GI News—October 2010

• 'Cruise instead of spike and crash' with low GI foods says Olympic swimming champion Ian Thorpe
• ‘Wholegrain’ hype: is it time to redefine ‘true’ whole grain foods? Prof Jennie Brand-Miller opens the debate
• Focus on food not nutrients – Dr David Ludwig challenges ‘dietary guidelines’ orthodoxy
• The scoop on desserts with Emma Stirling
• Renaming HFCS as corn sugar. Dr Alan Barclay investigates
• 8 new GI values from the US
  

It’s Good Food Month here in Sydney, so it seems timely to think about enjoying good low GI food for real satisfaction and good health. To show you what we mean and give your tastebuds a treat, we are sharing a recipe from Bistro Moncur chef Damien Pignolet’s new book, Salades. In his introduction Damien gently reminds us that the role of salads in the French kitchen is quite different from the bowl of green leaves that ‘tends to pass for a salad in Australian and British cooking’. Try his ‘Rustic Salad of chickpeas, prosciutto & preserved artichoke and garlic and anchovy vinaigrette’ in this issue and I think you will agree c’ést delicieux. And low GI too!

Good eating, good health and good reading.

Editor: Philippa Sandall
Web management and design: Alan Barclay, PhD

Food for Thought

Redefining wholegrains

According to market research organization Mintel, 2010 is set to be the biggest year ever for wholegrain product launches with 651 wholegrain products launched in the US. We asked Prof Jennie Brand-Miller if it was time to take a closer look at the definition of ‘wholegrains’ for product labelling.





Prof Jennie Brand-Miller



‘Consume more wholegrains is enshrined in dietary guidelines around the globe and has become something of a mantra by doctors, dietitians and nutritionists. But does the science stack up to scrutiny? When you see ‘wholegrains’ (or ‘whole grains’ ) on front of pack, do you assume it’s the real McCoy? Has it got everything that the original whole grain had - all the micronutrients and characteristics that make whole grains into health foods? Well, I think we are being hoodwinked. Wholegrain products might have started with the germ, the endosperm and the bran of the grain, but in many cases, the finished product has been cooked, flaked, toasted, puffed and popped beyond recognition. It’s a long, long way from the grain that came in nature’s packaging.







It’s true that many scientific studies have found that consuming more wholegrains (brown bread, brown rice, brown pasta etc) is associated with lower risk of cardiovascular disease. For example, the Nurses’ Health Study reported that women who ate the most (an average of 2.5 servings a day) wholegrains – generally wholegrain breakfast cereals, brown rice and wholewheat bread – were 30% less likely to develop heart disease than women eating merely a single serving of these foods a week.



Unfortunately, studies like this don’t prove that wholegrains are responsible for the good health outcomes. It’s highly likely that people who choose to eat wholegrain foods are unique human beings and health conscious in all sorts of ways. They don’t smoke, they try to be physically active, they eat less red meat and more fruit and vegetables. Of course, good studies will statistically “adjust” for these confounders, as they are called. But I have a niggling feeling that not all the confounders may have been accounted for. Perhaps the person who chooses brown rice over white rice looks after their health in ways that are not yet recorded by researchers eg they eat more slowly, they breathe deeply and they get less stressed.



There are clinical trials in which wholegrains were consumed as one component of a healthy eating pattern (less saturated fat and salt, more fruit, vegies and fibre) but we can’t conclude that the presence of wholegrains were essential for the good outcome. I mention this because there are very few clinical trials that have directly compared a “brown” diet with a “white” diet that was otherwise identical. In the largest clinical trial of its sort to date, UK researchers, found that when they provided 316 overweight men and women with a range of wholegrain foods and asked them to substitute them “like for like” for refined grain foods in their typical diet over a 16 week period, there was not even a hint of difference in heart risk (cholesterol, triglycerides, insulin sensitivity and a range of common inflammatory markers) between those who substituted wholegrain foods into their diet, and those who didn’t (the control group). Rather than substitute wholegrains for refined grains, the people actually ate the wholegrains as well as the refined grains, and the authors postulated that this may be the way that the average person interprets dietary guidelines that simply advise people to eat more wholegrains (and not cut back on refined grains). This study should have sounded a note of caution about health claims for wholegrain-rich foods and cardiovascular health ... but it hasn’t.



Most recently, an editorial in a scientific journal extolled the virtues of a wholegrains and the dangers of refined grains. Yet the editorial was actually prompted by a new study that found that replacing saturated fat with carbohydrates with high-glycemic index (GI) values was associated with increased future risk of myocardial infarction in a cohort of Danish men and women. In contrast, replacing saturated fat with carbohydrates with low GI values appeared to be protective.



The editorialist, however, equated high GI carbohydrates with refined carbohydrates and sugar. Unfortunately, this is unscientific, wishful thinking. The reality is that for most cereal products today, both the “white” version and the “brown” version have a high GI. Nor is it correct to imply that low GI carbohydrates are less processed and refined. Nearly all kinds of white pasta have a low GI, as do some varieties of white rice, canned legumes, fruit juices, dairy products (sweetened or otherwise), and many confectionery items containing refined sugars. Thus many low GI foods are “processed” products. Nonetheless, low GI and low glycemic load diets have been associated with good health outcomes in scores of observational studies and clinical trials. What’s more, the “health bias” that accompanies diet rich in wholegrain foods is absent because the GI is still a term that means little to many.



For all these reasons, I’d like to suggest that we re-define wholegrains as “foods that not only contain the germ, the endosperm and the bran, but also the GI characteristics of the original grain”. At least then, we might see some real benefits of eating wholegrains.’

News Briefs

Back to the future with dietary guidelines

The dietary guidelines for Americans should focus on whole foods and eating patterns rather than individual nutrients, argue Dr Dariush Mozaffarian and Dr David Ludwig in the Journal of the American Medical Association pointing out that this is not a radical approach at all, but a return to more traditional, time-tested ways of eating.





Dr David Ludwig



‘The greater the focus on nutrients, the less healthful foods have become,’ they write. ‘The prevailing nutrient-focused approach … contributes to confusion, distracts from more effective strategies, and promotes marketing and consumption of processed products that nominally meet selected nutrient cut points but undermine overall dietary quality.’ Little of the information found on food label “nutrition facts” panels provides useful guidance for selecting healthier foods to prevent chronic disease they say.



