Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, August 17, 1994 TAG: 9408250068
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Almena Hughes
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Just when you'd given them up forever - almost - bacon, eggs and chocolate are back on the acceptable healthy foods list - sort of.
One form of bacon is the lean, cured Canadian style that, according to the Pork Information Bureau, averages 70 calories and 3 grams of fat per 2-ounce serving, compared to, say, a homemade bran muffin, which people think of as healthy, but which averages 112 calories and 5 grams of fat.
Another form, not quite gone to market though available at select locations, is a pig that yields not only bacon but the whole hog in meats up to 73 percent leaner than comparable cuts.
The eggs are the real thing, including yolks, which in a recent study were found to not significantly raise study subjects' blood cholesterol levels.
And the chocolate is a line of chemical- and refined sugar-free chips, bars and snacks that are probably as close to healthy as this kind of stuff gets.
Refined sugar has long been inconclusively associated with elevated blood pressure, kidney disease, nervousness, cavities, depression and children's hyperactivity. San Leandro, Calif.-based Sunspire company sweetens its dark chocolate chips and baking bars, peanut cremes, vanilla chips, chocolate covered peanut caramel bars, English toffees, chocolate caramel turtles and similar products with whole-grain malted barley, which is supposed to be easy to digest and not create a sharp insulin response like sugar does. The products also use only natural plant and mineral colorings, pure vanilla from vanilla beans and unsweetened chocolate. The true test, though, is do they taste good? They do.
You can find many of the products at local health food stores. And you can get a free brochure of healthy-as-they'll-get recipes in which to use them from Sunspire, 2114 Adams Ave., San Leandro, Calif. 94577.
As for the reduced-fat piggies, called simply NPD pigs (after their developer, the National Pig Development Company ) while Smithfield Foods Inc.'s marketing team works on a brand name, they literally do appear leaner, longer and more muscular than other pigs, according to a Smithfield spokeswoman. Smithfield has exclusive rights to the slim swine, whose initial breeding stock was imported from England in 1991.
The NPD pigs are being touted as producing one of the leanest meats of any kind, including chicken, with between 108 and 127 calories at between 1.49 percent and 3.24 percent fat per 100 grams of uncooked meat, compared to a comparable serving of chicken with from 110 to 211 calories at between 1.24 and 15.25 percent fat. What's more, the pork is said to be nutrient dense and to have twice the ratio of polyunsaturated fat to saturated fat when compared to non-NPD pork.
Smithfield is primarily going after food service institutions right now and is not certain when NPD pork will be available in retail markets. However, if you happen to be in the vicinity, Norfolk's Bistro restaurant and Smithfield Station restaurant in Smithfield are both serving samples of the lean porcine cuisine, reportedly to very positive responses.
Canadian-style bacon, called "back" bacon in Canada because it comes from the back muscle or loin of the hog, is gaining popularity here in the United States in fast-food breakfast sandwiches and as a pizza topping. But how about these versatile treatments, suggested by the Pork Information Bureau:
Dice Canadian bacon and stir into a skim-milk based cream sauce served over toast as a low-fat version of biscuits and gravy. Wrap Canadian bacon around melon wedges and serve with croissants. Layer Canadian bacon and medallion-sized pancakes; top with maple syrup and eat with a knife and fork. Or roll up in a flour tortilla with salsa, if desired, diced Canadian bacon scrambled with eggs.
That's right, eggs - long though inconclusively linked to high cholesterol with a recommended limited intake of four yolks per week. But a recent study from Columbia University, following guidelines of 30 percent or less calories coming from fat and 10 percent or less from saturated fat, found no significant difference in blood cholesterol levels of 20 healthy men when eating between zero, one and two eggs per day.
A doctor associated with the study did note that responses to the diet varied widely, probably because of genetic variations between people. He recommended that such a regimen not be undertaken without a physician's prior approval.
The Virginia Egg Council's point in passing along the study information was that while a diet high in saturated fat may block the clearance of cholesterol from the bloodstream, promoting artery-clogging cholesterol deposition, a large egg contains only about 4.5 grams fat, 1.5 of which are saturated.
"Since it is often easier to reduce the number of eggs in the diet rather than limit intake of fat and saturated fat, there is a possibility that a reduction in egg intake, without other dietary changes, may lead to a false sense of security regarding the risk of coronary heart disease," the council warned.
Recent dietary studies and reports being what they are, I suggest celebrating this windfall of formerly forbidden foods with something like an eggs Benedict smothered in chocolate instead of hollandaise sauce - quick, before the cuisine constables change their minds.
by CNB