 tsp of sugars per serving" and also "contains controversial artificial colors."

There are specialty foods that are not part of the database yet. Sorry guys, no truthful rundown on that can of garbanzos from Fresh & Easy yet. But the platform makes it really easy for you to add it yourself and help your fellow Fooducate classmates.

There are two versions available on iTunes: a free app with ads and an app without ads and a couple of extra perks for $3.99.

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T. Nguyen

A buck buys you a whole lot of calories, sugar, and sodium.

Way back in 2004, University of Washington researcher Adam Drewnowski explored the relationship between poverty and obesity, finding that foods in supermarket middle aisles - mostly processed junk - delivered the most calories per dollar. One dollar spent on soda, for example, delivered 875 calories, versus only 170 calories found in fruit juice. For families stretching their limited food budgets, picking up the soda almost makes sense.

This study led Michael Pollan to argue that these "energy-dense" foods are so much cheaper than nature's fruits not because of the free market, but due to "a function of government policy: our farm policies subsidize the most energy-dense and least healthy calories in the supermarket." His own conclusion: "eating well is elitist".

A recent follow-up study published in Grist shows that 7 years later, eating well still is elitist.

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iirraa/flickr

Apples at McDonald's

Last week, First Lady Michelle Obama and James Gavin III practically shed tears of joy over Wal-Mart's professed commitment to selling good food cheaper and expanding into barren Whole Foods-deprived "food deserts." Gavin said, perhaps jokingly, that he hoped to see Wal-Mart double its U.S. store count. The next corporate behemoth up for a public knighting is McDonald's. In response to the fast food giant's plan to, among other noble deeds, add apple slices to its Happy Meals, push a health-oriented mobile phone app, and reduce sodium, sugars, saturated fats, and calories by 2020, Mrs. Obama made a statement yesterday:

McDonald's is making continued progress today by providing more fruit and reducing the calories in its Happy Meals. I've always said that everyone has a role to play in making America healthier, and these are positive steps toward the goal of solving the problem of childhood obesity. McDonald's has continued to evolve its menu, and I look forward to hearing about the progress of today's commitments, as well as efforts in the years to come.

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Samantha Appleton/White House

The First Lady and elementary school students tend the White House garden

Update 11:50 a.m. 7/20/2011 - Mayor Manuel Lozano spoke before Obama about his work in Baldwin Park, along with James Gavin III, chairman of the Partnership for a Healthier America's Board of Directors. "We know this isn't going to be easy -- nothing we do ever is -- we cant just throw money at this problem, and it wont be solved by government alone, or businesses alone, or communities alone," said Obama, a few minutes into her speech, which was directed towards an assembled group of grocery store employees as well as elected officials and reporters. "If we want to make a difference. . .we all have to find a way to do our part. No child should be consigned to a life of poor health because of the neighborhood he or she lives in. . .Today isn't just a celebration; it's a call to action."

With her announcement at the White House this morning, Michelle Obama's campaign to end childhood obesity took its next step. In an effort to give more people access to healthy foods, the First Lady revealed to the gathered food industry experts, city officials, and press corps that several large retailers, including Wal-Mart, Walgreens, and Supervalue, will be opening or expanding 1,500 stores in parts of the country lacking access to fresh produce and other healthy foods, eventually reaching close to 40% of the citizens living in these areas. As you might recall, back in January, Wal-Mart executives promised to cut back on sodium and sugar in many of the retail chain's products and lower prices on produce.

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