‘In contrast … specific foods and dietary patterns substantially affect chronic disease risk, as shown by controlled trials of risk factors and prospective cohorts of disease end points. Fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and nuts are consistently associated with lower risk of disease. Fish consumption reduces risk of cardiac mortality, belying categorization with other protein sources. Conversely, processed meats, packaged and fast foods, and sugar sweetened beverages increase chronic disease risk …



Healthy eating patterns share many characteristics, emphasizing whole or minimally processed foods and vegetable oils, with few highly processed foods or sugary beverages. Such diets are also naturally lower in salt, trans fat, saturated fat, refined carbohydrates, and added sugars; are higher in unsaturated fats, fiber, antioxidants, minerals, and phytochemicals; and are more satiating. Thus, a focus on foods increases the likelihood of consuming more healthy nutrients and fewer calories and decreasing chronic disease risk, whereas the opposite has arguably occurred through decades of nutrient-focused guidelines.’



Make your healthy eating pattern low GI and ‘cruise instead of spike and crash’ says Olympic swimming champion Ian Thorpe

The new GI Symbol is now appearing in its very first TV commercial thanks very much to Ian Thorpe who generously donated his time and efforts to help the GI Foundation get the word out about a healthy low GI diet. The commercial provides a brief explanation of the GI, along with a showcase of high and low GI foods. View it HERE.







For our readers who live in the US or UK where the GI Symbol has yet to appear on foods, check out our tips on choosing foods that will lower the GI of your diet HERE.



Walk to Cure Diabetes on 17th October

Walk to Cure Diabetes is JDRF’s biggest and most popular event. It unites tens of thousands of people in raising money for research and gives family and friends the chance to get involved. Please join in and make a difference on October 17th all around Australia.



It’s a good year to step out because 2010 marks the 40th year of JDRF’s existence (it was founded in the US in 1970), the first few as a small but passionate collection of parents under the banner of the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation, who remarkably pushed the scientific community to focus on a disease that had been ignored for more than half a century. Today, JDRF is a global leader in diabetes research, the go-to organization for the diabetes research community, and the best source of hope for better treatments and a cure for people with type 1 diabetes and its complications.



JDRF’s mission has been constant since it was founded: to find a cure for type 1 diabetes and its complications by supporting research. Until a cure is found, JDRF is also committed to working tirelessly to develop new and better treatments to improve the lives of people who have type 1 diabetes and keep them as healthy as possible. Internationally, JDRF has been involved in funding every major type 1 diabetes breakthrough of the last four decades including:

• Islet transplantation
• Beta cell regeneration
• Preventative vaccine development
• Reduction of complications.

Type 1 diabetes is for life. It's an autoimmune disease and is one of the most common childhood diseases. Rates are increasing around the world and no one is quite sure why. About 10% of people with diabetes have type 1 in which the pancreas stops producing insulin and they have to take multiple injections daily or continuous insulin through a pump just to survive. Maintaining a balanced blood glucose level requires regulating food intake, insulin dose and exercise. For more information and to register to Walk to Cure Diabetes:

Australia

Canada

UK

USA

Get the Scoop on Nutrition with Emma Stirling

The scoop on desserts


Emma Stirling APD

As well as nourishing the body, good food plays a pivotal role in our enjoyment and celebration of life. Last month Hershey’s chocolate company launched a partnership with the American Dietitian’s Association – Moderation Nation. It’s designed to give American’s access to a free, first consult with a dietitian. But it has opened plenty of debate, including the interpretation of what the word ‘moderation’ means with healthy eating.

Indulgence is the word more often found partnering desserts, not moderation. So where do sweet treats fit in a low GI diet if you want to keep a healthy weight and manage blood glucose levels?

First of all, you are more likely to stick to your dietary goals or eating plan if you include an occasional treat rather than deprive yourself. In fact, finishing your meal with something sweet can help signal the brain’s satiety/satisfaction appetite centre and stop you hunting around the kitchen for a little something extra.

Secondly, moderation is easy if you share an indulgent dessert, use a smaller bowl or make just enough so there’s no temptation for seconds or thirds.



Most importantly desserts can be delicious way to lower the GI of your diet and up your intake of fruit and low-fat dairy foods all in one go. So, here’s the scoop on what to do:

• Base your desserts around low GI orchard fruits like apples, pears, peaches and plums. Try poached pears in cranberry juice with a dollop of low fat vanilla yogurt.
• Use low GI dairy foods like yogurt or fromage frais in parfaits, meringues or trifles.
• Make a crumble topping with traditional rolled oats or natural muesli.
• Add lime and lemon juice to desserts. Acids in food slow down stomach emptying and the rate at which carbohydrates can be digested, in turn lowering the GI.
• Try a creamy rice pudding made with a low GI rice like basmati or Doongara Clever Rice.
  

For sweet inspiration check out some of Johanna Burani’s recipes in GI News like Baked spiced pears with zabaglione sauce

The trick with fitting in desserts and keeping a healthy weight, is to base the majority of your meals around foods low in energy density and leaving room for that sweet finish.

Emma Stirling is an Accredited Practising Dietitian and health writer with over ten years experience writing for major publications. She is editor of The Scoop on Nutrition – a blog by expert dietitians. Check it out or subscribe for hot news bites and a healthy serve of what’s in flavour.

In the GI News Kitchen

American dietitian and author of Good Carbs, Bad Carbs, Johanna Burani, shares favourite recipes with a low or moderate GI from her Italian kitchen. For more information, check out Johanna's website. The photographs are by Sergio Burani. His food, travel and wine photography website is photosbysergio.com.

Zucchine carbonara-lite spaghetti

The traditional carbonara recipe contains a whole raw egg and bacon, among other scrumptious ingredients. This is my vegetarian version that also eliminates even a minimal fear of salmonella by using a pasteurized egg white product instead of a raw egg. My dinner guests, even those seated around my table in Friuli, don’t seem to mind at all. As with all of my recipes, you’re your own additions and subtractions as desired. In fact, I was thinking about trying this recipe next time with a chopped toasted pinoli topping. Serves 4 (about 2 cups each)



6 long, thin zucchine (about 1¼lb/500g)

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

sea salt & freshly ground pepper, to taste

2 heaping tablespoons flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped (about 10 sprigs)

¼ cup egg substitute or 1 egg

3 heaping tablespoons grated cheese (pecorino or parmigiano)

1 tablespoon fat free milk

220g/8oz spaghetti, uncooked







Wash the zucchine, trim ends, and dice.

