GI News—April 2009

• Sweeten your life with low GI sugar (GI 50)
• Can cinnamon reduce the blood glucose rise after eating?
• Lupin - dream ingredient or allergy nightmare? Catherine Saxelby investigates
• Mythbuster Nicole Senior looks at vegetarian diet health claims
• Prof Trim checks out how much protein you actually need

Want to feel fuller on fewer calories, cut your appetite, boost your fibre, slash your blood pressure and cholesterol? Then look out for lupin products boasting this line up of health benefits says Catherine Saxelby in Food of the Month. Always on the lookout for the latest food being hyped, she took a closer look at lupin for GI News – the claims, the science-based evidence and the products. There are all our usual features in this issue too, plus two new recipes for you to try.

Good eating, good health and good reading.

GI News Editor: Philippa Sandall
Web Design and Management: Scott Dickinson, PhD

Foodwatch with Catherine Saxelby

Lupin – dream ingredient or allergy nightmare?


Catherine Saxelby

I have to say right up front, lupin looks promising but the jury is still out. Here’s the story so far. Research from Western Australia published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that a bread with 40% added lupin kernel flour lowered both systolic and diastolic blood pressure in 74 overweight men and women over 16 weeks. Compared to a standard white bread, the lupin-enriched bread dropped blood pressure by 3.0 and 0.6mm Hg respectively while their pulse pressure also decreased.

In a 2006 American Journal of Clinical Nutrition study, researchers reported that eating lupin flour-enriched bread at breakfast resulted in higher ‘feel full’ (satiety) scores and a lower overall food intake (488 kJ less) at lunch than eating white bread.

It makes sense. Both protein and fibre are things dieters already utilise to help them keep hunger pangs away. It significantly reduces total food intake and surprisingly cuts down on their intake at the following meal.



What is it? Lupin (Lupinus angustifolius) is a legume (bean), high in protein (over 40%) and fibre (around 30%), most of which is the soluble type. It’s also low in fat, which is mainly polyunsaturated with some omega-3, so it most closely resembles soy beans. In fact it’s been ear marked as the next major competitor to soy beans as a high protein ingredient in vegan sausages, noodles, breads, muffins or breakfast cereal.

The fat also is rich in lecithin, which is good for the heart. It contains natural antioxidants such as carotenoids (which account for its golden-yellow colour) and tocopherols which are converted into vitamin E.

What can it do for you? Eating foods contain lupin flour can help cut your food intake without going hungry thanks to the fibre and protein content. It is an excellent alternative to both wheat flour and soy products. It has a higher lysine content than cereals and is rich in the amino acid arginine which is a precursor of nitric oxide, a vasodilator in blood vessels. Like other legumes, it is gluten free and its starch is slowly digested, so as an ingredient it would help lower the GI of a food such as bread.

Lupin allergy is the downside. Major food manufacturers, however, are holding back from using lupin flour due to the likelihood of it provoking a severe allergic reaction like peanut (botanically a legume). It appears that people with peanut sensitivity may have cross-reactivity with lupin or the allergy may arise for no known reason.

Currently, food producers are not required to label lupin as a potential allergen unlike gluten or soy. Even though it’s not widely available, already two reports – in the Medical Journal of Australia and a case report in The Lancet (April 2005; no abstract) – describe four cases of anaphylaxis that can be traced back to hidden lupin. Immunologists suggest that allergic patients be tested for lupin sensitivity before eating it.

Where do you get it? At present, not many lupin-based products exist. In Australia, Bodhi’s Slimmers Choice bread is made with 40% lupin kernel flour. This was the bread used in both studies but it’s only available in Western Australia and some outlets in South Australia and Victoria. Website: www.bodhi.com.au.

‘Feel great – lose weight’ is the claim on the Lupin8 label. You add this yellow powder (made from a blend of lupin kernel flour, corn flour maize, oat bran, rice meal and psyllium husks) to food or cooking to reduce hunger pangs. It says it has a low GI on the label, but I haven’t seen any published test results, and there’s only 3 g carbs in a 9 g serving (about a tablespoon). You can buy it from pharmacies and health food shops in Australia and the manufacturer says it will be available in NZ and USA from March/April. Website: www.lupin8.com.au.

Want more information? The WA Department of Agriculture has a really excellent PDF on lupins generally and lupin research and background; and you can find out more about lupin flour at www.lupinflour.com.au.

Catherine Saxelby is an accredited dietitian and nutritionist and runs the Foodwatch Nutrition Centre. For more information onlupin and healthy eating, visit www.foodwatch.com.au.

News Briefs

Is it finally the end of fad diet wars?
It’s not the type of diet that makes a difference it’s cutting back on the calories that counts. This is the principal finding of a study in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine that compared four heart-healthy, weight-loss diets. Consisting of similar foods, the diets replaced saturated with unsaturated fat and were high in whole cereal grains, fruits and vegetables. All participants were encouraged to include at least 20 g of dietary fibre per day in their diet and low GI carb-rich foods were recommended.

All four diets were equally successful in promoting clinically meaningful weight loss and the maintenance of weight loss over the course of 2 years. The take-home message is that giving people who want to lose weight a reduced calorie diet that's specifically tailored to fit in with their personal and cultural food preferences is likely to be the best way to give them a real chance for long-term success.

The researchers randomly assigned 811 overweight adults who were very keen to lose weight to one of four diets with a 750 calorie reduction a day that emphasised different amounts of carbohydrates, fat, and protein. The participants were also asked to do 90 minutes of moderate exercise a week. ‘Among the 80% of participants who completed the trial, the average weight loss was 4 kg (8.8 lbs); 14 to 15% of the participants had a reduction of at least 10% of their initial body weight.’ All the diets reduced risk factors for cardiovascular disease and diabetes.


Prof Frank Sacks

The study also showed that the participants who regularly attended counselling sessions lost more weight than those who didn’t. Lead author Prof. Frank Sacks said: ‘These findings suggest that continued contact with the participants may be more important than the micronutrient composition of their diets.’

The good news: If you want to lose weight, see a registered dietitian.
The bad news: It's unlikely that such science-based evidence from Harvard researchers will stop the flow of fad diet books, magazine stories or miracle weight-loss programs, pills and potions.

Helping kids beat the obesity gene
‘Although our genetic make-up does have an influence on our health, it’s certainly not the only defining factor. Those with high risk genes can, in some cases, resist their genetic lot if they alter their lifestyle in the right way – in this case, their diet,’ says lead author Dr Laura Johnson from University College London (UCL) talking about a new study published in March 2009 issue of the online journal PloS One.


Dr Laura Johnson

Children who carry the FTO gene, strongly associated with obesity, could offset its effect by eating a low energy density diet. The UCL and University of Bristol researchers found that children with a more energy dense diet (more calories per bite) tended to have more fat mass three years later and also confirmed that those carrying the high risk gene had greater fat mass overall.

When the researchers looked at whether children with the FTO gene had a stronger reaction to an energy dense diet than children with a lower genetic risk they found that they did not. These results indicate that if a child with a high genetic risk eats a diet with fewer calories per bite, they may be able to offset the effect of the gene on weight gain and so stay a healthy weight.

Eating a diet rich in energy-dense foods increases the risk of obesity for adults, as they tend to eat the same amount of food, regardless of its energy density. That’s not true for kids, Johnson notes. When younger kids eat energy-dense foods, they generally eat less at the next meal. As they get older, though, they get more and more like adults. ‘This is an important finding because it provides evidence that … adopting a diet with more bulk and less energy per bite could help people avoid becoming obese regardless of their genetic risk. Obesity is not inevitable if your genes give you a higher risk because if you change the types of foods you eat this will help curb excessive weight gain.’

How? By replacing high-fat foods with low-fat foods and giving kids more fruits and vegetables. See January 2009 GI News for more on low energy density ‘feel full’ foods and February 2009 GI News for tips on ‘Changing the way we eat, drink and move.’

Carbohydrate withdrawal: is recognition the first step to recovery?
In February 2009 GI News, we reported on an article that explored the idea in that addiction could be an important factor causing the obesity epidemic. Lead writer Dr Simon Thornley claimed that although there’s no basis for this in the medical literature to date, it’s possible that obese persons may experience a withdrawal syndrome (after abstinence from high GI foods) with symptoms such as craving and low mood similar to those associated with other drug dependencies. In a recent letter to the NZ Medical Journal, Thornley reprints correspondence (with permission) from a 38-year-old woman from Wisconsin, USA.



