Build Up Catch Up - 1/6/2023

Buns, Books, Build Up Groups, and Bogus Credentials and more

Helpful note: if you see something UNDERLINED it is a hyperlink to website page!

Sesame Becomes 9th ‘Top Allergen’ (as of January 1st 2023) This by itself is not “new news”, but what is concerning is how this is being handled by some wholesale bakers and fast-food companies. Many, faced with the daunting task of extensive cleaning of (older) production lines to meet allergen-free status; have chosen to add sesame flour to their products. In some cases, sesame has been added even when it previously wasn’t an ingredient. Other manufacturers are adding a ‘may contain’ statement on packaging. Understandably, parents of children with a sesame allergy are frustrated and angry. Here’s a comment from Carolyn G. from our Facebook page:

“My daughter is allergic to sesame, and I could not find one bun that did not have sesame in a full aisle of bread…. I’m glad to see more transparency in labeling. However, the industry response to that change has made it more dangerous and limiting for my daughter. It’s an extremely disappointing.”

FREE CEUs(1.0) Logical Fallacies in the Food and Nutrition Conversation: How to Spot Them & Diffuse Them – IAFNS

Red Pen Reviews - Sometimes we get asked for our opinion about various health, nutrition and diet books. While we do have a Build Up Books and Podcast Group that you can join and ask for opinions, it may be helpful to have additional resources. Red Pen Reviews is that resource…on it you can find careful reviews of many health, nutrition and diet books including Christy Harrison’s “Anti-Diet”, “The Obesity Code” by Jason Fung, “Grain Brain” by David Perlmutter, MD, “The Pegan Diet” by Mark Hyman, MD and many others. Books are graded according to: Scientific Accuracy, Reference Accuracy, Healthfulness and then given an Overall Score with review notes and explanations. For example, Christy Harrison’s book received an overall score of 53%.

Groups - DYK we currently have 23 closed/private groups? Our groups function a lot like a DPG listserv (but better) in that you can post questions and get answers and share interesting research or articles — it doesn’t cost you to join! Each group typically has administrators (admins) and/or moderators (mods) that have experience in the subject. Here is a screenshot of just a few of our groups - you can find the entire list of groups under "GROUPS" tab on our Facebook page .

YOUR questions answered:

What is CNS? - This week we got asked, “What do you think of CNS?”. We know this person wasn’t referring to the central nervous system or a clinical nurse specialist but instead to a “certified nutrition(al) specialist”. This CNS “credential” through the American Nutrition Association (ANA) seems to crop up more frequently in integrative and functional medicine and nutrition spaces. A look at their boards on their website shows that Perlmutter (“Grain Brain”) and Jeffery Bland, the “father of Functional Medicine” are members and there are no registered dietitians represented.

A dietitian (willing to pay) could become a CNS but not sure what the benefit of that would be except that you get to pay $78 to the people dispensing the certificate.

Here’s what Quackwatch has to say: “The Certification Board for Nutritional Specialists (CNNS) …certification process to people with a degree in medicine, dentistry, chiropractic, naturopathy, and several other health disciplines….it is not clear how rigorously they investigate their applicants. Many CNS holders have distinguished nutrition credentials. However, I know of at least two people who became certified even though their “Ph.D” degrees came from a nonaccredited correspondence school."https://quackwatch.org/consumer-education/nutritionist/

Bottom Line: This is a ‘pay for play’ certification. If you are a registered dietitian with CDR you don’t need this certification to practice nutrition. BUYER BEWARE