Cover the bottom of a large non-stick frying pan with vegetable spray. Heat the pan and then add the zucchine and garlic. Drizzle the olive oil over the mixture and stir through. Add salt and pepper to taste. Cover the pan and cook over medium-high heat for 12 minutes, or until the zucchine are tender and golden. Stir frequently to allow for even cooking. Remove pan from heat and stir in the parsley. Set aside.

Combine the egg or egg substitute, cheese, milk and some pepper in a small mixing bowl. Mix well with a fork and set aside.

Cook the spaghetti according to package directions, making sure the pasta is al dente and not overcooked. Drain the pasta and return it to the pot. Quickly stir in the cheese mixture and then the zucchine. Serve immediately with grated cheese on the side.

Per serving

Energy: 1201kJ/ 286 cals; Protein 13g; Fat 8g (includes 1g saturated fat and less than 1mg cholesterol); Available carbs 43g; Fibre 4g

In his new book, Salades, chef Damien Pignolet opens our minds to the vast possibilities within the genre. So give your taste buds a treat. Delectable chapters cover composed, classic, main course, warm and winter salads, salads on the side, salads for special occasions and sweet salads like ‘Papaya, blood orange and strawberry’ to finish a meal. The entrée salad we have chosen could precede any simple main course or make a deliciously simple meal on its own when you just want something light. Serves 4–6



Rustic salad of chick peas, prosciutto & preserved artichoke with garlic and anchovy vinaigrette

450g (1lb) cooked dried or tinned chick peas

200g (7oz) baby spinach washed and spin dried

2 handfuls finely shredded radicchio

12 grilled preserved artichokes, drained and quartered

1 head fennel, top and bottom trimmed, finely shaved

4 thin slices prosciutto each cut into 3

½ clove garlic, any green shoot removed, finely chopped

3 anchovy fillets, drained and cut into small pieces

100ml (3 ½ fl oz) extra virgin olive oil’

20ml aged red wine vinegar

Freshly ground black pepper

A pinch salt (optional)

2–3 tbsp shredded flat-leaf parsley







Place the chickpeas, spinach, radicchio, artichokes, fennel and prosciutto in a suitably sized bowl.

Lightly mix the garlic, anchovy, olive oil, vinegar and pepper in a small bowl and taste for saltiness adjusting as required (bearing in mind the saltiness of the anchovy and prosciutto). Add the parsley and pour over the salad, then toss and serve.

Cheese please Roberta Muir has just written a cheese compendium 500 Cheeses (Quintet Publishing 2010). The fact that there can even be a book called 500 Cheeses is testament to the incredible diversity of these beloved fermented milk products, produced virtually worldwide from the milk of almost every domesticated herbivore, including horses, camels, and reindeer. From simple cottage cheeses once produced in every home, through artisanal cheeses, to some of the world’s most loved mass-produced products, Roberta has it covered. A trained cheese judge and manager of the Sydney Seafood School, Roberta will be sharing some of her favourite cheese recipes with GI News readers over the coming months.

Cottage cheese makes the perfect topping

‘A simple way of preserving milk is to curdle it with lemon juice, vinegar or soured milk, and then to drain away the resulting curds,’ writes Roberta. ‘In cottages all over Europe, a cow was traditionally kept to provide milk and butter for the family; thus simple ‘cottage’ cheese made from excess milk was among the earliest cheeses. Traditionally made from skimmed milk, the cream having been used for butter, it became a healthy, high protein, low calorie food.’



As for toppings, Roberta recommends piling cottage cheese on toast, crackers, flatbread, lavosh or oatcakes with salad, seafood, chicken or meat as a quick, high-protein, low-calorie snack. Pictured here is cottage cheese piled on oatcakes and topped with slivers of cold-smoked salmon and garnished with a good grind of black pepper. This makes a lovely light meal, too.





Connage Crowdie cottage cheese was voted Best Cheese in Scotland at the 2008 British Cheese Awards.



500 Cheeses is available from good bookshops and online from Amazon (UK and USA) or from New Holland in Australia.

Busting Food Myths with Nicole Senior

Myth: There are bad foods that should not be eaten at all


Nicole Senior

Fact: There are no bad foods. It’s all about how often you eat them and whether you get enough of the good foods
The idea that ‘there are no such things as bad foods, only bad diets’ was once embraced by dietitians, nutritionists and the public alike, but more recently has lost its groove. I’d like to see the sentiment get its groove back. The language and rhetoric around food has taken on a good vs bad dichotomy that I don’t think is healthy. Viewing some foods as inherently bad does not reflect good science or good sense, and is highly subjective. It also ignores the richness and diversity of eating experiences that enrich our lives as well as the powerful emotional connections we have with food. Consider the Christmas feast, or the breaking of the Ramadan fast, or even a slice of birthday cake. Do we really want to live in a world without any cake? Is life really worth living without any chocolate? Could we really dispense with the convenience of fast food in our busy lives?

One guy who has really ‘walked the walk’ about all foods having a place is Kansas State University Professor Mark Haub. In the tradition of Morgan Spurlock in Supersize me, Haub went on a 30-day junk food diet of sweetened breakfast cereal, hot dogs, cake, muffins and cookies. He conceded to a serve of vegetables and some milk at dinner to cover his needs for protein and vitamins. His saving grace– and the stark difference between his and Spurlock’s experience – was he limited his energy intake to 1800 calories (7560kJ) a day. Spurlock deliberately overate. Haub’s dietary experiment ended on September 25. He actually lost weight. The message in this story is not to promote an all-junk-food-diet but to prove a point; it’s how much food you eat that matters for weight control. There is no need to banish these ‘fun’ foods, but simply enjoy them in appropriate amounts.

I think the fall from grace of ‘there’s no such things as bad foods, only bad diets’ started when the food industry started using it as a catch-cry to justify their production of less healthy ‘sometimes’ foods. In an obesity epidemic of multiple causes, there is a strong urge to lay the blame somewhere and fun foods are an easy target.