“For the first 3 weeks I cut all processed sugar and flour from my diet and suffered mood swings with extreme tension and depression, even a sense of hopelessness at times, I had horrible stomach pains, all my joints and muscles throbbed, and I had the shakes constantly. I don't even know how to describe the horrible headaches that went along with all this. People who knew me started thinking I was hiding a drug problem. The worst physical symptoms have been gone for about 2 weeks now, and the cravings are finally starting to subside … I look at birthday cake today and all I see is myself curled up in the fetal position crying in bed … The worst part of the addiction lasted 3 weeks. The first 3 days were normal, but then on the fourth day the worst cravings began. All I could think about was ice cream, chocolate, and cheesecake. The cravings started to subside after the third week, but once I started feeling better I [thought] about food less. The shakes and the headaches really were the worst part!”

Thornley says: ‘Although this case does not prove our hypothesis, it may explain why obese people find it difficult to adhere to advice to reduce intake of refined carbohydrates. Her description is similar to an opiate withdrawal syndrome (craving, aches and pains and muscular spasm or twitching). The time course – worst in the first weeks and resolving with continued abstinence within 4 weeks – again concurs with a withdrawal syndrome. Further work may indicate if these symptoms can be reliably measured and mapped over time in obese subjects that limit their intake of high GI food.’

Food for Thought

Can cinnamon reduce the blood glucose rise after eating?
In recent years, lab research has suggested that CASSIA cinnamon, which contains around 5% of coumarin, may make body cells more sensitive to insulin. Small studies in healthy people and people with diabetes have also shown that this type of cinnamon (Cinnamomum cassia to give it its proper botanical name) can reduce the blood glucose rise after eating. But the jury is still out – some results have been promising but it’s too early to say that cinnamon cassia definitely does have beneficial health effects for people with type 2 diabetes. A recent meta-analysis in Diabetes Care found no significant benefits of a cassia cinnamon supplement on either glycated haemoglobin (A1C) or fasting blood glucose. The authors do acknowledge that their meta analysis may have been underpowered. What’s needed is a well planned, well controlled, long-term clinical trial.


Fruity Quinoa Porridge with Cinnamon Cassia (Ian Hofstetter)

No study has shown any adverse effects of taking cassia cinnamon daily but there are no long term trials either. So, while it’s still too soon for anyone to recommend that people with diabetes rely on this spice to steady their blood glucose levels, there’s no reason not to add it to your armoury of tools for managing your blood glucose levels. There are a few provisos, however.

If you want to give cinnamon cassia a go, have a chat first with your GP, dietitian or diabetes educator and be a bit scientific about it, too. For example, why not have your HbA1c tested prior to starting? Then have it checked again after at least 6 months, while not changing any lifestyle or medication use if possible to see if there is a change (unless advised by your diabetes management team). And if you get some interesting results, we would love to hear about it. Make sure that you are using the right stuff. We wrote about the difference between cinnamon cassia (Cinnamomum cassia) that comes from China, Vietnam or Indonesia and 'true' cinnamon (Cinnamomum zeylanicum) from Sri Lanka in August 2007 GI News. We know that McCormicks cinnamon is cinnamon cassia. You can also buy cinnamon cassia from Herbies Spices.

In many of the cinnamon (cassia) studies to date they have used supplements. Simply adding this wonderful culinary spice to food seems a smarter and simpler and tastier and probably cheaper option to us. We asked spice guru Ian Hemphill to suggest some simple ways to include it in your meals throughout the day.

Breakfast
Add 1 teaspoon (that’s about 3 g) of cinnamon (cassia) to porridge (made with traditional oats of course) while it is cooking.
Sprinkle a teaspoon of cinnamon (cassia) over your muesli or granola.
Add 1 teaspoon of cinnamon (cassia) to a pancake batter and serve with berries.

Lunch
Mix 1 teaspoon of turmeric with 1 teaspoon of cumin and 1 teaspoon of cinnamon (cassia) and a pinch of salt if you like. Sprinkle on chicken pieces, pan fry, slice and toss through a green salad.
Add 1 teaspoon cinnamon (cassia) while mashing a banana or add to a banana smoothie.
Sprinkle 1 teaspoon cassia and 1/2 a teaspoon of ground star anise through approximately 250 g (9 oz) of stir-fried chicken.

Dinner
Make a tasty tagine by coating beef cubes with 2 teaspoons of paprika, 1 teaspoon of cumin, and 1 teaspoon of cinnamon (cassia) before slow cooking.
Add 1 teaspoon of cinnamon (cassia) to apple pie or fruit compote.
Mix 1 teaspoon of turmeric with 1 teaspoon of cumin and 1 teaspoon of cinnamon (cassia) and a pinch of salt and rub on to lamb cutlets before grilling or barbecuing.

If you want to know more about cinnamon (cassia), check out Ian’s Spice and Herb Bible (Spice Notes & Recipes in Australia) and try his to-die-for ‘Spiced Duck Breast with Cassia Glaze’. If you make it with the new LoGiCane™ sugar, it’ll be low GI too!

Busting Food Myths with Nicole Senior

Myth: Vegetarian diets are healthier


Nicole Senior

Fact: Vegetarian diets can lack essential nutrients
My latest book, Heart food (with Veronica Cuskelly) has a picture of mouth-watering steak on the front cover. A couple of people expressed surprise at this choice, and couldn’t believe meat was healthy. Of course a balanced diet including lean meat can be healthy and heart friendly, but meat often gets a bum rap – much of it deserved because our portions are too large and our meat choices too fatty. But is going meat-free the true path to wellness? Well, a vegetarian diet can have a few holes in it as well and lack key nutrients such as iron, zinc, B12 and omega-3 DHA. I thought I’d address a number of commonly held views about vegetarianism.

Vegetarians live longer: While it’s true the Seventh Day Adventist vegetarian community in Loma Linda California are one of the most long-lived in the world, under the cold light of science this can’t be fully explained by their vegetarian diet. This community also don’t drink alcohol, are physically active, and have strong religious faith and social connectedness. There are equally long-lived communities elsewhere in the world that do include animal foods in their diet, such as the people of the Nicoya Peninsula of Costa Rica, Sardinia in Italy and the people of Okinawa in Japan . Interestingly, while they do eat meat, their diets are based on plant foods (as are heart-healthy diets today). The take-home message is, if you eat meat make sure you eat plenty of vegetables, exercise and pray!


Sardinia Centenarians

Vegetarian dishes in restaurants are healthier options: In my experience, this is the exception rather than the rule. Unfortunately vegetarian dishes tend to be heavy on cheese, cream and pastry (e.g. vegetable quiche, bean nachos), and thus heavy on kilojoules (calories) and artery clogging saturated fat and salt. Unless the chef is clued up on matters vegetarian, you end up with a meat-free version of an existing dish (e.g. vegetable pasta) rather than a well-balanced meal with suitable meat-alternatives such as legumes and nuts. Teen girls please note: throwing the meat out of your burger does not make it a vegetarian meal! You need to research a restaurant guidebook or the web to find suitable vegan dishes (containing no animal products at all). More education about healthy meatless meals is needed.

There is enough iron in plant foods: I recently saw a bumper sticker on the back of a cattle farmer’s truck that said, “7 days without meat makes one weak”. Very clever, but is there any truth to it? Maybe when you consider plant foods such as whole grains, legumes and nuts contain non-haem (or non-heme) iron of which only 5% is absorbed. Added to this, vegetarian diets contain very high levels of phytates and oxalates that inhibit iron absorption. Eating vitamin-C rich foods can enhance the absorption of non-haem iron, but never reaches the bioavailability of haem iron. The haem-iron in meat, chicken, pork and fish is much better absorbed, and in a mixed meal the haem-iron enhances the non-haem iron absorption as well. Many vegetarians do fine without meat because their iron needs are lower, but children, teenagers, pregnant women and athletes need more and risk going short. Low iron can cause poor energy levels and fatigue, and delayed cognitive development in children.

