An order of Olive Garden chicken parmigiana? 1060 calories. A Double Whopper with cheese? 980 calories. One slice of a large Domino’s pepperoni pizza? 300 calories. With the federal calorie labeling law going into effect for chain restaurants and prepared foods in grocery stores on May 7th, 2018, you’ve likely noticed the calories for your favorite menu items peering back at you from that menu or display board. After 8 years, this calorie-labeling mandate, which was included in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in 2010, should be rolled out to a chain restaurant near you, despite complaints from some corporate food retailers, who argue that this law is too expensive and logistically challenging to implement. Due to the myriad of delays and controversies surrounding calorie labeling, we investigated the extent to which food retailers had decided to move forward with labeling even before it was required.
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Asthma and eczema are among the most common diseases of childhood; they’re also atopic (allergic) diseases, meaning they’re associated with an overactive immune system. Risk for these conditions is inherited – children whose parents have asthma, eczema, food allergies or hay fever are more likely to develop these conditions themselves -- but there is also evidence that environment, in addition to genetics, influences this risk.
 Wei Perng, PhD, MPH Sitting the month. Most women of Asian or Middle Eastern descent can rattle off a list of things a new mother must not do in the month following delivery. The most common examples include: taking a bath, washing her hair, drinking cold beverages or foods, touching cold water, washing dishes, lifting heavy items (probably an all-around good idea anyway), sitting in front of a fan… and heaven forbid, do not even think about leaving the house. In Mandarin, we call this “sitting the month.” The motivation behind these rules, which have been featured on NPR, is to protect the recuperating mother from environments that may leave her vulnerable to chronic conditions later on. As wacky as these ideas seemed to me as a child, I recently began to wonder whether the postpartum period is, indeed, a sensitive period for a new mother’s future well-being. While there is little scientific research on this topic, the postpartum period is undoubtedly a time of rapid change in hormones, weight, and lifestyle that could set the tone for health down the road.
 Catherine Briggs, MSc As a customer of a direct to consumer genotyping company, I was approached during New Year’s resolution season to be a participant in a study looking at the genetics of weight loss. I won’t bore you with the study design details, but I was randomly assigned to the “same diet, increased exercise” group. To comply, I’ve had to increase the duration and intensity of different types of exercise and answer a weekly survey about diet, exercise, and other habits-- all of which I had to admit to doing (or not doing) week after week. While filling in the bubble designating ‘two to four times a week’ for how often I consumed dark chocolate for the sixth week in a row, I reflected on the current literature investigating the influence of genetics on health and fitness.
 Wei Perng, PhD The “rise again” of baby-led weaning. For the last century or so, parents have been advised to introduce solid foods to their infants – usually starting sometime between 4 and 6 months of age – by spoon-feeding specially prepared foods. The meals start out as smooth purees and, as the infant gets older, progress in texture, flavor, and variety until 1 year of age, when the baby is able to eat what the rest of the family is eating. Spoon-feeding gives the parent control over what and how much the baby is eating. However, in the last decade or so, baby-led weaning has grown in popularity. Instead of giving the infant special foods, they are allowed to feed themselves finger-sized portions of family foods. (Of course, one should keep in mind that parents have likely been practicing baby-led weaning for millenia, prior to modern food processing technologies). In addition to promoting an inclusive eating environment wherein the baby joins the family at mealtime, baby-led weaning is purported to expose infants to a wide variety of foods, thereby decreasing risk of food allergies, and promote development of fine motor skills (discussed in book Rapley G and Murkett T. Baby-led weaning: helping your baby to love good food. Random House 2008). Of particular interest to me is the hypothesis that baby-led weaning reduces future risk of obesity. But how?
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