nutritionwonderland

Category: Mailbag

  • Does McDonalds Own Chipotle? – Mailbag

    Does McDonalds Own Chipotle? – Mailbag

    Hi – I was watching Nightline a couple weeks back and they had a special on Chipotle using free-range animals. Then I remembered that Chipotle is owned by McDonalds [America’s #1 buyer of factory farm beef -ed]. Is this true?

    – James, Minneapolis, MN

    This is an excellent question we have also heard many times. After some research, the short answer is, no, Chipotle is not owned by McDonalds as of 2009 but it once was. The story is quite complicated actually.

    How deep does the love go?

    Chipotle was founded in 1993 by Steve Ells in Denver, Colorado, funded by an $85,000 loan from his dad, according to an excellent article by the Rocky Mountain News, Denver’s now defunct paper. The restaurant was based upon Ells time in San Francisco where he studied the burrito stands in the city’s Mission district. His instincts were vindicated as the restaurant was an immediate success. Ells managed to open a chain of five stores around Denver by 1998.

    After this initial success, McDonalds did enter the picture, purely as an investment partner in 1998, technically making Chipotle a subsidiary of McDonalds. That same article from the Rocky Mountain News mentions, very briefly, that Ells family connections to McDonalds helped pave the road for Chipotle’s massive expansion. We did not independently verify this fact, but it was published in a major American newspaper, giving it substantial weight in our minds.

    From Investor to Owner

    With McDonalds onboard, Chipotle started to build out beyond their Denver market – into Kansas City, Ohio and Minneapolis. That success that would lead McDonalds to become the majority owner of the firm in 2001, making Chipotle fully-owned subsidiary of McDonalds. This is when Chipotle ascended into a household name across the United States. From 2001 to 2006, Chipotle went from under 100 stores to 466 – expanding into more than 30 states [1].

    It was then in January 2006 that McDonalds said goodbye to Chipotle, spinning off the company in an IPO on the NYSE, saying they wanted to concentrate on their core business.

    Technically though, that was not the end. McDonalds continued to hold a large amount of class B shares of Chipotle for another 6 months, and these class B shares contained over 80% of the voting rights to the company [2]. McDonalds then authorized the final divestment deal in October of 2006 whereby their own shareholders could exchange McDonalds stock for the remaining class B voting shares of Chipotle. According to SEC documents, this was done for tax purposes [2].

    So, since October 2006, Chipotle has not been owned by McDonalds but much of the company’s DNA and supply chain management is likely taken directly from McDonalds. Chipotle now trades as an independent company on the NYSE under the call sign, CMG [3].

    Chipotle Vs. McDonalds

    Here is the Nightline story and video James was referencing:

    Chipotle and Pastured Pigs

    (Click picture to view video, its well done)

    The video highlights Chipotle’s commitment to buying from pasture-raised hog rearing operations. Many of these operations are small in nature, so there is an implicit commitment to sustainable farming practices. We cannot be sure of exactly how local or regional Chipotle’s supply chain (those are trade secrets), but in the fast food arena, they are the leader in this space. Chipotle was the first restaurant to remove rBGH for all their milk products, buys from family farms and makes a real, financial commitment to sustainable meat.

    The real conundrum James is implying with this question of Chipotle’s ownership is how could McDonalds, known for poor food quality and nutrition, simultaneously invest in a company with such divergent values.

    McDonalds is a business and will do whatever it takes to make money. Chipotle hit a nerve with the public and McDonalds likely did extremely well with their investment.

    For their part, McDonalds does keep a “Values in Practice” section on the corporate responsibility portion of their website. It mentions some laudable things – namely that:

    In 2007, 91% of our fish was sourced from fisheries without any unsatisfactory sustainability ratings.

    But, as is the case with most ingredient labels you see in the store, what isn’t said is usually more important than what is. McDonalds is well known as the leading buyer of meat from factory farming operations. And while McDonalds does certify that their operations are humane, whatever guidelines they are using as not publicly available so they cannot be verified.

    Their operations are so large that even if they made a small commitment to sustainable farming practices, massive changes would occur throughout the supply chain – effecting what’s in the grocery store for everyone. Hopefully, that day is near.

    In the mean time, you can enjoy either Chipotle or McDonalds foods knowing they are two, separate corporate entities.

    Full Disclosure – This author owns no stake in either one of these companies.

    Chipotle Nutrition Information

    A late edition here, this is the nutrition information for the Chipotle menu.