While I believe wholeheartedly that ‘sometimes foods’ have a place in a healthy diet, I do think our food supply is ‘top heavy’ in less-healthy foods at the top of the healthy eating pyramid. However, changing this situation is not helped by casting stones of food hatred from afar. Real change is achieved by engagement, understanding and collaboration. After all, the food industry is just giving us what we want. Unfortunately we like to eat fat, salt and sugar and we don’t want to pay the true cost of food. So we got cheap, less healthy food and both our health and the planet are paying a very high price. Our food supply is up to US as well as THEM.

The solution to a healthier food supply and healthier people is not demonising food – after all it’s just food. Foods are like friends, some are great friends to see often and others are friends we see on occasion. They all have their place and are all good to have. A bit of food diplomacy may be just the thing we need to work towards a new world food order where the great foods have a greater say, and the occasional foods take a back seat.

Nicole Senior MSc (Nut&Diet) BSc (Nut) is an Accredited Practising Dietitian and Nutritionist and author of Eat to Beat Cholesterol and Heart Food . Check out her website HERE.

GI Symbol News with Dr Alan Barclay

Dr Alan Barclay



Sweet truths?

Amidst a rash of ‘natural’ ‘cane sugar’ and ‘beet sugar’ claims on foods labels across the US, producers of high fructose corn syrups (HFCS) – one of the top of the pops candidates for the cause of the obesity epidemic in the US (according to various nutrition nannies) has decided it’s time to take action and join the label lingo game. To make their product more competitive with other sugars sold in the US, they are applying to the Food and Drug Administration to rename HFCS as ‘corn sugar’. They argue that HCFS products are not actually that high in fructose (typically 55%) – they are just higher than regular corn syrup (which is primarily glucose). And they are in fact just a ‘corn sugar’.



How does HFCS compare with sucrose (ie regular cane or beet sugar)? Well sucrose is composed of 50% fructose and 50% glucose. So on the face of it there’s not a huge difference there and that’s why some scientists maintain that sucrose and HCFS are nutritionally equivalent. You can read an interesting summary here.



What about GI? We know that the average GI for cane sugar is moderate (GI 65). As far as we know, no HFCS manufacturer has put their product to the test – certainly no data have been published. In theory the slightly higher fructose content of HFCS 55 might lead to a slightly lower glycemic impact than that of sucrose (regular cane or beet sugar). However, this may be offset by the fact that the glucose and fructose in it is “free” rather than bound together as is the case with the disaccharide sucrose. Sucrose has to be cleaved by the digestive enzyme sucrase before the individual sugars (fructose and glucose) are absorbed. On balance, it is likely that cane sugar sucrose and HCFS 55 have similar GI values.



What about being ‘nutritionally equivalent? Well, unlike ‘corn sugar’, some cane sugar products like brown sugar and raw sugar do contain small amounts of micronutrients including potassium, calcium and magnesium. As does Logicane (GI 50), the world’s first low GI sugar which retains most of the nutrients from the sugar cane, like minerals and antioxidant polyphenols, because of the innovative manufacturing process whereby raw cane sugar is sprayed with a molasses extract, a natural by-product of sugar cane manufacture.



Does this mean you can have more. Not at all. When it comes to calories (and dental caries) the rules haven’t changed. If you want a little sweetness in your life, keep it moderate whether it’s cane sugar, beet sugar or corn sugar (or honey or agave syrup etc for that matter too). 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.



If you want to know more about Logicane (currently available in Australia and NZ), drop me an email: alan@gisymbol.com







For more information about the GI Symbol Program

Dr Alan W Barclay, PhD

Chief Scientific Officer

Glycemic Index Foundation (Ltd)

Phone: +61 (0)2 9785 1037

Mob: +61 (0)416 111 046

Fax: +61 (0)2 9785 1037

Email: alan@gisymbol.com

Website: www.gisymbol.com

GI Update

GI Q&A with Prof Jennie Brand-Miller







Gary now wears pants that are three sizes smaller and his wife is thrilled that he doesn’t snore anymore!

I am always delighted when people take the time to share their GI success stories with me. As I so often say when I reply to them: it really makes my day. Choosing low GI carbs, the ones that produce only small fluctuations in your blood glucose and insulin levels, can help you feel fuller for longer and increase your energy levels, making weight loss achievable and sustainable. This month in GI Update, I am sharing Gary’s story sent to me by my US colleague dietitian Johanna Burani RD. Here’s how Johanna tells it:



‘Gary is a 58-year old hard working property manager, responsible for running large pieces of real estate throughout the US, in cities like New York, Miami, Dallas and Boston, writes Johanna. ‘His racing-the-clock, arduous, commuter lifestyle hasn’t enabled him to find the time or energy to address his poorly controlled diabetes (A1C 8.4), his hypertension (BP 160/100) and, least of all, the extra weight he has been carrying around for too many years. In fact, he is convinced that his long workweek has been a consistent contributor to his stress and declining health.



At the gentle prodding of his concerned wife, Gary looked for a way to improve his health by changing his diet without changing his hectic lifestyle. Through his endocrinologist’s office, he made an appointment with me to help him plan out well- balanced meals that included some low GI carb choices. He quickly realized that by including some ‘trickler’ (low GI) carbs in all of his meals, he could feel as full as when he loaded up on high protein foods and avoided carbs. He made sure to include a low GI snack, like cocoa powdered almonds on his bus ride home after work to stave off hunger before dinner. And he surprised himself at how much he actually enjoyed fresh vegetables and fruits with his meals.



In just three months, Gary now says he feels ‘born again’. He says: “Before, I hated myself and just wanted to feel better. Now, I feel 20 years younger. This is the easiest diet I’ve ever been on in my life. I can take it with me wherever I need to go. And best of all, I’m never hungry.”



At his last doctor’s visit, Gary had lost 32lb, his basal insulin dose was decreased by more than 60%, his A1C dropped 2.4% to 6.0. He now wears pants that are three sizes smaller and his wife is thrilled that he doesn’t snore anymore. “Eating this way has given me my life back. I can’t believe how good I feel and how happy I am.”’



New GI values from GI Labs in Toronto

Beanitos®: crunchy low GI chips made from whole beans instead of potatoes, wheat, soy or corn

Bean Brand Foods® has developed a 100% Always Corn-Free™, crunchy, bean chip which is available nationwide throughout the US and Canada. Beanitos is a viable alternative to potato, corn, soy or wheat-based snack products and the lab-tested chips are certified gluten free. They also have a low GI and they won’t give you gas. A serving of 10 chips (1oz/30g) provides 4g protein and 10g available (or net) carbs. They are a very good source of fiber (5g per serving), so to quote the manufacturer (we think tongue in cheek): ‘don't eat a whole bag full of Beanitos the first time you switch.’ (There are 6 servings per packet.)