Sure, meat-lovers would do well to take a leaf out of the vegetarian book by including more protective plant foods, but vegetarian diets have their hazards as well. The take-out message is that avowed carnivores and vegans are dietary extremes while health is so often found in the happy medium. Vive l'omnivore!

If you’re interested in having your steak and eating it, while still looking after your cholesterol and heart health, check out Nicole’s books at www.eattobeatcholesterol.com.au

Low GI Recipes of the Month

American dietitian, Johanna Burani invites GI News readers to try recipes from her Italian kitchen (photographed by Sergio Burani).


Johanna Burani

Vanda’s baked frittata
Vanda is my good friend and a fabulous cook. She lives in Friuli, northern Italy, in a small town very close to mine. She espouses to the freshest ingredients in her cooking. Her dishes are simple, wholesome and usually picked directly from her vegetable garden. This recipe is a great example of her delicious home cooking.
Serves 4

2 medium zucchini (approx. 10 oz/300 g)
4 eggs
2 tablespoons sundried tomatoes, minced
55 g (2 oz) part skim ricotta
¼ cup (60 ml) fat free milk
½ teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon grated cheese
1 tablespoon plain breadcrumbs

• Preheat oven to 180C (350ºF). Cover the bottom of a 22 cm (9 in) square baking pan with parchment paper or non-stick vegetable spray.
• Wash the zucchini, trim the ends and cut them into thin horizontal slices. Cook 5–6 minutes in a non-stick pan stirring frequently.
• Whisk the eggs in a medium bowl. Add the sun-dried tomatoes, ricotta, milk and salt and continue to whisk until ingredients are well combined. Gently fold in the cooked zucchini. Pour the mixture into the baking pan. Sprinkle the breadcrumbs and cheese over the top. Bake for 20 minutes or until the top turns golden brown. Allow to cool slightly. Cut into four diagonal pieces.

Per serve
Energy: 370 kJ/ 88 cals; Protein 9 g; Fat 8 g (includes 2 g saturated fat and 218 mg cholesterol); Carbs 5 g; Fibre 1 g

Dietitian Dr Joanna McMillan-Price shares this deliciously low GI recipe from her new book Inner Health, Outer Beauty. It’s available from bookshops in Australia and New Zealand and online from www.greatideas.net.au


Joanna McMillan-Price

Quinoa, mackerel and spinach kedgeree
Smoked and canned fish are a convenient way to boost your omega-3 intake. Smoking fish and meat is one of the oldest methods of food preservation but you won’t find the Heart Foundation Tick on these foods because of the large amount of salt used in the smoking process. Despite this, I still recommend using it, in the context of a wholesome natural food diet. If you don’t eat many processed foods then your overall salt intake will be within healthy limits despite having smoked fish once a week or so. Read the ingredients list to be sure the product has only fish and salt, and no other additives. This recipe is quite high in fat, but it is mostly unsaturated fats from oily fish including omega-3 fats beneficial to health.
Serves 4 to 6

50 g olive oil
2 teaspoons brown mustard seeds
½ teaspoon cumin seeds
1 cinnamon stick
1 large onion (200 g) sliced thinly
1½ teaspoons garam masala
½ teaspoon ground turmeric
1½ cups (270 g) quinoa
2 cups (500 ml) water
1 teaspoon sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
400 g (14 oz) smoked mackerel
3 free-range or organic eggs, hard-boiled and peeled
100 g (3 ½ oz) baby spinach leaves
¼ cup coarsely chopped parsley

• Heat the oil in large heavy-based frying pan with a lid. Add the mustard seeds, cumin and cinnamon and cook 1–2 minutes or until mustard seeds pop.
• Add the onion and ground spices, cook until onion has softened and started to lightly brown.
• Add the quinoa, water and season with salt and pepper. Cover with the lid and cook for 10–15 minutes or until the quinoa is tender.
• Meanwhile, flake the fish into large chunks and cut the eggs in half. Stir the fish, spinach and parsley into the quinoa and mix gently until the spinach wilts. Serve topped with eggs and some Worcestershire or sweet chilli sauce.

Per serve (based on 6 serves)
Energy: 2166 kJ/ 516 cals; Protein 23 g; Fat 34 g (includes 7 g saturated fat l); Carbs 30 g; Fibre 4 g

Move It & Lose It with Prof Trim

How much protein is enough?
The recommended dietary allowance (RDA) of a nutrient is an estimate of the minimum average dietary intake level that meets the nutrient requirements of nearly all (around 97% that is) healthy individuals. Based on this recommendation, the RDA for protein in the diet is 0.8 grams per kg of body weight per day. So a 100 kg (220 pound) man should be eating about 80 g (3 oz) of protein (about the amount in a good piece of steak) per day. Athletes on the other hand are advised to eat up to 3g per kg of body weight per day – around 300 g (11 oz) for a 100 kg man – because of their extra muscular needs.



However, as pointed out in a recent issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, the term “recommended dietary allowance” is often misleading as it is misinterpreted as being the “optimal” rather than the “minimal” dietary requirement. But protein recommendations for those wanting to lose weight have now been put at around 25% of total energy intake, so for a 10 man needing about 3,500 calories (14,700 kJ) per day, this would translate into a protein content of around 200 g (7 oz)/day, which is obviously more than the RDA, and closer to the athlete level. So who is right?

Because loss of body muscle during an energy restricted diet is counter-productive for good weight loss, the higher level (even up to 35% of intake from protein is more likely to be effective. Are there any risks at this level? Those with kidney problems or potential kidney problems do need to be managed differently, but for the others, there seems to be little risk. As hunter-gatherers, humans often took in as much as 30% of their diet as protein on a regular basis. Hence, it’s likely that we are attuned to a higher protein intake than is current. Of course the other point of concern is that the source of the protein should be lean meats or vegetable proteins. Higher fat varieties (e.g. such as feed-lot farmed animals) are likely to reduce the benefits by increasing the fat (and hence energy) content of the diet.


Dr Garry Egger aka Prof Trim

For more information on weight loss for men, check out Professor Trim.

Curly Questions

Is there a difference between naturally occurring sugars and refined sugar?
We are often asked this. Not in GI terms. Naturally occurring sugars are those found in milk and other dairy products and fruits and vegetables, including their juices. Refined sugar means added sugar, table sugar, honey, maple syrup, or corn syrup. Both sources include varying amounts of sucrose, glucose, fructose and lactose. Some nutritionists make a distinction between them, because natural sugars are usually accompanied by micronutrients such as vitamin C.

The rate of digestion and absorption of naturally occurring sugars is no different, on average, from that of refined sugars. There is, however, wide variation within food groups, depending on the food. The GI of fruits varies, from 25 for grapefruit to 76 for watermelon. Similarly, among the foods containing refined sugar, some are low GI, some high. The GI of sweetened, low fat yoghurt is only 26 to 28, while a Mars Bar® has a GI of 62 (lower than bread).

Remember, a food’s GI alone doesn’t make it good or bad for you. The nutritional benefits of different foods are many and varied which is why we always suggest that you base your food choices on the overall nutritional content along with the amount of saturated fat, salt, fibre and of course, the GI value, which is why bread is a better option than a Mars Bar.



Why do dietitians and nutritionists recommend starchy foods over sugary foods?
Sugar has an image problem that stems largely from research with rodents using unrealistic amounts of pure sugar. It’s also seen as a source of ‘empty kilojoules’ (energy without vitamins or minerals) and concentrated energy. But much of the criticism doesn’t stand up to actual
research findings.

Most starchy foods have the same energy density as sugary foods and even a soft drink has the same kilojoule (calorie) content per gram as an apple. Starchy foods, such as wholegrain cereals can be excellent sources of vitamins, minerals and fibre, but some pure forms of starch and modified starches are added to foods that are ‘empty kilojoules’.

So there really isn’t a big difference between sugars and starches, either in nutritional terms or in terms of the glycemic index. Our advice is to use sugar to your advantage by adding it to nutritious foods (such as a little sugar on porridge or a smear of jam on low GI bread) to make them taste even better.