  • Mailbag: Is milk good for me? Sheep Milk?

    Mailbag: Is milk good for me? Sheep Milk?

    How good is milk for me?  In particular, how good is sheep milk of the Spanish Manchego variety?

    Jessica, Washington DC

    Dairy Up Close

    Pretty healthy, in moderation – thanks to flickr user: redfishid

    These are excellent questions.  Most dairy products have great nutritional profiles.  They are loaded with good fats, minerals like the antioxidant selenium and vitamins like vitamin D, crucial to good bone health.  The USDA inspects the behind most food stuffs, including sheep’s milk (which you can see here), search for sheep milk), but not the Manchego variety in particular.  More than a particular species like Manchego Sheep, proper animal husbandry translates into better nutrition in the animals’ finished products, as we have seen in previously – especially in the fat profile.  Look for pasture raised milk as these animals generally eat the best food.  You may have to get very creative to find it.  Local food co-ops are your best bet.

    Watch this video to better understand what proper animal care really means for your health:

    Nutritionally though, things get more complex.  Most people eat dairy because they think its high in calcium.  What they dont know is that calcium can only be absorbed into the body when its eaten with vitamin D and phosphorus.  You could eat 100 pounds of cheese and, if you didn’t have any phosphorus or vitamin D, none of the calcium would be absorbed into your bones.

    The Calcium Phosphorus Connection

    Fortunately, these nutrients usually occur together, although in variable amounts.  The calcium in dairy products if any kind can best be tolerated by the body when the balance of calcium and phosphorus are closest to that of human mother’s breast milk, which is 2:1 calcium to phosphorus.  This ratio is far higher than the calcium and phosphorus ratio present in the milk from most other mammals, like cow’s milk (~1.3:1), goat’s milk (~1.2:1) and sheep’s milk (~1.2:1).  [1,2].  (Remember, these numbers are just averages and could range wildly depending on what the cow is eating or what kind of soil your crops are in, something the USDA never considers.)

    A German study postulates that the evolutionary advantage of the lower phosphoric content in humans allowed their excrement to remain exceptionally acidic, thereby killing additional pathogens that could harm humans many thousands of years ago.  This also made humans exceptionally good at extracting phosphorus from food sources, which can be both good and bad.

     

    Yes, he is.

    Westernized diets are extremely tilted towards phosphoric foods like corn (.08:1 ratio) and chicken (.09:1 ratio), which have over 10X more phosphorus than calcium!   You can quickly see why our evolutionary advantage turns into a disadvantage: calcium deficiencies and osteoporosis are such a big issue now largely because we are getting excessive amounts of phosphorus and too little calcium from sources we cannot properly use.  This is one large reason to limit the amount of dairy, including sheep’s milk, that you are eating in general, and replace it with leafy greens like spinach – which tend towards the magic 2:1 calcium phosphorus ratio.  (Leafy greens are probably where most cultures got their dairy, as hard as the ‘Got Milk’ campaign has made that may be for you to believe.)

    Lactose

    Another problem with dairy, including sheep’s milk, is that most humans rarely ate large quantities of dairy until the 20th century.  This leaves much of the world’s population unable to process the milk protein lactose, with some Asian and African ethnic groups over 90% lactose intolerant to some degree.  Below is a chart of the average lactose intolerance across some racial groups put out by UC Davis:

    Lactose Intolerance by ethnicity
    Race, Ethnicity, Country of Origin Percentage
    Southeast Asians 98%
    Asian Americans 90%
    Alaskan Eskimo 80%
    African-American Adults 79%
    Mexicans (rural communities) 74%
    North American Jews 69%
    Greek Cypriots 66%
    Cretans 56%
    Mexican American Males 55%
    Indian Adults 50%
    African American Children 45%
    Indian Children 20%
    Descendents of Northern Europe 5%

    Unless you are from Northern Europe, you are likely to have problem with dairy in general.  You may not think you are lactose intolerant because your body has built an immunity towards it but take a break from dairy for a couple of weeks and then revisit the subject.  You may be surprised by what you find.

    Lactose Intolerance by Country (via Wikipedia) – click on picture for full-size version

    Many people enjoy dairy despite lactose intolerance, you just have to be smart about it.  Although accurate lactose analysis methodology is not uniformly performed by the USDA, it is widely held that milk has the highest lactose content of any dairy product.  Try raw milk cheeses like swiss and cheddar, as cheese has less lactose than milk and raw varieties will have digestive enzymes which may aid digestion.