• Beanitos Black Bean Chips – GI 33
• Beanitos Pinto Bean & Flax (linseed) Chips – GI 44
• Beanitos Black Bean Chipotle BBQ Chips – GI 42
• Beanitos Pinto Bean & Flax Cheddar Chips – GI 43

For more information, check out the manufacturer’s website: www.beanitos.com



Ultra Lo-Gly juice beverages

Back in March 2010, we published the GI values of Lo-Gly juice beverages. The company has now developed a range of very low GI (and low calorie) juice beverages sweetened with blue agave nectar and stevia that provide from 25–35 calories per 1 cup (8fl.oz/240ml) serving (105–147kJ).

• Ultra-Lo Gly Acai-Blue Juice Beverage (21% juice): GI 23 (9g carbs per cup)
• Ultra-Lo Gly Mango Mojito (13% juice): GI 23 (7g carbs per cup)
• Ultra-Lo Gly Pomegranate (17% juice): GI 19 (8g carbs per cup)
• Ultra-Lo Gly Pomegranate Mojito (12% juice): GI 19 (8g carbs per cup)

Each flavour is certified kosher and the nutrition information panels are on the website at www.lo-gly.com. The Lo-Gly juice beverages are available in the US. For more information contact Lo-Gly marketing manager Don Necochea:don@Lo-Gly.com



GI testing by an accredited 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



See The New Glucose Revolution on YouTube

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AP sources: Emanuel leaving White House on Friday

Rahm Emanuel will leave your job as White House chief of staff on Friday and will begin his campaign for Chicago mayor by gathering with voters in the city on Monday, two people recognizable with Emanuel's plans said.

The two people, who spoke Thursday on situation of anonymity as they did not want to pre-empt Emanuel's statement, said he will return to Chicago over the weekend and begin on the road neighborhoods Monday. "He means to run for mayor," one of the people told the linked Press.

Together people said they did not know when Emanuel would make an official declaration about his mayoral bid other than that he would launch a website with a point to Chicago voters in the near prospect.

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U.S. Works to Persuade Israel on Settlement Freeze

labors to salvage Middle East peace talks were at full strangle on Thursday as American officials required to influence Israel to renew a West Bank resolution freeze with military hardware and political guarantees while urging the Palestinians to believe a partial end to Israeli building there from side to side a separate set of inducements.

So far, no method had been found.

“There needs to be a total cessation of settlements, and for us no other subject is on the table,” said Nabil Abu Rudeineh, a orator for Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, following Mr. Abbas met with George J. Mitchell, the Obama representative to the region. “We are to come for the final Israeli answer.”

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Pakistan Halts NATO Supplies After Attack

Pakistan has infertile a vital supply way for NATO forces in Afghanistan, following a cross-border NATO air strike that Pakistan says killed three of its military.

Provide trucks and fuel tankers for global troops were lined up at the Torkham boundary post in Pakistan's Khyber tribal region Thursday, hours following the NATO raid - the fourth reported by Pakistani officials in new days. The bulk of provisions for NATO forces in Afghanistan move through Pakistan.

Pakistani officials say the groups were stopped for security causes, except did not give details.

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Indian student arrested for filming gay sex act of roommate

An 18-year-old Indian-origin student has been under arrest and charged with attack of privacy for secretly filming and streaming live his roommate allegedly having a gay sex, a media report said on Thursday.

Dharun Ravi was under arrest on Tuesday and emotional with attack of privacy and freed on $25,000 bail after Tyler Clementi, 18, devoted suicide by jumping off the George Washington Bridge.

The gay sex disaster was set in motion on September 19 in Davidson Hall on Rutgers' idyllic Piscataway campus, where Clementi and his supposed tormentors, Ravi and his friend Molly Wei, started school a month ago, Newyork Post reported.

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Brutal Execution by Pakistani Army in Swat

Summary execution by
Pakistani soldiers

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — An Internet video  (see below) showing men in Pakistani military uniforms executing six young men in civilian clothes has heightened concerns about unlawful killings by Pakistani soldiers supported by the United States, American officials said.

The authenticity of the five-and-a-half-minute video, which shows the killing of the six men — some of whom appear to be teenagers, blindfolded, with their hands bound behind their backs — has not been formally verified by the American government. The Pakistani military said it was faked by militants.

But American officials, who did not want to be identified because of the explosive nature of the video, said it appeared to be credible, as did retired American military officers and intelligence analysts who have viewed it.

After viewing the graphic video on Wednesday, an administration official said: “There are things you can fake, and things you can’t fake. You can’t fake this.”

The video adds to reports under review at the State Department and the Pentagon that Pakistani Army units have summarily executed prisoners and civilians in areas where they have opened offensives against the Taliban, administration officials said.

The video appears to have been taken in the Swat Valley, where the Pakistani military opened a campaign last year to push back Taliban insurgents. The effort was widely praised by American officials and financed in large part by the United States.

The reports could have serious implications for relations between the militaries. American law requires that the United States cut off financing to units of foreign militaries that are found to have committed gross violations of human rights.

But never has that law been applied to so strategic a partner as Pakistan, whose military has received more than $10 billion in American support since 2001 for its cooperation in fighting militants from the Taliban and Al Qaeda based inside the country.

The Pakistani military came under strong pressure from the United States to make the drive into the Swat region. Having since expanded operations to South Waziristan, the military has found itself in a counterinsurgency campaign in which it has struggled to maintain local support and weed out insurgents and their sympathizers from the population.

Click here to read the full article.

Source: The New York Times, September 30, 2010

Video of the execution (Warning: Graphic Content)


Summary execution of Pashtuns by Pakistani soldiers
envoyé par am1rhu55ain. - L'info internationale vidéo.

Radio Times Interview

The new issue of the Radio Times, released on Tuesday 5th October, will feature an interview with David. See preview below:

Paul O'Grady Live

David will be a guest on Paul O'Grady Live on Friday 8th October at 9pm on ITV1.