Email your curly question about carbs, the GI and blood glucose to: gicurlyquestions@gmail.com

Your Success Stories

‘Words cannot describe how thrilled I am with this low glycemic eating plan!’ – Barbara
‘On April 30, 2008, when I found out I was pre-diabetic, I was shocked and scared. As far as I knew it wasn’t in the family and I did not want it. If I had to diet to get my blood sugar normal, I would. At first, I thought I could educate myself. Wrong! I changed my diet immediately and I did start losing weight. Yet I felt I needed to see a nutritionist. There was only one whom my doctor would recommend.

By the time I saw Johanna Burani for the first time on June 2, I had lost 15 lb (7 kg). I was going on a cruise in 6 days and not liking what I thought I’d have to eat. She eliminated all my fears by designing a meal plan that would work just for me. I also read her book, Good Carbs, Bad Carbs and tried out some of the recipes I found there. This also made my new low GI lifestyle so easy to follow.

Seven months have passed since I started choosing low GI carbs and I still love my plan. My blood glucose has normalised with the diet alone; I take no medication. I’ve lost 43 lbs (20 kg) – and now weigh 15 lbs (7 kg) less than on my wedding day, 44 years ago! I’m so confident that this way of eating is for life that every piece of clothing that gets too big finds a new home!

This was never about dieting to be thin. I wanted to eat to be healthy. It’s been fun to finally know that I can be thinner and not feel like I’m on a diet. When an apple is more appealing to me than a brownie, I know I have really changed! By the way, my husband has also lost 32 lbs (14.5 kg) eating the way I was now eating. He didn’t know he was on a diet! Another bonus: he is off all his high blood pressure medication.’


Before and after photos

Johanna says: ‘Barbara is an up-beat, energetic hairdresser and grandmother of three who enjoys cooking her traditional Hungarian meals which include butter, sour cream and fatty meats. When she discovered she was pre-diabetic, she tried to compensate for her typical calorie-laden meals by eliminating carbohydrates as much as possible. But Barbara is also an outstanding baker so she was having trouble figuring out how to make her current diet meet the needs of her new health concerns. That’s when she made an appointment for nutritional counselling with me.’

‘I have lost 1 stone in weight. How good is that!’ – Richard
‘I am 55 and have type 2 diabetes. I have been following a low GI diet and during the 18 months my average blood glucose level (HbA1c), which is checked every 6 months by blood test, has fallen from 6.1 to 6.0 to 5.9%. I seem to be going in reverse. Also I have lost 1 stone (14 lbs, 6.4 kg) in weight.’

‘This website has helped me control my glucose level.’ Bireswar
‘I am from India. I was diagnosed as having diabetes because I had a huge weight loss. I reduced my blood glucose level immediately using medication in consultation with my doctor. But my intention was to control my blood glucose by lifestyle changes instead of living my whole life on medicines. This website has helped me a lot to do this. My glucose level is always normal and this I do by exercise and good eating habits. Walking is undoubtedly the best form of exercise for diabetics. Also I do the breathing exercise (pranayam), yoga regularly.’

GI Symbol News with Alan Barclay

New low GI sugar


Alan Barclay

A low GI sugar made from 100% sugar cane is now available for those who like a little sweetness in their life – or in their tea or coffee. The new sugar has the same taste and colour as regular sugar and can be used in baking in the same way, but because of the innovative manufacturing process (raw cane sugar is sprayed with a molasses extract, a natural by-product of sugar cane manufacture), it retains most of the nutrients from the sugar cane, like minerals and antioxidant polyphenols. The GI Foundation has certified LoGiCane™ as a healthier low GI choice within the sweetener category.

Added sugars and high sugar foods like jam, marmalade and syrup are among the top five contributors of glycemic carbohydrate in the Australian diet, and this is similar in the US and the UK. We know from dietary modelling that substituting LoGiCane™ (GI 50) for regular sugar (average GI 65) will lower the GI of the diet of older Australians by approximately one percentage point – and help reduce the GI of the Australian diet from its current high 55–60 down to around 45. We know from research that the average GI of your daily diet needs to be around this low level to reduce the risk of developing chronic disease including type 2 diabetes and heart disease.



What about the calories? The jury is still out on this one. There is some early evidence that Logicane™ has less kilojoules/Calories, and is less likely to cause tooth decay than regular sugar (due to its polyphenol content), but more research is underway to confirm this.

Does this mean you can have more sugar. Not at all. Horizon Science (the research group behind LoGiCane™) and the GI Foundation fully back current dietary guidelines that recommend only moderate consumption of added sugars as part of a balanced healthy diet. LoGiCane™ with its low GI is simply a better choice for your long-term health that should be used instead of regular sugar in (let me repeat) moderate amounts.

What’s moderate consumption? About a teaspoon of sugar in a cup of tea or coffee, a couple of teaspoons on a high fibre, low saturated fat breakfast cereal, or a tablespoon or so in a baked product like a fruity muffin. The total should be no more than about 6–10 teaspoons a day which includes all sources of refined sugar you consume – what’s already in the foods you eat as well as what you add yourself.

LoGiCane™ is currently available in Australia and NZ. For more information email: alan@gisymbol.com



Contact
Dr Alan W Barclay, PhD
CSO, Glycemic Index Ltd
Phone: +61 2 9785 1037
Mob: +61 (0)416 111 046
Fax: +61 2 9785 1037
Email: mailto:alan@gisymbol.com
Email: alan@gisymbol.com
Website: www.gisymbol.com.au

GI Testing

Contact an accredited GI testing laboratory
North America
Dr Alexandra Jenkins
Glycemic Index Laboratories
36 Lombard Street, Suite 100
Toronto, Ontario M5C 2X3 Canada
Phone +1 416 861 0506
Email info@gilabs.com
Web www.gilabs.com

Australia
Fiona Atkinson



Research Manager, Sydney University Glycemic Index Research Service (SUGiRS)
Human Nutrition Unit, School of Molecular and Microbial Biosciences
Sydney University
NSW 2006 Australia
Phone + 61 2 9351 6018
Fax: + 61 2 9351 6022
Email sugirs@mmb.usyd.edu.au
Web www.glycemicindex.com

New Zealand
Dr Tracy Perry
The Glycemic Research Group, Dept of Human Nutrition
University of Otago
PO Box 56 Dunedin New Zealand
Phone +64 3 479 7508
Email tracy.perry@stonebow.otago.ac.nz
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Ranaesheart Weight Loss Blog - A Review

Ranaesheart Weight Loss Blog

Ranae is a soft-spoken, gentle person who feels deeply and has much compassion. She loves to inspire others to reach their weight loss goals. She knows firsthand the pain of being very overweight, losing weight and putting it back on and yet some, and feeling helpless to remedy the situation. She figured after a while that it would be better to stay at a steady weight than to keep dieting and going up in weight each time.

Ranae’s life and outlook and began to change radically when a dear friend encouraged her to: “Believe first – even when it is not rational and good things will happen.” Ranae took hope from this man’s kind words, for his full acceptance of her as a person, and his belief in her and that a changed attitude could bring about success in weight loss, which could be maintained. At 51 years of age and 330 lbs, Ranae was almost ready to give up on life, when her friend gave her those kind words to ponder. Ranae found the strength within to grab a hold of his words and to really start to believe that she could do it this time. Ranae’s method of weight loss was to count calories. She found foods to satisfy her hunger and keep the calories in check. Later, she introduced Herba Life products to supplement her diet.

To cut a long story short, Ranae lost 150 lbs and although maintenance is more of a struggle, she continues the battle daily, and at the same time provides inspiration for others who have and are faced with similar weight battles and battles of the mind.

Here is an example of the inspiration she provides on her blog. She says that great dreamers learn success from their failures:

“Looking to history, there have been great dreamers; people who faced the seemingly impossible and yet overcame it because they allowed themselves to dream big and refused to limit their possibilities and expectations. One such person was Martin Luther King. He believed all men to be created equal, that the sons of former slaves and former slave owners would sit down together, that injustice and oppression would be transformed to freedom and justice and that people would not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

During the time he was alive, those dreams seemed impossible to most. This man dreamed; he believed! And now, during the lifetime of his children, there is no longer segregation and the first African-American president was just elected by his character.

This mindset is one that we can all learn from; it is one I am adopting. It is a belief in ones self that we can and will achieve our goals. We must dream it and believe it and then steadfastly take action to bring that dream to reality.

Will we fail? Sure, from time to time. Did Martin Luther King experience failures? You bet; but he did not give up or stop his quest. Neither must we.”

