Today I’m going to try out what I hope will be a weekly feature on Hell Food - a roundup of the past week’s food-related news. I had planned to comment on individual stories, but I collected so many links that it would have been impractical (damn you, Bloglines!).

So, here it is, This Week in Food (The ‘Waiter, there’s a spinal cord in my soup!’ edition). Feel free to leave a comment or suggest your own story!

East Meets West, Adding Pounds and Peril [The NY Times, 1/12/06]

May Chen is slender and healthy, a lively little girl whose parents left their rural Chinese village just a decade ago in search of a better life. But at age 9, still in pigtails, she is already coming face to face with the forces that many say are making America fat and diabetic.

Study finds exercise helps delay dementia [USA Today, 1/16/06]

Older men and woman who exercised even modestly three times a week or more reduced their risk of developing dementia, including Alzheimer’s, a study reports Tuesday.

Nickelodeon, Kellogg Targets of Lawsuit [The Associated Press, 1/18/06]

Advocacy groups and parents are suing the Nickelodeon TV network and cereal maker Kellogg Co. in an effort to stop junk food marketing to kids. The plaintiffs are citing a recent report documenting the influence of marketing on what children eat. Ads aimed at kids are mostly for high-calorie, low-nutrition food and drinks, according to the government-chartered Institute of Medicine.

Sex difference in aspirin effect [BBC News, 1/18/06]

Taking aspirin can cut the risk of cardiovascular disease in both sexes - but seems to work differently for men and women, research suggests.

Laughter Proves Good Medicine for Heart [Scientific American, 1/18/06]

Lacking a sense of humor might not just be bad for your social life, it might also be harming your cardiovascular health. A new study shows that laughter actually increases blood flow in the body, proving right the old adage that laughter is the best medicine, at least when it comes to the heart.

The beef over pet food [Salon.com, 1/19/06]

Bowser gets raw meat because wolves eat it in the wild. Tabby gets raw chicken because lions don’t eat kibble. But vets say the recent trend of raw feeding is dangerous to pets and people.

Renewed Japan Beef Ban Prompts U.S. Probe [The Associated Press, 1/20/06]

Agriculture Department officials scrambled Friday to repair a delicate beef-trading relationship after Japan discovered a shipment containing bone that Asian countries consider at risk for mad cow disease.

The tissue Japan found, spinal column from veal, is allowed in the American food supply because it comes from animals younger than 30 months of age. However, the agreement with Japan bars spinal column and other bone tissue.

The shipment was from veal calves younger than 6 months of age. The meat industry emphasized that Americans eat the same product with confidence.

New US beef import ban in Japan [BBC News, 1/20/06]

Japan says it will reimpose a total ban on US beef imports after a shipment contained carcass parts that could have posed a risk of BSE (mad cow disease).

Oily fish makes ‘babies brainier’ [BBC News, 1/20/06]

Eating oily fish and seeds in pregnancy can boost children’s future brain power and social skills, research suggests. A study of 9,000 mothers and children in Avon suggested those who consumed less of the essential fatty acid Omega-3 had children with lower IQs.

Work stress ‘heart disease link’ [BBC News, 1/20/06]

Stress in the workplace is a major factor in the development of heart disease and diabetes, a study says.