Single Father Preview

A preview of Single Father can be seen in the new BBC Drama Autumn / Winter 2010 / 2011 showreel.
Episode one of Single Father airs on BBC One at 9pm on Sunday 10th October.

Iran: Stop the Executions of Zeynab Jalalian and Hossein Khezri

Zeynab Jalalian and Hossein Khezri are awaiting execution in Iran. Their crime? "Enmity against God."

They are both members of the minority Party for Free Life of Kurdistan, and the Iranian government is using this catch-all phrase to persecute political dissenters under the guise of a religious charge.

Help stop the executions of Jalalian and Khezri!

Their sentencing is unjust, their treatment while imprisoned atrocious: Jalalian was granted only a few minutes of access to her lawyer and was told to "shut up" when she asked to say goodbye to her mother.

The EU "is profoundly concerned by the repeated sentencing to death in Iran of people belonging to minorities, as well as of those involved in the post-election protests." Five people were hanged for similar "offenses" on May 9.

These prisoners, and the Iranian people, deserve a fair government, fair trials, and the right to express basic human rights without punishment.

Tell Iranian authorities not to execute Jalalian and Khezri, and to retry them with a fair trial according to international law.

More information here: Amnesty International Urgent Appeal for Zeynab Jalalian and Hossein Khezri at imminent risk of execution in Iran

UNESCO World Heritage Centre Hassan Fathy New Gourna Village Luxor Conference

UNESCO World Heritage Centre - Scientific Committee to meet on safeguarding New Gourna Village, part of Ancient Thebes World Heritage site: "Scientific Committee to meet on safeguarding New Gourna Village, part of Ancient Thebes World Heritage site
New Gourna Village by Hassan Fathy
Oct 2, 2010 - Oct 3, 2010
Luxor, Egypt

UNESCO, in cooperation with the Egyptian Ministry of Culture and the Governorate of Luxor, will organize the first Scientific Committee meeting on the safeguarding project of New Gourna Village in Luxor, Egypt. The UNESCO initiative aims to assist the Government of Egypt in its efforts to preserve this precious heritage situated within the World Heritage property of Ancient Thebes. New Gourna Village was designed and built by the famous Egyptian architect, Hassan Fathy (1900-1989), to shelter the community of Old Gourna.

Fathy's work took 6 years to complete, with design work starting in 1946 and construction ending in 1952. The village's characteristics bring to fruition the idea that, with the aid of local materials and techniques, sustainable human development and social cohesion can be met with vernacular architecture.

The Scientific Committee is composed of 14 renowned international experts of Hassan Fathy's work and philosophy who will advise in the development of the project strategy.

The main goals of the initiative are to rehabilitate this important architectural heritage, as well as to valorize Fathy's ground-breaking ideas and revive their relevance to contemporary sustainable architecture. The three-year project will be implemented within the framework of the World Heritage Earthen Architecture Programme, which was launched in 2007.

- Sent using Google Toolbar"

Metallic Spheres album covers + tracklisting

On Sony site you can see three different album covers - every format has unique design. And here's the tracklisting for the album:

Metallic Side:
1. Metallic Spheres
2. Hymns to the Sun
3. Black Graham
4. Hiding in Plain View
5. Classified
Spheres Side:
6. Es Vedra
7. Hymns to the Sun (reprise)
8. Olympic
9. Chicago Dub
10. Bold Knife Trophy

Thanks to Rachel Roth for info.

Africa's Snow White - Chapter 21 and 22 is here!

Africa's Snow White - Chapter 21 and 22 is here! Sorry for the delay - life iImage by Express Monorail via Flickrs hectic!!

California Catholic Conference Statement on Ending the Use of the Death Penalty in California

Most Reverend Gerald Wilkerson, Auxiliary Bishop for the San Fernando Pastoral Region of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and President of the California Catholic Conference, released the following statement today expressing strong support for an end to the use of the death penalty in California and asking for clemency for any individual scheduled for execution.

The California Catholic Conference strongly supports an end to use of the death penalty and affirms the 2005 statement from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, A Culture of Life and the Penalty of Death, which launched the U.S. Bishops Catholic Campaign to End the Use of the Death Penalty.

In light of the fact that California has scheduled the September 29, 2010 execution of Albert Greenwood Brown for the rape and murder of a 15-year-old girl, Susan Jordan, in 1980, we implore all Californians to ask themselves what good comes of state-sanctioned killing. We recognize the profound pain of those who lost a loved one to violence and offer them our prayers and our consolation. However, nothing can undo what was done — even taking the life of the convicted killer. The infliction of the death penalty does not make for a more just society.

As Catholic bishops, we teach and preach the Gospel vision of a "culture of life." We believe that each human person is created in God’s image. We are compelled to teach a consistent ethic of life and to speak publicly that the use of the death penalty does not protect human life, does not promote human dignity, and does not reduce violence in our society.

We recognize that human beings can and do commit grievous crimes, but we reject the use of the death penalty — especially when we can protect society with an alternate penalty of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. In addition, of particular concern to us is the fact that the application of the death penalty is deeply flawed — with those who are poor or from racial minorities most often its subjects.

At this moment in time, we entreat Californians to ponder carefully whether the use of the death penalty makes our society safer. A moratorium is needed to evaluate whether the death penalty serves the common good and safeguards the dignity of human life. We are convinced that it does not.

Source: California Catholic Conference, September 29, 2010

Gunman wounds 2 officers at Neb. hospital; is shot

A gunman open fire at an Omaha hospital Wednesday morning, wounding two law enforcement officers who also shot him, establishment said.

Omaha police have not revealed many details about the shootings at Creighton University Medical Center, counting the suspect's identity or the succession of events. Police Lt. Darci Tierney said the believe was in "very critical condition" at the hospital Wednesday afternoon. The two officers endured minor wounds.

The shooting happened inside the hospital, which are a few blocks north of the city's downtown. Police spokesman Jacob Bettin refused to say where in the building the shooting occurred, but Omaha television station KETV reported that eyewitnesses said it happened in or near the canteen.

Full story

Woman pleads not guilty in Wash. in acid hoax case

Her face red and mottled but largely unbandaged, a 28-year-old Vancouver woman begged not culpable Wednesday to charge arising from her false claim that a foreigner marked acid in her face.