If you are looking for inspiration and help with sticking to your program (whatever that may be), Ranae is just the person to inspire you each new day. Do remember to visit and comment on her site to encourage her in her wonderful work. You will love her to bits! I know that if she had lived near me, we would have been good friends. I am grateful at any rate to have crossed paths with this lovely lady.

Ranae says persistence is key and exercise is key. Here is another example of her inspirational writing:

“Do you want to succeed?

Do you want to be healthy?

Do you want to see the numbers on the scale decline?

Are you committed to doing what it takes?

If you answer 'YES' to these questions, then try thinking of EXERCISE in a new and positive light.

Ex = Exciting
E = Energizing you for the day
R = Revitalizing your body, mind and spirit
C = Caring for yourself and your health
I = Invigorating
S = Stimulating and Stress Relieving
E = Excellent calorie burning furnace!

Try these simple changes and begin to MOVE! Each time you implement one of these, you also need to give yourself "Kuddos!!!" and a huge "pat on the back" for making the behavior changes that will lead to your success!!!” She then gives several practical examples of exercise.

Bless your heart, Ranae - you are such an inspiration, and it is a pleasure to visit your blog, as you are so positive and so uplifting and at the same time so human, just like the rest of us!

Several States Abandon Death Penalty Because Of Cost

Facing huge budget deficits, eight states are considering repealing the death penalty to save money. Pennsylvania isn't one of them.

But there hasn't been an execution in Pennsylvania in nearly a decade, and that has critics questioning the program's cost.

Capital punishment has been debated in the nation's highest courts, fueled by political and moral arguments, with powerful influences from religion. But in some states, the death penalty is being abandoned for reasons that have nothing to do with right or wrong.

"This is the first time cost has taken center stage," said Richard Dieter.

Dieter is the executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center in Washington, D.C. He said studies show administering the death penalty is more expensive than keeping someone in prison for life.

"It's not that the execution costs much, but every step of a death penalty case is much more expensive than a typical trial," said Dieter.

Dieter said capital cases are expensive because the trials tend to take longer. They require more lawyers and more costly experts, and are far more likely to lead to multiple appeals.

"You've got to look at the cost of this," said Dieter. "What else could this be spent on?"

But in Pennsylvania, there is no central state agency that regulates or collects information about all capital punishment cases. As a result, it is nearly impossible to add up the cost of administering the death penalty in Pennsylvania.

Pennsylvania has the 4th largest death row, housing 224 inmates.

Since the death penalty was reinstated in 1978, only 3 convicts have been executed, but all 3 waived their rights to appeal.

In more than 30 years, no one in Pennsylvania has been executed after exhausting their appeals. Every case has been overturned by a higher court.

"It's hard to know what to make of a state that has the death penalty and doesn't have executions," said Dieter.

"It's an incredibly specialized, complex area of law," said Jules Epstein.

A former Philadelphia defense attorney, Epstein has overseen more than 100 death penalty cases.

He said one of the reasons there hasn't been an execution in Pennsylvania for so long lies in how the state's judicial system is funded.

"When you don't have the lawyers who don't have the money, they don't have the training or resources and you have a very good question as to whether the result is reliable," said Epstein.

Pennsylvania is the only state in the country that does not provide any state funding for attorneys of capital defendants who can't afford one themselves.

That leaves counties with less money with no option but to appoint less experienced lawyers who are more prone to making mistakes when handling complex capital cases.

"And if you didn't get it right the 1st time, it gets overturned on appeal sometimes years or tens of years later," Epstein said.

More than 1/2 of Pennsylvania's death sentence reversals, 117 of 214, have been overturned because of mistakes attorneys made during trial.

And as the process repeats, the cost to taxpayers continues to rise.

"What you are doing is sentencing people to death, most of the cases are overturned and the second time around they get a life sentence," said Dieter. "So you have the revolving door where the death penalty is meaningless, yet still very expensive."

While Pennsylvania hasn't studied the cost of the death penalty other states have.

New Jersey estimates it spent $253 million on the death penalty without executing anyone for decades, before repealing it in 2007.

Earlier in March, lawmakers in New Mexico also abolished the death penalty after determining their death penalty cases cost 6 times more than murder trials involving life in prison without parole.

As long as Pennsylvania's cost remains unknown, the debate over whether the death penalty is worth the money will likely continue.

Supporters of the death penalty said the system is supposed to be complex, and expensive, because deciding whether someone should be put to death is a weighty issue.

They also said repealing the death penalty could result in a spike in crime, because it would remove the most serious form of punishment.

As the economy continues to struggle, it is becoming harder for states to ignore cost when it comes to capital punishment.

Source: WGAL News, March 31, 2009

Emirates: death sentence upheld

March 29, 2009: the Dubai Court of Appeal in the United Arab Emirates upheld the death sentence of a Pakistani national convicted of the premeditated murder of his 24 year old Nepali car showroom colleague in Deira, on March 7, 2008.

The death sentence was the first by the court since 2005. The Criminal Court of First Instance sentenced the Pakistani to capital punishment on January 27, 2009.

Presiding Judge Eissa Al Sharif justified the death sentence saying, “the accused planned the theft motivated murder and prepared the crime tools.

He bought a knife, gloves and a hammer to murder the victim.”

Sources: Khaleej Times, 30/03/2009

Saudi Arabia : two executions

March 27, 2009: two Saudi Arabian men were beheaded by the sword after being convicted of the manslaughter of a Chinese man they robbed, the Interior Ministry said in a statement carried by SPA state news agency.

Faisal bin Nasser al-Qahtani and Bandar bin Abdullah al-Ajmi were found guilty of a drive-by robbery in which they snatched a laptop-computer bag from the man as he walked in Riyadh.

The victim grabbed hold of their vehicle, lost his grip and hit the ground, fatally injuring his head.

Source: Khaleej Times, 27/03/2009

More crap subbies to lose their jobs

Couldn't help noticing this headline. Wanganui Chronicle subbies are to lose their jobs. I thought I'd find out how good they were, given the paper is one of the oldest in the country.

So I checked this story as it was the top of the web page. There are at least FIVE subbing mistakes. First story I looked at.

Sub-editing is not really taken seriously in this country.

Montana to keep death penalty

Montana lawmakers decided Monday that the state will be keeping its death penalty, likely ending a strong push to ban the punishment this year.

A measure to end capital punishment had passed the GOP-controlled Senate, giving-death penalty opponents hope that it could clear the Legislature this year especially after New Mexico lawmakers passed a ban earlier this month.

But the Montana House Judiciary Committee voted 10-8 against the ban. It would be difficult, but not impossible, for those pushing the ban to bring the bill back this year.

Supporters of Senate Bill 236 argue that enforcing the death penalty costs more than mandatory life in prison without parole, and that the risk of executing an innocent man is too great. The supporters of a ban also said the death penalty is unethical and is hard on employees of the justice and corrections systems.

"We all have an obligation to make society safe, and I think life without parole does that," said Rep. Deborah Kottel, D-Great Falls. "I think it is too easy to take the life of a person under the guise of making society safe."

Those seeking to keep the death penalty say any problems with the current system can be fixed. They also argued the death penalty is for only the most heinous criminals, deters murderers, is used very rarely in Montana and then in only the right cases.

"I think you have people out there who are animals," said Rep. Ken Peterson, R-Billings. "If the crime justifies it, you execute them. If it doesn't, you put them in prison."

2 inmates are on death row in Montana. One is Canadian Ronald A. Smith, who has been the subject of some debate in his home country over whether to keep seeking clemency that would change his penalty to life in prison. In the early 1980s Smith was convicted of a double murder.

Montana has executed 3 people since reinstatement of the death penalty in the 1970s. The most recent execution, of convicted murderer David Dawson, occurred in 2006.

When New Mexico banned the death penalty this month, it became just the 2nd state after New Jersey to do so since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976. 14 other states do not impose capital punishment.

Source: Great Falls Tribune, March 31, 2009

We don't need another Hero

A unanimous recommendation that Hero be wound up and consigned to history was whole-heartedly embraced by the organisation's two remaining trustees. Hero trustees Richard Kittelty and Mike Binis happily embraced the recommendation."I am ecstatic about this," said Binis, clearly relieved that the end of his co-responsibility for the Hero Trust is nearing an end. "I thought some people at the meeting might try to keep it going, but it is great that the advice to shut down was unanimous."

