Nutrition highlights of 2010

From palm oil to the Parents' Jury, here are the 20 food and nutrition issues that caught my attention during 2010.  Read on and see if you agree ....

• Weight Watchers teamed up with McDonalds for fast diet meals.
• Trans fats were banned by more and more food producers e.g. Mrs Field's Cookies, Aldi supermarkets.
• Palm oil was on the rise as a replacement for unhealthy trans fats until WWF Australia publicised the effect palm tree plantations were having on the habitat of the Orangutans in Malaysia.
• The first stevia sweeteners appeared on Australian supermarket shelves. Read our taste test of them.
• Bill Clinton lost 10 kg on a vegan diet for daughter Chelsea's wedding.
• Masterchef and Junior Masterchef blitzed all other shows and boosted sales of butter, duck fat, and all manner of kitchen gadgets.
• Green and eco-foods continued to grow with farmers' markets, organic, local and seasonal foods increasingly popular. Use of recycled food packaging and composting of green waste also rose.
• Food waste became a hot issue with Australians urged to buy only what they need and to recycle leftovers.
• US writer Michael Pollan released his new book Food Rules which includes one-liners like "Don't eat breakfast cereals that change the colour of your milk"!
• Quorn was launched in Australia.
• The gluten-free marketing niche continues to grow despite criticism that many products are highly-processed, high GI and with more than a handful of additives.
• Baby carrots were marketed as junk food with a YouTube video, their own app and funky packaging in vending machines in the US.
• Parents' Jury gives its Shame Awards to the two worst foods advertised to children: Kellogg's LCM bars and Kellogg's Nutri-Grain with runners-up of McDonald's Happy Meals, Nabisco Oreos, Kellogg's Coco Pops O's and Nestle MILO cereal.
• Twitter use rose exponentially and brings nutritionists, growers and advocates closer. You can follow my Tweets here.
• Food and nutrition bloggers continued to grow in number. Here are some lists of Australian Food Blogs.
• Also view the Australian Index of food blogs and more Australian food blogs.
• Food Inc - the movie - was released and turned more people off meat and chicken than ever before.

• The European Food Authority declared the term “antioxidants” no longer valid and won’t recognise it in any of their approved on-pack claims.
• UK celebrity chef Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution in the US town of Huntington, West Virginia – America's "fattest city" - aired on TV. His basic cooking skills campaign will target Ipswich in south-east Queensland in 2011 funded by the Queensland Government and the not-for-profit Good Foundation.