    Making Sense of Dairy

    Taking all this information together, it makes sense to eat dairy only in small amounts.  You should aim to get most of your calcium from leafy greens as it is far easier to digest and helps restore the delicate balance between calcium and phosphorus in your body.  It also makes sense to consider your ethnic background when eating sheep’s milk or any kind of dairy.  If you are asian, african, latino or jewish you should probably avoid all dairy with high amounts of lactose like pasteurized milk.  Raw milk, with its extra digestive enzymes might help but your mileage may vary.  Limited amounts of cheese, like feta, goat, swiss and cheddar are probably the best bet for most people who still want to enjoy dairy products from time to time.

    Sources:

    USDA Chart with Phosphorus and Calcium Ratios:
    http://www.answers.com/topic/phosphorus-and-calcium

    USDA Nutrient Data Laboratory:
    http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/search/

    Ethnic Lactose Intolerance:
    NCMHC Center for Nutritional Genomics (UC Davis)

  • Mailbag: Smart Balance versus Butter

    Mailbag: Smart Balance versus Butter

    Question:

    We are having a discussion about whether buttery spread – such as Smart Balance is better than using butter?!?!

    http://www.smartbalance.com/

    what do you think??

    Thank you!!
    Claire from Los Angeles

    ##################

    Smart Balance is not good for you in the relative scheme of things.  It is a chemical conglomeration of esterified oils – which means they take all these different oils, blast them apart, combine them with caking agents which come together to form this new age margarine.  Its WAAAY better than old fashioned margarine, made from trans fat, but still not a natural food.  That stuff about the flaxseed oil helping is really nonsense – processing destroys the bioavailabilty of omega-3s.

    Ideally, you want to eat your essential fats, that is Omega3 and Omega6, in a 1:1 ratio.  Most Americans get about 15-20X more Omega6 than Omega3, precisely because of this processing problem.  Omega3 is very sensitive – it will degrade at room temperature even – and only in a small number of foods (flax, walnuts, wild salmon).  Omega 6 is everywhere and stands up to heat and processing much better…so you can see where this goes.  Smart Balance will have a high Omega6:3 ratio – making it an inflammatory food.

    We would much rather see you eating butter, but realize the type of butter you are eating here is key.  You really want to find butter from grass fed cows.  This type of butter will tend to be a bright yellow orange – the more orange the better.  This is an outward indication the cows feed on grass, which is rich in beta-carrotene – an orange flavonoid that will tint your butter (it will be more orange in the spring, when grass first starts to grow).  This is an unrefined, real food that contains high amounts of omega3 fats along with a dizzying array of vitamins and minerals – all very bioavailable.  Try and find Raw, Grass Fed butter if you can – this is even better for you.

    People lament that butter is high in saturated fats, which have been linked to heart disease.  While this is true, that information is related to a more outdated view of heart disease.  Heart disease is truly an inflammatory disease, not one of cholesterol.  Its when cholesterol gets oxidized that we have problems and eating natural foods decreases inflammation in the body.  Additionally, there is no research to back up the idea that saturated fats even translate into cholesterol in the body – the mechanisms are very very complex and still not fully understood.

    The degree of processing in foods is always an indication of whether or not you should be eating them.  ALWAYS STAY AWAY FROM PROCESSED FOODS!  Ignore whatever the label says – you have no idea how bought and paid for those labels are.  Smart Balance is highly processed; if it was not, the oils would simply separate and youd have something along the lines of salad dressing.  Butter is clearly the winner here.

    ##################

    Follow-up:

    Ok – one more question
    Salted or unsalted butter??  – or is that an obvious one?

    Claire, LA

    ##################

    The salting is important but pretty irrelevant considering how little the amount of salt in your butter will contribute to your overall salt intake.  The big thing to pay attention to in all your food is the quality of inputs – by that I mean, how good was the stuff that went into making it?

    If you buy butter from factory farm cows – who eat crap corn product, it once again creates that high Omega6:Omega3 inflammatory fat ratio, much like Smart Balance.  If you get butter from pasture cows that eat grass and hay like they are supposed to (they have 2 stomachs for a reason!), the nutrient profile increases dramatically.

    This ideology extends into everything you eat.  If you put an organic carrot next to conventionally grown carrot, you probably wont see a difference – but your body will.  Organics come from soil not artificially enriched and not bathed in hormone disrupting pesticides – which is why they are always preferred.