Oh hahaha very funny

National MP Richard worth went overseas and spoke in his ministerial capacity while he was promoting a private company in which he had an interest. He got a dressing down from John Key yesterday and was forced to resign yesterday as a director of New Zealand Aviation

Now Phil Goff - he's the person who has replaced Helen Clark as the Labour Party leader for those who are unaware - has said that he would have stripped Worth of his portfolios had he been part of a Labour Government because of a conflict of interest. As Goff pointed out, the perception of a conflict of interest, as the cabinet manual says, is as important as reality.

It's a pity he didn't say that last year instead of defending Winston Peters' multiple breaches of the Cabinet Manual and voting against the report of the Privileges Committee on his indiscretions. Of course with regards to breaching the cabinet manual, Damien O'Connor comes to mind. Those with conflicts of interest have included Rick Barker, Taito Philip Field, Tariana Turia, and Shane Jones.

Key acts decisively, Clark leaves things to fester until she is in serious trouble. Then again, Labour no longer lives in a glasshouse so it can afford to throw stones.

Judge Keller's disclosures omit nearly $2 million in real estate, public records show

The presiding judge of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, while seeking state aid to defend herself against ethics charges, failed to abide by legal requirements that she disclose nearly $2 million in real estate holdings, according to an analysis of public records by The Dallas Morning News.

Sharon Keller has sought dismissal of the charges on grounds that it would be "financially ruinous" for her to pay private counsel to fight allegations brought by the state Commission on Judicial Conduct that she violated her duties in a death penalty appeal.

Keller, the state's highest criminal court judge, faces possible removal from office if a special master agrees that she blocked a condemned inmate's last-minute effort to stop his execution in 2007 by refusing to extend the court's 5 p.m. closing time to allow his lawyers to file their plea. The inmate, Michael Richard, was executed within hours.

Keller has denied any wrongdoing in the Richard case. She did not respond to several requests for comment on the property disclosures, made in 2 calls to her Austin office, as well as via her lawyer.

She has also argued that the charges violate her constitutional right to counsel because the state refuses to allow her current attorney, Chip Babcock, to represent her at taxpayer expense. Babcock has said he would represent Keller for almost nothing, but that he believes state ethics rules prohibit him from doing that. He said he asked the state Ethics Commission for a clarification in Keller's case, but the commission declined to give one.

Babcock, a partner in one of the largest law firms in Texas, said that the proceeding could cost Keller several hundred thousand dollars and that it could consume most if not all of her income and assets.

He said he based his prediction on the resources Keller listed on her latest personal financial report to the state and had not asked to see any other financial statements from his client, a member of a well-known Dallas family.

Sworn statement

The sworn statement Keller was required to file with the Texas Ethics Commission last April reflected income of more than $275,000, including her annual state salary of $152,500. It also showed that she owned at least 100 shares of airline stock, a home in Austin and one commercial
property in Dallas. County tax records valued the properties at about $1 million.

Keller's statement did not list her ownership interest in seven other residential and commercial properties in Dallas and Tarrant counties. Those properties are valued collectively by county appraisal districts at about $1.9 million.

Among Keller's unlisted properties are 2 homes valued together at just over $1 million in the family's compound across from the Dallas Arboretum. Keller is listed as sole owner under Sharon Batjer, her married name. She was divorced in 1982.

The other omissions include two Keller-owned properties valued at about $823,000: a vacant commercial site in Euless and an occupied commercial property next to Keller's Drive-In on East Northwest Highway, a landmark hamburger restaurant operated since 1965 by the judge's father, Jack. Also not disclosed are 3 properties valued at $114,000 and owned by Keller's 27-year-old son, a law student whom she claims as a dependent.

The Texas Government Code requires state officeholders to disclose "all beneficial interests in real property" held by the official, a spouse or any dependents. Failure to comply could subject the officeholder to civil and criminal penalties.

The Texas Ethics Commission does not routinely check the accuracy or completeness of financial disclosure reports, only that they have been filed, said Tim Sorrells, the commission's deputy general counsel.

The judge's assets

Keller's lawyer, Babcock, said he was not aware of the extent of her holdings until told about them by The News.

Babcock then acknowledged that Keller might be able to sell enough property to pay her legal bills. But he said the amount of Keller's assets should not alter their legal position that she should be allowed to benefit from reduced attorney's fees or be provided his legal services at state expense.

"The argument ought to be the same whether you came to the bench after having amassed substantial assets or you inherited it, or you don't have any assets," he said.

Keller's assets, including those she is not required to disclose to the state, could reveal that she is even wealthier.

Her 2008 statement to the ethics commission did not list about $3 million in real estate held by three family corporations or trusts, in which she has an interest. State law requires that officeholders list any corporations in which they are an officer or director. Keller did not do so for the three family-run entities, although she did acknowledge earning income of at least $25,000 from a trust in her father's name.

State law does not require asset disclosure if the officeholder does not have at least a 50 percent interest. Records do not show Keller's percentage holdings, and neither she nor her lawyer would comment on any details of The News' findings. Keller also did not list two properties worth about $796,000, owned by a family corporation in which her dependent son is an officer, as she is required by law to do.

Officeholders are also required to list outstanding debt over $1,000; Keller listed none on her latest report to the ethics commission.

Last year, Keller bought a residential property in Hunt County, valued on tax rolls at $251,000. She will not have to report that property until this year's filing.

'Extremely outrageous'

Andrew Wheat, research director of Texans for Public Justice, the Austin-based watchdog group that monitors officeholder finances, decried Keller's omissions as an "extremely outrageous" betrayal of the public trust.

"It leaves one speechless to see so much left out of her personal financial statements on the one hand and then on the other hand to see her making her claims that hiring a private attorney would be financially ruinous," he said.

While it is possible that some of the properties might be exempt from disclosure, Wheat said, the majority of omissions appear to fall within the law's requirements.

"Is this an insane amount of carelessness year after year, in which case should this person be our highest criminal judge?" he said. "Is it willful hiding of assets, in which case that person probably isn't fit to be our top criminal judge? I don't know."

The News compiled a list of properties owned solely by Keller, her son, Temple, or in partnership with her parents or siblings and compared them with the sworn financial statements she filed with the state ethics commission between 2005 and 2008.

Keller omitted the same seven properties in each of her sworn reports, the review showed.

Judges, like all other state officeholders, are required to disclose their personal finances to allow the public to know their backgrounds and spot conflicts of interest that may require them to be disqualified from participating in a particular case.

In 1999, Keller transferred her ownership of one commercial property near Keller's Drive-In to another family-run corporation after The Dallas Observer reported the judge was the landlord for a strip club that occupied her property. The property is now occupied by a pawn shop.

One of the commercial properties Keller did not disclose involves a lease to a gas drilling company. The 2nd property is leased to a rental car company. The family businesses in which she has an interest involve a bank in Arlington, a barbecue restaurant in Arlington and a medical clinic in Garland.

Chuck Herring, an Austin lawyer who specializes in legal ethics, said the ethics commission takes seriously the failure to comply with disclosure requirements.

"Sure, that's a problem," he said. "And it potentially can reflect upon the judge's performance of his or her duties and simply the openness of government that we require."

Source: Dallas Morning News, March 30, 2009

From Shakespeare With Love Released 1st April

Naxos Audio Books have kindly sent us the following info on David's latest audio book:
Imagine David Tennant wooing you with Shakespeare’s immortal lines of love in his seductive Scottish accent...
From Shakespeare – with love is a collection of Shakespeare’s finest sonnets which celebrates the 400th anniversary of their first publication in 1609. David Tennant, Anton Lesser and Juliet Stevenson are among the magnificent cast of actors who illuminate the emotional depth and the poetic ingenuity of this exquisite sonnet cycle.
• David Tennant performs Shakespeare again after his acclaimed performance as Hamlet in the recent RSC production.
• Released to coincide with the 400th anniversary of the first publication of the sonnets.
• A cast of leading actors perform fresh and exciting interpretations of the sonnets.