Bethany Storro has admitted that she complete up the story about the facial burns she suffered Aug. 30, saying she put drain cleaner on her face trying to kill herself. The container drew national notice to the recently removed woman who works for a grocery chain, and brings in nearly $28,000 in donations to help with checkup bills.

Storro faces three theft charges. Court records show depleted about $1,500 of the contributions on such things as dinners for her parents, clothes for herself and a bill for an August laser facial peel.

The balance sheets containing the contributions have been frozen and her parents have said the money will be returned.

Full story

Anti-austerity protests sweep across Europe

European Union’s arranged a crescendo of anti-austerity complaints across the continent Wednesday, sending workers ranging from Greek doctors to Spanish bus drivers to Lithuanian engineers out to vent over job cuts, higher taxes, soaring joblessness and lesser pension.

One man even infertile the entrance to the Irish assembly with a cement truck, decrying the countries huge bank bailouts with blood red slogan like "Toxic Bank" and "All politicians should be sacked."

Influence of demonstrators clad in bright red, green and blue union jackets marched through Brussels toward European Union buildings, aiming to emphasize the impact of Spain's first countrywide strike in eight years.

Full story

Obama: GOP hasn't been honest with Americans

Arguing determinedly next to returning Republicans to power, President Barack Obama told Iowa voters Wednesday that the GOP has been lying about what needs to be done to revitalize the economy and reinstate middle-class dreams.

"We can't imagine that there are shortcuts," the president said, addressing about 70 voters in a grassy backyard.

"When you seem at the choice we face in this vote coming up," Obama said, "the additional side, what it's actually offering is the same policies that from 2001 to 2009 put off hard troubles and didn't really speak honestly to the American people concerning how we're gonna get this country on way over the long term."

Five weeks in front of midterm elections that will settle on whether Democrats keep control of Congress, Obama confront stark voter angst. The first question he got was from a woman who said of her son, a new college graduate, and his friends: "They are behind their hope which is a note you inspired them with."

Full story

The Sarah Jane Adventures Series 3 DVD

The Complete Third Series of The Sarah Jane Adventures is released in the UK on DVD on 1st November 2010.

The series includes the story, The Wedding Of Sarah Jane Smith, which features the final scenes ever recorded by David as the Doctor.

You can pre order it for just £12.99 in our shop here.

US fans will get the DVD a little later with it being released there on 4th January 2011.

If you're in the USA you can pre order it for just $21.99 in our shop here.

More about that bottle of wine

This has been totally fascinating.

Firstly the label and a translation from a Facebook friend

"On the left hand side bit of the label is the name of the brand; 'Abarket El-Malak' (Angel's Abarka). the next line reads Tostakhdam dakhel al-kaneesa (to be used in Church) On the right half it says, Baraka men deir Ra'ees el malayka Mikhaeel; (A blessing from the Monastery of the Archangel Michael) Abarka is communion wine; very sweet and non alcoholic."

Secondly the communion wine industry in Egypt is apparently very large, supplying all Coptic churches all over the world. There are all sorts of rules and regulations that have to be followed in its production.

Single Father To Air 10/10/10

The BBC Press Office have today confirmed that the first episode of Single Father will air at 9:00pm on Sunday 10th October on BBC One.
There are four episodes in the serial and each is an hour long.
Visit our Single Father section here for all the latest news, interviews, reviews, photos and more.

Meanwhile our friends over at LastBroadcast have a fab review of the first episode online - make sure you check it out here.

Hymns to the Suns - new Orb video

Clash Music have an exclusive video clip of The Orb and David Gilmour 'Hymns To The Sun' from their 'Metallic Spheres' album. You can view it here.

Thanks to Nick Annan for info.

No drug-shortage delay expected in Texas executions

Texas officials said Monday that they have no plans to delay any executions because of a nationwide shortage of 1 of the lethal drugs used.

"We have 3 executions scheduled through the end of this year, and we have an ample supply to carry those out," said Michelle Lyons, spokeswoman for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice in Huntsville. "At the present, we are unaffected by the shortage."

For security reasons, Texas prison officials refused to say Monday how much sodium thiopental they have on hand.

Lyons said that if the supply does not resume, Texas might have to consider alternatives.

In Texas, 3 grams of sodium pentothal is administered in an intravenous solution to render the convict unconscious, followed by 100 milligrams of pancuronium bromide to paralyze muscles and 140 milliequivalents of potassium chloride to stop the heart. The drugs are generally administered over a 5-minute period.

Source: Austin American-Statesman, September 28, 2010

India: Kasab challenges death penalty in High Court

In a fresh development in the 26/11 terror attack case, Pakistani terrorist Ajmal Kasab today filed an appeal in Bombay High Court challenging death penalty awarded to him for killing 166 persons on November 26, 2008.

"We have filed an appeal today," his lawyer Amin Solkar told PTI.

Kasab has challenged death penalty saying it was a harsh punishment imposed a on him and pleaded that there were lapses in evidence produced by police in the trial court.

The appeal has challenged identification of Kasab in the court saying the eye witnesses had easily identified him because his photograph had appeared prominently in newspapers and television on the day of attack.

The appeal also challenged trial court's ruling which upheld Kasab's confession as "true and voluntary", Kasab's lawyer said.

Source: Press Trust of India News, September 28, 2010

Three prison escapees executed in north China

Three men who broke out of prison and killed a policeman in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region in October last year, were executed Tuesday.

Qiao Haiqiang, Dong Jiaji and Li Hongbin were put to death by lethal injection in the regional capital of Hohhot.

Li had appealed the sentence, claiming he was an accessory, but the appeal was rejected by the Intermediate People's Court in Hohhot City. The court upheld his death penalty in August.

4 prisoners broke out of the prison in Hohhot. All were serving life terms.

Police launched a 3-day manhunt for the escapees involving 12,300 officers.

The 4th prisoner was shot dead while on the run.

Source: Xinhua, September 29, 2010

Outcry fails to prevent Belarus executions

Activists are demanding perssure on Belarus to ditch the death penalty.

Belarus is to go ahead with the execution of two men currently on death row, despite international pressure on the country to abandon the practice.

President Alexander Lukashenko has made tentative attempts to improve relations with Western Europe, but the death penalty remains an obstacle.

The convicted men - Oleg Grishkovtsov and Andrei Burdyko, from Grodno in western Belarus - could be executed at any time, after the country's Supreme Court turned down appeals from the pair.