    Of course finding these foods is always hard, not to mention their cost after you have found them.

    For cooking, the most readily available unrefined oil is extra virgin olive oil.  You want to use it in low heat cooking (steaming) because it can oxidize easily due to its monounsaturated fat chemical alignment.  For higher heat cooking (BBQ, Sauté), use raw coconut oil or the grass fed butter – they are saturated fats, which can take heat very well.  Both the oils are readily available if you have trouble finding grass fed butter.

  • Integrative Medicine on Capitol Hill

    Integrative Medicine on Capitol Hill

    On Thursday, the US Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions held a hearing called, Integrative Care: A Pathway to a Healthier Nation to assess how complementary medicine will be incorporated into President Obama’s challenge for Congress to pass health care reform in 2009. Barbara Milkulski (D), Maryland and Tom Harkin (D), Iowa chaired the committee that invited a distinguished panel of famous complementary practitioners to report their findings from field work.

    The proceedings can be see in their entirety here:

    Dr. Mehmet C. Oz, Director, Cardiovascular Institute and Complementary Medicine Program, New York-Presbyterian Hospital, New York, NY was the first speaker (minutes 27-33). His speech to the committee was based upon the idea of movements where Oz advocated having patients become their own advocates in the health care system. His proposal included four points:

    • 1. Create a Smart Patient Movement, where people learn how to take of themselves before needing medical intervention
    • 2. Massively upgrade the information systems surrounding health care to be upgraded to systems like Microsoft HealthVault and Google Health – where patients store their medical records for all types of health professionals to see.
    • 3. Establish a ‘culture of wellness’ – defined as giving patients a more total platter of options in how they want to be healed. Physicians would be joined by ‘Health Coaches’ – people like physical therapists, social workers and acupuncturists – who help people become healthier before they need reactionary, Western medicine.
    • 4. Expand his ‘Health Corps Movement’ – a program is based upon the concepts of Peace Corps, whereby passionate young adults tutor their peers, in schools, on becoming more healthy.

    Following Dr. Oz was Dr. Mark Hyman, Founder and Medical Director of The UltraWellness Center in Lenox, MA – (watch minutes 68-74 in the video).

    Dr. Hyman

    Hyman’s major point was an affront to most of the medical community – that the entire system and approach to modern disease is completely wrong. Because most of the health crises in American revolve around chronic diseases, the reactionary, allopathic model of medicine is outdated. He wants a system that proactively addresses the debilitating symptoms of chronic disease before they ever form. From his speech [emphasis mine]:

    “We must address the underlying causes of illness and chronic disease. If we, give the wrong type of care, we will simply be doing the wrong thing – better. [We need to change not] only the way we do medicine but the medicine we do. This new paradigm of functional medicine is a system of personalized, patient-centered care based on how our environment and lifestyle choices impact on our genes to create imbalances in our genes and biologic systems….It is the best solution to our health care system.”

    Continuing with Dr. Oz’s point, Dr. Hyman hammered on the point of the need for health coaches to assist doctors in creating a healthy environment. He outlined three major initiatives he wanted to see in Obama’s upcoming health reform act:

    • 1. A radical shift in public investment towards training and research facilities that proactively address the needs of chronic disease, with the US creating a federal training center.
    • 2. Expand already existing and proven functional medicine projects, compromised of doctors and other health professionals, that demonstrate a new model of care.
    • 3. Create a White House cabinet position that coordinates all of these functions.

    Next up was Dr. Dean Ornish, Founder and President, Preventive Medicine Research Institute, Sausalito, CA (minutes 78-82) who mainly reinforced the points made by earlier speakers, adding that the systems he has implemented show impressive cost reductions. He stated that 75-80% of all medical costs are now related to chronic diseases – heart disease, obesity, diabetes – and that he was able to eliminate almost 95% of those costs with functional medicine approaches.

    Dr. Weil

    Finally, Dr. Andy Weil, Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine, University of Arizona, Vail, AZ (minutes 82 – 92) turned his focus onto why medical costs are so high in America. He made the point that our high tech medical system costs so much that there is no possible way to treat the numbers of sick people present without a different approach. He advocated low, very low tech medicine – simple breathing techniques and laughing – as examples of therapies he uses on a regular basis. He was adamant on changing the culture around alternative therapies with proper education.