In China, a quiet push against executions

Nie Shubin (family picture)

Killed in 1994, Nie Shubin has become the face of a growing movement to ban the death penalty

BEIJING – Everyone knew Nie Shubin as a quiet young man, just 20 – gentle, shy, even introverted – the only son of Zhang Huanzhi and husband Nie Xuesheng.

He had a slight stutter when he spoke.

He was a welder at a factory near Shijiazhuang, an industrial town about a three-hour drive south of Beijing. And he owned a blue bicycle – which proved to be his undoing.

After a 38-year-old woman was raped and murdered in a local cornfield, children spoke of seeing a blue bike near the scene.

Police came for Nie, arrested him and beat him until he confessed.

He was convicted after a two-hour trial and executed in customary Chinese fashion: kneeling on the ground, with a single bullet to the back of the head fired at close range.

Nie Shubin's is an old case – the incident took place in 1994.

But what keeps the case current in Chinese legal circles is this: in 2005, another man confessed to the murder in painstaking and convincing detail. Police admitted they believed him.

But Nie's name has never been cleared.

His family grieves still.

Ask lawyers in China why there should be an end to the death penalty – here in a country that executed more people last year than all other countries in the world combined – and the first case they'll mention is Nie Shubin's.

In a society where government control over public information is supreme, the leaked details of Nie's case offer a rare glimpse into the miscarriage of justice in China.

Lawyers and legal scholars fear there may be many more like it. But verifiable information is hard to come by.

That's because the shroud of secrecy that prevails over the use of the death penalty in China is so thick that even the number of people who are executed each year is a state secret.

Amnesty International says a minimum of 1,718 people were executed in China last year.

But the San Francisco-based Dui Hua Foundation, run by business executive-turned-human-rights advocate John Kamm – who still maintains good relations with government officials – estimates the actual figure is even higher.

"We estimate that the number of executions in 2008 exceeded 5,000 and may have been as high as 7,000," he says.

Most, it is believed, still die as Nie did – by gunshot.

In previous decades, it was customary for the state to charge the family of the executed a "bullet fee," that is, the actual cost of the bullet, a practice now said to have ceased.

State officials announced in 1997 that lethal injection was being introduced as a "more humane" means of execution.

And in 2004, a criminal known as Zhang "Nine-Fingered Devil" Shiqiang, was among the first to die by lethal injection in one of China's newly minted mobile death vans.

Officials explained the vans were introduced to promote the greater use of injections as the vehicles could move efficiently through a province from one detention facility to the next, as needed.

But it's not efficiency that rights advocates, senior lawyers and legal scholars hope for. It's the abolition of the death penalty. Achieving it in China won't be easy.

The reasons to end to capital punishment are well known, says veteran Beijing lawyer Mo Shaoping.

"It's a barbaric practice. Once it's done, it can't be undone. And scientific research shows it has very little deterrent effect on the commission of lethal crimes."

But the obstacles to overturning it are huge.

"The idea of paying for a life with a life is just deeply rooted in the culture," says Mo. "Public opinion polls have shown that Chinese people don't support the idea of abolishing the death penalty."

Liu Renwen, a law professor at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, knows all about that.

In 2003, he gave an interview to a state-run magazine in which he raised the idea of abolishing the death penalty.

The online reaction from netizens was "fierce," "offensive" and "even abusive," he says. "More than 90 per cent opposed the idea."

He gave an interview to a different state-run publication last year.

"This time, the majority was still against it. But there were no personal attacks – and the tone wasn't as strong.

"What's more, deeper questions were raised, like whether the abolition of the death penalty might solve the problem of miscarriages of justice."

Other hopeful signs have emerged.

For nearly 25 years, beginning in 1982 when the Supreme People's Court granted lower courts the right to issue death penalties without review, China may have experienced executions on an almost industrial scale.

Some scholars estimate as many as 10,000 people may have been executed in some years.

But on Jan, 1, 2007, the court reasserted its right of review with immediate effect, overturning 15 per cent of all death sentences in that year, many for lack of evidence.

And something else: at the same time executions dropped, so did violent crimes.

"Fewer executions, but a drop in crime. What does this tell us?" Liu Renwen wrote in a scholarly paper. "That the death penalty does not safeguard social order ... that social order could still be maintained with fewer or even zero sentences."

So, if you build a set of persuasive arguments for the abolition of the death penalty, will it come?

Lawyer Mo thinks abolition of the death penalty in China will come, eventually.

But there are practical improvements that can be encouraged in the meantime, he says: that the government should be encouraged to end the secrecy and publish the numbers of those executed and that the array of offences for which a person can be put to death should be reduced from the current 68.

Liu Renwen hopes the day executions end comes during his lifetime.

"Changes are taking place in Chinese people's minds. I think they tend to be more respectful of human life."

In China, 68 crimes can carry the death penalty, including murder, rape and the kidnapping of women and children. "Plotting to jeopardize the sovereignty, territorial integrity and security of the country," can also carry the death penalty. But there are many non-violent crimes on the list, too. These include:
• Breaching dikes
• Looting graves
• Running a house of prostitution
• Sabotaging electrical power
• Smuggling cultural relics
• Taking bribes
• Fraudulent fundraising
• Counterfeiting money
• Credit card fraud
• Smuggling rare plants


Source: The 1997 Criminal Code of the People's Republic of China

Source: The Star, March 29, 2009

Pope might back Jindal on death penalty

New Mexico's Roman Catholic governor last week signed legislation that abolished the death penalty after discussing the issue with a Roman Catholic archbishop.

In Maryland, Gov. Martin O'Malley also a Catholic marched against capital punishment in a failed attempt earlier this month to eliminate executions in his state.

Gov. Bobby Jindal, who converted to Catholicism as a young man, said that despite efforts in other states to abolish capital punishment, he has no qualms about the death penalty, which is law in Louisiana. He wants to extend capital punishment to perpetrators who rape young children.

The issue of religion surfaced recently in an interview with Jindal after some church officials urged several other Catholic governors to support abolition of the death penalty in their states.

Jindal said the Catholic Church deems the death penalty to be permissible.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops disagrees with Jindal. But Pope Benedict may be in his corner.

"The catechism opposes the death penalty. The catechism is pretty clear," said Kathy Saile, director of domestic social development for the Washington, D.C.,-based bishops conference, referring to the handbook of Catholic principles.

The conference's fact sheet titled "What Every Catholic Should Know About the Death Penalty" states that Catholics should comfort victims' families while acknowledging "the God-given dignity of every human life, even those who do great harm."

15 states prohibit the death penalty.

Saile concedes that the conference has not taken a position on whether Catholic politicians such as Jindal should be denied Communion for supporting capital punishment.

Some Catholic politicians who call themselves abortion-rights advocates have faced that.

Former Gov. Kathleen Blanco, a Catholic, declined to discuss whether she wrestled with the issue of possibly having to sign a death warrant. No one was executed while she was governor.

Pope Benedict's predecessor, Pope John Paul II, was on record as opposing capital punishment.

In 1999, Pope John Paul II made an appeal "for a consensus to end the death penalty, which is both cruel and unnecessary." A year earlier, the pope urged then-Texas Gov. George W. Bush to grant clemency to Karla Faye Tucker, an alleged pickaxe murderer who found religion behind bars. Bush refused the request.

Shortly before becoming Pope Benedict, Cardinal Ratzinger weighed in on one of the most important issues to a Catholic: the receiving of Holy Communion.

Communion can be denied to those considered unworthy.

Ratzinger concluded in a letter that capital punishment and warfare do not carry the same moral weight as abortion and euthanasia and that there may be "a legitimate diversity of opinion among Catholics" on the death penalty and war but not on the latter 2 issues.

Saile said she is not aware of the former cardinal speaking about the death penalty since becoming pope.

Across the United States, at least 13 governors are Catholic. Only one of those governors, New Mexico's Bill Richardson, is in a state that does not permit executions.

Colorado's Bill Vitter, a practicing Catholic, said before becoming governor that he would not impose his personal beliefs on public policy.

"No doubt, there will be times when my decisions on some issues may be at odds with the orthodoxy of the Catholic Church," he said in an interview.

Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center in Washington, D.C., said Pope John Paul II forced Catholic officials in the U.S. to take a stance on capital punishment.

There was a time when being a Catholic governor would not raise any questions on the death penalty, Dieter said in an interview. "Today, that is no longer true."