Their relatives will only find out that the executions have taken place by an official letter confirming their deaths, and will not be told where the bodies are buried.

The 2 men were found guilty of killing three people during an armed robbery in a flat in Grodno last year.

They were also found guilty of taking a child hostage in the course of the robbery and setting the flat on fire, before forcing a taxi driver to help them to flee the crime scene.

Belarus is the only country in Europe which continues to execute convicted criminals, and it sparked widespread condemnation when it executed two convicted murderers in March 2010.

And as recently as 14 September another death sentence was handed out.

Human rights organisation Amnesty International has long criticised the country's continued use of capital punishment.

In March, Amnesty called on President Alexander Lukashenko to establish an immediate moratorium on the use of the death penalty.

The death penalty can only be struck off the constitution by Mr Lukashenko or the parliament in Minsk.

'Public support'

However, the government insists there is public support for the death penalty, which is usually carried out by a single gunman delivering a point-blank shot to the head.

In a referendum in 1996 more than 80% of voters backed capital punishment.

Analysts say that the authorities have since used this vote to stifle public discussion of the issue.

Opinion polls suggest that at least 2/3 of Belarusians believe that the sort of criminals who are sentenced to death cannot be rehabilitated.

Human rights activists have had little success in garnering support, and 1 online petition against the death penalty was signed by just 318 Belarusians in an entire year.

The country's population is more than 9 million.

Price for dialogue

The government has been engaged in a very gradual discussion with the Council of Europe about "possible steps towards a moratorium and removal of the death penalty" in Belarus.

The matter is also being raised at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, with delegates from Belarus defending executions.

They believe the creation of a working group in parliament and their readiness to discuss a moratorium with the Council of Europe should work in their favour.

Abolishing the death penalty is one of the mandatory conditions the EU is demanding from Belarus in order for it to start official political dialogue with the country.

However, human rights activist Valentin Stefanovich says that Europe should not hold its breath: "Recent signals from inside the government have made it clear that we should not be expecting a moratorium on capital punishment anytime soon."

The UN Human Rights Council has also been sounding the alarm for more than 10 years about how the Belarusian authorities treat the relatives of those executed.

Families are not given the opportunity to say goodbye or pick up their loved-ones' belongings. They are also not told where the executed are buried, and authorities do not release the bodies for private funerals.

Source: BBC News, September 28, 2010

California: Judges Cancels Albert Brown's Execution

SAN FRANCISCO — Facing sharp questions from a federal appellate panel and concerns about a drug used in lethal injections, a federal judge in California has canceled what would have been California’s first execution in more than four years.

Albert G. Brown Jr., 56, was convicted in 1982 of raping and strangling a 15-year-old girl in Riverside, Calif., two years before and had been scheduled to die by lethal injection Thursday night.

But late Tuesday, Judge Jeremy D. Fogel of Federal District Court in San Jose issued a stay after a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ordered him to again consider the case.

The stay came a day after California officials announced that the state’s supply of sodium thiopental, a barbiturate used in executions, was good only until Friday, a revelation that seemed to shock the appellate panel. “It is incredible to think that the deliberative process might be driven by the expiration date of the execution drug,” the panel wrote.

In his stay, Judge Fogel seemed to agree, and indicated that he had been blindsided by the state’s admission about the drug’s expiration, calling it a “fact that the defendants did not disclose to this court.”

Mr. Brown’s execution would have been the first in California since 2006, when Judge Fogel effectively halted executions in the state after finding various deficiencies in the state’s methods. Since then, the state says it has addressed those problems by revamping regulations surrounding executions and building a new death chamber at San Quentin State Prison.

Judge Fogel ruled last week that Mr. Brown was ineligible for a stay, but legal questions and challenges continued to percolate. On Monday night, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger gave Mr. Brown a brief reprieve, pushing the execution to Thursday from Wednesday. The appellate panel weighed in later that night, raising questions about the constitutionality of the state’s new protocol for lethal injection using a three-drug cocktail.

Source: The New York Times, September 29, 2010


California: Judges block Brown's execution

San Quentin's new
death chamber and gurney

(CNN) -- A federal court judge blocked the execution of a murderer in California, two days before he was to receive a lethal injection.

A federal judge in San Jose ruled Tuesday, following furious legal maneuvering to keep Albert Greenwood Brown alive.

Brown's execution would've been California's first since 2006, when legal challenges prompted the state to revise its lethal injection procedure.

He was sentenced to death in 1982 for raping and murdering a high school student.

The ruling by U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel reversed a decision that he had made earlier, which paved the way toward the execution.

Fogel's earlier decision was overruled by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday night.

The federal appeals court said Fogel mistakenly ruled that the execution could proceed if Brown chose between a one-drug or a three-drug option for his lethal injection.

"The district court's decision to provide Brown the choice of a one-drug option is not consistent with California state law and procedures," the appeals court ruling said. "California law does not provide the condemned a choice between a three-drug protocol or a one-drug option."

The appeals court told Fogel to rethink that decision and review whether California's new lethal injection procedures protect an inmate from a cruel and inhumane death.

Fogel said it would be impossible to complete that review before Brown's execution date.

Brown raped and murdered 15-year-old Susan Jordan, who was walking to Arlington High School in Riverside when Brown pulled her into an orange grove, according to court documents.

He raped her, strangled her with her own shoelace, and took her school identification cards and books.

Later that evening, Brown looked up her family in the phone book and called their home, court documents say.

"Hello, Mrs. Jordan, Susie isn't home from school yet, is she?" court documents quoted him as saying. "You will never see your daughter again. You can find her body on the corner of Victoria and Gibson."

He also called police and directed them to her body. During the investigation, three witnesses placed Brown near the scene of the crime. Police found Susan Jordan's school books and newspaper articles about her death in Brown's home, and clothing with semen stains in Brown's work locker.

During the penalty phase of Brown's trial, his lawyer said his client was remorseful. He also presented psychiatric evidence suggesting that Brown had emotional problems, including sexual maladjustment and dysfunction.

The jury deliberated for three hours before returning a death-penalty verdict, according to court documents.

California's last execution was on January 17, 2006, when Clarence Ray Allen was put to death for three counts of first-degree murder with special circumstances. From behind bars, he had helped orchestrate a deadly armed robbery at a convenience store.

Source: CNN.com, September 29, 2010