    Thoughts…

    The Q&A afterwords between the doctors and senators involved the nagging question of how to make these changes happen. It was distressing to see just how little of an idea this important regulatory body had in terms of what they should be doing to improve health. Consistently, throughout this hearing, you would see the panel of health professionals imploring the senators to use the doctors’ collective talents.

    But it strikes us as so odd that – as these doctors talked with the exact group responsible for implementing these policies – yet none of the senators take notes or have drafts of the necessary legislation on hand to amend with new ideas. All of this genius is sitting before them, unloading mountains of brilliant – and often proven – ideas as these legislators just sit and watch when it is they who have the responsibility to act on this information.

    Hello? Is anybody home? Oh…you are busy with lobbyists. Sorry to interrupt.

    Each one of these CAM advocates made the case for prevention and better information preventing diseases before they happen, and they did it eloquently. Each outlined a path to this new world of health care, demonstrating the numbers and how this should be the way forward. They made concrete recommendations – a White House level voice for wellness, re-educating health professionals at medical schools, implementing health coaches and expanding the Health Corps – that could have immediate effects. Dr. Hyman’s presentation was one of the best speeches on the subject we have ever heard.

    Seeing as this conference was focused on helping craft the complementary medicine portion of health care reform, it is regrettable, if not inexcusable, that these senators – on the health subcommittee no less – could not even start to show how they will implement the wisdom bestowed upon them at this hearing. The time for discussing these issues has long passed and action is urgently needed. Functional medicine is used by millions every day but the American system of medicine discourages its use at every turn. It is our hope a few of the people on the government’s side watching this presentation could synthesize just 1% of what was being said to them and craft it into meaningful policy.

    Read each presenter’s official submitted statements to the committee:

  • Mailbag: Clare Island Organic Salmon Omega-3s

    Mailbag: Clare Island Organic Salmon Omega-3s

    Credit, Steve 2.0 (flickr)

    Periodically, readers write into Nutrition Wonderland about issues we cover and we respond back to them.   This is a new column we will try to feature as we move forward – send all questions to [email protected] to be featured in the mailbag.

    Michelle from Virginia writes:

    I read with great interest your 12/08 article on the Nutrition Wonderland website entitled “Organic Fish Standards Announced by the USDA” – very informative and I learned some new and interesting facts regarding the subject.

    However I found your article while in search of a more specific question, and I’m hoping you can direct me to a source for answers.

    My local grocery store carries the Clare Island Organic Salmon from Ireland brand. I’ve learned from you and others that the level of omega 3 in wild vs farm raised salmon is largely based on the diet fed the fish. I’d like to know if the organic fish raised by this company are fed a diet that results in a higher level of omega 3s? Specifically, how does the level of omega 3s in this fish compare to that of wild caught Alaskan salmon?

    I went to the company’s website (https://mowi.com) and could not find any information about the omega 3 content of this particular product. Do you know of another, unbiased source of this information?

    Thank you so much. And keep doing what you do – we depend on folks like you!

    Michelle-

    Glad you found the organic fish information helpful.

    This statement from the parent company gives us some insight into the brand [emphasis mine]-

    Clare Island Organic Salmon are provided with special diets that contain only organic, natural ingredients and are free of genetically modified products. Phaffia, a yeast based pigment, ensures the salmon have that natural salmon-pink colour.

    There is an interesting way to look at this statement – only organic ingredients implies that these fish are only eating vegetables, not other fish and krill like wild fish would.  We know this because there still are no wild fish farms that produce smaller fish for the salmon to eat.   Clare island is part of a large firm called Marine Harvest, and large firms tend to cut corners on quality.  We also know they are probably using GMO-free corn probably and not using pink dyes.  Both of those are good steps but nutritionally, corn gives a higher omega 6:3 ratio so you are missing out there.

    Generally, salmon in colder waters will have more fat and better fat – which is logical if you think about it.  Its cold so they are trying to protect themselves from the cold with more fat by eating more krill – which is their main source of omega-3s naturally.  That’s why wild Alaskan salmon is your best bet.

    You probably aren’t hurting yourself with the farm raised product but a wild Alaskan salmon would do you better.  I find that trader joe’s offers a nice product as does whole foods.  You can also try to buy in bulk online straight from Alaska if you have a freezer to store it in.

    The Weston A. Price foundation publishes a great shopping guide that can help guide you to the right foods – they are only $1 each.  Unfortunately its not online but I have one and highly recommend it – there are fisheries listed in there.

    Here is the order form:
    https://www.westonaprice.org/get-involved/#gsc.tab=0