However, Dieter said, church officials, including the current pope, do not seem to be giving the death penalty the same focus it had 10 years ago.

"I believe the opposition is still there, but it is not as pronounced or public as it was," Dieter said. "This probably eases the pressure on Catholic officials who represent a broad diversity of constituents on this issue."

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops keeps a tally of the number of Catholics in each state. Among the top 5 states with the largest percentage of Catholics, only Connecticut allows executions. New Jersey, where 41 % are Catholic, repealed the death penalty 2 years ago. Connecticut has executed 1 person since 1976.

"For the longest time, we were a state that only had the death penalty in name," said Ben Jones, executive director of Connecticut Network to Abolish the Death Penalty.

That changed, Jones said, after Michael Ross admitted raping and killing 8 women. Ross refused to fight his execution, and Connecticut put him to death in 2005.

His death marked the 1st execution in New England in 45 years.

As Ross' execution approached, Catholic church leaders in Connecticut spoke out against the death penalty. They directed an anti-death penalty stance to be explained to parishioners at Mass.

Connecticut Bishop William Lori told National Catholic Reporter in 2005 that the death penalty "offers the tragic illusion that we can defend life by taking life."

Earlier this year, Catholic officials urged Richardson to support legislation repealing the death penalty in New Mexico and hailed him when he signed the bill into law on March 18.

News reports claimed that talks with Archbishop of Santa Fe Michael Sheehan helped sway Richardson, who previously was opposed to abolishing the death penalty.

However, Richardson made clear last week that it was the possibility of executing an innocent person that weighed heaviest on his conscience.

"In a society which values individual life and liberty above all else, where justice and not vengeance is the singular guiding principle of our system of criminal law, the potential for wrongful conviction and, God forbid, execution of an innocent person stands as anathema to our very sensibilities as human beings," he said.

Source: The Advocate, March 30, 2009

Writing evidence-based reports without evidence

The Government has warned small employers not to abuse a law which allows them to abuse employ new employees on a 90-day trial.

Labour Minister Kate Wilkinson said the Government will monitor how employers use the new law. Perhaps they’ll monitor it a bit like they monitored the smacking law and the prostitution law. Just like they say that there are less prostitutes on the streets and the smacking law is "working well" they’ll say that nobody has been fired under this law – with absolutely no evidence at all.

That’s because the word "monitor" is a bit like "consultation". Just as you arrange consultation to ensure all reasons staff bring up about why they should not lose their jobs are formally ignored, you monitor a law so you can do a report saying that there is no evidence of anything untoward happening after making sure no evidence is collected.

Whanganui it may be

Whancy that. Wanganui may have a name change to Whanganui. Whortunately, some people will consider this is whantastic news whor sure, particularly the local iwi. Fat is going on? I really don’t know fy they didnt whink of it earlier.

Fill they change Feilding's name to Wheilding anytime soon?

Gutted

I'm gutted that I had to amend a post on this blog due to new information that came to light. Thanks recession. Thanks too, Graeme. Will be looking at alternative options.

Former Florida Warden Haunted by Botched Execution

During my tenure as Warden at Florida State Prison it was my duty to oversee the executions of three men: John Earl Bush, John Mills Jr. and Pedro Medina. Remembering every gruesome detail of their deaths is haunting.

The flames that consumed Pedro Medina's head when the execution went seriously awry, the smoke, the putrid odor, and his death by inferno is deeply embedded in my brain.The memory of telling the executioner to continue with the killing, despite the malfunctioning electric chair, and being at a point of no-return, plagues me still.

When I became warden I learned that it was tradition for the "death team" to go out for breakfast the morning after an execution. On the early morning after John Bush's execution the 'traditional breakfast' was held 15 miles south of the death chamber at a Shoney's in Starke, Florida. This was my first execution and I felt that tradition was important and moreover, the well being of the 'team' was my responsibility. In this small town of 5,000 most everyone works at the prison, is retired from the prison or has a family member in the business. Everyone in the restaurant knew who we were and what we had just done... there were even a few 'high five signs.' While stirring my scrambbled eggs into hot grits, I began to realize the full import of the spectacle around us. Looking across the room, I could see the female attorney who had represented Bush. I saw my own sickness on her sad face and decided that breakfast after executions just didn't fit. It was my first and my last traditional death breakfast. It simply appeared celebratory from too many angles.

Minutes before an execution it's the warden's responsibility to sit with the prisoner and read the death warrant aloud after explaining that it is a state law requirement. I asked the condemned men if there was anything that could be done for them or if there was anyone I could call or if they had something very personal and confidential they'd like me to pass on...following of course, their imminent death. While I shall never share any of the words passed to me during those quiet moments it can be said that the whispers were sincere and promises were kept.

Searching my soul for answers that would satisfy the question on just why were we killing people and why our governor and politicians would do their 'chest pounding' over these ghastly spectacles was difficult. I began to remember myself as the person who went to Florida State Prison with a firm belief in the death penalty. And even though I still professed this belief, the questions of why we were doing this and if it were necessary, would not leave my mind. While appalled by the physical act of tying a person to a chair and burning him to death, I did not deny the reasons for the act.

Here I want to say that one must be careful in searching his soul…one may just find that God is there and that He does not support the barbaric idea that man should execute man.

During the renewal of my faith and my conversion to the Catholic Church, I was asked to speak out about my feelings on the death penalty.

After twenty-three years in Corrections, I have come to the conclusion that killing people is wrong. We have no business doing it, except in self-defense, in defense of someone else or in defense of the nation. And it's wrong for us to ask others do it for us. Looking back I wish I had never been involved in carrying out the death penalty. We have an alternative that doesn't lower us to the level of the killer: permanent imprisonment. It is cheaper, keeps society safe and offers swift justice to the victims.

I have found that my experience and notoriety as a warden who carried out executions provides a good platform to reach the public. I say to the many groups I've spoken to in the past few years that I'll 'tell my story to anyone who'll stand in front of me long enough to hear it.'


Ron McAndrew (pictured) is a 22-year veteran with the Florida Department of Corrections. He also served as Director of the Orange County Jail in Florida for one year. For the last three years he has worked as a prison and jail consultant, and as an expert witness He is a member of Saint John the Baptist Catholic Community in Dunnellon, Florida. To learn more about McAndrew's journey, visit: www.RonMcAndrew.com

Source: Death Penalty Focus, March 28, 2009

Press Release - Latest News from the Valley of the Kings | drhawass.com - Zahi Hawass

Press Release - Latest News from the Valley of the Kings | drhawass.com - Zahi Hawass
A comprehensive update on all the work in the Valley todate, really worth looking at

TVNZ upholds complaint

On 1 March, One News reported on the new employment legislation that came into effect, commonly known as the “ hire and fire law”. The report stated that bosses can sack employees after a 90 day probation period.

Given that they can’t do that, this was inaccurate. Under this law, they can only fire within the probation period. In addition there was no mention in the report that the legislation only extends to employers with 20 employees or less. As accuracy is pretty important in journalism, I complained to TVNZ. It’s the first complaint I have ever done on broadcasting standards but accuracy is more important to me than even balance or fairness. The complaint was assessed on both balance and accuracy and I was sure it would be upheld, at least in part.

And it was. Although appropriate viewpoints were canvassed in the story – meaning it was balanced - it was inaccurate. I even got an apology. "We apologise to you and your family for any distress caused by the error."

It is a pity, though, that TVNZ didn’t even mention that I brought up the lack of a mention that the legislation is restricted to employers with 20 or fewer employees. They ignored that. I thought that was a relevant omission, as viewers may have assumed from that story that it extends to all employers. That could be seen to be misleading, contravening 5b of the guidelines on accuracy. Obviously, to TVNZ, omitting an important fact is not such a big deal as broadcasting something that is factually incorrect. But you would have at least thought TVNZ would have said something about that omission, perhaps that they do not think it the omission was relevant to the standards addressed. Particularly as it was a significant part of my letter.

But to ignore it....

Who thinks I should go to the Broadcasting Standards Authority?

Local news in more places

Posted by Hicham Alaoui, Associate Product Marketing Manager



Last year we announced the launch of local news in the U.S., and this week we launched this feature of Google News to users in the UK, India, and Canada.



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